Feedback

After receiving the feedback in class, I will change my design format for my blog to make it user friendly and represent our group's artist. I'll begin to look at various ways for me to present my work on my blog in order to keep the viewer's interest. For example, using Slideshare, Prezi, etc.  

Font ideas for artist

When choosing our potential fonts for our artist's logo, we was looking for something bold and unconventional to fit with our artist's image and the song of choice. 

We ended up with the name Raina because when considering our artist's background and her strong attitude towards life, Raina was the most suitable. (Raina translates to Queen in French.)













Here is a mind map of our original ideas for the music video and mainly thinking about the mise-en-scene for it since our music video heavily focuses on visual. 

At the top right corner, you can also see our other choices of names, however Raina stuck out to us as the most unique name. 






We tested the five fonts on our mood board to see how it would look:

We decorated/cut the fonts which we thought would be most suitable for the mood board and decided what our final font will be through that selection:

 

The font below was chosen as our final idea because the thin, yet alternative style fit the theme of our mood board. Despite how the left font looks neater, it doesn't mesh with our artist's image:

Post modernism

Post modernism is a shortcut to mass audiences and a phrase used to describe anything that looks culturally avant-garde in an retro way.

If the experimental stage of genre attempts to establish trends and the cannon stage works within those trends to fix them into our cultural understanding. Then post-modernism looks at those trends, mocks them and adds a new element in. It could be agreed that the music video is a post-modern stage of the evolution of cinema. So post-modernism becomes the new by referring to the old and invents by copying. Artists like Madonna, Michael Jackson and David Bowie are all cited as examples of post modernism in the way in which they have created, or re-created, different identities for themselves.

This has implications for realist forms of media, since our sense of reality is now said to
be utterly dominated by popular media images; cultural forms can no longer 'hold up the mirror to reality', since reality itself is saturated by advertising, film, video games and television images. 

We consume images and spectacles as opposed to forms of communication such as the written word that encourage us to ponder and reflect. When books are turned to into films, the consumers enjoy the action more than the idea behind the whole film. The authors idea may have been to critique society, but the film clouds this idea or the message is lost in the action of the film. 

The culture industry and X Factor

Culture Industry

Adorno and Horkheimer adopted the form 'culture industry' to argue that the way in which cultural items were produced, was analogues to how other industries manufactured vast quantities of consumer goods.

Adorno and Horkheimer agued that the culture industry exhibited an ' assembly-live character' which could be observed in the synthetic, planned method of turning out of its products. 

The X Factor machine

Adorno and Horkheimer linked the idea of the 'culture industry' to a model of the 'mass culture' in which cultural production had become a routine, standardised repetitive operation that produced undemanding cultural commodities, which in turn resulted in a type of consumption that was also standardised, distracted and passive. 

Who is in control?

Adorno and Horkheimer's view of cultural production has, with some justification, often has been portrayed as the pessimistic lament of cultural artists who were dismayed at what they perceived to be the homogeneity and vulgarity of 'mass' taste, and who were co-opted and corrupted by the production methods and administrative regimes of industrial capitalism. 

The capitalist corporation seems to enjoy an almost omnipotent form of domination and both the consumers and the creative artists are not separate from; but are directly connoted to this system of production. 

Adorno and Horkheimer stressed that the structures of economic ownership and control of the means through which cultural products are produced and argued that this directly shapes the activities of creative artists and consumers. 

The metaphor of the 'assembly-line' was used to stress the repetitive and routine character of cultural production. Adorno and Horkheimer argued that the 'culture industry' operated in the same way as other manufacturing industries. All work had become formalised and products were made according to rationalised, organisational procedures that were established for the sole purpose of making money.

Standardisation

Adorno and Horkheimer argued that all products produced by the culture industry exhibited standardised features. The argument here is that there is nothing spontaneous about the process of cultural production; it has become a routine operation that can be carried out in an office by the application formulae.

Adorno noted that songs which became successful over time were often referred to as 'standards', a category that clearly drew attention to their formulaic character. From the 'plan' to the details, songs were based around repetitive sequences and frequently recurring refrains (Adorno, 1976, p.25) This was done for quite calculated commercial reasons, so that the song would imprint itself on the mind of the listener and then provoke a purchase. For Adorno, the production of songs had become a mechanical and manipulative operation motivated purely by commercial gain.

I agree with Adorno's argument about standardised songs because, in consideration of the music industry, trends are quickly picked up then forgotten about until the next big thing comes up. However, old trends do make their come back eventually because what is not heard of, in a long time, is considered different and fresh. Although some songs may sound different, it is very much the same beat/tune being recycled by other artists and tweaked a bit.

Pseudo Individuality

Adorno and Horkheimer were also critical of what they referred to as pseudo individuality. By this they meant the way that the culture industry assembled products that made claims to 'originality' but which when examined more critically exhibited little more than superficial differences. Adorno and Horkheimer evoked the image of the lock and key - an item that is mass produced in millions, whose uniqueness lies in only very minor modifications.

Artists certainly have managed to give themselves an identity unique enough for the audience to differentiate between one another.

In conclusion, Adorno and Horkheimer believe that the culture industry allows people to become 'masses' and be easily manipulated by capitalist corporations and authoritarian governments. Adorno and Horkheimer therefore presents us with a powerful argument about what happens to culture when it is subject to the structural control and organisation of industrial capitalist production: It becomes merely a standardised, formulaic and repetitive element of 'mass culture'. It has no aesthetic value whatsoever and leads to a very specific type of consumption that is passive, obedient and easily manipulated for the purpose of propaganda or advertising.

Artist that fits the theory - Justin Bieber



Justin Bieber is a Canadian pop star who was discovered via YouTube. Bieber, whose debut album, My World, hit stores in November 2009, is a true overnight success, having gone from an unknown, untrained singer whose mother posted YouTube clips of her boy performing, to a budding superstar with a big-time record deal, all in just two years. He signed a record contract with Usher and became the first solo artist to have four singles enter the Top 40 before the release of a debut album. His album My World has gone platinum in several countries. Naturally, his target audience became teenage girls; his lyrics and even up to his entire image as an a solo, male artist was made to appeal to a female audience. His image has become the standard but this because he is the result of a successful male, pop star therefore record labels are using him as product inspiration for their upcoming male artists as well. 

Artist that doesn't fit the theory - Tyler the Creator



American rapper, record producer, songwriter and video director, Tyler Gregory Okonma, also known as “Tyler, The Creator” is the co-founder of the flourishing hip-hop collective ‘Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All’. He began his career by uploading songs on ‘Tumblr’ that quickly went viral and grabbed mass attention. Tyler self-produced his first mixtape ‘Bastard’ and soon followed it up with his debut album ‘Goblin’. His first single from the album ‘Wolf’ called ‘Domo23’ was placed at number 2 on ‘Bubbling under Hot 100 Singles Billboard’ and at number 13 on ‘US Heatseekers Songs Billboard’. Producing and creating your own music is unconventional as an artist 

The music industry

Music Industry Crisis

For most of the 20th century, record companies made money by selling a tangible product - a vinyl, disc or CD. You owned music by having a disc collection.

Changing Tech

With the internet, the music industry has had to adapt as CD sales are falling each year. The 'product' is new bought online as a single song or album, only exists only as an item, on an IPod, mobile phone or computer.

The music industry claimed as a victory in 2009 when four men behind the file-sharing site 'Pirate-Bay' were sentenced to a year in jail and ordered to pay £2.5m in damages for helping internet users to download music, films and computer games without paying for them.

HMV vs ITunes

Chief executive Simon Fox said that within three years, technology would become its single biggest product category ahead of both CDs and DVDs. It plans to devote 25% of the floor space to just MP3 players, tablets, computers and headphones.

De-commodification

A commodity always depends for its status and its value. Once the reproduction and distribution of that commodity becomes effectively free, then it necessarily loses that value and that status.

The three major record labels, as of now are:

- Sony BMG
- Universal Music Group
- Warner Music Group

Artists who are signed to one of these major record labels are either signed to the parent label or the subsidiary of that label. For example, Sony is the parent company to the subsidiary label, Columbia Records. Some artists who are under Columbia Records are Adele, Beyoncé and John Legend. Advantages of being under a major record label is that, when producing a music video, it will have a high production value, wide distribution when the album or song is released, international tours, merchandise, and vast advertising across a range of different platforms. Disadvantages of being under a major record label is that you get little freedom, the company has complete creative control of your music and little to no attention is shown to you because you as the artist may not be as successful as other artists who are under the same label. Therefore, if you do not meet the amount of money, or results that they expect back from producing your music, then you are most likely to be forgotten by the company.

EMI used to be part of the big four but now it is only the big three; ever since Universal Music had bought EMI. These labels can make up almost 80% of the music market, depending on the year, however it was estimated to be about two-thirds in 2016.

Here are some examples of independent record labels:

- 4AD
- Rough Trade Records
- LAB Records

Advantages of being under an independent record label is that the company will be more likely to be passionate about your music personally and therefore be driven to get your music across to the audience when promoting. The artist or band will also have most of the creative control when producing music or a music video and since independent labels are significantly smaller in amounts of artists, the company will be likely to pay more attention to you. However, there are limitations to being signed under an independent label such as, there is a lower budget in comparison to the budget that major record labels are able to have. Consequently, the artist or band will gain less money back depending on their success.