This is the my plan of research for different music genres, where the music comes from and other debatable topics within the music industry.
It helped me to understand what information I know already, what I need to find out and how I will find it out.

I briefly analysed a number of CD covers in order to see the range of covers on the market and how a specific genre is reflected.

What makes an affective album cover?
In order for an audience to be enticed into buying a CD/Album, there are many small things that could make the biggest difference to a cover. Minimal things such as the font of the text, colour scheme and imagery can convey the most complex messages but also the most simplest messages depending on how you interpret it.
Audiences usually enjoy album covers that can be interpreted in many ways due to intriguing imagery. If an album cover is shocking, more people will remember it and talk about it. People also enjoy a cover that they can identify with or that educates/informs them about different cultures or genres etc, this relates to the uses and gratifications theory and how people use the media.

Album Analysis
'Nas - Stillmatic'
The text on Nas' CD cover reads 'StillMatic' in graffiti style writing. The font itself shows that Nas may have come from a slightly 'Ghetto' background and the 'still' part emphasises that Nas is still that person and regardless of his routes, he has still made it as a rap artist. His appearance in the orange valore tracksuit symbolises that he can fit into fashion and what was popular in that time, the fact that it is valore also suggests he is wealthy and proud of it. This is further emphasised by his heavy jewellery which is on show, clear for us to see. One of the values that Nas lives up to is that your physical appearance is important in the music industry, also you need to show off and have a lot of jewellery to look good.
The Pigeon sitting on the wall next to Nas can be interpreted in different ways. I saw it as a way of Nas using it because it could have connotations of being high/flying high - (status-wise).
Nas is posing in a way which is typical to all rapstars which suggests that he is trying to conform to typical standards and stereotypes of rap artists and therefore reinforcing their image within that genre.

Analysis 2
JLo - 'J to tha Lo' - The Remixes
This album cover is mainly of Jennifer Lopez and photos of her in a collage style. The use of many different colours (bright) shows her personality portraying her as a fun person who is into having fun. Also, the colours reflect her genre of music as we can see her in clubs, dancing, showing off which is reflective of an RnB/Pop genre.
Jennifer's name is written on the front of the cover reading 'J-Lo' which for one, is a catchy nickname so she has been branded which reinforces her identity as a musician and the unique selling point of having a different name so more people are likely to remember it.
The collage of just herself from music videos allows us as the audience to be reminded of past good tracks from our favourite artists. This relates to the Uses and Gratifications theory where people are informed on what kind of people JLo is and can possibly identify with her providing we are a young, fun, enjoy singing and partying and generally having fun.
Her poses and facial expressions are quite seductive suggesting that this is what the audience expected of her and she reinforces the stereotype of latino's being 'Sexy'.
The values and beliefs that Jennifer portrays is that you have to be seductive in order to gain good reception from the audience (of both male and female gender) and you have to look good in order to be successful in the music industry.
She believes that life should be about having fun and experiencing many different things and doing what you love - in her case, music.
Jennifer Lopez believes, by referring to a quote - "If you've got it, flaunt it". She shows her body quite a lot on the cover and in videos through the clothing that she wears. She flaunts her body simply because she can. It is desirable to men specifically so that the target market is made wider for more popularity, but from a male's perspective, this is and example of Laura Mulvey's 'Male Gaze' where the male audience gain pleasure from observing a female in this way. JLo's image could also be appealing to a female audience because girls may look up to her as she is an attractive person and is successful, so they choose to 'narcissistically identify' with her.

Visual image in music

I carried out marketing research on a famous artist called Trey Songz, and looked at how he is presented, his genre of music, his image and the values and beliefs he represents.

Trey Songz - Jupiter Love; Trey Songz - Already Taken

Trey Songz is RnB/Hip - Hop artists whose tracks is usually slow and relate to love, pain and success, hence his album ‘Passion, Pain and Pleasure. The picture presented where Trey Songz is shirtless, sexualises him which reinforces his reputation of being an RnB artist. Also his pose is quite calm, and he is holding himself which could have connotations of holding a loved one which relates to the type of songs he makes.  The image had been constructed in this way because it is suitable to the genre of music he makes.

An artist who he is similar to is Tyrese Gibson. In the images, they both have a similar pose, both shirtless, and Tyrese often sings about Relationships, love and other intimate topics too. Because these artists are so similar, it may put audiences off one of the artists where they only like Tyrese, or they on like Trey. This relates to the uses and gratification theory where audiences will choose the media and music that meet their needs and music that targets them specifically that they can relate to. This will help with my project because it has made me realise that I will need to make sure I market my artist as uniquely as possible and make sure he/she/they are not similar to any other existing artist already otherwise audiences may not be interested in their music.

Tyrese – One; Tyrese – Signs of love making

Values and beliefs Trey Songz represents:

-          Having a toned, muscly body is important in a male

-          Tattoos (chest) are a his way of expressing his love for his family – “To God I pray may April’s showers rain down on her Forrest and Grow the strength that started with one Rose”
April is his mother's name, Forrest is his little brother's name and Rose is his grandma's name

-          Importance of relationships and how he loves his girlfriend through his music

Visual image is important in the pop industry because the media has made it this way. They establish a way of telling a male or female how to look and making it obvious that this is the way they SHOULD look. By constructing this appearance, people become more self-conscious about themselves and try and follow this trend. For example in x-factor, artists tend to have their own fashion style throughout the show, but winners such as Leona Lewis, her image has been modified over the years and become more daring in some of her music videos such as ‘Bleeding love’. When marketing my artist, I need to ensure their image isn’t out-dated and also doesn’t blend in with anyone else’s image otherwise my artist won’t get noticed.

How important in Visual Image in the Music Industry?

Visual image in music:

In order for an artist to be successful, they need to have a lasting significance, meaning the records that they release must be consistently good. Someone who releases one good track and you don’t hear from them again is an example of not such a successful artist. From reading an article explaining the ‘Star Theory’, it stated that stars are a perfected/modified image. They aren’t real, simply constructed from a range of materials; this could be advertising, magazines, films etc. TV Shows such as Pop stars clearly shows the construction of a young aspiring artist. The artist would start off as an ordinary teenager, but the further they get in the competition; they become more groomed, styled and coached in order to fulfil a set of record company expectations. As audiences and public ourselves, we like to believe in and relate to artists who are their own, and our constructions instead of something simple and the same as everything else which we have seen too many times which is what a record company is likely to turn you into.

Stars are manufactured by the music industry to serve a purpose, this purpose is to make money out of audiences and is done by making sure the persona of the star appeals to them so that they buy records and become fans.

We know that visual image is modified by record companies because in X-Factor or Pop Idol, the producers and marketers tend to manufacture the artist into what the audiences want, and essentially ‘photocopying’ the style of another artist. E.G: Boy bands/teen bands that appear on these shows tend to look and act the same as boy bands in the music industry already.

What is seen as 'acceptable' in a society changes over time and people often want to see something different rather than copies/clones of the same artist. A change in image helps to keep the audience interested which is key within the music industry. It is important to stay relevant to young audiences otherwise they won't be interested in what music you make if it doesn't relate to them. It could be argued that stars provide audiences with a focus for ideas of what people are supposed to be/look like and it is up to the audience whether they want to create a homogenous culture and conform to these values, E.G: Being thin and beautiful if you are a woman.

An example of a huge start whose image has been shaped by their manager is Kylie Minogue. She started off as quite an innocent 'model next door' girl in her initial videos. As time went on she took on more of a 'sexy' image as society's expectations of what a pop artist should look like, changed. This new appearance made Kylie Minogue feel more comfortable with herself and she grew in confidence. He music also reflected her growing up and becoming more independent and sophisticated, for example in the video 'Chocolate' (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_EmAwSVeOE). It could be argued that Kylie was embracing her sexuality and become sexy because she wanted to, or is it really because she had an aim to stay current because of her age which puts her at a slight disadvantage within the music industry. Audiences usually like music from artists who are viable and can change with the time just as long as you don't look the same as all the other artists.

In Kylie's video 'Can't get you out of head', (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rfr9bhSmfXc) we see Kylie in control of the car and mechanisms which conflicts with the expected role of a female in a car which would be to be sitting in the passenger seat.

Audiences become fans of artists because of particular values and beliefs that the artist portrays in their music. Other reasons why audienced become fans is because they have aspirations to be like that artist, so start to dress and act like that person. This also gives us a sense of personal attachment to that artist. This relates to the uses and gratifications theory where audiences identify with the artists.

The changing image of Kylie Minogue:
From young and innocent, to mature, grown, and 'sexy'.

Why do audiences listen to music? / What do audiences like? / The importance of visual image to them?

Audiences have many reasons for listening to music. I found that this is because it is a way for people to relate to the lyrics/messages of the song. They almost feel like the artist is singing for them because the messages sent may be exactly what the listener was thinking. Audiences also listen to music as a form of entertainment and escapism. It helps them to forget about stressors and just relax for a while. Another reason why music is largely listened to is because some people follow their friends from a hype that is generated amongst a group of people who you may associate yourself with and this would incline you to want to listen to the artist too.
Audiences like music which they feel targets them and they can understand as they may be in the same situation or strive for the same things in life. The people who took part in my survey stated that they feel visual image is what makes a person who they are because when we see a new artist, the first thing we see and comment on is the way they look, so it is important to keep up with the mainstream and what is popular in order to have a lasting significance. 

The Music Industry

Getting Started in the music industry:

Music studio with EQUIPMENT

There are many things an aspiring artist needs to take into consideration before really trying to put themselves out there. To start off, if you are in a band for example, it is very important that the people around you and people behind you and people in your group all want to be on the same thing and ideas. All artists must make sure that they have a raw passion for music and therefore always thrive to learn something new. If artists aren’t serious about what they are doing or don’t know exactly what they want to gain from the music industry then there is no space for that as the music industry is a very competitive place. Having equipment is obviously a big part of an artist developing their skills, having a studio, simulators and instruments is essential so that aspiring artists can record themselves and their work, listen back to it, and notice particular aspects that they may decide to alter.

Practice is a fundamental aspect when trying to make it into the music industry as no artist can possibly make good music without producing over and over again, tweaking parts of their music that they may not be 100% happy with or taking on advice from other people.

Being a DJ looks at the type of music that is popular at the time. So when it comes to parties or raves, the people who attend are sure to hear the latest top tracks. Being a DJ requires you to know exactly what you are doing because it isn’t easy to get the hang of all the functions on the decks, you also need to ensure you know how to set everything up correctly and efficiently in order to be a successful DJ, which is proving to be a very accessible but competitive industry nowadays. One of the DJ’s from a clip stated ‘professionalism outweighs talent’, by this he meant that in order for you to get into the music industry you must be dedicated to it fully, people want to do business with dedicated artists, not people who are in two minds whether to turn up to practice or not.

In order to secure the successfulness of an upcoming artist, it is important to be known in outer areas rather than just where you live, the more people that know you, the more people are talking about you and you gain more publicity this way. So being part of a community and network of many people who speak to and help each other is important. This is why a lot of artists use sites such as MySpace and Facebook as these sites are used by millions of people and it is a way of promoting themselves to a wider audience. When you are part of a community, this is helpful because it is easier to find gigs to attend and get involved with other music events and in the end it will make it easier to climb the musical ladder.

A lot of artists don’t recognise their fans and don’t show gratefulness for the fans feedback or support, this won’t make it easy for an artist to make it into the music industry because if fans feel unwanted and unappreciated, they will begin to not support you as an artist. Honest opinions from the audience and friends and family are VITAL in order for you to gain a true reflection of how good you are. Friends or family are likely to give false hope and tell you that you’re an excellent artist when you may need to work on a few things before trying to make it into the music industry. If you are given false hope, when you try and enter the music industry, you will get a hit of reality which makes you contemplate whether you are completely serious about what you want to do and be willing to take on professional advice from very critical people. Some may even say that your work is rubbish and needs changing completely, if you can’t take on constructive criticism then the music industry isn’t the place you would want to put yourself into.

A member of Foo Fighters stated that Drug use within the industry is never good and it can ruin your chances of getting into music and even staying successful for a long time. So no matter how much bad feedback you may get or people who are discouraging you, resulting drugs will put you in an even worse position.

Getting noticed

Toddla T said that as a musical artist you must make sure that your work is so tight and on point to the point where you can’t possibly change anything else to make It any better. If you are in this position, it is essential that you create a ‘buzz’ where lots of people start sharing and recommending your music to friends, this is the most quickest way of advertising yourself and becoming noticed by thousands, one remarkable record can start the buzz off. Toddla T’s way of creating a buzz for his music was giving mixtapes away for free to start off, so that people would be more inclined to listen to it because people aren’t likely to pay for your mixtape if they have never heard of you before.

Chipmunk said that in order to be a successful music artist you need to be noticed everywhere by loads of people, and this can be done by jumping infront of camera’s at raves and stating your name, you musical site that promotes your music (MySpace) and telling people to give it a listen. People are more likely to take notice of you and remember you that way.

Web presence helps promotion of yourself a lot, but it is important that you have a unique selling point that makes you stand out completely from everyone else because no one wants to see a copy or someone similar to an artist that already exists because we already have that kind of artist. This is what needs to be considered when I market my artist. Me and the artist must reflect on the kind of music they want to make and ensure that it is as unique as possible so that marketing my artist would turn out a lot more successful.

Image is important in the music industry also, it is essential that you be yourself in the way you dress and not copy any other famous artists dress sense otherwise you will end up looking the same and audiences will be put off you as an artist. I must make sure that when I market my artist, their image is unique and not the same as other artists that already exist within the music industry.

The Structure of the Music Industry

There is a relationship between Institutions, Audiences and ‘Creatives’ within the music industry. They are all interdependent in some way or another. (‘Symbiotic’ relationship)

Institutions rely on audiences to be purchasing the CD’s and records they sell. For example HMV and Sainsbury’s distribute the content for audiences to buy. They have a way of targeting the audience in a specific way and this is what attracts the audience. Audiences rely on these institutions to provide them with the music for them to purchase.

‘Creatives’ are the people who come up with the ideas for a product, then present it to the institution who will fund and distribute their products. The music has to be good and institutions have to be convinced that they can make money from it otherwise they won’t sell it. This shows their interdependent relationship and how they rely on each other in order to make the most money possible from music.

Audiences rely on ‘creatives’ to have the best ideas and skills to create enjoyable products that specifically targets them, otherwise they won’t be interested and the music industry will lose out on profit. ‘Creatives’ rely on the audiences as their source of money as they are the ones who will be buying the products, which is why there is pressure for ‘creatives’ such as record labels to make good music that targets a wide audience.

In the end, it is evident that Institutions, audiences and ‘creatives’ all rely upon each other and care about the money that comes into the, so it is important that the music that is being made is good and appeals to audiences otherwise not much money would be generated.

Issues and Debates within the music industry: SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES

Social networking sites overthrow the popularity of albums because the ability to download music off social networking sites is becoming more available to consumers. They are a threat to paper downloading music industries and cause industries to lose out on money. For example iTunes is losing out on sales because of social media networks where you can get the music for free.

There is a symbiotic relationship between social networking sites and other businesses because sites such as Yahoo have recently created Yahoo Music where music content is available to Yahoo users. Yahoo relies on businesses to bring the music to them to increase the popularity of their site, and businesses rely on social networking sites in order to promote the music from a particular record label for example.

Yahoo Music Website: http://new.music.yahoo.com/

Social networking sites are an example of ‘convergence’ because they now go beyond just socialising and communicating with friends and other people around you. You have the ability to upload videos, music and other content which can be viewed by a big community. From this, word-of-mouth takes place, where consumers recommend a song that they really like to their friends, then share it to them, and that friend does the same, and so on and ultimately promoting the artist to many people. This is also an example of when an artist or song goes ‘viral’ where they have been seen/heard of everywhere through the use of social networking sites.