Research: Censorship

What is music censorship?

Music censorship is the process of which a music video or a song will be censored by having the explicit section cut out, or in worse cases moving to ban the entire song through a main censorship institution. The BBFC control anything that is allowed or suitable to be produced and viewed in the United Kingdom and not global. They are the general commanders or head inspectors of the British film industry in terms of deciding whether a film should be banned, cut or censored. They have a main role and that is to protect the British viewing public from any offensive material or anything that could possibly cause harm to society, such as the visible promotion of violence and sexual assault. The BBFC are important in terms of providing safety and protection to a mass audience, and protecting those watching from viewing something so bad it may have the power to psychologically damage the viewer. For the music industry, there are different ways in which music can be censored, mainly by the label or the institution distributing it, this is to ensure that the reaction and feedback is less negative than how it would be if the uncensored version was released. An example of this is where ‘Judas’ by Lady Gaga, was banned in Lebanon as it was deemed an offense towards Christianity. 

Difference explicit content and explicit lyrics

Explicit content is anything in a music video seen as inappropriate for viewers under the age of 18. Content of an explicit nature is most likely to be evidently seen within the structure of a music video, whether it is a scenario or an action between the characters in the video. Examples of this would be the representation of violence, nudity, sexual content and realism, this could include a scene in which a male character is violently inflicting sexual assault on a female character, this would require censorship due to the content. An another example of this would be Serge Gainsbourgs’ Lemon Incest video, in which French music artist Serge was in bed with his 12-year-old daughter at the time, Charlotte. It caused controversy due to its glamorizing of pedophilia and incest, both due to her age and their relation. MIA’s Born Free video also caused controversy, as the 9-minute video showed red headed young men being dragged away by armed men wearing gas masks, with the youngest of the men later shot in the head. It was removed entirely as it was deemed too violent for user uploaded content, however it still managed to receive positive critical acclaim in 2010. The ‘Parental Advisory’ logo is seen on the back of CD covers, and allows the buyer to understand that the CD contains explicit content and/or explicit lyrics. Due to this being there, it allows the audience to challenge their decision to buy the CD and risk anyone under the age of 18 to view the content.

Explicit lyrics is any lyric in a song viewed as inappropriate for listeners under the age of 18. Lyrics of an explicit nature will most likely be evident in a song without the video as it is within the song structure and not the video structure, this could include a section or the entire song. An example of this is Eminems’ Mosh Pit lyrics where he indirectly mocks President George W. Bush at the time of the song, ‘Let the president answer a higher anarchy, strap him with an AK-47, let him go, fight his own war’, described as a protest song by Eminem in reaction to the presidents fight with the Middle East. Because of this, the explicit version was censored and re-released as a clean version in order to appease audiences and viewers, it was so explicit the CIA were involved. The ‘Parental Advisory’ logo is often displayed on the back of a CD cover, with the intention that the buyer will see this and understand they are exposing their mind to explicit content. The logo is used for both content and lyrics because they are still under the ‘explicit’ category.

Further Examples...

The type of things that get censored, is content that promote and glamorize unsuitable representations of violence, sexual orientations and excessive nudity. In some cases, the representations may not be too explicit to be censored, and instead be mildly explicit allowing for viewers under the age of 18 to view and listen to the content. The artist may say words like ‘shit’ or ‘f***’ once or twice, and language of this nature wouldn’t be particularly censored as in some songs it may not be used often and could come across just once or twice in the song.  There are many songs in the music industry being censored with the explicit version kept somewhere away from the audience in order to protect them, or younger audience being exposed to this, offensive taboo words get replaced with something cleaner or just ‘bleeped’ and the explicit visual sections are either trimmed or entirely removed.

Michael Jackson’s They Don’t Care About Us, caused huge controversy due to the content originally shown to the audience. Initially a protest song over the way the government looked down and dealt with the less advanced civilians, the lyrics were what encouraged a censorship in the song. It was considered antisemitism, which as a sort of hate crime against the Jewish community, ‘Jew me, sue me, everybody do me/ Kick me, k-ke me, don’t you black or white me’. Due to persistent public complaining over the clear explicit lyrics, the lyrics were then changed to, ‘Do me, sue me, everybody do me/ Kick me, strike me, don’t you black and white me’, with Michael Jackson having to apology for this.

Another example of a song censored from the audience due to its explicit nature is Katy Perry’s Last Friday Night, it may seem like a happy go lucky song and video but due to the way in which Katy Perry shows off her body to the media, it isn’t all as it seems. The song had a line, considered very naughty, cut from the song due to its deeper meaning and link with the song, ‘ménage a trois’ which in French means a threesome was not allowed to air with the song because a threesome is a matter which isn’t allowed to be promoted due to the common age of the audience of singer Katy Perry.

Radio Censorship/Edit

Radio censorship is the process of the lyrics of a song being edited before playing on a radio station, this has become a common thing with radio edits of songs being released away from the radio station. This is the same thing as a clean version, yet rather than it being done by a bigger broadcaster, it is done through the radio to be played through the radio. It goes through a modification where the explicit lyrics are trimmed out to make the song suitable for airplay. Offending words may be censored, trimmed, reversed, bleeped and even blanked to keep the rules imposed on them by the national communication commissioners of different countries.

An example of radio censorship is the conversion of the lyrics, “F*** You” to “Forget You”, due to the risk of the age of the potential audiences listening to these lyrics and preventing any problems within the radio broadcaster. Some words may not be replaced based on the demand of the record label, with just the most profane lyrics being trimmed and edited. “Let’s Get It Started” by Black Eyed Peas, was originally “Let’s Get Retarded”, but changed due to the risk of negative public outcry, being ‘retarded’ can be considered as being linked with mental health, which could lead to the audiences deeming it a mockery towards the disabled community.

Difference between cut and banned.

There is a distinct difference between content being cut and content being banned. Where content is cut, it is the process of which explicit content will be trimmed, or blanked, or replaced with something cleaner as suggested before to prevent the audience from being exposed to such content. To ban something is to completely prohibit the broadcasting and release of it, and this often happens only when content is incredibly provocative and deemed as an offense. Cut content has more of a chance of being distributed than banned content, yet artists still make music with explicit lyrics and content with the slim hope that it will go through the cutting process and not be banned.

Advantages

It allows for the younger audience to be guarded from overly explicit content, allowing for their young, innocent minds to be kept safe from content they may be way too young to see or experience.

It also prevents backlash from audiences towards the artist as their star image can be modeled around the type of music they release, whether explicit content or explicit lyrics, the audience and the media can generate enough skeptical feedback over the future treatment and reaction to the artists’ productions.

Disadvantages

Totally censoring a song will often be covered in mass media, potentially drawing even more attention towards the song than it would have received if left untouched. This could increase the fame for an artist and generate a star image of the artist, potentially opening the door for artists to purposefully produce songs of an explicit nature.

Conclusion

In terms of content in lyrics and video, I will make sure they are moderately explicit in terms of what is said and what is shown to the audience. The target audience will be a factor in the use of censorship on my song, as it will be more for the young adults of society and not those who are sensitive over taboo words, and get overly touchy because of footage of cleavage or anything influenced by the notion of looking. I am planning to do Summer Friends by Chance the Rapper featuring Jeremiah and, Francis and The Lights. I will read over the lyrics and check out what is explicit and what may harm the audience, however, it may not need to be censored as it isn’t a cause for concern in its own right, there is only one version and it hasn’t been censored which is a clear indication that my take on it may not need to be censored.

Research: Star Image

Star Image

Star image is the way an artist is represented to the audience. Sharing similarities with Dyer’s star theory, it is the image in which an artist aims to forward into the music industry, TV and social media. The audience is there to take in the messages conveyed by the artist, therefore helping to emphasize with the image the star aims to portray. Within the industry it is easier to find a gap to fill and stand out from other artists, this can help to increase an artists’ potentially successful notification and help gain notoriety from music institutions if the artist isn’t already signed to one. There are many ways in which music videos help boost an artists’ career. Creativity for one, is a skill any artist would love to carry, as something as small as creating a narrative based music video using elements of concept and/or performance, can create a masterpiece. Accessibility in terms of music and music videos are taken into careful consideration as an artist needs to question how fans and audiences can listen to their music. 

Some artists like Drake who release their music exclusively through Apple Music, which is iOS based, make it hard for fans without Apple Music, or even an iPhone to listen to newly released singles or albums. This can gather a negative reaction and lead to the loss in sales as they could easily pirate his songs and download them for free on the internet using file sharing and other illegal software. A music video can really help boost an artists’ career as linking in with synergy, other forms of media like magazines, adverts, radio and newspaper, are used to pave the way for an artist to be recognized.

An artist like 50 Cent has had a lasting influence on the audience ever since the media got news of how he survived being shot in the neck more than 3 times, since then he has proudly accepted this bulky macho man image, yet still hanging onto the magnificent tinge of being the incredibly rich hood guy with a millionaires style pad surrounded by a bag of 'bitches'. He hasn't particularly gained attention because of his positive messages and his constant objectification of women, yet his rapping style has caught the attention of an audience, allowing him to influence their opinion on him as an artist. 

Most artists’ personal lives are not entirely kept under the wraps with majority of the world knowing about his divorce from Shaniqua Tompkins, and him going bankrupt yet still have his own TV series, Power. None of his arts portray him to have a sexual or political star image, but the manner in which his videos are coordinated, allows the audience to judge his personality and character based on what he includes in lyrics and the visuals within his video.

Star Image – Sexual

There are four main star images that artists/bands like to portray to the media and audience. A sexual star image may be most common amongst female artists/bands due to the matter in which society models them around sexual attention from the media. Some artists’, male or female, can use music videos to exploit or to feel comfortable with their sexuality. Take Alternative-Pop group, Years&Years, their lead vocalist is openly gay and uses his sexuality to convey it in deeper subliminal messages within their music videos, allowing for stand out effects and elements of conventional representations on gender identity just as much as sexuality.

Star Image – Political

Then there is the political star image that an artist intends on putting forward, or tries to put forward to the media and mainly their fans, in order to be noticed as a political person. As I stated before with Annie Lennox, she helps with charities for HIV/Aids amongst other diseases, and charities working to help with poorer communities, while also producing music and sometimes adding an intertextual reference within her work. Some artists can use music videos to share their political views through their fans and social media, e.g. Twitter, Facebook. 

Macklemore’s politically controversial song, ‘Same Love’, caused a stir in the media as he performed this also at an awards ceremony with soulful singer Mary Lambert. The song was based on the social acceptance of same sex love and marriages, rather than judging these people blindly just because religion says so. It teaches society to accept those attracted to the same sex just as he does, his loyal fanbase will be influenced by this and also others who have never listened to his music, others may disagree with him, but it will be the majority that take this political work of art and use it to place a political star image on him as an artist and person.

Star Image – Moral

A moral star image is not as common as a sexual image, however it still has a lasting effect on the media and does help the artist transfer their opinions. This allows some artists to use their music videos to express their personal opinions on issues that they believe are important or significant in their life. UK rapper, Black the Ripper openly smokes weed and posts it on social media, labelling his actions as a way of allowing the government to see him breaking the rules. This may have elements of a political star image, however that is not the image he chose to portray, he also has a song in which he and other featuring artists are seen smoking ganja, another term for weed.

Star Image – Social

This star image is common within the music industry as artists can be portrayed to the media dependent on how they conceive their selves. With social media allowing fans and the media to get a more accurate insight into how the artist is away from mainstream coverage, artists’ can use music videos to represent a type of lifestyle or ideologies. Bryson Tiller allows fans to get in on his everyday adventures through smartphone app Snapchat, and because of this, an artist can be portrayed as being a happy person, showing the media that their songs and lyrics and what the media may represent them as isn't who they really are, thus allowing for their star image to reflect their home life. 

Conclusion

Having a star image with an artist is more important than you think as it helps the audience understand a specific representation with the artist and the messages their productions are trying to convey. To have a star image, no matter if it’s a moral, social, political or sexual, can have a lasting significance on the media’s coverage over the artist. If the artist is sexual, the media will make sure that all headlines and identifications are linked with the artist and their star image, e.g. ‘Rihanna in raunchy outfit showing off her slim thighs at the Grammys’. I may plan to represent my artist through a moral image, it may be to oppose the negativity over a simple matter within society, and by using my artist it could inadvertently model the influence to channel positive opinions.  

Research: Dyer's 'Star Theory'

What is star theory?

The term ‘star’ refers to the set of meanings constructed around singers in order to sell their music to a mainstream or loyal audience, but mainly mainstream money. Star theory is an ideology put across the music video industry by Richard Dyer, about the different images artists present to the audience. Richard Dyer was a media theorist who also went into analyzing music videos, he stated that star image is incoherent, that half of it is incomplete and ‘open’.

For years, the media society has been confused with the difference between a pop star and a performer, as the two have distinguished differences and can be identified with careful analyzing. A performer may or may not be famous, but will still perform their music to their loyal fans no matter the turn out, they’re more for fans enjoying their music than creating a stand out image because of their social life or controversies, and it is clear performers don’t stand out within the music industry for their star image, but more for their music. Whereas a pop star will be recognized for their social life and their actions behind all that music production. A pop star generates an image constructed to an audience to increase the chances of fame and attention within the music industry. However, there is a contrasting difference to be made between those who are simply known for performing pop music and those who are known for being pop stars. Pop performers are described as pop stars promoted to this status by their management, a strong example of synergy. A true pop star does have a lasting significance and carries a trait of ‘brand awareness’ amongst a wider market over a period of time.

Richard Dyer carried on with his theory and stated two more ideologies, the first being that ‘the star must be simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary for the consumer’, simple explanation of that is the artist might relate to the audience, but they will also have to have the ability to blow you away while doing this, artists such as Beyonce, Rihanna are examples of this ideology, a song like ‘Man Down’ is a simple song about the female character being raped and then murdering the rapist, but it is shown and conveyed in such a way the audience can relate but still be drawn back by the video and the artists performance. The second ideology was that, ‘the star must be simultaneously present and absent for the customer’, the idea that the artists are making so much music at one point, they then take a break and leave the music scene for a bit while fans and audiences enjoy their recent crop of music not even noticing the absence of their star.

Stars and construction

Richard Dyer had stated there were four characteristics of his star theory, with stars and construction being one of them. Dyer stated that stars are constructed through music videos, advertising and magazines, then nurtured into what the music industry needs to allow for more fame and success. An artificial image is created to benefit the star and increase their chances of success, it may go against the artists’ morals as they may not do what they do to audiences in the comfort of their own home and away from the camera, but it is a beneficial action and artists prosper from it.

However, it tends to help if the artist has a unique selling point as someone like Nicki Minaj has attained sexual attraction from within the music industry by allowing cameras to see her voluptuous body and can help to achieve a lasting star image for her.

Industry and audience

Dyer stated that stars are made for money purposes only. Further increasing the brand identity benefits the institution the artist is signed to as they go on to become a household name, which increases sales in all of the media platforms they subside in. This is an opportunity for the institution to model and manipulate the artist to suit the target audience of their choice, and also the audience they thrive more from in terms of feedback, sales and fan support.

An example of this would be Annie Lennox, as in accordance to Dyer, she has been modeled around charity work to ensure the audience can see this as an act of respect and humble compassion for helping others, this allows the audience to relate to her as a person and also her music.

Ideology and culture

Onto ideology and culture, it is a sincere topic as this can generate both negative and positive reaction from the audience. With the introduction of social networking, pop stars have the opportunity to establish their own values outside their music, such as their personal beliefs and life lessons.

Social networking apps such as Snapchat, Twitter and Instagram amongst many others help fans to connect with their favourite artists on a bigger scale by seeing what they get up to on a day to day basis and what they prefer in food, and clothing style, which can influence fans to follow suite and copy. Stars represent cultural values and attitudes, and promote a certain ideology, audience interest in these values enhances their star ‘quality’.

Character and personality

Within character and personality, Dyer stated rather esoteric statements on them. He went with the ideology that the star is a construct, but that the construct has a foundation with strands of realism, with stars going on to provide audiences with a focus for ideas of ‘what people are supposed to be like’. This gives them the opportunity to allow for audiences and fans to relate on an average persons’ life, and attracting audience attention.

Further stating that stars may support Hedgemony by conforming to a dominant cultural ideology of audiences loving the slim, petite and beautiful star. It is rare but artists will go to change that and provide a clear difference, by being ‘fat’ yet staying this lovable character. Artists such as Cee-Lo Green and Meghan Trainor may not be as slim as other artists in the music industry, but audiences will still listen to their music and return positive feedback.

Control and how much artists/bands have on star image

Artists rarely have any control of how they come across in the media. The main negative of generating a star image is the impact it has on the artist, as they may not be the same person on screen, behind it. Even an artists’ social life could be controlled by the institution they are signed to, in order to keep mainstream attention at a high, gaining more and more attention from social headlines and controversial situations. How Miley Cyrus went from a Disney star to a rather immaculate young pop star, continuously exposing her body in controversial fashion, nobody knows but the main finger is pointed at the record label and institution of which she is signed to. This may be the reason why some artists would prefer not to sign to a record company and instead form their own label and go independent. 

This is a common thing in the industry and several artists have gone on to have successful careers by failing to sign to a record company and instead take their own path to success, many British artists do this in comparison to American artists. Another common agenda is the constant use of the triangle in the eye, linking it to the conspiracy that ‘Illuminati’ control everything and grant you imminent success within the music industry, many artists use it to attract attention and further corrupt the media with speculation that the industry is using this to attract attention to artists who needed that little controversial push to get them to where they are now. Fetty Wap, Kanye West, Chris Brown, Jay-Z and Rihanna, amongst many others, are the most famous names to have been put under the same window as illuminati cult followers, or worshippers of the devil.

Conclusion 

This theory is really important and can be used to generate attention around the artist, the smallest things could place an artist on the music map just like that. Allowing for the increase of a chance of success in the industry. Controversies can project the artist into the media industry, which in turn attracts more audiences as they are noticed through another form of media such as the front page of a newspaper, or in the news and even a magazine. I may represent my artist/band as being rather joyful and stand out. This can be influenced through intertextuality and different uses of synergy. I may go for the controversy but I would prefer my artist/band to be a performer rather than maintain a star image quality. This is something I would further discuss with my group and see how we can adapt this to our artist/band.   

Research: Channels

Music Channels

Music channels are platforms of media that showcase a variety of music videos. They are very important as they allow for audiences to preview the current crop of trending music, and also which artists are hitting the charts. This can further help in the selling and advertisement of the music from much smaller and less known artists, when broadcast on a music channel, allowing for global attraction and an increase in identification of an artists’ star image. This is furthermore due to the reception of the audience as they are mainly what determines the success of an artist, with the feedback generated after watching an artists’ music video generated in their sales, showing that if the appeal isn’t there then neither will the chance of success be visible.

Because of the constant increase of diversity within society, there is a variety of music channels just to suit the tastes of different audiences. As music videos are used as a marketing tool to promote artist and song, having it broadcast on a music channel allows for the artist to get their music out there and possibly gain more fans in the process, it is clear to say that the music video industry as a whole has a strong relationship with a number of a different other medias and for different purposes and it is fair to state that a video is only one strand of an often multimedia campaign of promotion of an artist. From the introduction of one channel in the case of MTV in 1981, when it was the only music channel around for a few years, MTV started to appreciate the diversity in the music industry and release other channels suited to different genres.

Music channels and synergy

However, with the media and music industry linking to suit the needs for both, it has opened the gate for shows to appear on music channels just as well as music videos, not at the same time but there could be ‘UK’s top 40 hits’, and then, ‘Catfish: The TV show’ straight after. This is another marketing tool used to keep audiences engaged with the channel more and allow for the spreading of audiences for both the music video and the shows. Just like I stated before about the music industry having a relationship of a number of different other medias for different purposes, this relationship is with the media industry and its purpose is to engage and attract larger audiences. As stated on their main website, MTV is a channel where the audience can ‘watch TV shows and check out all the biggest and best music videos’; in terms of bringing success to an artist, if they have the opportunity of having their music video released on MTV where the shown videos are considered the ‘biggest and best’, audience opinion will recognize that they may have seen potential, then allowing for the potential uprise of an artist. The appeal to the audience is just as important as already established fans will be eagerly anticipating their artists’ music video, potentially causing little hype, which could then generate into an even bigger hype over the music video, then expanding a fanbase and therefore increasing the artist/bands appeal within the media industry. As music videos bridge the gap between an artist and fans, the general viewing for the music channels will increase as audiences will be patiently waiting to see if their artist is top of the charts or even in the charts. TV channels today are there for different genres or even all genres mixed in one, some showcased on broadcasting platforms like Sky, Virgin and Freeview, where a large majority of British residents have one of the three in their household.

Under-representation

In terms of under-representation, there are a variety of music genres that don’t have a music channel dedicated to them. This makes it quite hard for some artists belonging to this genre to get their name out there. Because of a lack of even more diverse music channels, genres like Dubstep have artists that instead are only known to a small amount of the world, limiting their success on the map and allowing for artists of other genres to dominate the music industry and generate more sales. Genres such as African, Jazz and Classical music are limited to spreading on a global scale like Pop and Hip-Hop, meaning they have to use other means as a way of getting their music out there, like Apple Music, Soundcloud, Youtube and Spotify. This is a very hard way to guarantee success but once a fanbase is established on these platforms of media, it won’t be necessarily hard to be noticed if the artists’ music is the current trend on another social music platform. Other genres like Trance and Soul also find it hard due to the increase in subgenres, as there are many similarities between each subgenre

However the advantages of having so many music channels means that there is an increase in the potential of a successive career for a smaller less known artist. For already established artists such as Beyonce and Bruno Mars it is just a way for audiences to acknowledge new or recently released music, further casting positive reviews on their career and discographic skills. This can be used to create, adapt or feed into the representation of the ‘star image’ or maybe even reinvent.

It also allows for the audience to experience escapism whilst watching the music video. The artist provides this with the audience, therefore allowing for the possibility of it being broadcast on a music channel, which in turn, attracts a target audience that will most presumably enjoy the music video and get a sense that they are also there or present during the recording of a video to further bridge the gap between an artist and his fans. This can give the audience something to be inspired by, seeing their favourite artist on TV, gives them a sense that they can follow in their footsteps and also appear on TV for their very own fanbase.

Conclusion

I assume with the idea I have in my head, and the chosen genre I am thinking, my music video will appear on a channel like Vivo, as Vivo doesn’t broadcast specified genres of music and rather just show the trending music from artists, established or upcoming. It may not be as big as MTV, but it is still a common show in the UK. It will be a good way of being cast alongside other upcoming talents and bands to be compared to in terms of potential star quality.

Research: Institutions

What is an institution?

An institution is an establishment, or centre founded for the benefit of educational, professional, religious, or social purpose. An institution will therefore govern the generic behavior of a set of figures from within the specified community. For the music industry, institutions are organizations that set out an and criteria, and then sign artists/bands that meet the criteria in order to help in their career and attract revenue for them as an institution. Most, if not all popular artists/bands are signed to institutions across the world, with the sense that being signed to an institution brings success as they may have had success with other artists already signed to them, using this a bait to lure in more upcoming artists with potential. However, some artists choose to decline signing to institutions and instead carry on their career without these institutions due to its negative outlook and the risk of being altered into creating a star image that is not them and possibly against their morals.

There are many institutions globally reaching out for new stars, however, there are four leading institutions within the music industry constantly finding new talent and moulding them into the perfect stars they wanted to be. The first of the leading institutions is EMI, a multinational conglomerate music label founded and based in Britain. EMI deemed it their job to take smaller less known artists/bands and transform them into global successes rather than allow them to carry on as singular independent artists. Signing artists like Coldplay, Jared Leto, The Beatles, EMI have been one of the dominating institutions within the industry, producing endless streaks of talented artists/bands, however they became a defunct company from September 28^th 2012.

Sony Music Entertainment are the second of the four leading institutions in the music industry producing musical talents and creating stars on a bigger scale than the artists ever dreamt. An American label and company owned by Sony through Sony Entertainment, making it a subsidiary company, Sony Music reach out for promising talents with the potential of making it big. Beyonce, Robbie Williams, ASAP Rocky and Prince, amongst many others, are various artists who have signed to Sony Music and made it, amplifying Sony’s track record of global successes. Unlike EMI, Sony are not a defunct company and are still running, still successful and producing a new crop of talents such as The Chainsmokers and J Cole.

Universal Music Group is an American and French, global subsidiary music corp.  that controls French based media conglomerate group Vivendi, they are based in Santa Monica, California. Also founded in September 1934, they have gone on to create a variety of subsidiary groups, with their most known subsidiary groups being Def Jam and Interscope Recordings. They have also gone onto sign artists/bands and generate as many popular artists as its competitors. They have gone on to sign Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Adele and Queen amongst a wide variety of other artists.

Warner Music Group is an American multinational record label conglomerate based in New York City. They also indulge in the media industry and are as much a conglomerate in media as they are in media. However, they have more interests in recorded music, music publishing and artist servicing. Founded in 1958 they are now worth more than 2 billion dollars, and have gone on to sign major artists like Madonna, Wiz Khalifa, David Guetta and Ed Sheeran. With EMI not as huge as it used to be after the company defunct and selling to Virgin, Warner and the latter two have gone onto increase its power in the music industry creating more subsidiary groups from within and allowing other artists with a potential for success to generate a powerful career in the music industry.

Conclusion

When it comes to creating an artist to sign for any of the four leading institutions, I would make sure they have as much global appeal as I would like them to, ensuring that they have the capabilities to make it from all four institutions. Because of EMI’s slow start after their defunct it would be risky to sign to them, so it would be a choice of the other three. So for my artist, I would prefer them to sign for Sony as they are highly known and respectable within the industry, they also have links to other industries which can help in the global sale of my upcoming artist, thus clearing the path for a potentially successful career in the music industry.

Research: Intertextuality

What is Intertextuality?

Intertextuality is a literary implement that creates a relationship between 'texts', or in this case, one form of media referring to another form of media. An intertextual reference is also the way that similar texts influence, dwell on, or differ from eachother. Andrew Goodwin stated that when analysing music videos, there are often intertextual references to TV shows, films and other music videos. An example of intertextuality in a music video is in Chris Browns She Ain't You, a song dedicated to Michael Jackson. 

Within the video, Chris Brown repeats several moves often associated with the highly respected late singer MJ; There are also various jump cuts in which he is dressed in attire similar to that of what MJ wore in his smash hit Smooth Criminal, a white suit and a black hat, this is a very strong intertextual reference due to the fact he is also performing in a similar style as MJ. This is used to show the respect and influence one singer has on another, this is a common intertextual reference, where other artists are influenced by another artist to create something similar.The audience can be able to observe and analyse this reference, which makes it easier for the artist to gain notability within the music industry.

Another example of intertextuality within a music video and another form of media is in Kanye West's Power video. It starts off with an extreme close up of his face, of which it then gradually zooms out as the song proceeds, using several different shots but never changing angle or scene, to depict Kanye West as this powerful man with a wide range of mythological creatures placed in a pattern around him. The bright colours of white and cream are used to represent him as being innocent and an angel, which is an unjustified reflective of his character, which in turn helps to manipulate his star image and increase public and journalistic attraction.

The final example of inter-textuality in a music video is one I found when analysing the music video to Will Smith's 1997 hit Miami. There are various moments in which the notion of looking are exploited as he is topless for a small period during video, thus showing off his muscular body and well proportioned shape. Male hip-hop artists are majorly known for showing off and displaying what they consider their best assets, even if it includes their body shape or personal belongings. The newspaper in the music video provides an inter-textual reference, so does the tempo of the song when it switches up and gets a bit groovy, there's a sense of an inter-textual reference to salsa music, the flashing lights and rhythmic dancing are used to support that. 

Advantages
An intertextual reference within a music video increases global appeal, in the case that it could take the specified reference and use it to attract attention from others. Such as an artist making a song and featuring anime characters throughout the entire video, it is a constant inter-textual reference to anime and can therefore increase target audience characteristics.

Audiences are able to observe and analyse the music video, allowing for potential hype over what the intertextual reference is and how it fits into the music video. Artists sometimes use an intertextual reference towards highly respected icons or iconic events, and is used in a way to allow for the audience to see them as being respectable artist rather than following others who choose to follow the disrespectful path and mock the reference.

Disadvantages

An intertextual reference could be negative and cause controversy. This can influence the artists already established fanbase to expand the feeling from the music video to what has been referenced. After Kanye West dropped his controversial song, 'Famous', where he stated within his lyrics 'I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex, why? i made that bitch famous', this specific lyric caused controversy and sent social media into global shutdown. This also allowed for a feud between pop star Taylor Swift and rapper Kanye West to clash on Twitter, both loyal fanbases clashing, ensuring that his fanbase took this hate and dislike influenced by the lyrics to openly mock Swift on social media. 

Conclusion

In terms of an intertextual reference within my music video, i will look at all aspects and make sure if i do include any reference to other forms of media, it will be delicately censored to avoid any controversy or negativity. However, i may change my mind and decide to influence controversial aspects of my music video without attracting any negative feedback. I will try to avoid any offensive tones and biased opinions and instead focus on manipulated ideas and generic conventions of an intertextual reference.

Research: Goodwin's theory

Andrew Goodwin was a media theorist, who often spoke his mind about the common conventions within the media, and what was obvious to the eye if paid enough attention to. A household name known within the media industry as his theory has been, and is taught by many schools and universities across the country, he stated that main mainstream music videos all followed 8 key aspects to ensure full success and notability. This may have been argued, however, due to many audiences pointing out all the points he said it wasn’t hard to support his theory.

Goodwin's characteristics

• ·         Genre characteristics
• ·         Relationship between lyrics and visuals
• ·         Relationship between music and visuals
• ·         Star Image motifs
• ·         Notion of looking
• ·         Inter-textual references
• ·         Performance, narrative or concept-based?
• ·         Technical elements

Genre Characteristics

He stated that music videos often tend to reflect their genre through the use of specific characteristics which make them conventional. The rock genre, for example, is male dominated, tends to be a single voice in which that single voice will belong to a white heterosexual man, unique visuals are becoming a convention of the rock genre, as well low-key lighting, which is used to the usual dark low bass sound behind all the instruments.

The pop genre on the other hand, will consist more of interracial voices, while finding it easier to switch between single and grouped voices, a case of colour and lighting is more obvious as they sway to more lighter and obvious colours, as it has more of an appeal than a colour like black. An example of this is Justin Bieber's Sorry video, all the dancers wore bright coloured outfits rather than darkened colours, this was due to pop being a more happy and joyful genre than most other genres.

Relationship between lyrics and visual

There was the idea that in a music video for an artist/artists, there was a strong link between the lyrics and the visuals within. Goodwin separated his ideology of this into three different categories, Illustrative, Amplified and Contradicting.

When you find yourself with an amplified music video the directors main goal will be to try and amplify the lyrics into the visuals. In general, to amplify something is to take something and make it louder or place it onto a bigger scale. So in this case it would be a means of looking at the lyrics of a song and creating the exact visuals for them. Videos of this element make the song feel more surreal and allow for the viewer and audience to feel more engaged with the song and feel the same emotion that the artist is feeling. A video in which elements of amplification from the lyrics are visibly shown, is Coldplay's, Adventure of a Lifetime. 

Contradictive. Where the visuals of the music video may be quite surreal and slightly random, with no link whatsoever to the lyrics in place. Many songs have taken this on as a way to step away from mainstream and common ideas, but now with a huge variety of artists taking this on, it is only a matter of time before it becomes a mainstream feature itself. It is however, a very smart and unique skill and allows the artist to stand out from the crowd. It is often used amongst house and alternative music artists. A video of which i have seen collaborates with Goodwin's contradictive ideology, is No Money by Galantis.

Illustrative. The last of Goodwin’s three ideologies and the most simplistic idea. He stated that the visuals for the lyrics are put across rather plain and simple. A song about education for instance, using an illustrative ideology will involve loads of pigments of education within the video, such as being set in a library, or having the artist or performer dressed up like teachers, or a song called ‘flashing lights’ would be based around lights and flashing lights very obviously. It is the very obvious statement in a music video that make it illustrative. He also believed that music videos that were illustrative allowed for the viewer to feel more involved with the music video, further making it easier for the viewer to follow. It isn't as easy as it sounds to make a music video that is visually appealing yet so simple, for it to still be considered amazing. Macklemore's Thrift Shop, a song based on none other than a Thrift Shop.

Relationship between music and visuals


There was also the idea that there was a link between the music and the visuals. He first stated that, if the music is of an upbeat tempo, then the visuals will also reflect the tempo of the music. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the video will match the lyrics exactly but there will be a constant use of jump cuts and fast paced editing. An example of this is Justin Timberlake, Take Back the Night. Mid shots capture him singing and dancing to the song but aside from them, there is a constant use of establishing shots in a sped up montage. 

The next ideology was that, if the music is monotone then so will the visuals. The definition of monotone is when something never changes in tone, and remains the same throughout. A succession of sounds or words uttered in a single tone of voice. How Goodwin linked it to music videos with such succession is very intelligent, as if to state that the music video doesn’t differ to suit the lyrics, and instead remains the same basic video with or without an audio.

Star Image Motifs

The ideology that carried along with the fourth of his characteristics, was the star image motif. A motif is a ‘decorative’ image or design, especially a repeated one that may form a pattern. In this case it is the ideology that a star is made in one image to promote their name, and in order to succeed and keep this fame, all their actions and music will generate around the same thing, may be love, or their raunchiness, or even the use of naked performers in their music video. It is generally something that society or the music industry will associate with the performer based on how they have set themselves out to be. A star image motif however, may be a case where the artists record label sets out how they want them to promote their work in order to gain notoriety and notability, an artist may be quite extravagant and extrovert, yet behind the music and cameras they’re shy and slightly comfortable expressing their facial expressions and body language amongst others. There are artists who have followed this path and caused controversy in doing so. A major example of a star image motif is the extraordinary transformation of Miley Cyrus, from kids favourite heartbreak teenage girl Hannah Montana, over the years she grew up and of-course followed suit of society and started to open up more and more, she has since become a controversial artist, continuously exposing her body in her music videos, being involved in alleged affairs and being excessively rebellious outside the music scene.

Notion of Looking

The fifth characteristic of music videos that Andrew Goodwin pointed out, was that the notion of looking included men or women being portrayed seductively or if there is eye contact directly with the camera. He had the idea that these features were a big factor in music videos to help the artist promote their arts, as if to state that voyeurism is a convention used on a wide scale to sell the artists music through mainstream sex appeal. There's the case that because men will jump at the opportunity to see a nude woman, society automatically assume that it is only shown at one angle with women being topless, or wearing much less attire than men in music videos. As you can see with the music video for Signs by Justin Timberlake, the large amount of seductive body language expressed using the female actors on screen is obvious to the audience and is an example of this statement. 

However, with modern society continuously adapting to the way trends are changing, it is fair to say that it's not only shown at one angle as male performers in music videos do it too. In the current society, men are also portrayed in the same way as women, maybe not so much but it is highly visible. Fifth Harmony's song Work From Home with Ty Dollar Sign is a perfect example of the notion of looking from the other angle. Male construction workers, covered in sweat and toil, in a saturated orange filter to provide intensity and intimacy, as if to portray these male workers as being 'sexy', this defies the conventional notion of looking and creates a new meaning to this characteristic.

Intertextual Reference

Goodwin's theory expanded and dwelt into music videos having an intertextual reference with various other forms of media. The terminological meaning of intertextuality is the way in which one form of media is referenced in another form of media.

For example, global hit Purple Lamborghini is an unusual example of intertextuality, as the videos form of other media is a very prestigious character from a movie of which the song is featured on. Skrillex used the reference of this character from the film Suicide Squad which also featured Hip-Hop artist Rick Ross to add to the extra all star line up. The other reference is the name of song, Purple Lamborghini, this is a reference to the personal car of the character in the movies as he cruises through the city with counterpart Harley Quinn.   

                                                                                                                      
Another example of intertextuality from the 21st century is in the video for Bruno Mar's Just The Way You Are, the use of the cassette to create images on the canvas to match the vibe of the song is unique as it isn't anything from a movie like the first example, but more a brilliant technique to portray the ideology behind the song aswell as use this intertextual reference to signify the importance of cassettes in the modern era of advanced technologies.

Performance, Narrative or Concept Based

This is the seventh characteristic of Goodwin's theory that was put into a retrospect of how music videos are and what characteristics they had.

A performance based music video was one that involved the artist or artists directly performing their song towards an audience or towards the camera. This wasn't only pop or rock bands but also other genres soon adopted this settlement and started to base their videos as a performance. Will.i.am performed Check it Out with Nicki Minaj, to what looks like a small audience in the music video, while also performing directly to the camera. Performance based music videos would usually find it hard to do both at once but it has already evolved into a common characteristic in music videos. 

Music videos started off as being narrative, so it is presumably the most common characteristic of a music video from the early era to modern day. A narrative based music video is generally one that consists of a story-line behind the song, it is usually linked to the song and shows links between the lyrics and the visuals. This helps promote one of Goodwin's other characteristics of the relationship between lyrics and visuals. Jason Derulo's What If, is a perfect example of a narrative based video. The video is in reverse excluding the start but it is so perfectly shot, the link between the lyrics and the visuals are incredibly strong. 

Concept based music videos are rare and incredibly spectacular, house artists usually pull of videos of this type due to rarity of lyrics in their songs and more music.A concept piece is usually a video involving a single concept which in turn will be seen as an obscure, surreal experience for the audience. Concept visuals in a music video will be of a higher quality aspect due to modern standards, therefore they are more than likely to include special effects, as if you were watching a film. Intoxicated by Martin Solveig is an example of a concept idea represented through visuals. It is not a video i can merely explain but constant full body shots of the performers have them dancing or doing something rather in-particular.

Technical Elements

The last characteristic of Goodwin's theory of music videos. He stated that micro-elements involved in media forms, are needed to be reflective of the genre. Editing techniques and use of sound in a music video is variable in terms of necessity, as it has the opportunity to have a bigger impact on music videos than expected. 

On-screen sound is common in Hip-Hop/Rap and Pop music videos, as there might be short scenes in which conversations or a little cut-scene involving other characters in the video. Justin Bieber's, What Do You Mean, consists of various cut-scenes throughout the video in which conversations and confrontations take place. Another micro-element like a jump cut is often used in genres that consist of high tempo's like house, hip-hop and pop are used to show the vibe and the high-octane feeling the artist wants the audience to feel. There are videos that use micro-elements to engage the audience and make them feel like they are there during the recording of the video, fast paced editing also helps to hype the song a bit more as the link between editing skills and music creates an adaptable atmosphere.

Conclusion

In terms of music videos, Goodwin's theory and my own ideas, there are many pieces I can take from his theory. For example, I would love to make my video either performance or narrative based, as I have various ideas on how to link the visuals with the song and engage the audience. Negative responses would be that everything is from a heterosexual perspective, making it harder to create a video that opposed this common statement. I would use various characteristics from Goodwin's Theory in my music video, I am unable to decide now what I will use, but I have an idea.