MUSIC GENRE CONVENTIONS.- EXTENDED RESEARCH -

OUR GENREGenre is often not easy to define with forms of media due to various hybrids and the constant reinvention of existing ones. Due to the various issues we encountered at the start of this module in terms of the changing of groups and the complications that were involved in that, I thought it would be useful to complete some extended research on genre conventions. We decided at the start of this project that our act falls into the genre of ‘Indie rock’. This is largely due to the instruments involved in the band, and the styling/star image we had in mind at the time. This estimate has remained accurate and our continuing development has always conformed to the majority of the conventions of this genre. Indie Rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United Kingdom in the 1980s. The term "indie rock" became associated with the bands and genres that remained dedicated to their independent status. It is heavily linked to acts such as Arctic Monkeys and Oasis, who are popularised by their working class background, dedication to the ‘music’, and loyalty to their respective record labels. However Indie Rock is extremely diverse. In recent years, the term has been coined to label a variety of bands with vastly different sounds such as The 1975, Bastille and Alt-J.

LOOKDue to the recent expansive nature of the genre, the ‘indie rock’ look has become harder to characterise. The contrast represents the breadth of music styles and backgrounds within the genre. As these photos accurately present, their is no ‘set trend’. This therefore gave us great control and creative choice when choosing the outfits for our band.

(The kooks, Arctic Monkeys, alt-j, oasis,

hurts, bastille, kaiser chiefs, THE 1975.)

MUSIC VIDEOS

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the large bulk of our genre research thus far has been within the area of music videos. This is obviously because that is what we are creating. Conventions of indie Rock music videos include live performance, which is either theatrically constructed or taken from genuine footage. This further emphasises their interest in the ‘music’ and shows that they are music artists at core, as opposed to commercial figureheads for a record label. Also, the lead singer of such bands is commonly recognised for their confidence and bravado e.g. Alex Turner, Noel Gallagher. If the band are in fact featured at all, these characters are likely to lead the narrative of the video with other members of the band taking the back seat. The bands are often seen to be doing anarchic, ‘cool’ things such as smoking to contribute to their cult image.

CONVENTIONAL EXAMPLESHere are some examples of conventional ‘indie rock’ music videos. Despite all of these three videos featuring some of the fore-mentioned conventions, they are all noticeably different stylistically and in their concept. The one thing these videos do have in common is the way they present the ‘star image’ of the band, as a cool group of friends who all have a passion for live music and ‘rock’, and are not interested in commercial success or marketing. This is something we have really emphasised heavily with our concept-lead video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQH8ZTgna3Q

THIS VIDEO ‘R U MINE?’ BY THE ARCTIC MONKEYS IS VERY CLEVER AND FEATURES NUMEROUS CONVENTIONS OF AN INDIE ROCK MUSIC VIDEO. IT DISPLAYS THE LEAD SINGER WITH A LIKEABLE, ATTRACTIVE ARROGANCE AND BRAVADO. IT FEATURES LIVE PERFORMANCE AND A CATALOGUE OF RECKLESS BEHAVIOUR. FURTHERMORE, IT IS FILMED IN WAY THAT GIVES THE IMPRESSION OF A LACK OF EFFORT DESPITE ACTUALLY BEING VERY IMPRESSIVE TECHNICALLY. MORE THAN ANYTHING, IT FIRMLY SOLIDIFIES THE BANDS STAR IMAGE.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dv7vr6oE3U8

IN A SIMILAR WAY TO HOW WE DO IN OUR VIDEO FOR SHORT CUTAWAY, THIS KINGS OF LEON VIDEO FOR THE SONG ‘RED MORNING LIGHT’ DISPLAYS THE BAND IN THEIR NATURAL HABITAT. HERE, WE SEE THEM PERFORMING, TOURING AND GENERALLY BEING ‘ROCKSTARS’. IT HAS A CORE OF LIVE PERFORMANCE AND THE FOOTAGE IS GENUINE. IT PRESENTS THEM ENTIRELY AS A ‘BAND’ AND NOT A ‘PRODUCT’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkubQCI4Fxo

WE HAVE OFTEN CITED THIS VIDEO, THE 1975’S ‘GIRLS’ AS A MAJOR SOURCE OF INSPIRATION. IT FEATURES A BAND PERFORMANCE, NONCHALANT AND UNAFFECTED BEHAVIOUR FROM THE BAND, AND A LEAD SINGER WITH PRESENCE AND ATTITUDE.

DIGIPAKSDespite already having some preliminary ideas about our own digipak, I felt it would be useful to look at the conventions of those made for bands within our genre. As with the styling of the bands, the digipaks vary greatly. This is unsurprising as some bands ‘look’ is obviously more commercially viable than others, and some bands might not feel comfortable being the face of their own marketing. With bands within this genre, they often see themselves clearly as musicians, not celebrities. As is seen earlier on in the blog, we had an interesting idea about using the different faces of the band to form one ‘entity’ for the front and back of the digipak. We looked at different album covers within the genre that might have a similar theme and found it is a fairly regular convention with a couple of bands doing a different interpretation of the same concept.

KAISER CHIEFS KINGS OF LEON BLUR

ALL THREE OF THESE INDIE ROCK BOY BANDS EXPLOIT THE IDEA OF SIMPLISTIC PORTRAITURE BUT TO DIFFERENT EFFECTS.

DIGIPAKS (Inner)

Another key design feature of the digipak as a whole, is the inner. This is often exploited for various things such as continued design reinforcement or further information about the band and the process of creating the album. I had a look at the digipaks of some bands within the same genre to see if I could learn anything from them.

These are two digipaks made for the Arctic Monkeys. ‘Whatever You Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not’ (left) was released in 2006 for one of their earlier albums. The digipak has great visual continuity with the black and white, ‘grungey’ photography throughout. Unsurprisingly, the inner contains some general information about the band and their process, as they weren’t mainstream then as they are today. This means that many people buying the album might know fairly little about them. For ‘AM’ above, they have chosen a vastly different colour scheme and design strategy. This could possibly connote the undoubted development in the bands image and style from 2006 to 2013, when this album was released. Interestingly, there is also no information about the band. This is likely to be because, at this point, the band had reached the peak of their popularity and critical acclaim and providing this information would be futile.

This is the digipak for Alt-J’s album ‘An Awesome Wave’. It was released in 2012, as the bands debut album. This informs us to the mass ambition of the band in the design and concept behind the digipak. The cover and back cover features some aesthetically interesting, alternative artwork. This is understandable as it suits they're style of music and the band don't have a recognised look, and are not especially visually marketable. They are content for they're music to ‘do the talking’ and for they're faces to remain unknown. However, what surprises me most is that the inner to the digipak is incredibly minimalistic and has almost no text at all. It does include a unique holster for the disk itself but includes no information relating to the bands rise in the music industry up to the point of them making this album. This shows us as a group that they're is no real pressure on what we must include due to it also being the bands debut album. Our decision making must coincide with the style of the digipak in whole, and that is likely to determine whether we use text or not. However, I am interested in including some form of short biography as it does offer the band more personality but debatably this could come on the website, making the digipak purely a platform for music alone.

WEBSITE• A website can be hugely important for a band in

terms of marketing, defining who they are, and being the first port of call for genuine fans. Through websites they can create a useful relationship with those that follow them making their fan-base an inclusive community, and playing to todays participatory culture. Like all other aspects of the industry, websites can be defined by genre and the separation in conventions continue. I analysed some websites of bands within the genre of indie rock, importantly choosing groups that had differing styles to see if this was drastically represented in their website or if there was actually continuity between them.

ARCTIC MONKEYS OFFICIAL WEBSITE

This is the website homepage for the Arctic Monkey’s. Considering that they are one of the more dark and brooding bands within the ‘indie rock’ genre, it is no surprise that they're website reflects this and has a bold black and white colour scheme. The logo is printed across the top in the bands standard typography. The top bar features various links to other aspects of the website such as gig dates, photos and general news. The main feature of the site is a large video file that displays one the bands most recent festival performances, showing that they are current and active with their music.

THE KOOKS OFFICIAL WEBSITE

This is the official website homepage for The Kooks. Alternative to the Arctic Monkey’s, this page is considerably lighter yet still has some ominous elements such as the large beating heart as a central motif. There is a large emphasis on their new album with various links encouraging the audience to listen to it, and then buy it via iTunes, Amazon or from their official store. In the top right hand corner, the website unsurprisingly highlights the influx in social networking as a method of marketing. This is something I am definitely interested in using in our website as it looks good aesthetically and is realistic. This is because a new and not well know band would heavily rely on social networking as a free and effective method of publicity, that also helps them to easily communicate with the fans they do have.

ALT-J OFFICIAL WEBSITE

This is the official homepage for Alt-J’s website. This is incredibly minimalistic in its design. Much like the other websites, it includes the conventional links away from the homepage for things such as news, upcoming gigs and the official shop. Unlike the others, the name of the band is the central focus of attention, being in the middle of the screen and the considerably largest font. Interestingly, this website’s design shows great intertextuality with the design of the digipack for their latest album, with identical colour scheme and design features. This is something that pleases an audience as it shows continuity throughout the different forms of media, and is something I am interested in emulating with whatever design we choose.

CONCLUSION?• Completing this task has allowed me

understand where we should be ‘pitching’ our group in the various different media outlets we will exercise. Upon reflection, it has taught me that even when working within a specific genre, there is plenty of versatility as groups are always intending to create something that is ‘new’ and ‘different’. Despite not actually releasing our product into the music industry, we will endeavour to do the same.