Video conference on song choice

Audience Research Survey

As part of our research into music videos we sent out a questionnaire to 19 people, all aged between 16-18, asking them about their consumption of Indie music and how important music videos are.

(my graphs show the highest response for both gender);

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our results show that females were more like to listen to indie music, that they see music videos as important and that their opinions on a song are more likely to be influenced by a music video than males.

This will be important when it comes to planning our own music video, as it suggests who our target audience should be.

Reception Theory

Reception theory

·         Given that the Effects model and the Uses and Gratifications have their problems and limitations a different approach to audiences was developed by the academic Stuart Hall at Birmingham University in the 1970s.

·         This considered how texts were encoded with meaning by producers and the decoded (understood) by audiences.

The theory suggests that:

·         When a producer constructs a text it is encoded with a meaning or message that the producer wishes to convey to the audience.

·         In some instances audiences will correctly decode the message or meaning and understand what the producer was trying to say.

·         In some instances the audience will either reject or fail to understand the message.

Stuart hall identified three types of audience readings of the text:

1.       Dominant or preferred

2.       Negotiated

3.       Oppositional

Dominant - audience decodes the message as the producer wants them to do.

Negotiated - audience accepts, rejects or refines elements of the text in light of previous held views.

Oppositional - where the dominant meaning is recognised but rejected for cultural, political or ideological reasons. 

Textual Analysis - Olly Murs

Textual analysis- Olly Murs- Right Place, Right Time

Olly Murs was born on the 14^th of May 1984. He is an English singer-songwriter, musician and television presenter. He rose to fame after finishing as the runner-up in the sixth series of The Xfactor in 2009. He is currently signed to Epic Records in the United Kingdom, Columbia Records in the United States, and Syco Music.

I have chosen to do my textual analysis on the song ‘Right Place Right Time’ by Olly Murs. The song was released on the 23^rd of November 2013. I have chosen this song because it has been released this year and there are many features to talk about. The song is an upbeat, pop song and has a particularly young audience. Olly Murs is presented in a good light for the audience and there are lots of images of him being a genuine person. This is a rare experience in today’s limelight as many artists are presented as to what their specific audience want to see and not for whom they actually are.

 

Andrew Goodwin’s’ writing in ‘Dancing in the Distraction Factory’ argued that many music videos shared 6 generic conventions. In this particular video there are intertextual references to in particular; TV programmes and other popular cultures. There are references to ‘The Xfactor’ and the ‘comic relief’ challenge programme that is on every year. These will have been shown in the music video to show were Olly Murs started in terms of his music career and also to show him taking part in charity events to show his audience that he is genuine and isn't self-centred and vain.

In this music video there are lots of close-ups of Olly Murs. This is to sell the artist as well as the record. He has a large female fan base and they will want to see images of him as well as listen to the track. Many people will argue that this video is more to promote the artist more than the song, as this will attract more album sales with the females. This is a sales technique used by many artists in todays era so is expected form producers. However, compared to videos such as 'Miley Cyrus - We Cant Stop', this video attracts good publicity rather than the bad due to Olly Murs' good reputation.

How is the music industry regulated?

·         The music industry is mostly a self-regulated organisation. But just as any other industry it has to have regulators to protect all the people involved in the production and realisation of a song, cd, a concert etc. (copyright, trade, music representation).

·         The most important are: BASCA, APRS, MPA, PRS, BPI and OFCOM. Although all these companies have different aims the vision is the same: - keep the music industry alive. However the fact that technology is evolving so fast, makes it even harder for them to protect every single detail.

 

·         The internet, Is the most used media in the world, but some times that is not a good thing. Sometimes songs come out to the public long before the official release prejudicing the sales.

·        Tighter regulations on sexualised music videos and a single portal for parents to complain about products that are inappropriate for children are to be proposed by a government report into the sexualisation and commercialisation of childhood.

·         The music industry is expected to be told to put some kind of advisory age rating such as films have on music videos. Earlier this week the pop star Rihanna was unrepentant for filming a music video in which she shoots someone who raped her. She has faced massive criticism from parent groups in America.

 

In my opinion the music industry is right to have these regulations because I do believe that some of the content in music videos is inappropriate for the younger generation. Children can access YouTube easily now due to the development of new technologies so it is inevitable that they are more than likely going to see some inappropriate images and possibly try to copy them. The cultivation theory supports this statement. One example of this is the recent video from Miley Cyrus. In this video she has very little clothing on and has been produced into a completely different image that we are not used to seeing. This could cause children to copy this image and in effect want to become her. I believe the producers are to blame for these inappropriate images as they are moulding an artist to be something they’re not.