Interview with a famous music manager

Emma is a music manager, writer, creator and publisher. Over time here role has "diversified" as the music industry is constantly. 

Initially she went to a musical arts school and then di a few thing in the west end. Her dream was to become a singer however that didn't go to plan so she became a writer working with the likes of Craig Davis and Little Mix. Song writing suited Emma well and it developed her career.

She was later brought in by Syco (Simon Cowells record label) who produce all the big reality TV shows including X factor and all the Got Talents around the world. 

She then partnered up with a new music partner and they continue to write and produce music for artists such as Ed Sheeran and Ellie Goulding. 

Its now harder to get opportunities these days as labels don't just look at the quality of the songs put in front of them but they now look for bigger names or people how have a few more follows. Streaming figures and having a platform are a lot more important these days. Theres now more access for distribution through streaming devices such a Spotify, YouTube and apple music. 

Emma was working with the artist of 'Put Your Records On' when a young singer contacted her asking to make a copy of it from his bedroom. She agreed and it ended up getting over 500 million views in 4 days due a to a TikTok influencer using it as their background. Although the boy doesnt get any money from the song it meant the artist got significantly more money than they had previously got. The original song got around 80 million streams as it was released before streaming services became a big thing. 100 million stream gets the artist £500,000 and the new-released version got over 600 million streams. Although the boy didn't get any money from the actual song the major record labels around the world where all after him so in the long term he will be a huge success. 

The boy ended up signing for Columbia records and the original artist is now getting nominated for a Grammy 15 years after his initial release. 

Ritt Momney - Put Your Records On (Official Video) - Bing video

Synthetic vs organic artists

Its now a lot easier to gain fame and deals due to streaming platforms and TV. People off Love Island are now getting hundreds of branding offers just for the name. 

Its now not just about voices but also looks, personality, history, popularity and general aesthetics. 

When she was scouting for X factor candidates she had to look at past live performances and instagram followers as having a fanbase is very crucial in this day. 

Working with logos

 Logos are crucial for artists to make them stand out and be recognised. Logos arent just a name but also a symbol and a brand that people will wear which also makes it a method of advertisement. 

I went with the artist 'SAINt JHN' as I couldn't find a proper logo for him however he is very well-known for his symbol which is a cross. By hand I was initially able to use the cross and make it stand out whilst also fitting it into his name to create quite a basic logo, however I believe it suits him well as an artist. 

This was my initial logo design by hand:

I then went onto Wix logo creator and designed a logo through the app and came up with this:

The font suits the artist well as it gives off quite a calm hip-hop vibe. The yellow with the black shows a large contrast which i personally think works very well and stands out which is what you want from a logo. Lastly the cross is a major feature again however I put a man on it this time which dictates that he isnt a soft artists but gives off a calming vibe at the same time. 

Analysing 'This is America' by Childish Gambino

 Childish Gambino is the musical stage name of the actor, singer, comedian, writer and producer Donald Glover. 

As an actor he features in many mainstream Hollywood Movies including 'Solo: A Star Wars Story' as well as the voice in the Lion King remake. Glover is also know for his successful TV work in the US and is a double Emmy and double Golden Globe winner for 'Atlanta' which he starred in. 

Gambino vs Elvis

There are actually similarities between the two artists due to the fact that they both appreciate the benifits of wide exposure. They have both features in many TV shows and Hollywood films 

Background to the track

The song was released in the US on 5th May, 2018 to coincide with Donald Glover hosting 'saturday night live' one of Americas biggest TV shows. 

In terms of genre the song is hip hop with deliberate elements of Afrobeat. 

The songs release was not previously announced but instead appeared online while Glover was live on Tv with his SNL performance. 

Textual Analysis of the music video

A lot of major problems are being brought up including gun ownership, race and religious attacks

If you analyse his movement, it represents Jim Crowe 

When you look at the lyrics closely every line has its own reference or meaning.  The whole song is a general dig at society and features many lines that reference these things. The first major reference is about how all people want to do is party and expect money to just fall onto their laps. the verse repeats "you just wanna party"

Another major feature throughout the entirety of the video is kids. At the start of the video when he shoots the man the kid comes and takes the gun from him and then two more kids come and drag the body away. More kids then come in with smiles on their faces and join in with the dancing. They continue dancing even with the dodgy looting and drugs going on in the background. He then walks into into another room with the African singers and picks up a gun and shoots them all. This is a reference to the Church attacks (possibly in particular the Charleston church attack). A kid takes the gun off him again. He then changes room again and kids start dancing around him again. The dances throughout are all viral dances and act as a distraction as what you should be focusing on which is the message throughout the song. In the background there is always something going on such as crimes or at one point even a hooded man on a horse which could reference the KKK. 

Finding a famous artists first music video and album cover

 'The Kid Laroi' released his first music video only 4 months ago. He is a 16 year old up and coming rapper who is seen as the next 'Juice Wrld' who was iconic in the hip hop world until he died a year ago due to a seizure. The Kid Laroi quickly rose through the charts and has already reached 27 million monthly listeners on Spotify in just 4 months since his first music video came out. 

The Kid LAROI - TRAGIC (feat. YoungBoy Never Broke Again & Internet Money) [Official Video] - Bing video

His first music video was to the song 'TRAGIC' and features 'YoungBoy' and 'Internet Money'. The video shows him robbing a house and then going to the pawn shop and selling all the stuff with cut scenes of him in a fields with 'YoungBoy'. Later on the video he is shown giving all the money to his mum which links to the lyrics "I did this for my Mama becasue I told her one day I would". He is initially depicted as a criminal however towards the end it makes the viewer feel pity as it is shown that he comes from nothing and is giving all of his earnings to his mum. 

The album cover shows depicts 'The kid Laroi'  hugging a girl with them both being cartoon characters. If you look closely they are both holding each others hearts in their hands. He is shown holding her and protecting it whereas she is shown to be stabbing his with a knife. The cover shows instantly the album is going to contain a lot of songs about being hurt and to do with love. 

Andrew Goodwin's music videos convention theory

 He believes you can find the following in most music videos. 

A link between the lyrics and the visuals

Either metaphorically, literally or symbolically 

A link between the music and the visuals

Reflect the pace, rhythm and atmosphere of the music

Reflects the genre of music

Videos clearly reflect the mood and genre of the music

Use of intertextual references

There are links with old films as well as lines and references from films. This draws in audiences especially if the target audience can relate to the music videos. The song '3006' by Childish Gambino has a man with a very large Teddy Bear throughout. This could create a link to the film 'TED' which is an extremely popular film for a similar audience that Childish Gambino aims his songs at. 

Notions of looking and voyeurism

Often sexualising women and underdressing them. This attracts a male audience as the women are sometimes portrayed as objects

Reflective of the record label involved

The video will reflect the wealth of the record label. An artist will always show the financial status, power and connections, other signed artists, global location and the target audience - The most obvious artist who shows the wealth of his record label in videos would be the Weekend. His videos often contain extremely high quality graphics or expensive cars and houses. In particular his biggest song 'Blinding Lights'

Star image is a key focus

A large majority of poeple will listen to music based on the artists image so the artists need to be front and centre of the videos if possible - There are multiple examples of this as it is extremely common. Rap videos are almost always based around the artist. You can look at any big rap names such as Dave, AJ Tracey or Stormzy and all their videos will include themselves as the main focus

Performance/ Narrative/ Concept based

Often having either some sort of stand out performance, narrative or key concept. Videos should have a meaning or story to draw people in - A good example of this is why did you run by Judah and the Lion. This video shows a graphically designed kid in middle school who tells the story of the song. 

Finding a new song and artsit

 I had a look on the website "richerunsigned.com" and without scrolling too far down a found a few songs that immediately caught my attention. There are several songs that are a decent standard however really aren't too big as well as a few which are slightly bigger and have a few more listeners. A few songs which caught my attention included "probably by Keir", "Chains by COLOUR" and "Heaven Knowns by Yellow House". Although these songs might not be of the highest quality they are the sort of songs that have a lot of potential to attract listeners and make a good music video out of.