R+P Post 7: Record labels of interest

Since 2012 there have been 3 major record labels, (known as the 'big three'), who control around 70% of the world music market and 80% of the American music market.

Music & Copyright's annual surveys show that independent record labels dominate the sector.

Independent labels will be in our greatest interest as most EDM is released independently, with many artists self-publishing until they fall under the eyes of an independent label.



Spinnin' Records

• Dutch independent record label
• EDM, but focus on progressive house, electro house and big room house
• Founded 1999
• 40 sub-labels
• Have signed in the past names such as Avicii, Borgore, Darude, Martin Garrix, Nicky Romero.

Monstercat logo

Monstercat

• Canadian EDM record label
• Founded 1st July 2011
• Signs artists for single releases only, letting artists retain copyright control and release on other labels
• Every 30 tracks, they release an album
• Albums are available on iTunes, SoundCloud, Bandcamp, Spotify, Xbox Music, Google Play Music, Apple Music, Beatport, and others.
• They promote snippets of tracks on their Facebook and Instagram pages.
• Had signed in the past Krewella

R+P Post 6: Current trends in popular music

Since the late 1990's, pop music has been the UK's biggest album seller, overtaking Rock. This is also evident through looking at the UK top music charts.

However, we are most interested in EDM, and the UK Top 40 show's this to be very popular, with 4 of the top ten being listed as sub-genres of EDM, and 2nd place going to an EDM track.

2nd, 5th, and 6th place go to EDM sub-genres. 7th is also arguably EDM
as although it is listed as Pop, it sounds like all the production is electronic
synths.

The British Phonographic Industry (BPI), found in recent surveys that although Rock albums sell more than any other genre, it is still Pop that sells the most singles.

The term EDM (electronic dance music) was pushed to audiences in 2010 by the U.S. music industry in order to try to re-brand rave culture and increase popularity. It is a kind of 'umbrella term', which can be used to reference many different sub-genres.
The 'House' genre, seen as a sub genre of EDM has been around since the mid 1980's, arguably the first house record is Jesse Saunders' "On and On".

In the mid 1990's electronic dance music (previously associated with European rave culture) was marketed in America under the term "electronica", in an attempt to increase popularity.

By the mid 2000's, popularity of dance music, particularly in North America, had greatly increased. The "tipping point" of EDM, according to Spin Magazine, was when Daft Punk performed at Coachella in 2006.

R+P Post 5: The kind of video I would like to make

I really want to create a video that uses simple yet effective visual effects to take the viewer to a different world.

This is a great example of what I have in mind as it takes normal everyday shots and locations and 'enhances' them with retro and futuristic graphics.



Another similar technique that the following Watsky video demonstrates is called 'data moshing', and it is basically corrupting a video on purpose to create a desired glitchy effect. I find this very interesting considering the fact that nowadays everyone is usually competing to have the best quality video, and this turns the tables.

R+P Post 4: Audience groups of interest

The audience groups I am most interested in are festival goers and fans of EDM. The majority of festival goers are young people, however fans of EDM cover a far greater age range.

I believe the popularity of EDM has risen in direct correlation with the more often occurrence of it being played at festivals, and also in conjunction with the electronic elements seeping into pop music tracks.

This graph shows both concert and festival attendance in 2012 and 2014, in thousands of people.

As you can see from the graph, over the two year gap festival attendance in the UK rose by over 700,000. Although concert attendance rose by well over 4 million, this still shows that the audience for festivals is growing, so is a good audience to try to appeal to.

R+P Post 3: Music genres that interest me

I enjoy almost all genres of music, however there are some in particular that I listen to more than the rest. I'd say my favourite genres are EDM, Pop, and Classical.

EDM is a very diverse genre, which includes practically all electronic music, however the majority is produced for festivals. My first exposure to the genre was on-line, through the YouTube channel of the Monstercat record label. One of the first tracks I heard, (and one I remember best), was Pegboard Nerds - Disconnected

My interest in pop music is relevant to this due to the face that pop music now has many elements of electronic music in it. One of my favourite pop tracks at the moment is a remake of an old song, and this particularly sums up my interest in pop as it is a clean, electronic pop song:

Felix Jaehn - Ain't Nobody (Loves Me Better) ft. Jasmine Thompson

I grew up with classical music on at home a lot, this due to the fact my parents listened often to Classic FM. Although I don't follow any current classical artists nor do I frequently listen to the genre, I still find it one of the genres I most enjoy when I do happen to listen to it.
Having said that, I can still say my favourite classical composer at the moment is Ludovico Einaudi, whose music seems to have a flow to it that you don't find in traditional classical music.

R+P Post 2: What does music mean to you?

I feel that music means quite a bit to me, it has given me inspiration in the past and also helped a lot to pass the time, (such as with travelling).

Childhood:

Green Day - Boulevard of Broken Dreams

Around the time I first really started independently listening to music, at this point most of my music taste was derived from my brother's, mainly because around this time I got an iPod and seeing as you had to get music from iTunes I basically just got his music. However, this wasn't from his library, and I have no idea where I first heard it, but it's significant to me as I made a blutac stop animation to the track, basically the first ever creative thing I did, and the animation was played in my primary school's assembly so I felt pretty full of myself.

Early Teens:

Pegboard Nerds – Disconnected

I first heard this track in 2012 and it was one of the first to really open my eyes to other genres of music, especially electronic. It also to a point inspired me in producing my own music, and has accompanied me on many journeys when on holiday. Despite all this, I still don't like the second half.

Now:

Felix Jaehn - Ain't Nobody ft. Jasmine Thompson

This song is significant to me as every time I hear it it reminds me of the 1983 version and that reminds me of my childhood and good memories as my parents always listened to Magic FM which constantly used to play oldie tracks like it. It's also kind of weird as I recognised the piano samples used for this track, as I've used them and heard them in other tracks.

R+P Post 1: My A2 Group

Group members (left to right): Myself, Ignacio Flores, Mario Louka.

Key strengths: 
I believe I have good technical skills such as in editing and deciding shots and setups, whereas I think Ignacio is particularly good at organisation and planning, for example things like working out our shoot schedule. I think Mario will bring the most creativity and ideas to the group.

Schedule:
We have decided to meet multiple times a week to discuss what we are doing, we have also drawn up a list of what we're going to be doing during each meeting, whether it be discussing ideas or working together on a particular thing such as a timeline.

We have decided to keep in touch via both a Facebook group and also a WhatsApp chat.