Major VS. Independent

In this day and age the music industry is dominated by three large conglomerates they are; The universal music group, Sony BMG and Warner music group. there are also several independent record labels that do not posses as much money as the major.The definition of mainstream is the ideas, attitudes, or activities that are shared by most people and regarded as normal or conventional. Therefore, this can be related to the music industry in different ways. 
Major

The Universal Music Group:
The Universal music group (UMG) is the largest is one of the largest music corporations in the world, a subsidiary of  Universal studios in America, in its early days it was known as universal records and was seen as an unimportant subsidiary of universal picture group, who at which time where the most successful movie studio in Hollywood. Some of the artists signed with universal or their subsidiaries these include: Kanye West, 50 Cent, Mariah Carey and Gwen Stefani  

Sony BMG:
Sony BMG was founded on March 3rd 2004, it was a joint venture between the Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann AG and held a 25% stake in the music market. They have offices in more than 30 countries



Independent

Dancing Turtle Records:

Dancing Turtle Records is a London based independent record label set up in 2005. Their releases have a strong leaning towards the genres of indie folk, electronica, experimental, downtempo and world music.

The label has developed and released music from a number of artists from Europe, and as far afield as Japan, West Papua and Brazil, under the banner "music acts without prejudice".The label has raised funds and awareness for human rights charities and other causes.

The label is part of the Dancing Turtle Group; this also incorporates the Dancing Turtle Media and Dancing Turtle Films divisions.

Lex Records:

Lex has a varied musical output. The label is not focused on one particular genre (although most releases are alternative hip hop, alternative rock or electronica) and instead focusses on working with a small group of individual artists, supporting their work. As a result of the small roster, Lex has a low volume of releases, rarely releasing more than three albums annually.

Lex albums are often collaborations between members of the label roster and musicians from elsewhere. These collaborative groups includeDanger Mouse with MF Doom as Danger Doom, Boom Bip with Gruff Rhys as Neon Neon, Jneiro Jarel with Khujo Goodie as Willie Isz, and Jneiro Jarel with MF Doom as JJ DOOM. Forthcoming releases include a new album from Neon Neon and the debut album from Nevermen.

Postmodernism

Postmodernism is the term created in the 20th centaury its defined in dictionaries as "A concept in the arts, architecture, and criticism, which represents a departure from modernism and is characterized by the self-conscious use of earlier styles and conventions, a mixing of different artistic styles and media, and a general distrust of theories."

that claims that we are all constantly immersed in media all the time meaning that the distinction between real life and the media has become blurred or entirely invisible to us so we cannot tell the difference between things such as real experiences and simulations of them. The media is the new reality.

Postmodern media rejects the idea that any media text or product is of any greater value than any other. All judgments are merely opinion, everything deserves and culture "eats itself" as there is nothing new to distribute or produce as it has all been done before.

Jay-Z analysis

Mise-en-scene

The setting of Jay Z's 99 problems portrays the ghetto of Brooklyn, New York where Jay Z grew up and illustrates the struggles that Jay-Z had to go through during his career in order to reach the top of the music industry.


Editing:

Editing in this video is fast paced to keep up with the fast paced beat of the song using speed on some shots so the images occasionally move so fast they seem to be impossible to understand on the first viewing, creates an incentive for the viewer to want to see the clip again. Using fast cuts also add to the quick pace of the music video. A black and white filter is used throughout the music video, creating a dramatic effect and also allows the audience to focus on the shapes, perspectives and lighting of the music video instead.


Camera Angles:

   The music video explores a range of different camera work,two shots to create a personal connection with Jay Z  Close ups to display certain aspects in the video such as the guns the violence and the vouristic  women, establishing shots to provide the audience with a view of the scene areas which Jay Z grew up in, many shots play with perspective, many of the shots in the video are unsteady and create a sense of urgency and excitement, therefore matching the fast pace of the beat. The angles are inventive as some shots are taken through mirror reflections and at low tilts thus create space and interaction. With so much going on in the videos it keeps the various audience engaged.





























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History of the music video

A music video is a piece of film used to accompany a song, modern music videos are usually used as a way to promote an artists.

The earliest recorded music video was created by blues singer, Bessie Smith used in the song Saint Louis blues in 1929 it was unlike any modern day music videos as it had no narrative and featured a dramatised performance of the song.

In 1966 the clip of Bob Dylan performing Subterranean Homesick Blues  filmed by D A Pennebaker was much used. The clip's ironic portrayal of a performance and the seemingly random inclusion of  celebrity Allen Ginsberg  in a non-performing role also became mainstays of the form. In the Video we see Ginsberg holding up cards with selected lyrics written on the cards The clip has been much imitated over the last few decades.

Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen in 1975 is considered the beginning of the music video era and set the template for the modern music video, it was the first ever music video to use advanced visual effects such as fade ins/outs, zooms, close ups, cross fading and more.

Brief

In Media studies A2 we have been asked to create a promotional music package for a new act this will include a  digipak and music video to promote the artist. the artist should be unique and appeal to a wide audience.
We have decided to create an alternative rock band for our artist we will work on creating a music video and digipak dor our artist

Goodwin's theory

Andrew Goodwin's theory of media texts claims that their is five characteristics that all music videos either adhere or subvert  the theory.

Five conventions of Goodwin's theory
1. Certain genres of music have certain characteristics

2. There may be references to the notion of looking and vouyeristic (sexual) treatment of the female body.

3. There is a relationship between the music and visuals.

4. the record label will have certain demands that the music video must meet; such as several close ups of the artists.

5. there is often intertextual references to T.V films or other music videos  

Most Music videos follow Goodwin's conventions with the lyrics matching up with the visuals and certain genres having certain characteristics for example with rock music we often see the singer/band performing on a stage.