Media Marketing Essay

"In the Music Industry, the power of marketing online is the most useful asset in the promotion of music products." To what extent do you agree with the statement?

I fully agree with this statement. I think that traditional marketing methods have past their time and newer, more effective strategies have replaced them. Overall, push marketing has been overthrown by pull marketing. Push marketing is the normal marketing tactic used by advertisers. This is where the content is “pushed” upon the consumer, forcing them to consume the content. The more up-to-date strategy is providing the user with the ability and incentive to consume the content, resulting in higher levels of user interaction and giving the user the control of the message being sent out. Due to this change, the level of interaction that can be achieved with social media is becoming focal to the pull marketing campaigns.

Some great examples of successful pull marketing would be Odd Future and One Direction. They made great use of a prominent social media presence to advertise their tours. One Direction used their vast social media following to get the news out about the 55 “Go1Den Tickets”, promising a VIP experience for the lucky winners. The 1D website achieved its biggest ever volume of traffic and millions of people took part and engaged in the event. The band constantly maintained their presence through regular updates and managed to double their followers. Odd Future have their exclusive “OF Sweatshop” which features unique merchandise for each event, never selling the same thing twice. They give some of their music away for free and make a good portion of their profits from these one off stalls at their concerts. OF’s manager insists that “There’s no marketing, it’s exposing it at the right place at the right time.” and makes great use of the member’s social networking presence. The front man, Tyler, The Creator, is an addict of social network and uses this to his advantage, promoting shows as well as merch, adding personal reviews and opinions different to that offered by the common PR run social media of other artists. By the exclusion of traditional advertising and push marketing methods, the fans feel closer and more involved with the groups that they follow.

Pull marketing is becoming the standard for online marketing and marketing in general. Social media has become a major and focal part of media marketing adopting the pull marketing strategy. Pull marketing shifts emphasis and attention onto the consumer by marketing in the correct places and knowing where and who your target audience is. Consumers are increasingly customising music platforms to better suit their individual needs. An increasing number of people are downloading individual tracks and compiling their own playlists on platforms such as iTunes, Spotify and Last.fm. Fan-built mixes are taking over the way people get their music. As consumers gain access to a greater number of options/platforms, media marketing will inevitably shift from push to pull marketing tactics.

Another way that the internet has assisted in the marketing of music products is that it has given the artists the ability to create a special link between consumer and creator. There are many examples where the power of the internet has allowed creators to both make money and advertise their content. Arcade Fire made an interactive music video where the user entered their childhood home address and used the power of HTML5 to create a montage of photos from their old neighborhood. While this in itself might not be direct advertisement or marketing, but it does create a rapport between the consumer and creator and due to the unique nature of the music video, consumers are more likely to tell friends about the video and create a larger fan base.

Josh Freese used a platform called Topspin, a crowdfunding website for upcoming albums, that allowed fans to donate a certain amount of money and then get something in return, with these packages ranging from $7 all the way up to $75,000. These packages included lunch with him, a round of mini gold or even washing your car or doing your laundry.

Amanda Palmer managed to make $11,000 in 2 hours, all starting with a simple tweet saying that she was bored on a Friday night. Others joined in and soon a t-shirt design was created and a website was made to sell them for $25.

Matthew Ebel uses a subscription based service whereby users can pay monthly or annually for a wide range of perks such as VIP seats and member-only parties with prices from $5/month upto $15/month.

The Poison Control Center uses Tumblr to regularly update their fans while on tour with pictures, videos and posts about their experience and thanking the fans.

Gossip Grows on Trees uses an email list to regularly update their fans but it can prove difficult to grow that list, so they offered free music downloads in exchange for their email addresses, and even went as far as to give out custom fortune cookies with the URL of the download page and a short message from the band.

Perhaps one of the most in-depth ways of creating a link between consumer and creator is the use of gamification. This is very much a new concept in the industry but one that is definitely viable and already being adopted in many cases. Gamification can be defined as “adding simple game mechanics like points, badges and leaderboards to websites and apps”. As Albin Serviant put it, “Today’s fan wants more than just a track. They want a participative, personalised experience in a social environment. The 3 stages could be seen as Novice, Regular and Enthusiast. Novice needs onboarding (welcome + goals + progress + achievable rewards). Regulars need fresh content/activities/challenges. Enthusiasts need exclusivity, recognition and impact. There are already several services in place which have taken this concept and made it a reality. These include:

Turntable.fm, where players can collect points when people rate the songs they are listening to, and these points are used to unlock special DJ avatars to indicate their status.

Phantasy Tour, where fans pick which songs they think will be played during each music set, and are awarded points based on how many correct answers they get.

TastemakerX, a full-blown social game approach to music, where users can buy/sell shares of musicians and the users are given a score showing their influence.

Overall, I think that the power of marketing online is the most useful asset in the promotion of music products, however I think that a lot of creators haven’t noticed this yet. I think that online marketing is the best tool for any creator, whether they are a newcomer or an already well-established name in the industry. Online marketing has given creators the ability to create a link between themselves and their fans, and even a link between their fans to be created. Once fans feel more connected to the creator and other like-minded individuals, they are more likely to stay fans and spend their money on the creator. As more and more people realise the internet’s potential, more and more fans will feel as though they are a part of something greater, and that is the best stage that a creator can hope to create.

The 180° rule

The 180° rule is a cinematography guideline that states that two characters in a scene should maintain the same left/right relationship to one another. This means that, if the two characters are facing each other, the wide shot camera and the two over the shoulder shots appear to be continuous. However, if the over the shoulder cameras move across the invisible line, the characters appear to have switched places and break the flow of the scene.

Camera Angles and Movement

Angles:

High angle - The camera is elevated above the action using a crane to give a general overview. High angles make the object photographed seem smaller, and less significant (or scary). The object or character often gets swallowed up by their setting - they become part of a wider picture.
Canted angle - Sometimes the camera is tilted (ie is not placed horizontal to floor level). This technique is used to suggest POV shots.
Low angle - These increase the height of the object or person and give a sense of speeded motion. The background of a low angle shot will tend to be just sky or ceiling. The added height of the object may make it inspire fear and insecurity in the viewer, who is psychologically dominated by the figure on the screen.

Movement:

Pan - A movement which scans a scene horizontally. The camera is placed on a tripod, which operates as a stationary axis point as the camera is turned, often to follow a moving object which is kept in the middle of the frame.
Tilt - A movement which scans a scene vertically, otherwise similar to a pan.
Track – A path for a camera to follow.
Dolly (equipment) – A piece of equipment that allows you to place the camera on a moving vehicle such as a car or plane so the camera can move along with the action.
Crane – This is essentially a dolly shot in the air, where the camera is suspended from a crane and the crane is then controlled to achieve different angles and shots.
Steadicam – A special harness worn by a technician to allow smooth movement in long shots or where a dolly would not work.
Handheld – The camera is held by hand without any other equipment.
Zoom – This refers to changing the focal length of a camera while the camera is moving to zoom into an object or person
Reverse Zoom – This is where the camera’s focal length is changed to zoom out of an object or person

Composition and Framing

Find definitions and examples of the following, including analysis of why the technique is used.

Framing 

The role of any rule of composition is to draw the eye into a photograph. Framing refers to using elements of a scene to create a frame within your frame. For example, you might shoot through a doorway, pulled back curtains, branches, fences, tunnels, or arches to highlight your subject.

Rule of thirds

The rule of thirds is applied by aligning a subject with the guide lines and their intersection points, placing the horizon on the top or bottom line, or allowing linear features in the image to flow from section to section.

 

Depth of field (deep and shallow focus)
Depth of Field is defined as the range of acceptable focus on a shot or photograph.

Focus pulls

The focus pull is a creative camera technique in which you change focus during a shot. Usually this means adjusting the focus from one subject to another.

Mise-en-Scene

Production Design

The overall look of a film that illustrates the setting and visual style of the story. Includes the design of the sets, location choices, choice and supervision of props. Close collaboration with the Director concerning colour and mood are an important part of this job.

Location/Setting

The place where the scene happens.

Studio

A film studio is a major entertainment company that has its own privately owned studio facility/facilities that are used to make films, which is handled by the production company.

Set Design

All the scenery, furniture and props the audience sees make up the set design.

Costume and make up

The costumes and make up that the actors are dressed up in to match the scene and their character.

Properties (props)

An object used on stage or on screen by actions during a performace.

Lighting (available, artificial, key, fill, back, set, practical)

Available - any source of light that is not explicitlty supplied by the photographer for the purpose of taking photos.
Artificial - light created by lamps or light fixtures.
Key - used to highlight the form and dimensions of the subject.
Fill - a light used to eliminate or soften shadows caused by the key lighting.
Back - light source placed behind an actor, object, or scene to create a highlight that separates the subject from the background.
Set - light sources used to illuminate the set
Practical - light sources that are visible as models within the scene, e.g. lamps, TVs, etc.

Colour Design

Using colour to match the mood of the scene and represent the characters.

Sound analysis

Diegetic Sound

Diegetic sound is any sound presented as originated from a source within the film's world. Diegtic sound can be either on screen or off screen depending on whatever its source is within the frame or outside the frame.

Non-Diegetic Sound

Non-diegetic sound is sound whose origin is from outside the story world. Voice-overs are typically non-diegetic, since the narrations does not appear in the film's story world. Usually, the music soundtrack of a film is non-diegetic.

Synchronous Sound

Synchronous sound is sound that is matched to certain movements occuring in the scene e.g. when footsteps correspond to feet walking.

Asynchronous Sound

Asynchronous sounds match the action being performed however is not precisely synchronised with the action.

Sound effects

A sound other than speech or music made artificially for use in a film.

Sound motif

A motif is simply a detail repeated for a larger symbolic meaning. It refers to a sound effect or combination of sound effects that are associated with a particular character, setting, etc. through the film.

Sound bridge

Sound bridges are a form of transition that are used to stress the connection between both scenes since their mood (suggested by the music) is still the same.

Dialogue

A conversation between two or more characters in a film.

Voiceover

A piece of narration in a film or broadcast, not accompanied by an image of the speaker.

Mode of address/direct address

Mode of address simple means how the character speaks to the audience and involves them. It also refers to how a character influences the audience. Direct mode of address is when the character looks directly at the audience, or the writing speaks to "you".

Sound mixing

The process during the post-production stage of a film or a television program in which the collection of recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels along with adjusting the many attributes of the sounds such as the source signals' level.

Sound perspective

A sound's position in space as perceived by the viewer given by volume, timbre and pitch.

Sound tracks

An audio recording created or used in film production or post-production.

Score

A film score (also sometimes called background score, background music, movie soundtrack, film music or incidental music) is original music written specifically to accompany a film.

Incidental music

Music used in a film or play as a background to create or enhance a particular atmosphere.

Themes and stings

A theme is music that always accompanies this particular programme or character and suits its mood or themes. A sting is a short burst of music. 

Ambient sound

It is background sounds which are present in a scene or location, e.g. wind, water, birds, etc. Can be recorded on location or can be added to the soundtrack.       
       

Editing and representation

1. What is meant by the transition of image and sound?

A transition of sound is generally used to maintain the flow of the film into the next scene. This is usually done by removing all sound from a scene, perhaps inserting background music, and then fading in the sound from the next scene as it appears.
A transition of image is the moving from one scene to another. There are many different ways of carrying this out, perhaps fading a scene to black and then having the next scene fade in from black. Although there are many different ways to do this and often more complex transiitons are needed at dramatic moments in the film.

2. Explain, in your own words, why editing is so important.

Editing in a film is much more important than I think most people realise. Without at least some editing, the film would not flow well and would look choppy and unfinished, as well as unprofessional. The editing of a film allows the adjustment of minute things that make a world of difference to the finished product. Such things include audio levels, transitions and cuts, things that most of us take for granted in a film but if they weren't included the film would not be as enjoyable.

3. Find definition, examples and include brief analysis of the following types of cuts:

Shot/Reverse shot
Where one character is shown looking at another character (often off-screen), and then the other character is shown looking back at the first character
Eyeline Match
Begins with a character looking at something off-screen, followed by a cut of another object or person.
Graphic Match
Used to skip forward or backward in time while maintaining a continuity of action and creating a metaphorical link between the images that bookend the cut.
Jump Cut
An abrupt transition from one scene to another.
Crosscutting
Refers to intercutting a scene with portions of another scene, especially to heighten suspense by showing simultaneous action.
Parallel editing
The technique of alternating two or more scenes that often happen simultaneously but in different locations. If the scenes are simultaneous, they occasionally culminate in a single place, where the relevant parties confront each other. Similar to crosscutting.
Cutaway
The interruption of a continuously filmed action by inserting a view of something else.
Insert
A shot of part of a scene as filmed from a different angle and/or focal length from the master shot. They cover action already covered in the master shot, but emphasise a different aspect of that action due to the different framing.
Dissolve
A dissolve is a gradual transition from one image to another.
Cut
An abrupt, but usually trivial film transition from one sequence to another.
Fade-in, Fade-out
A gradual increase or decrease in the visibility of a scene.
Wipe
A type of transition where one shot replaces another by travelling from one side of the frame to another or with a special shape.
Superimposition
The placement of an image or video on top of an already-existing image or video, usually to add to the overall image effect, but also sometimes to conceal something.

Long take, short take
A long take is a shot lasting much longer than the conventional editing pace either of the film itself or of films in general. A short take is more or less the opposite; a shot lasting much shorter than the conventional pace.
Slow motion
An effect whereby time appears to be slowed down.
Ellipsis & expansion of time
An ellipsis is marked by an editing transition to omit a period or gap of time from the film's narrative. An expansion of time is where you make the duration of the video sequence longer than real-time.
Post production
Work done on a film or recording after filming or recording has taken place.
Visual effects
Sometimes abbreviated to VFX, visual effects are the processes by which imagery is created and/or manupulated outside the context of a live action shot.

The increase in/proliferation of hardware and software in the music industry has led to improvements in production practises. Discuss.

The increase in/proliferation of hardware and software in the music industry has led to improvements in production practices. Discuss.

Since the dawn of the computer and the internet, the music industry has expanded at an unprecedented speed due to the ease of access to creation tools and how many people can avail of these tools. Naturally, the big labels still exist and are still pumping out tune after tune as fast as possible for maximum income. However, due to companies making their software and hardware commercially available and not just for the big wigs at the top, thousands of people have been able to become musicians and producers in their own right, with their own judgment of their success.

Back in the mid to late 1900s, the music industry was becoming more public domain. The hardware and software necessary to start creating music was becoming available to the ordinary mortals in the public, and people picked up on. While it was, and certainly still is, extortionately expensive, people still jumped at the opportunity to make their very own music from the comfort of their very own bedroom, or even their very own studio.

Once the hardware and software became more easily accessible, more and more people started creating, producing and releasing their own music. In the 1970s, the genre of electronic music was born with the introduction of synthesisers and sampling. The hardware for this music was still incredibly expensive and only top production studios could afford to have the equipment, such as the studios in the BBC. The equipment was implemented to create things such as the Doctor Who theme song, one of the most iconic themes ever made for a TV show. Things like vocoders and portable synthesisers, used by artists such as Bob Marley, Michael Jackson and Electric Light Orchestra, became very popular and soon other companies began to follow suit with their own portable synths, like the ARP Odyssey. Vocoders are still used, albeit not as widely, but the sound is still alive and well thanks to songs by Pink Floyd, Phil Collins, T-Pain and Daft Punk. As well as these new innovations and inventions, things like effects pedals for electric instruments, more often than not made for the guitar, began making their way into music, with Jimi Hendrix being the most notable user of it. Into the late 70s, things had progressed quite far as we saw the introduction of hardware like the Roland CR-78 drum machine.

However, synthesisers as we know them only came into existence with the conception of MIDI, or Musical Instrument Digital Interface; the new standard for digital equipment. MIDI became the way to connect your digital instruments to your computer to record your music into the computer. MIDI became standardised in 1983 and with it came a wave of new technology that made it easier than ever to create your own music. A few years after MIDI’s standardisation, new, more affordable PCs were released that people could actually get their hands on, the most notable few being the Atari ST, the Commodore Amiga and the Apple Macintosh Classic. All these systems required external hardware to be controlled over MIDI. However, all of this had to go into something.

That something was the DAW, or Digital Audio Workstation. It was the control centre for all the MIDI instruments and effects necessary to make electronic music. The early DAWs, such as Cubase which released in ’89 and worked only on the Atari ST, or OctaMED which released in the same year which worked only on the Commodore Amiga, had few features and were pretty basic in comparison to the modern DAWs that we know and use today. Despite this, it became the cutting edge of music creation technology and the essential tool for creating electronic music. It could take the input from any MIDI instrument and then process it and put it through any amount of effects and distortion and create the exact sound desired. As the technology advanced more complex sounds could be achieved but with a simpler interface. The technology got more advanced, but it became easier to make the music, making it yet more accessible. Many other DAWs followed suit; the likes of GarageBand and FL Studio became incredibly easy to use, however they sacrificed the functionality of their programs. The manufacturers of these programs made an attempt to democratise their programs in the hopes of attracting more people to make music themselves, however in their attempt they angered some of their audience. Many thought that they could not do what they were previously able to do in past versions and that the program had been somewhat dumbed down. While many welcomed the change, there was certainly a backlash. While the programs like GarageBand were good enough for some people to make an entire song or some used it simply to get ideas down quickly, it simply did not offer the high standard of music production that artists had come to expect from it. While FL Studio could still be considered a complex DAW, it has its limitations. Many people who use either FL or GarageBand would still stand mouth agape at the Ableton Live UI. The professional electronic artists would consider learning the UI of a program like Ableton to be a big boost in ability; being able to actually use Ableton would lead to a much wider variety in a newcomers music and allow them to make exactly the sound they are looking for.

However, to actually make these sounds, they need something to make them on. This is where the modern synthesiser comes in. A lot of musicians will have upwards of 10 synthesisers that can store presets and different sounds, all making a unique tone. A lot of the synthesisers these days will also come pre-packed with their own presets. Many electronic artists, such as Kuedo and Machinedrum, will make great use of these presets, either using them as a basis for a new song or building an idea off of them. As Kuedo says “Presets should define the sound of the synth, and they should be built for musicians to practically use.” As well as this, samples can be used to create sounds based off of recorded sounds. Matthew Herbert is a great example of this, as he used creative microphone placement to record different sounds of a pig from its birth to it’s not-so-peaceful death and used the sounds in his song. Samples work by allowing the user to record a small snippet of noise and then modify the pitch, length and other properties of the sound, essentially turning it into a note that the user can manipulate the way it would any other sound. Herbert used the sounds he recorded of the pig and used them as samples throughout an entire album, “One Pig”.

While there are a plethora of new, professional electronic artists popping up all over the scene, there is still a massive underground market of amature, up-and-coming artists, and even those who simply want to play around with the technology that is so easily available to them. Synthesisers are much cheaper and there are plenty of entry level products that are suited to those just starting out in a music career. Things like MIDI keyboards are popular among the newcomers that they can plug into their DAW of choice and manipulate the sound to whatever they want. DAWs are incredibly easy to obtain, with companies like Apple shipping their new iMacs, MacBooks and iDevices with their custom made DAW, Garageband. However, with this accessibility comes a downfall. These DAWs are being redesigned to make it simple and easy for people of any skill level to create music. There is always a danger of becoming too simple and limiting an artist's creativity, and software like Garageband is tiptoe-ing rather precariously along this boundary line.

There is an argument for this simplification of the software, however, and it isn't just Apple doing this, while one could argue that they are leading the charge. These programs are becoming increasingly more democratised and widely available to everyone. This has lead to a vast increase in the amount of women being involved in music production. During the mid to late 1900s, music was very much a man's world. Nowadays, the availability and ease of use of these new DAWs means that it's even easier for women to get into the business and present something, almost as a proof of concept, that can prove that women can make music just as well as any other man can. The music industry is becoming a lot more universal and you can definitely see the increase in female artists, especially electronic artists. The more advanced DAWs still exist, and these new simplified DAWs can be used as a stepping stone into making more complex music, and allowing those who want to get into the industry a chance to see if music creation really is what they want to persue. The ease of use of recent DAWs like Garageband or FL Studio added to the availability of good equipment for good prices means that the world of music production is opened up to everyone; all you have to do is jump in.

So, has there actually been an improvement in production practices? Well, the short answer is yes. The hardware and the software has advanced so far that it has become quick and easy for even the top level professionals to make their music. If we hark back to the 1970s again and think of Delia Derbyshire, one of the main people working on the Doctor Who soundtrack and many others, we think of long, hard, manual labour. The production process was tedious; making exactly the right noise and then recording it and then splice the tape at the exact right time and then sellotape the lengths of tape together to finally create the full song. Nowadays, we click a few buttons on our computer screens, maybe we hit a few keys on a MIDI keyboard or hit a few buttons on a drum machine, and our song is there. In a fraction of the time it would have taken Delia to make a small part of her song, we have a full, listenable tune that we could go on to sell. Overall, there most definitely has been an improvement in production practices, and we will most definitely continue to see an improvement.