Arctic Monkeys
The Artic Monkeys is an independent band that is from Sheffield who released the fastest selling debut album by a band in the UK Chart at the time. They are unique as they started out like no other bands today.
They grew up together and formed a band while still in school which contrast with 'manufactured' bands. Before they grew big, they played all the time at bars, venues and took small gigs. Prior to their first album release, they would burn their early demo session onto a CD which they would been given out for free to the fans at the gigs. This made them unique and the trigger of their success. During the same time, fans would upload their free demos onto social media site such as MySpace. This was free advertising that the actual band had no involvement of and were not against it, which spread the word around the nation making them more widely available to listen which attracted more and more people who enjoyed the type of music they make. And so due to the internet exploitation of their music they grew into without needing for much paid advertisement.
Then, under the record label of Bang Bang, the Arctic Monkeys release their first album and eventually signed for an independent record label, Domino. Domino also signed bands and artist such as Franz Ferdinand, Alex Turner (Member of Arctic Monkeys), Jon Hopskins, The Kills and Animal Collective. As an independent record label, artist under Domino has the freedom to produce what type of music they want to and barely has any cooperative influence in their music.
They grew up together and formed a band while still in school which contrast with 'manufactured' bands. Before they grew big, they played all the time at bars, venues and took small gigs. Prior to their first album release, they would burn their early demo session onto a CD which they would been given out for free to the fans at the gigs. This made them unique and the trigger of their success. During the same time, fans would upload their free demos onto social media site such as MySpace. This was free advertising that the actual band had no involvement of and were not against it, which spread the word around the nation making them more widely available to listen which attracted more and more people who enjoyed the type of music they make. And so due to the internet exploitation of their music they grew into without needing for much paid advertisement.
Then, under the record label of Bang Bang, the Arctic Monkeys release their first album and eventually signed for an independent record label, Domino. Domino also signed bands and artist such as Franz Ferdinand, Alex Turner (Member of Arctic Monkeys), Jon Hopskins, The Kills and Animal Collective. As an independent record label, artist under Domino has the freedom to produce what type of music they want to and barely has any cooperative influence in their music.
I bet you look good on the Dancefloor
The music video of 'I bet you look good on the Dancefloor' isn't your typical boy band video, rather the Arctic Monkeys wanted to portrait what makes them unique. The music video is a performance video, where the footage is of the band preforming the song, addressing the camera with minimal editing. The mise en scene refers to TV shows like 'The Old Grey Whistle Test', this is a authenticity of the Arctic Monkeys as it portraits their beginnings as before below up, they would preform gigs at pubs and small venues where it was usually crowded, sticky floors and bright colourful nights pointing at the performers.
The clothes they wore were casual, something as an ordinary person would wear, this was to reinforce the band 'realness' and authentic which are the principles of the Artic Monkeys.
The video was also shot using three Ikegami 3 tube colour television cameras which were from the 1980s. This was deliberately done to create an aged effect to the video, making visuals of the music video appalling but creates authenticity, making the stand out from the rest.
The clothes they wore were casual, something as an ordinary person would wear, this was to reinforce the band 'realness' and authentic which are the principles of the Artic Monkeys.
The video was also shot using three Ikegami 3 tube colour television cameras which were from the 1980s. This was deliberately done to create an aged effect to the video, making visuals of the music video appalling but creates authenticity, making the stand out from the rest.
Demographic
The gender demographics of listeners who listen to Arctic Monkeys, that I would say, is both male and females however I believe that there are a still a greater number of male listeners than females. This is because the the target audience of Indie rock is predominately aimed towards males as most of these Indie Rock bands are not known for their looks, as many of them are not really good looking, rather they are know primarily for their music.
The ethnicity who would be interested in the Arctic Monkeys are abundantly white caucasians, this is because the Arctic Monkeys are made up by white caucasians
The ethnicity who would be interested in the Arctic Monkeys are abundantly white caucasians, this is because the Arctic Monkeys are made up by white caucasians
How did the Music Industry change?
Peer to peer network (P2P) enabled any who had a computer, back in the early 2000s, to share file easily over the Internet. A peer to peer network is a computer network that allowed computer hardware and software to communicate without needing a server. It made it easy for people to share and upload music they like and other people to download and listen to the music posted.
This was a big issue for the music industry as music was shared illegally online which caused the music industry would lose billion of pounds as rather than people buying their records, it was easy to get it for free through the P2P.
To resolve this issue, in 2005 the Supreme Court decided to close many sites for illegally sharing copyrighted material, in 2005. P2P software was considered as a piracy method. However, file sharing still exist today on sites such as BitTorrent, but it is now less popular than it was back in the early 2000s.
The concept of file share lead to the music industry embracing the internet and digital technology which lead to the creation to legal music streaming sites such as Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, Deezer, etc. This allowed listeners to easily access music on their computer and phone but made the music industry to earn money.
This was a big issue for the music industry as music was shared illegally online which caused the music industry would lose billion of pounds as rather than people buying their records, it was easy to get it for free through the P2P.
To resolve this issue, in 2005 the Supreme Court decided to close many sites for illegally sharing copyrighted material, in 2005. P2P software was considered as a piracy method. However, file sharing still exist today on sites such as BitTorrent, but it is now less popular than it was back in the early 2000s.
The concept of file share lead to the music industry embracing the internet and digital technology which lead to the creation to legal music streaming sites such as Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, Deezer, etc. This allowed listeners to easily access music on their computer and phone but made the music industry to earn money.
How has technology enabled self-production of music
1934 - Lacquer Coated blank disc were first introduced which made instantaneous recording possible
1940 - Multitrack recording developed, these required substantial technology, recording studios which made it expensive.
1980 - the Compact Disc (CD) was introduced which heralded the start of the digital music revolution
2000's - Digital files formats, like mp3, was introduced and became standard digital music production became easier.
Before the era of the Digital music, musician had a harder time on spreading the word around and to get notice by music producers. Musician had to record an album and usually had to pass it around manually for free, then they had to play gigs and hoped that their efforts will pay off and that some music producer that heard their music through these ways would sign them to a record label.
However, these days getting attention is much easier than it was before, due to the introduction of social media and online audio distribution platforms, such as SoundCloud and Spotify. The trend in music production is now taking another direction towards home studios. Since the technology of recording has developed significantly, a person only needs a computer, a USB mic, mixing software and headphones to allow them to record their music onto any platform. This makes it tremendously cheap and easy way to start off on becoming an artist and the hard work it was needed to get notice was really necessary.
However, these days getting attention is much easier than it was before, due to the introduction of social media and online audio distribution platforms, such as SoundCloud and Spotify. The trend in music production is now taking another direction towards home studios. Since the technology of recording has developed significantly, a person only needs a computer, a USB mic, mixing software and headphones to allow them to record their music onto any platform. This makes it tremendously cheap and easy way to start off on becoming an artist and the hard work it was needed to get notice was really necessary.
How are music videos rated and regulated in the UK?
Regulation and rating of videos is an important asset of the media industry as it protect younger audience from explicit content and ideas. There are specific guidelines that the content of the video is compared too, and determine on the result of the comparison, the video is given a rating on the appropriate age group that is morally allowed to watch it. British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) set the standards and rating for different age groups who they believe should be exposed to the content specific to their age of moving pictures.
YouTube and Vevo work in partnership with the BBFC to regulate the classification of the age groups of all music videos and artists who are signed to Sony Music UK, Universal Music UK and Warner Music UK. But not all music producers sign up to this.
The aspects that the BBFC regulate of music videos includes:
YouTube and Vevo work in partnership with the BBFC to regulate the classification of the age groups of all music videos and artists who are signed to Sony Music UK, Universal Music UK and Warner Music UK. But not all music producers sign up to this.
The aspects that the BBFC regulate of music videos includes:
- drug misuse
- dangerous behaviour presented as safe
- sexual behaviour, nudity
- bad language
- threatening behaviour and violence
An example of a music video that had been regulated and banned by the BBFC is Frankie Goes to Hollywood 'Relax'. In 1984, the BBFC had banned the music video for 'Relax' due to its sexual content it contain, rather than deterring viewers on watching the music video or listening to their music it did the opposite effect which even lead to the music becoming a No.1 hit.
Now if a similar type of video would be publish, with sexual and violent content, a different response would be given as rather than banning the video the BBFC would just rated as inappropriate/18+/R rated. This shows on how the guidelines had slightly soften and changed from the 80's to the present.
Now if a similar type of video would be publish, with sexual and violent content, a different response would be given as rather than banning the video the BBFC would just rated as inappropriate/18+/R rated. This shows on how the guidelines had slightly soften and changed from the 80's to the present.