Skepta - Konnichiwa digipak

Record Label - Boy Better Know

One of the biggest UK record labels in the rap scene is BBK (Boy Better Know). It is an independent record label started by 2 UK artists and only has about 7 members connected to the label.

However even though the record label is so small, its a very well known and followed record label. BBK uses social media, merchandise and its few artists to promote the record label.

The record label itself doesn't have an official twitter page but all of the artists under the label has the acronym BBK at the end of their twitter name. So whenever the artists tweet, the audience can see the link to the record label leading to it being promoted.

There is also Boy Better Know merchandise that all the artists wear again helping to promote the record label.

All this promotion will help the artists grow in popularity and allow them to gain a larger target audience which in turn grows the record label.

Music Industry Research

A big part of the music industry is music television where the main focus of the programme is to show music videos on dedicated television channels.

3 of the big and most well known of these television channels are: MTV (Music Television) VIVA and Kerrang! TV

Music videos can also be accessed easily online on websites like YouTube and VEVO so you can watch music videos on any device like your mobile phone and tablet.

The purpose of a music video is to promote the artist and expand their target audience. This can lead more people to purchase/download the song and enjoy it because they enjoyed the music video. Then when or if the artist later releases an album the song can be included on there to try and get more people to purchase the album. Therefore the more popular the music video is the more popular the artist becomes and the more money the artist and their record label make.

Questionnaire

I have created a questionnaire on survey monkey to be able to get a better understanding on why my target audience watches music videos. This can hopefully help me get a good knowledge of what my own music video should look like.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/Z369SXB

Intertextuality in Music Videos

Intertextuality is where one media text references another media text, so in music videos, intertexutality would be where the music video references other media texts such as films and TV shows.

In rap there are usually a lot of references in the lyrics artists use to films or TV shows, and then they will maybe use a prop to show this in their music video. For example in 'Man Don't Care' by JME, the aritst says "Expelliarmus couldn't stop me", which is a reference to one of the spells used in the famous book/film series Harry Potter, and the music video shows a wand to signify this.




Another example of this is from 'Know Me From' by Stormzy. He references the popular TV show EastEnders when he says "I'm a badman like Shirley" and then shows two people wearing masks of two different EastEnders' characters.

Both of these examples are from British artists and they both reference British media texts to try and make a bigger British audience, therefore in my music video, if I use intertextuality I should reference a British media text to try and gain a bigger British audience.

Target Audience

The general target audience for rap/hip-hop music is mostly of a male demographic, with some females, aged around 14- 25. Also most of the target audience may be of a working class social background as the lyrics in many rap songs relate to life as a working class member of society and this can help the artist relate to their audience.

For my song the target audience should also be mainly British people as the song I have chosen is British.

Don't Go There - Giggs feat. B.o.B

I chose to analyse this music video because I think its very interesting. To start off with the setting of the music is in both England and America, which widens its target audience. Also the entire music video is in black and white which matches with the lyrics as the lyrics are dark and downbeat. The video also relates back to Goodwin's theory as both artists are generally both close up to the camera so this could be to try and match what the record label wants so they can sell the artist as well as his music. The close ups on both artists could also help with selling the music to its target audience.

Conventions of Rap/Hip-hop

I constructed a short prezi to show the conventions of Rap/Hip-Hop music.

Dance Wiv Me - Dizziee Rascal & Calvin Harris

In the music video for 'Dance Wiv Me' by Dizzee Rascal & Calvin Harris, the male gaze theory applies throughout as there are a lot of close up shots of a woman's body and the lyrics comply with the music video as Dizzee Rascal raps about how he likes the look of the woman. There is also a sense of voyeurism as the way the camera looks at the woman it could be to please the male viewers which links to Steve Archer's theory. Overall the music video can be seen as a stereotypical rap music with many close ups of the artists and a generic nightclub location as well as generally dark lighting.

The Next Episode - Dr. Dre

I chose to analyse the music video of The Next Episode by Dr. Dre because it highly contrasts the music video I analysed before, Man Don't Care - JME.



The music video for 'The Next Episode' by Dr. Dre can be described as a stereotypical rap music video with inclusion of the main artists being surrounded by women and them showing off that they have a lot of money by wearing expensive clothing and accessories, which all relates to Andrew Goodwin's music video theory. The music video also has a lot of slow transitions between shots which matches the slow beat in the background.

Man Don't Care - JME

Man Don't Care by JME featuring Giggs is a hip-hop/rap song which is the same genre as my song that I have chosen as well as it has the feel as my song.



Throughout the music video the visuals are really dark as the background is almost always black and there is only one light in the room in which the video was filmed and so the visuals support the music which is very aggressive. The video also applies to the Andrew Goodwin theory as there are quite a few intertextual references, for example we see Iron Man and Giggs wears a Star Wars hat, as well as there are a lot of close ups on the two artists which could reference the needs of the record label that JME is assigned to.

The Song I Chose

This is the song I have chosen to do my music video for. The genre of the song is rap/hip-hop and may be considered part of the grime genre in some cases as it is a British song. I chose this song as I feel it will be a lot of fun to try and come up with a good music video that suits the track.