Coldplay - media studies review

It is only a blog of an A2 Media studies student however it is useful to gain an insight to other reviews on the album artwork

http://katiewalshawa2levelmedia.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/brand-identity-coldplay.html

The first example I looked at was Coldplays new music video release "Every Teardrop is a waterfall". In this video they have cleverly used a range of animated designs across the video setting to illustrate the lyrics sung. They have also made the video have a slightly jerky look to it as each camera shot doesn't move smoothly between transitions. This is done purposefully to create a storyboard theme and look to it. There is lots of use of bright colours in the animations and designs that draws the audiences eyes to it, making them view the scene portrayed through the animations that the actual settings around them. I think this idea for a music video is fairly original and never really been done before so it works well to gain the audiences interest.

I also looked at the covers for their new album release called "Mylo Xyloto". They have used the same tactics that they did is the music video I have talked about above, using a series of bright colours and designs all merged into one cover that gives the impression of what the songs on the album are going to be like (uplifting, feel good songs etc.). It has also created a brand identity by associating their brand with the bright colours and animations used. They have kept the attention of these bright colours on the album covers by making the title a simple colour and font, and making sure there is no other content on the album covers. Looking at the music video and album cover as one product you can definitely see they have been created as one overall product and immediately  identify the Coldplay band when seeing these bright colourful animations and designs.

Coldplays use of brand identity is highly successful as many people who are familiar with their works will look at these products and immediately associate them with the band through the use of colour and animation.

Coldplay Mylo Xyloto Review

http://davidkeen.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/coldplay-mylo-xyloto-has-god-left.html

David Keen
2011

 With the final implosion of Oasis, maybe Coldplay are now trying to fill the gap in the market for optimistic rock songs. In many ways this mirrors the music: just as language is used for effect, not content, Mylo Xyloto is more of a sound than a collection of tunes. I found it harder to identify particular songs (with the exception of Paradise or the superb Princess of China) during early listens, or the overall flow of the album. Like the colourful but messy artwork, Mylo Xyloto is rich in musical colour, but it's a bit harder to identify particular shapes, either to the music, or to the words. The lack of a full set of lyrics with the CD maybe indicates that Coldplay don't really want to draw attention to their lyrics, and don't set as much store by them as some of their fans. 


http://beatwolf.com/reviews/albums/coldplay-mylo-xyloto/

The album on a whole is better than Viva la Vida but is tending to appeal more to the masses rather than looking after the needs of their die-hard fans.

CM- we just feel we have nothing to lose as a band so it’s nice to just feel free, I don’t know if it is commercial or if it’s just good or anything, but its full of love and passion


http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13074-leftrightleftrightleft/

Coldplay are the biggest band in the world because they believe themselves to be, which is the kind of titanic self-actualization typically associated with salesmen and self-help books. But they are humble in their hubris: Not only do they provide a service-- essentially giving listeners what they want-- but in this case, they're doing it without charge. Ironically, those contradictory qualities mean the band may be wasted in a studio, Eno notwithstanding.LRLRL suggests that Coldplay songs truly live only in vast concert halls and smallish arenas, where they are performed for, and arguably by, a captivated audience.

Coldplay Boigraphy

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/c/coldplay/biography.html

Coldplay are an English alternative rock band from London, formed in 1998. The group comprises Chris Martin (lead vocals, keyboards, guitar), Jonny Buckland (lead guitar), Guy Berryman (bass guitar), and Will Champion (drums, backing vocals, other instruments).

 Coldplay have sold over 50 million records worldwide.

Coldplay released their first full-length album, Parachutes, in July 2000, which debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart. "Yellow" and "Trouble" earned regular radio airplay in the UK and US. Parlophone originally predicted sales of 400,000 units of Parachutes; by Christmas, 1.6 million copies had been sold in the United Kingdom alone. Parachutes was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in September 2000.

Musical style

Coldplay's musical style has been defined as alternative rock, being compared to Jeff Buckley and Oasis. Lead singer/songwriter Chris Martin once labelled the band's music as "limestone rock". The band's music has been called "meditative" and "blue romantic"; it " on their emotions" and Martin "endlessly examine his feelings". Martin's lyrical wordplay has been called feminist, similar to Andrew Montgomery of Geneva.

The tone of the band's first studio album, Parachutes, was described as melodic pop with "distorted guitar riffs and swishing percussion". It was also described as being "exquisitely dark and artistically abrasive". In a review for A Rush of Blood to the Head, the songs were considered to contain "lush melodies and a heartbreak" and that they had a "newfound confidence." The music on X&Y has been considered to be "ruminations on Martin's doubts, fears, hopes, and loves."

They also acknowledge the Scottish alternative rock band, Travis, as a major influence on their earlier material.

I found an interesting essay about online and offline identity and what the internet has enables young people to davelop in terms of their identities.

http://www.123helpme.com/identity-view.asp?id=218377

Stealing the identity of another is not an honest act. However, the Internet allows many opportunities for exploration of identity and has displayed personal social exploration to fulfill their curiosity. According to Lemke (1998), young people develop a sense of full presence online, living in them semiotically as they make cultural and personal sense of their participation. The shaping of an identity plays a vital role in the online world especially in having sustained online presence within any particular online-group. Turkle (1995) believes identity tinkering online opens the potential for young people to take risks and to explore all aspects of one's identity. 

The anonymity that the medium provides have a powerful, disinhibiting impact on behavior and it allows young people an unique opportunity for self-expression. Turkle (1995) argues that the participation in online identity play is similar to participation in pyschodrama. This ties in with the idea of the game as a means though which experience is formulated (Erikson, 1968). According to Turkle, the identity game helps to bring about psychological maturity. It is achieved by being able to develop different facets of the identity and experiencing variable progress between different identities. 

According to Steven G. (1998) , young people can and do take on second identities to protect their offline from their online identity. Steven (1998) believes young people allow themselves to behave in ways different from offline life, to express formerly unexplored aspects of their personalities, much as they do when wearing masks at a masquerade ball. 

Amber Case (2010) mentioned on TED, Washington DC, (Fig 4A &ump; Fig 4B) the need for maintenance of second self in simultaneous time. Amber (2010) believes good technology does not inhibit one's lifestyle, but enhances it. Being responsible with technology use will be vital to maintaining oneself and making sure that the future generations aware of monitoring themselves. 

Turkle (1995) argues that without coherence, the identity spins off in all directions and that multiplicity can exist only between personalities that can communicate among themselves. Steven G. (1998) states the fragmentation of the individual obstructs the development of the resilent online identity. Ultimately, one can create multiple versions of oneself; different versions of identity can be altered to particular audience. Nonetheless, for most young people these fragmentary social faces are merged into an emotional sense of a single identity. One is able to express more online than one says offline. Thus, hostile exchanges can be found erupting online, then one can abandon that difficult position by abandoning the identity through which it was projected. As mentioned by Steven G (1998), the fragmentation of the identity is primarily a disintegration of the internal psychological aspect. 

Author has moved between online and offline spaces, systematically observing, documenting and talking to young people about their practices and attitudes. Case study research method is defined as “an empirical inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context, when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident and in which multiple sources of evidence are used” (Yin, 1984, p.23). Thus, this research uses a relevant case study, which provides a systematic way of approaching the problem of identity fragmentation in SNS, collecting and analyzing the data and reporting the outcome. The subjects of interviews and direct observations are primarily young people (differing in age, sex, race, sexuality, religion, ethnicity and socioeconomic class), author has also spent time analyzing the profiles and commentary of these young people. 

In examining the practices of young people on SNS, author focuses primarily on Facebook. Many young people began participating because of the opportunity to craft a personal identity in an increasingly popular online community. 

Notes on direction

I went to the library to have a look at past dissertations for theorists and books that I should look at and I found a couple of dissertations that were on being a graphic designer in the music industry. My dissertation is more directed towards the importance of branding in the music industry but one of the dissertations did have a case study on the X-Factor and how it was a factory for pop start, branding pre-prepaired pop artists.

Looking at how branding is used in celebrity culture with a focus on the Music industry.

Investigating the importance of graphic design / branding in celebrity culture with a focus on the Music industry;

• How are obsession with branding has meant that artists need to brand themselves for publicity and to be successful. To be successful you need to be famous / in the lime light - and to achieve this you have to brand yourself. Look at theories of identity,
• How does colour, type, design and semiotic impact achieve this fame. 

BOOKS

Celebrity & Power, Fame in contemporary culture - Marshall
Idendity - Bauman
Media Semiotics - Bignel
Culture & Idendity - Kidd
Essays of Music - Adorno
The Culture Industry - Adorno
Ways of Seeing - Berger
Thinking Pop Culture - Brabazon
A Sound art, behind music, between categories - Licht, A

MAGAZINES

Grafik - Issue 185

ESSAY

Adorno - On Popular Culture

THEORIESTS

Adorno -
Benjamin
Max Horhilimer
Herbert Marcuse

THEORIES

Mass Culture
Pop Culture
High Art
Pseudo Individualism
Standardisation
Aura

PRIMARY RESERACH

Interview with graphic designers in the music industry
Inverview with artists / djs / producers who are trying to get noticed to be successful.

Branding in the Music Industry

http://www.squidoo.com/branding-in-the-music-industry

THE IMPORTANCE OF BRANDING IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY

As a student of music industries management, I've learned a great deal about what it takes for a music artist or band to achieve a level of success. What a lot of people don't realize is just how crucial branding in the music industry is. In this day of digital media and social networking, it is both more difficult and easier than ever to get your foot in the door. With so many new artists and bands emerging and trying their hand at a career as performers, it is easy for others to get lost in the shuffle. To really stand out from the crowd and start on your road to success, you need to brand yourself (or your band) and put yourself out there as much as possible.

In this lens I will discuss the importance of branding your band and treating your music career as a business and not just a hobby. I will also share some simple tips on how to get started with the branding process and how to make yourself stand out from the rest.

Establishing Yourself as a Brand

Treat your music as a business

One of the most important and valuable steps you can take in your career as a musician is to build yourself, or your band, as a brand. If you are looking for a successful career in the music industry as a performer, and your ultimate goal is to make a living from your music, then you need to treat yourself as an artist, or your band, as a business.

If you start to take your music seriously and look at is as more than just a hobby, you are well on your way to achieving the success that you are striving for. To make a living from creating and performing music, you need to invest (both time-wise and financially) in your band and market and promote it as you would a product from any other kind of business.

Create a Unique Logo

One of the best ways you can brand your band is to create a logo that people can automatically associate with it. As I specialize in the hard rock/metal genres of music, I have added a picture of the logo of a well-known, successful band - Avenged Sevenfold. The logo - known as the Deathbat - has become synonymous with the band, and millions of people around the world recognize it and automatically know it is Avenged Sevenfold without having to even have the band's name anywhere on it.

Creating a striking and unique logo for your band that can be used on merchandise, posters, banners and around the Internet is a huge step in establishing your band as its own brand. Once people start to see and recognize your logo, it will be much harder for them to forget who you are. If the logo is really cool looking, people will be proud to wear it and show it off for you.

Creating an Image

The image of your band is sometimes just as important as your music. Make sure your band LOOKS like a band and carries an image that your targeted demographic can relate to. Many musicians greatly underestimate the important of image in the music industry and fail to realize that the business has moved beyond just the sounds of a band. Image goes beyond just the visual aesthetics, too. How you carry yourself and behave also plays a huge part in how people see you. Aspire to be a band that people can look up to in one way or another. Send a message that your fans can take on board and give them something to BELIEVE in.

The importance of branding

Any marketing guru will tell you that the biggest and most important aspect of marketing is branding. This is as essential in the music business as it is in any other. Potential fans need to be able to remember and associate with you. With so many other artists and bands out there, it is important that you take the necessary steps to stand out from the crowd and not just fade into the background. Once you start to treat your band as a business and understand the importance and value of branding yourself, things will start to fall into place and you'll be taking steps in the right direction. The brand of your band is the foundation of your business, and once the foundation is laid you can build upon it. Without a starting block, a business cannot be built. When it comes to your career, you don't want to be going around in circles, you want to move forward.

If you're serious about your music career, want to learn more about marketing in the music industry and are ready to take your career to the next level, Music Marketing Classroom provides some valuable information in the form of "cheat sheets" using non-traditional strategies you can implement to expand your fanbase

BLOG; the new age marketing

http://newagemarketing.wordpress.com/2010/02/03/branding-in-the-music-industry/

BRANDING IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY

February 3, 2010 at 11:40 pm Sushant Gole Leave a comment

The great Phillip Kotler says that a brand is a seller’s promise to deliver a specific set of features, benefits and service consistently. According to Al Ries, a brand is a symbol, a name or a logo that someone owns in the minds of the customer.These definitions of a brand holds true across industries. The music industry may work differently than other traditional industries, but then is it so different as to be alien to the concept of a brand? Do we have brands in the music industry?

Take a look at the picture on the left. Does it remind you of anyone?  It  would be next to impossible to find a person who listens to music and not know the pictures represents the great King of Pop Michael Jackson. The man was a perfect example of a branding in the music industry.The signature Fedora hat and sequined glove symbolized none other than him. They represent the symbol part that the definition of a brand talks about.

Now take a look at this picture on the left again. The name itself screams the style of music they make. Heavy Metal. And they have remained loyal to their name throughout their music career with heavy metal songs. No person will ever look at the name and buy a CD expecting to find mellow romantic songs inside. That is delivering a specific set of features consistently part of brand definition.

I once read that the great guitarist Eric Clapton built his own guitar by using parts of three Fender Stratocaster guitars and named it ‘Blackie’. I was touched by the bond that he shared with his guitar to the point of naming it. Now when I look at it critically, with all due respects to his love, Clapton had been shrewd. He had created a brand out of his guitar. That again was a symbol, something which reminded people of Clapton every time they saw his guitar.

These are just some of the examples to make you aware of branding in music Industry. In the music industry, branding is as prevalent as it would be in any other industry.