Vox Pop

This is our Vox Pop questioning people on their views of music videos

Vox Pop Evaluation

The purpose of the research conducted was to gain an insight on members of the public's opinion on music and how it affects their life's.These were the questions which we asked:

• Do you watch music videos?

• What is your favourite music videos?

• What make a great music video?

• What do you like about music videos?

• What types of media do you use to watch music videos?

The questions that we used, were very easy to understand. This was good as everyone could understand the question so much that they can easily understand it. But on the other hand, we can also say the questions are too simplistic. In a sense this has effected some of the answers given. For an example, when we asked "What is your favourite music video?" Some people would say just say the music video and nothing more. But what we really want to know is why they like it so much. Therefor it would have been even better if we changed the question to "What is your favourite music video?"and w hy is it your favourite m sic video. Achiving this would have lead to more of the answers being more developed.As there was only 3 members of our group, we found it sometimes time consuming to get more people to answer the questions. When we first started filming the pop vox, we had trouble remembering exactly were the person answering the question was standing. This lead to us putting an object on the floor so the people answering the questions will know where to stand. When we would press play on the video camera, the video camera would move a little bit and you could see in the video that the camera was shaking. To eliminate this error, we tightened it more onto the tripod. This lead to us avoiding any movement we didn't need. 

Question 1 was, "Do you watch music videos?" this allowed us to have a understanding about whether they watched music videos or not and  would give the basis to ask more complicated questions. In addition to that I feel that this question would allow people to be eased into the questions we were about to ask.

Question 2 was, "What is your favourite music video?" This gave a personal touch, when asking people to reiterate information to you, you want to make them feel as comfortable as possible so that the information you receive is true and accurate. Furthermore asking a wide range of people will give a wide range of answers e.g. people of a higher age generally seem to talk about music from 'their' generation where as people who are 17 -18 will tend to relate to video being made from 2000's onwards, this further allows us to categorise different ranges and have a mean genre per generation and to find out the general key conventions they liked .

Question 3 was, "What makes a great music video?" This question gives people the chance to express what they like. A great music video will tend to have a positive effect on the person answering the question so listening to them and getting information on a videos may not come into the interviewers head as 'a great music video'. This variation of replies will give the vox pop a balanced answer scheme and give the survey some purpose. This question still allows the interviewee to give an opinionated answer as it is still their opinion of great music videos as there are no absolute conventions to make a music video

Question 4 was, "What type of media do you use to watch music videos?" We asked this question because we know how the use of media is changing. With online platforms like YouTube and Vimeo music videos are available whenever you are online added with the improved speed of phone signals (4G) and internet speeds (50mb +) "buffering" is no longer a lingering problem. Also with the addition of services like TeVo by Virgin Media which allows you to get music videos straight to your home TV. The hardware we watch music videos has also changed, instead of watching them on TV, the introduction of smart phones and iPads the music video has become portable.

The End of the Music Channel?

With competition from a variety of online platforms, music channels are no longer the stronger promotional platforms they once were. In many ways the music video channel is in danger of becoming defunct and irrelevant. Online streaming and downloads mean that music videos are instantly accessible .

Extension of outlets

-Music channel
-Direct DVD and CD sales
-Website
-Download

Star Theory - Richard Dyer

Stars as Constructions

Dyer believes artists are constructed through artificial images such as advertising, films, magazines and music. He claims that consumers prefer artists to convey their true emotions themselves and not be groomed by record labels who try to create a fake image for them. A 'real' artist can use this as their unique selling point.

Industry and Audiences

Richard Dyer also believes that stars are manufactured to make money for their record labels by appealing to target audiences. As a result of this record labels have to cater different artists for certain target audiences as there are both niche and whole markets. Examples of record labels doing this can be seen through Mirror branding, both Rage Against The Machine and Joe McElderry are signed to Sony Music.

Ideology And Culture

Another one of Dyers beliefs within his Star Theory is that artists become trendsetters in the sense that audience members will imitate hairstyles and artists clothing styles. Artist may have certain religious beliefs and cultural values that audiences may also pick up on if shard by the artist. The internet has meant audiences now have far greater access to the 'personal' lives of stars.

Character and Personality

Presented as 'real' human beings, Stars support hegemony/dominant ideology of their time/generation - glorified versions of 'us'. Stars are representations of the contradictions/reinforced ideas of the music industry.

Creating a Brand

Often artists or groups are sold as a brand and the music video act as products of the brand, in the hope that the audience will be inspired to "buy into the brand". For some artists the "image" is of greater importance than the quality of the product. The Spice Girls are a good example of this. Other times it is the song and the meaning of the song is sold, and the artists 'image' has little to do with the sale of the song.

Promotional

-Advertisement
-Illustrates the song
-Appeals to a visual audience
-Expresses an Individual's emotions
-Tells a story
-Markets an image
-Creates a brand

Purpose of a Music Promo Video

Promotional
Extension of Income
Extension of outlets (music channel, direct DVD, and CD sales, website, Download)
Synergy (films, TV programmes)

Synergy

the music video exists as only one strand of a multimedia campaign, and is just one way in which a song is promoted. the industry as a whole has a complex relationship with a number of different media and purposes;  Radio, TV, Print  media, Film New Media. There is often a clear sense of synergy across a number of platforms.

Types of Music

Artists branch from to different categories

Organic - the term 'organic' is used to describe bands where the music comes first, they make the kind of music they want to make and then the record labels (if signed) try and sell this music to the correct market segment. Organic music appeals to a niche, but can appeal to a mass audience also.


Synthetic - the Synthetic refers to the 'X factor' methodology, and it is the record labels that sit in the driving seat.  A gap in the market is identified, and then it is exploited by the development of music, and often the artist, to suit this gap. Money is the ultimate goal in this operation. Acts such as; The spice Girls, McFly and JLS are good examples of 'manufactured' artists

Major Record Labels

The music industry is dominated by by four multi national corporations;

Universal
Sony Music
Warner Brothers
EMI

These are referred to as the 'majors'. the majority of these are backed by conglomerates with stakes in other industries such as; Film, TV, and Electronics.

Independents

Independents rely on little to no financial support from the majors. these small companies have the unique selling point of focusing solely on a specialised genre and niches of the industry, offered to a small number of acts and performers. an hugely successful example of a Independent is Domino Records. It is commonly seen that Record Labels begin as Independents but then are bought by a major and then become major-independents.

Major-Independents

Major Independents own or license, a series of smaller subsidiary companies in order to reach different kinds of audiences in different types of genres. These major independents are recognised as  Columbia, Island, Syco, RCA and Virgin, these are known as the Major Independents.