Spotify Advert Research

As we are looking for new and interesting ways to promote our band to our target audience of teens and young adults, we decided that Spotify would be a fantastic platform to advertise the band as it recently has become very popular.

Digipak Research

We looked at a number of digipaks and we noticed that there was running themes throughout them. They all adhere to a strict colour code and typeface. Other bands that are famous for having this are The White Stripes, Nine Inch Nails and The Hives.

We also realised that it was important to include artwork booklets and other extra perks to encourage the audience to purchase this as opposed to the standard record. Another thing we noticed is that in the modern day, CD cases are being pushed aside in favour of sleeves and jackets reminiscent of 1970 and 1980s record sleeves. So we want to make sure we incorporate this into our digipak, so this "new band" is up to date and on top of current trends.

We created some templates on photoshop to get a rough idea of how we would lay it out.

After discussion we chose the template to the right as it is a single we are promoting.

Continued Album Art Research

After looking at Good Shoes more in depth, we discovered the art work for their new single release. It is very similar to our original artwork concept, to ensure we don't mimic this theme completely, we plan to incorporate the collage idea that we also had earlier.

Also,to link with our video we are continuing the theme of Television in this artwork.

Magazine Adverts research.

Purely for a loose idea of how to construct a magazine advert, we decided to get a range of artwork from a range of different genres of music so we could understand what goes into making a magazine advert.

For example, for well know artists such as Gwen Stefani, her name is a very large part of the image. However, for an artist like Edwyn Collins, who is less renowned in a commercial sense, relies on an interesting arty image to draw attention to it.

Artist Branding Research

We feel that it is really import to maximize an artist's buzz (buzz referring to current popularity) by having a certain brand or image that will immediately be linked to the artists.

We studied a few artists who have very successfully used a form of branding to boost their buzz.

The XX

This band have a very bold, minimalistic symbol that, when seen, can be easily linked to the band and their music. They also have a very focussed public image that also leeks into there merchandise and music videos. Their image is very moody and dark and they have the colour black as a constant in all aspects of the band.

Hurts

Hurts too have a very particular image. The have inherited a "Pet Shop Boys" themed 80's style that they integrate throughout the range of their media. (Videos, Artwork etc)

I felt it important to include an image of the artwork as I am interested in the simplicity of the branding they use; it's all a bit clean cut!

Hurts use of Google search.

Something that surprised me is when keywords such as "Hurts" and "Better Than Love" are searched in Google, the sponsored link isn't a link to their Myspace or official website, but to their official YouTube channel. Which is a really interesting idea as it will instantly link them to official videos, making of videos and interviews which arguably is more effective than a link to a Myspace as the band's visual aesthetic and appearance is as important as the music itself.

Continued Album Artwork and Magazine Adverts research.

We also saw this album artwork by Eliza Doolittle and thought that we could incorporate the collage look with the vintage idea above. Using different vintage television images to create the collage.

A similar artist who uses this style but with a slight different technique is bristol based band, Malakai.

Album Artwork and Magazine Advert research.

As we intend to use an alternative indie style of band we felt a suitable idea for an album cover/digipak would be to use the similar technique that many modern artists in this genre use.

This is simply using a 'found' photo that is usually quite old giving it that 'vintage' / 'polaroid' feel.
Bands such as Wavves, Dum Dum Girls, Active Child, Best Coast and Wild Nothing. The most famous use of this idea is the 2009 album 'Contra' by Vampire Weekend.
Other styles of bands have started to incorporate this style recently such as Manic Street Preachers on their most recent album 'Postcards from a Young Man'

Audience Research.

We added Good Shoes on Facebook, Myspace and Twitter to begin to discover what their current fan base is so we can shift our current ideas for album art work and digipaks more towards a look that would be appealing to Good Shoes' current fan base.

From studying online, through their friends lists on social networking sites and from previous gig experience we have concluded that the majority of Good Shoes fans are in between the ages of 15 to 21. Of course this is not a fact but it is a good starting point for us to begin thinking about how to channel our products in the appropriate way.

Good Shoes Research

Good Shoes play a range of festivals from the larger mainstream ones, such as Glastonbury, Reading & Leeds to the smaller boutique style festivals such as Underage and Offset. This shows their broad appeal and flexibility to play a range of very different festivals. For example Underage festival is targeted strictly at 13-18 year olds and Offset is a festival designed to fit the tastes of the more mature, underground indie scene. They also have a large enough following to headline smaller stages at large festivals such as Glastonbury festival and Reading & Leeds festival.

Secondary Research

After watching this video by Sugarcult our group began to think about including a presenter in the video and, building on that thought, we started looking at music videos influenced by chat shows.

Initial Research

We began our research with looking at simple music videos which incorporated live performance with quirky added elements that keep the video interesting without going stale.





We liked this music video by Weezer because as well as incorporating live performance it uses surreal imagery and lack of humility to create a humorous video.

Along with Weezer, Red Hot Chilli Peppers use a similar style of music video in the sense that they are not serious and the image does not necessarily fit with the genre of music which adds to the humour. Both bands maintain regular success while still using this style of music video.

The introduction to Nirvana's "In bloom" is a pastiche towards 1950's music television. After watching this video we began thinking about different idea's about our own pastiche towards one style of television and how we could incorporate an introduction into our music video with the use of a presenter, also how bands are shown in a different light to what they are normally perceived as.