Research: Music Genres

Research: Music Genres

When it comes to the music industry a lot of people have different tastes, meaning that not all people want to listen to the same type of genre in music because they have different tastes.

Rock 

Rock music is considered to be a very popular genre, a lot of white males are into this genre. I rock culture typical conventions would be a musical band playing instruments such as the electric guitar and the drum and base, as well as have a lead singer in the group. A lot of rock music videos tend to be performance based with a little bit of concept and have little narrative/ no narrative, woman are also represented as equals to mean and they are not objectified with the notion of looking, as usually the band will wear similar clothes (a lot of the time being dark in colour.)

   

R&B 

R&B music is seen to be quite a popular genre of music, it is considered to be quite a low-key, relaxing and sexual genre of music. For this reason many men and women in a older and more mature age group listen to this kind of music. Notion of looking is seen to be quite popular in the music videos as the visuals tend to be as explicit as the lyrics. usually in R&B the structure of the music video can vary between performance, concept and narrative depending on the song and it's lyrics however star image is extremely common.

Hip-Hop

Hip-Hop music is one of the worlds most popular genres and it has a close relationship with pop music as it is considered to be very cool and in fashion with the people, meaning that this genre is not only common with young black people as it was in  the 90's. In Hip-Hop music videos the artist is always the star image and sometimes you will see a cameo of other artists appearing in the music video. (image on the right: Tyler the creator appears in future's 'Move That Dope' featuring Pusha-T and Pharrel.) A lot of micro elements are used to bring the music video together such as lighting and editing to display and glamourize material luxury items such as cars, clothes and jewellery.

Pop

The style of pop music is constantly changing, pop music has derived from rock 'n' roll. Pop music usually consists of a strong beat, catchy lyrics and they are kept short and sweet in order to remain more memorable. 'Pop' music is an abbreviation or popular music,  popular music began to come around in the 1950's. There are numerous pop artists in the music industry as pop music can include a variety of other music styles and genres such as; jazz, country and rock and roll. Danny and the Juniors were just one of the many pop bands that originated in the 50's.

Xmas 

Within the genre of Christmas music there are usually two subsections. The first,

being solely focused of hymns, church songs and tradition, religious carols, the other side the Christmas music is more so focused on the nonreligious aspects, such as Father Christmas, the winter season, presents and reindeer. Xmas music is extremely

 festive and almost always includes an up beat tempo. the music videos often focus on family settings, gift giving, snow and big feasts; these are all conventional of Christmas time.

Indie

The Indie music genre has numerous subgenres within it, for instance; indie-pop, indie-rock and indie-metal. Indie is an abbreviation for independent, many people perceive indie music as lacking an affiliation with a major cooperation. Indie music is non-traditional and outside of the box. the music videos from this genre are often creative and powerful. Florence and The Machine, Radiohead and muse are all well known indie artists. Indie music videos often incorporate abstract ideas, colours ranging from rainbows to dark and gloomy backgrounds.

Country

Country music originated in the southern US. This genre is well known for it's use of the following instruments; guitar, fiddle, banjo and steel guitar. It often includes a fair amount of country slang and abbreviations. Country music has specific ideologies, the music videos tend to feature the outsides, exposing land/field-like areas. a stereotype of Country music is that all songs within the genre involve cowboys, boots and the mentioning of living life down south, whereas in actuality it can consist of deep, meaningful and emotional lyrics.

House

House music is somewhat of a modern music genre as it originated in the 1980's in Chicago, it has been influenced by funk and soul. House music usually has a prominent drum beat as this is the genre that is well-known for its dance-provoking beats.

However not everyone has the same genre preferences, some peoples tastes lay in between more than 1 genre and this is how the the hybrid genres are created. A hybrid genre is the combination between more than one genre to make a new sound. In most cases this genre and the artists will continue to make this new genre of music, however as an example of a hybrid genre of music I have chosen Nas ft. Amy Winehouse - Cherry wine. This is a collaboration single between two very different artists. (Nas belonging to rap and Amy blues/jazz music) The beat of the song is a blues type with Amy singing on the chorus and Nas rapping through the verses, the single was a success as it has nearly secured 6million views on YouTube. Combining genres of music is good as it can combine two different genres of music and create a new sound as well as merging the fanbases of two different genres giving the product a bigger audience and there for increasing the likeliness of it's success.

As well as the other genres mentioned above, here are some other genres that i have come across during my research on the topic listed on the image below.

It is understandable that you may not know of some of these genres. This is because not all of these genres are mainstream within the industry. The less known genres belong to a category called niche music, which is the counterpart to mainstream music. Niche genres belong more so to the subculture that the music genre stems and originates from, hence the reason why it would be unknown because a mainstream audience wouldn't know much about it. It is easy to spot that it belongs to this category as usually the music video would be rather low budget as not much attention is being shown to it and it does not have the financial backing of a mainstream genre.

The music video that I will be creating will be mainstream rap and R&B meaning that I will have to make my music video look high budget.

Research: Goodwin's Theory on music videos

Goodwin's Theory on music videos

After analysing various music videos, Andrew Goodwin came up with a theory. He states that most conventional music videos follow these 8 ideas:

1. Different genres show different characteristics.
2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals.
3. There is a relationship between the music and the visuals.
4. There is usually a star image motif.
5. Music videos present a notion of looking.
6. Intertextual reference is shown.
7. The structure of the music video is either performance, narrative or concept based.
8. Technical elements are shown.

I believe that this theory is realistic however I think that the majority of these points are based around mainstream music videos.

Genre characteristics

Different genres of music have different characteristics and conventions in them. This is stuff you usually expect to see and do see in these different genres of music, here are some examples I have already whilst researching and analysing different genres of music.

Without these conventions the fans would stop watching the artists music videos because they are no longer giving them what they want and expect to see. However if every music video had the exact same thing the fans would get bored of watching the same things, so artists tend to switch different aspects every now and then and add new things to keep the viewers entertained and interested.

Relationship between lyrics and visuals

In music videos one factor that is almost guaranteed is the relationship between the lyrics and the music video, this can either be someone lisping the lyrics in the music video which is preferably the artist. Or things such as situations, material objects or people mentioned you would expect to see some form of relation to the lyrics on screen.

In the lyrics you should expect 1 of the 3:
- Lyrics being amplified. When an artist exaggerates lyrics but there is still a link with the music video. 

- Lyrics being used as a narrative to the music video. (what is said happens) An example of this is Rap Man - Blue Story prt.1,2 & 3. 

- Contradicting lyrics. When the exact opposite is happening in the music video in comparison to the lyrics which you can usually find in a parody music video.

Relationship between music and visuals
Although the relationship between music video and lyrics is almost certain the relationship between music and visuals is 9/10 expected.

This could range from the edits in the video itself based around the beat (for example cuts between clips) or if the beat has a certain rhythm you can expect the lighting to flash with it. 

Another this is the the vibe of the music video to match the vibe of the music. A example of this is Will Smith - Miami, This is because the music in the song is uplifting and the music video matches this in terms of lighting scenery and all round vibe. 

Star Image motifs

In music videos the main artist is usually at the center of attention this is down to the choreographer and the record labels management, this will usually be the case because they want to give the artist credit for their work and they also want the people to get used to seeing their face as they are potential fans. Another sign as to if they are the star in the music video is that you see them more than anyone else and they are usually found lipsing the lyrics.

An example of this is Nicki Minaj - Anaconda. As you can see in this music video there is a lot going on but Nicki is always found at the center of attention and lipsing the lyrics of the song. Another Technique in the music video is the cameo, a cameo is when another star appears in a music video without them playing any direct part in the video its almost like a random appearance, in the last few minutes of the video we see drake appear in Nicki's video as she is dancing on him. 

Notion of looking

Nicki Minaj Anaconda track covers yet another factor in Goodwin's theory called the notion of looking, this is when the camera is strongly focused on what is usually the female body but is now recently common with males also. Through notion of looking people are objectified and are seen in a sexual manner because they are presented in the camera flaunting these features. This is strongly used in the music videos from Nicki Minaj and Rihanna due to their sexually explicit lyrics.  

Intertextual references
Intertextual reference is very similar to a metaphor or a cameo because in the music video someone or an incident might happen/ appear in the music video for no specific reason.

An example of this is in Eminem's music video 'Without Me' where rap artist Eminem is shown strongly resembling the cartoon character 'Robin' (from 'Bat-Man & Robin')and producer that signed him Dr. Dre showing some resemblance to 'Bat-Man'. (Him being the leader because he signed Eminem so he would be seen as the leader and Eminem the sidekick.)  

  
Performance, narrative or concept based?
In music videos the structure of them is either one of the three. 

• Narrative based. - Meaning that there is a narrative behind the music video and a story to be told, whether it follows the lyrics or not its clear to the viewers whats going on and easy for them to follow the narrative like R.Kelly's 'T'rapped in the closet' chapters below. 

• Performance based. - If the music video is a performance type then its similar to a concert and usually the star artist will perform to song in front of the camera with backup singers/ dancing acts. An example of this is Usher - Good Kisser. 

• Concept based. - A concept video is seen as quite random and usually has nothing to do with the lyrics or the video its just a random display of anything and it is often shown in animation format like Cee-Lo Green's 'Crazy'

Sometimes they can be crossed over and have 2 structure types used but it doesn't work for all three in one video. an example of 2 structures being performance and narrative would be 'Bad Blood' performed by Taylor Swift. Which also has intextual reference to friend turned rival, Katie Perry.

Technical elements

Technical elements in music videos is where the micro elements in the video are used to compliment and define the genre. For example the micro elements of Mise En Scene's high pitch lighting and flashy costume as well as high concept movie resembling cinematography in Bad Blood helps us to understand that it is a song that belong to the pop genre.

Conclusion on the Theory

To conclude I believe that this theory is effective especially in terms of when being used for high concept songs coming from the pop genre. I also believe that it is good to use when you what to define what genre a music video belongs to because you find a pattern in all music videos from the same performance genre. I worked with josh and we filled out this table whilst analysing Eminem's 'The way I am' and this is what we found out about it.  

Research: The purpose to music videos

Research: The purpose to music videos

Introduction 

In the music industry music videos have played an extremely big part in the success of many big name artists we see today. Whether it is seen in a bad light with controversy and confusion like Madonna, or a positive public message to the people like the late Michael Jackson they have always been entertaining to watch and never short of imagination and creativity.

What exactly is a music video and what's the purpose of it?

A music video is the visual interpretation to the song that is produced by an artist or musician. It is also another part of the media and music videos synergy as it is another media platform used to go hand in hand with the sound track. The purpose of it is to give the fans and audience a visual entertainment to go along with the song, the video can be used for many things such as:

• Promoting a newly released movie, which will usually include parts of the movie in the video. - Weeknd Earned it (for Fifty Shades of Grey.)  

• It could hold a political message. - George Michael Outside which was a political messaged regarding homosexuality. 

• To increase awareness about either the artist themselves or their upcoming album. - Krept and Konan's freak of the week released to promote their new album The Long Way Home.

 Conventions of a music video

Music videos have many conventions, a lot of them strongly depend on the genre of the song and artist, for example pop songs and there music videos seem to be very fast paced uplifting and energetic and the music videos response to this is fast paced editing bright lighting to make it work with the beat of the song. (Chosen example Rita Ora - Hot Right Now)



Where as if it was a hip-hop song the beat is very low pitched and it has dark lighting only focusing on important conventions and aspects to the genre such as women chains cars and big houses and maybe the rapper/ artist himself. (chosen example 50 Cent ft. Olivia - Candy shop) 

However there are classic conventions that you will see often in most music videos for example usually there is a star performance, which is usually the artist themselves appearing in the music video or there is someone lisping the lyrics of the song in the video. These two are seen as the most relevant as they give the music video a true meaning otherwise the music video wouldn't have much to do with the song which would make the audience lose interest in the video.

Music videos must have a relationship with the other aspects of the music industries synergy to be a success with the fans and to get more coverage:

• Radio (where the soundtrack will get played.)
• TV where the music video itself is presented to a worldwide audience on channels like MTV.(50 cent candy shop on MTV)

• Print media where cover art may be used as promotion for either the single or the whole album/mixtape (The hit single may be noted that it is included in the album.) 
• The film, usually if a soundtrack is made for a movie in particular it will be played at some point in the movie and if not in the credits.

• Internet where the music video can be streamed on the internet whenever viewers want to see it. websites like YouTube can provide this. (As you can see YouTube is being used to stream the music videos on this blog post.)

Impact on the audience

From the early ages of music videos and even more so now there has be a huge demand in music videos from fans. It seems like if an audio soundtrack is released and it is quite popular fans ask for the music video to be released.

Sometimes music videos happen to be a bigger success then the soundtrack itself or it creates more attention than the soundtrack, this has happened many time with both female pop artists Madonna, (Like a prayer) and Rhianna (We Found Love).

Factors threatening the music video industry

With the advancement of technology and time constant threats to end and change the music industry are being made. Applications like Spotify and even iTunes which is building more accounts and a bigger fan base everyday because its  an Apple product and these applications use the soundtrack and exclude the music video. Another problem is censorship on the internet meaning that if a music video is seen as inappropriate then it can be taken off of the internet. Also some amateur artists are getting more coverage for doing their cover to a famous artists song. So now artists such as Justin Timberlake, jay-Z and Beyoncé have gotten behind Tidal, an application where you have to pay monthly subscription to watch the latest music videos, which is causing problems with the relationship between fans and the artists.