The Ting Tings

1. Summarise the chnaging image of the band/artist as it has developed over time. It might also be useful to summarise the music genre also.
Indie/Alt/Rock/Electronica
Signed by record label Columbia Records (the oldest surviving brand name in pre-recorded sound – parented by Sony).
Katie White started in a female punk trio, Total Knockout, supporting Steps and Atomic Kitten. Some of their songs were written by de Martino. They became friends over their joint like of the band Portishead (Electronica/Experimental). After White’s band split over management issues, the two decided to join up.
The name comes from the first name of a Chinese colleague of White at a shop who told her the name sounds like the pronunciation of "an old bandstand" in Mandarin.
Their name earned them a lot of support from Japanese fans
Having created three songs, the bands first gig was a free-beer invite all at The Mill. Subsequent gigs were funded on donations, and after their third gig they were name checked on XFM.
Very bright, funky website – fuchsia pink, red and yellow contrasted with monochrome photographs/promo pics. Links to Myspace, Facebook, Bebo and Twitter – total social networking connections. Also iTunes, to purchase songs.
2. Who are the fans? Do you have any sense of how the music companies have segmented the audiences? To what extent has the branding of a band been linked to target audience?
Large Japanese following due to name – bonus Japanese tracks on album, placating audience. The vinyl was only available for fans of The Ting Tings to buy at their live shows. Every single released had different cover art. This is due to the fact that at every concert, a hundred blank seven-inch sleeves were pinned to a wall, making a canvas on which fans could create an overall piece of artwork that, once dismantled, were used as the sleeves for the singles.
The band's debut album, We Started Nothing, was released on 19 May 2008. It was leaked onto the internet on 13 May 2008. Shortly after the release of the album, the band released a statement on the social network service MySpace which explained to fans that their single "That's Not My Name" had reached number 1 in the UK Singles Charts, the statement went on to encourage fans to purchase legal copies of the single in order to keep it at the top position for the official Sunday Chart release on 18 May. The band went on to secure Number 1 in the UK Singles chart on 18 May.
Have a diary/blog up on their website, helps fans identify with them and feel involved. Also gives a chance to promote upcoming gigs.

3. What marketing strategies can you identify? What kinds of strategies can you list?(above/below-the line? unexpected promo stunts? etc). List any examples of the use of synergy with other industries to promote other media/products in connection with a band/artist.
Debut album was limited edition – several different background colours available in US, and only 2000 copies available on red vinyl. First single, Fruit Machine, limited to a 500-copy run only available at the group’s gigs – exclusivity, promotion of gigs. They had a notable performance at Glastonbury Festival 2007, and after an October 2007 tour of universities in the UK with Reverend and the Makers (Indie-rock + electropop)
Their singles "Shut Up and Let Me Go" and "We Started Nothing" were featured in the Gossip Girl series, while the song "Be the One" was featured in One Tree Hill. Their single "Great DJ" was featured in the theatrical trailers for the Anna Faris comedy "The House Bunny" and the Oscar-winning "Slumdog Millionaire."
They are scheduled to return to the United States in Autumn 2009, supporting Pink (rock, pop, alt) on her Funhouse Tour.
“I think, well, we run our own MySpace, that’s our main thing; I’m sure the other ones have helped. The one that we are really fully aware of is MySpace. When we started as a band we put like two songs on there. All we did was add like 20 of our favorite bands, like The Gossip and Talking Heads—we added their MySpaces—and people just found their way there. It’s so weird to be able to put a song on the Internet, and your band on the Internet, and people in Brazil [are] getting in touch and going, “I love it, can you send me a copy of it so I can DJ it?” And so we send them a copy out. It puts our faith back in music. They go on your page and there’s no middleman trying to manipulate the situation. They either like the music or they don’t and it’s very simple. Yeah, MySpace has been great”
Interview with COED Magazine. Allowed themselves to be interviewed by students after coming off stage at Glastonbury.
Merchandise available – band shirts, etc. to promote the image and branding.
Have to give email before allowed to post on website – allows free e-marketing.
Synergy with Apple (music used in iPod advert).

Useful Links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ting_Tings
http://www.thetingtings.com/gb/frontpage?cmdr=ip2country/detected

Initial Ideas Brainstorm

Our pitch was yesterday and went quite well as we got a lot of feedback (there is more about all that on the group blog).


I have decided to put up a brainstorm and rather than just writing out all our ideas I thought I could convey our ideas more effectively through pictures. Therefore I have created a few visual brainstorms as you can see below.

We have a track!

We have decided on a track at last! The track is:

'Fences' by Paramore

Paramore are an American indie rock band with a lead female singer which is perfect as we want to use members of our group. Mia will probably play the lead female role. We already have some ideas on what we are going to do. They will soon be put up on this blog.

Music Industry Marketing

1. Summarising in your own words what the 4Ps of music marketing are. Use the following categories:
a) What band/artist related products can audiences buy?

Apart from being able to buy the actual track or album from a shop or online, there are other products related to bands or artists that can be bought. For instance, Lady Gaga designed high end headphones and Lily Allen was promoting straightners as these fit with her image of having straight hair. There is also synergy between the music industry and the gaming industry as some tracks are promoted when used in games. Various merchandise related to Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and The Ting Tings can be bought from their websites (as can be seen in detail in my answer for question c).

b) Where can audiences buy/listen to music/merchandise/hardware?

Due to the internet and other modern developments in technology, music has become far more accessible at the click of your mouse. Music can now not only be bought from shops as a tangible product through buying a CD, it can also be bought on websites such as iTunes or record label websites. Merchandise can be bought on the official websites of bands/artists usually through a link on the homepage which takes fans to the correct page to do so.

c) Give 2 or 3 examples of paid-for/subscription based and free products.

1) On the official website for The Ting Tings, fans can buy T-shirts with images on them that are related to the bands image such as from their album covers.

2) On the Katy Perry website fans can buy various articles of clothing with her name, face or the lyrics on them.

3) Lady Gaga is selling back to school merchandise on her website.

d) List between 5 and 10 examples of creative music marketing strategies (including at least 3 internet based examples).

1) Jamie Cullum used a very creative marketing strategy online where gifts were hidden in a Christmas ‘Advent Cullumder’ that could be won by fans. Fans were invited to visit the site everyday to be in with a chance of winning a prize.

2) Topman CTRL - Topman allowed a band to control the music they played for a month showing synergy between the music industry and the fashion industry. The band program a gig and give fans complete access to their blog.

The site also offers buyers the chance to download free music.

3) The band Dolly Rockers teamed up with Kangaroo footwear and offered a competition online asking fans to create a dance routine to their track which could be done through access to bebo.com to film it. The band would then choose their favourite as the winner.

4) Mika is launching a loyalty scheme via his website where fans can earn points for that can then be traded for rewards. Points are rewarded for creating a profile, adding comments, uploading content and buying products. The points ca nthen be used to free music, video downloads, screen-savers and even a private acoustic gig from Mika.

5) Recent promotion of the Eminem album involved augmented reality combined with user-generated content (UGC) which basically creates a virtual 3D object that users interact with. Fans could design their own ‘E’ with a 3D image on their webcam that changed as they changed it on screen. This created the image that there actually was an E sitting on their desk. The best design was awarded a trip to Detroit to participate in the album’s launch event.

6) On Lady Gaga's website, fans are offered the chance to create Lady Gaga-inspired outifit on Polyvore and Lady Gaga picks the winning design. The competition is hosted by Polyvore.com so there is a link to it on her website.

2. Who is frukt uk and what is their mission statement/company ethos?

Frukt UK is a specialist music marketing agency. They develop and activate ideas that use music as a means of marketing.

‘We help brands access the passion and the communities, the lifestyle and the artists.’

Key Theory - Andrew Goodwin

ANALYSIS OF MUSIC VIDEO: MIKA - WE ARE GOLDEN

" The video is joyful but there is this desperation in there. It's like a ceremony where this boy in his bedroom is begging the world to love him." - Mika

1) Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (stage performance in metal video, dance routine for boy/girl band)

The genre of Mika's music is pop. Therefore the video uses bright, bold colours and at some points florescent ones. The video is performance based, which is typical of pop videos. Mika does a lot of dancing and leaping around, mainly in his underpants. It is generally a lot of fun and also makes references to a particular time; the

2) There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting, etc)

The visuals amplify on the lyrics although at some points they also illustrate the lyrics. Illustration is hsown when for instance the line is 'Running around like a clown on purpose' and Mika is actually running around the room and on his bed. At other points, Mika is trying on different things and posing which amplifies the lyrics.

3) There is a relationship between music and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting, etc)

The visuals are illustrative of the music as the video is edited to the beat. The editing is therefore at points fast to compliment the upbeat song.

4) The demands of the records label will include the need for lots of close-ups of the artist (visual hooks) and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style). These include a close-up of the star's face (the 'money shots'), iconography of band image, visual trademarks/motifs.

There are use of close-ups in this video although there are not that many. This may be beacuse Mika is already an establihed pop singer and therefore does not need to be sold to his audience. Also, the video is very much about movement and therefore more wider shots are used to show Mika leaping around and to get the iconography of the video in as this is very important.

Mika has developed an individual visual style and a theme can be seen to run through all his music videos. They are all colourful and bright and he has also used the screens in at least one other video for the song 'Love Today'. His videos tend to be performance based and he often does a lot of dancing but never to a specific routine. His individual look is also distinct as he often wears skinny jeans in bright colours with colourful tops or shirts.

5) There is frequently reference to the notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

At some points in the video there is a sense of voyeaurism as with screens within screens as can be seen in the image below.

This video can be seen to challenge pop music videos that usually use scopaphilic camera shots in their treatment of the female body. Although Mika doesn't wear much in parts of the video except for his underpants, the video does not use scopophilic shots of his body as he is reliving his youth in the video and therefore it is given a more playful boyyish tone rather than a sexual one.

6) There is often intertextual reference (to films, TV programmes, other music videos, etc)

Genre signifiers in Music videos - Pop

80s Pop
Madonna - Lucky Star

This is a classic video from the 80s in the pop genre. There are some clear genre signifiers in the video. FOr instance the dance routine with the two girl dancers in the background. Also the use of bright and bold make-up with the red lipstick and Madonna's big hairstyle. Her outfit has obvious punk influences but is slightly revealing of her legs and naval so she has sex appeal, which is another signifier. The video also contains beauty shots, which are also used in other genres but are used in most pop videos. Long and extreme long shots are used so the dance routine can be seen. The music itself is very pop as it has a memeorable melody and hooks with lines that are easy to remeber and sing along to.

90s Pop
Britney Spears - Baby One More Time
This video contains a dance routine again with background dancers, around which much of the video is based. When the video is outside, the outifts are brightly coloured and reflect the time period the video was made in. Even when Britney is wearing a school unifrom, she has some colour in her hair as she is wearing pink, fluffy hairbands, which also makes her srand out from the other dancers and suggests innocence along with her plaits. Even when she is wearing the uniform, it is made sexy as her short is tied so her naval can be seen, which is another signifier of this genre. The video also contains beauty shots with close-ups of Britney. There are loads of long and extreme long shots used to show the dance routine. The music is a major signifier of pop with very catchy and memorable hooks that is also easy to dance to.

Garbage - Track Selection

After our first official meeting on Friday, we made a list of possible bands/artists that we would further research for possible song choices.

There were four:

Hey Monday
Garbage
Avril Lavigne
Paramore

We each chose one to further research and so this post will focus on possible song choices by:

Garbage

I think I'm Paranoid

This was chosen by Selina and could work even though it is a slower song than we would have liked. I think it would be a good song to make a video as the lyrics are open to different interpretations. The theme of the song, the idea of paranoia, is strong and therefore it is easy for me to visually imagine our video. It would be quite edgy and could work on different levels. I think voyearistic shots would work well in the video as a link to the idea of paranoia and somebody watching you. The video for this song focuses on extreme close-ups of the lead singer's lips and is therefore sexualised. In order to establish our band image as separate to that of Garbage, we would not use sexualised imagery in ours. A problem with this song is that I can't imagine Mia or Selina, one of which is likely to be the lead singer in our video, lip-synching to this as the voice is quite mature.

Cherry Lips

Having heard this song a few times, I think it could work and I particularly like the chorus. It is hard to think of ideas for this song as it is about a girl who captivates all men that she meets. Apart from demonstrating this literally through visuals that are illustrative of the lyrics, I can't think of a particularly interesting video other than one that is performance based.

When I grow up

This song is faster and more upbeat than the others and so it is easier to visualise a video for it, particularly as it so catchy. I chose to develop my idea for the video based on the line 'When I grow up I'll be stable'. The video could have a fun playful video, with people dancing and with the focus on one girl. However, throughout the video there will be a darker undertone illustrating the girl's unstable state of mind. One line in the song is 'Watch my temper, I go mental', which gave roots to my idea of having the girl or maybe everyone else she is dancing with as well go completely mental and thrash the place they are dancing in. This idea may need adapting as it is obviously not practical and would be expensive.

Track Research / Initial Ideas

Hole - Celebrity Skin

My idea for this involves the actress(es) doing a lot of dancing around.

My interpretation of the lyrics is that they are commenting on perhaps how women are labelled and pushed into certain roles or professions. They are often labelled in a derogatory manner. The line ‘hooker, waitress, model, actress, Oh just go nameless’ demonstrates this. SO I thought the girl(s)

In our video could wear loads of different outfits and could perform walking and dancing on the streets.

The video could have layers of meaning - about women having to look a certain way. Trapped by their gender.

The Like – What I say and what I mean

My interpretation is of lyrics – about the past. Not able to let go.

My idea for this involves a girl dancing and walking but then we can speed up and slow down shots when editing so she goes back and forth fast and slow according to the beat. My idea has fun with the serious (sort of) message.

The editing would be very fast in order to go with the beat of the song.

The Donnas – New Kid in School

The video for this song could have a possible slight narrative.

I could imagine the video with fast editing

Garbage - I’m only happy when it rains

This song has a slower beat and so I haven’t developed my idea for it as we agreed as a group to go for faster songs unless we find a really good slower one.

Carol Vernallis Article

CV says the camera in MV seems to mimic the way we view sonic space…do you agree? Do you think we are conditioned by MV to read sonic space in particular ways?


She suggests that the jumping camera focus is like the camera in place of our eyes, doing what we do when we listen. However this is predefined for us by the Director – we have even less choice to look away/outside of the Director’s choice than we do in film – do you agree?
I agree to a certain extent as it is completely up to the director as to how they make the video so that the audience sees it a certain way. However, most videos usually leave the viewing experience up to interpretation and so one person may view the same video in a completely different way to another person depending on various factors such as their life experience or the mood they are in. A lot of music videos have layers of meaning which leaves interpretation open to the audience. However, the director still has control over what we see through the camera and so it can be argued that the director also has control over the different ways the audience may interpret the video to a certain extent.

She says MV experience is more like listening than viewing – do you agree?
Again, I agree to a certain extent as the music would still be effective and a pleasurable experience when listened to alone however, I do think the visuals and the music work together and that the visuals add a further dimension to the music. The visuals need the music to be fully effective and therefore I would argue that the music video experience is more like listening than viewing.

“We compensate imaginatively for what we do not see in the frame” pg41 Agreed?
I completely agree with this statement as I can personally remember watching many videos in which much of the interpretation of the video is left up to the audience’s imagination. For instance in the video ‘Like a virgin’ by Madonna, we assume after seeing Madonna being carried and laid on a bed by the man that they have had sex but of course are not shown this.


“The body, the camera and the editing thus build a kind of momentum that can carry the viewer through a video” pg41
I think all elements of a music video work together to have the desired effect on the audience and therefore the three are also used to move the music video forward for the audience.

“The mechanisms that draw us forward and keep us at a distance exist in constant tension in music video” pg42
I think this is sometimes true to music videos, mainly those that are narrative or concept based. Perhaps because music videos are made for different interpretations, they are able to send out two messages at the same time of an opposite effect.

“Music videos break down visual, lyrical and musical elements to the smallest constituent parts – a prop, a colour, a gesture, a few words, an intriguing riff” pg42
In my opinion this statement is very true in most videos I have seen. This is particularly true for me in the video for the song ‘I’m yours’ by Jason Mraz. In my mind, I associate the artist with what I have seen of him in this video. I can remember small gestures such as his hands bobbing up and down in a low angle shot to the camera and also pointing to his guitarist during the line ‘I’m yours’. These small elements help the viewer form an image of the artist.


The constant motion in a MV and the variances it shows mean that a strong CU is a stable point. The MV ‘brings us towards these peaks, holds us against them, and then releases us’ p43 Do you agree?
I think I do agree with the majority of this statement as music videos, particularly those that are performance based, seem to hold the interest of the viewer mainly with those CUs and beauty shots. For instance, a recent music video that comes to mind is ‘Obsessed’ by Mariah Carey in which Extreme Close Ups of her face are used as she lip-synchs. These shots are very effective in bringing the video together as we are taken back to the same shot and therefore giving the video consistency.


Is the viewer sutured (stitched) into the diegesis of the film world through editing’?
I think the viewer is made to feel involved in the video through editing. The idea of voyeurism is interweaved into music videos, making the viewer feel as though they are watching through the content of the music video. For instance, a band could be performing on stage or the artists could be looking and singing at the camera and therefore the audience. It is also done through editing as is suggested in the statement below. Through for instance shot/reverse shots the viewer is made to feel special or even directly involved mainly in narrative based videos.

‘A series of sightlines and shot/reverse shots…place the viewer in the position of the protagonist or the privileged viewer’ pg43
This in a way ties into my answer for the last question. This is evident in narrative videos such as ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ by Wheatus. In that video shot/reverse shots are used in the corridor scene when the main boy and girl are walking towards each other. In that case, the boy is looking beyond the camera at the girl and so the audience are made to feel like the privileged viewer. Had the boy been looking at the camera the viewer may have felt like the protagonist.


MV is freer in terms of viewer identification and perspective – agreed?
I definitely agree that music videos are more open to interpretation than other forms of media such as films. However this is limited to a certain extent by the director who essentially chooses the way in which we are to see the contents of a shot through the camera which works as our eyes. Although the shots filmed are controlled by the director and cameraman, there is often more than one layer to many music videos and certain aspects are not shown and not made obvious therefore making music videos much more freer.

CV believes the image alone cannot tell the story – do you agree?
I agree that this is generally the case for music videos. I think it is very hard to work out the story of a music video from the video alone without the music and lyrics. For instance, in the video ‘Stole’ by Kelly Rowland, which is a narrative based video, although certain aspects of the story can be worked out it would be impossible to work out the story as a whole. It would be possible to work out that the setting is a school and the focus is at first on a schoolboy. However after this, although you could work out that the dead person in the body bag is the same boy, it would be hard to work out how the other characters that are introduced are related to the story without being able to hear the lyrics of the song.

BLK feedback

Excellent research posts so far Bhavika, a great start to your background work for this project. I really like the analysis work you have done on music video. We do need to get you using/applying advanced theory more explicitly in the new term, think Vernallis for now, although you will also need to get to grips with Goodwin as well.

You have some gaps from last term's classwork though, could you deal with this work as soon as possible so you are fully up to date.

So your short term targets are:
1. Post your lip sync evaluation
2. Post last term's work for Miss T on Vernallis (see her post on main blog for specific details)
3. Post your track research/ideas – we need to see what tracks you have in mind for your own video
4. We need a photo of you please!
5. Can you add some inspirational/useful weblinks?

All instructions are on the main blog if you are not sure what you should have done. There will be a lot happening when term starts so the sooner this outstanding work is completed, the better.

Great blog so far. Keep up the good work and see you soon!