Exploring Vinyl!

Vinyl records are analogue sound storage mediums consisting of a flat disc inscribed with modulated spiral grooves. These records replaced the gramophone cylinders and come in many different formats and deigns. The small 7" (45rpm) records usually have one track per side, but a 10/12" (45rpm) record can hold up to 10 and 15 minutes of music. Above is a picture of some of my mothers 7" records which I was looking at to get an idea of the appearance of Vinyl for designing my own for Smaller Than You. The beginning of Vinyl records were usually sold in a cardboard layout slip with a hole in the centre enabling people to see the record label and song track. Nowadays the medium 10" size are quite rare, so I didn't have any to look at.
These 4 small Vinyl's were my favourite out of my mother's collection. I really like the simplicity and design of 'The Pretenders', the vibrant retro look of 'TheWalker Bros- Classic Cuts', and the dramatic close up image of Dandy Livingstone.
The minimalist look of the presenters and colour scheme is very similar to The Specials, it creates duality and stand out a lot. I like the ying yang effect and how even the record itself plays with the same style. On the back it has the song listings for track A and B, and has little information anywhere else. I think this is effective and myself as a customer would buy this.
'The Walker Bros.-Classic Cuts' scheme also creates a kind of duality, there is a mirror images man and women dancing on either side of the front of the record. The colours of pink white and black create a retro effect and link with their American Pop group style. The back of it is very detailed with track listings on top of the same repeated image of the man and the women dancing, and the bottom half has another repeated image of a Phillips radio showing advertising. I like the choppy font of the main title, against the bold smaller font showing the other information. I think this retro look is eye-catching and humorous, but may not go with the genre of Ska and image of skateboarding.
The third above of Jane Birkin's vinyl is really effective. The repeated pattern on the phonogram image in bold blue red and white seem symbolic and creates a hypnotising effect. They look like mini dart boards and look good but don't fit with the Jane Birkin style or type of song.
The fourth on the picture is of Dandy Livingstone's 'Come Back Liza', although this is very cheesy the layout is simple and bold. The picture of him is an extreme close up and establishes the artist and his audience's needs, the image and his reggae genre. Dandy Livingstone was a Jamaican musician and producer as is known for his song "Rudy, A Message To You" covered later on by 'The Specials'. He was part of Ska Beat Records at one point in his music career, which is quite ironic as the genre I am studying is Ska. I think this layout is good as I want my audiences to know who there artist is and can establish the type of music from the appearance of the product. Because 'Smaller Than You' consists of 6 members it may be hard to accomplish a close up of them all on their album/viynl cover.


I also like the back of Meat Loaf’s 'Dead Ringer' Vinyl, as the picture on the back is effective showing him live in performance. This establishes Meatloaf and his genre and the dramatic close up gives the audience an image of him with his passion for music. These larger 33" LP vinyl’s above are significant in my research as the vinyl I am producing, although will be in the form of a single (45"), will have the qualities of the larger vinyl. The larger ones often opened up like books, and had the actual record in a slip on the right hand side. I want to accomplish this, but in a smaller side. This means my production will have a proper front cover, will open up to have a left image and a right image and behind the right image and the back of the vinyl the record will be held. Although this isn’t familiar with the 45" I think it will be effective for my production as it will enable me to add more information and images of the band.




I even found some really old Disney and Care Bears on vinyl which was quite humourous!
Many of the large Vinyl's have extra features, which made the whole product more appealing. On one of Stevie Wonder's packing the theme was nature and had many images of natural substances and the front had in brail spelt out it's title which really made a stronger relationship with him and his audience. Some of the Vinyl’s opened up like a book and had the lyrics, or extra background biographical information on the artist/band. I like the idea of it opening up and having either a poster or the song lyrics on the inside of the cover, an another slip with the actual record inside. The smaller 45" ones often have small booklets inside, like what you get with Albums these days, entailing song information and lyrics which was also a good idea.

Questionnaire Results- Target Audience

Male Above ^
Female Above ^

Above our my results presented in graphs, the blue represents females and the green men.
In my questionnaire I asked 10 males and 10 females the same set of questions, varying from open and closed questions. We males we asked were between 17 and 19 and the females were 16-30. Although the majority of our questions are closed and lead to no further investigation I think the answered provided will help in research for my music video production. In our question the participants were allowed to answer more than one option, giving us more results to analyse. All of our questions were multiple choice as we didn’t want Dichotomous questions as our results wouldn’t be in depth.
These were:

Where do you buy your music?
How often do you buy your music?
Where do you buy your clothes?
What types of gizmos do you own?
Which websites do you visit on a regular basis?
Where do you hear about new music bands?
What would you say your favourite music genre is?
When do you mostly listen to your music?

I believe these questions will help us to establish our audience from their sociability, appearance and music interest. Also from my results I am going to create a person, and elaborate the meanings of my findings.

Our Results:
I picked these questions out to elaborate:
Where do you buy your music? + How often do you buy your music?:
The majority of males answering this question didn’t have a specific answer, and as we had 2 answers for Itunes, independent , second hand and HMV, one for play.com and none for supermarket. This gives us a wide variety of results but compared to the females who answered Itunes HMV and supermarket is very different. I think this could be due to the males not bothering where they buy there music, whether its second hand or brand new and creates them as being more interested in buying music. The females answers shows the renowned Itunes and HMV as the most popular. This could be as buying music from here is very easily assessable as HMV is a high street store and Itunes is simple and is used widely.
Males being more interested in music is reinforced from the second question. Females had 1 at never, 3 at once and 1 at once week. Although the answers are very different it shows females as less likely to buy music than males. The males answered 2 at one a week and once a fortnight and none put never.

Where do you hear about new music bands?
This question was quite important as it gives us an idea on how people access new music, as we are promoting a new band in a music video these results will be crucial. The females results showed us that they mostly hear about new music from the TV and radio magazines, as to the males who answered all the boxes. This could show our audience appealing to males more as we want our music video to be accessed widely, form internet to media texts and word of mouth.

What would you say your favourite music genre is?
The females here had more of a variety in genre, focusing more on Pop, Indie and rock which could be grouped together to form this generations popular music of Indie pop/ Indie rock. This set of results show mainstream music and how females, listen hear and buy music from mainstream sources. For example HMV which sells all types of genres, TV which promotes artists of music videos, channels, and radio, and the genre Pop fits in well with this mainstream marketing. In addition to this the males answered the genres of Folk, Indie and Rock, giving a more alternative genre of Indie Rock. The genre of ska was quite popular with the males mostly, and was significant in our results as we are aiming to target this audience through our music video, cd didig pack and magazine article. Here again it shows males as our prefered target audiences, 2 males answered ska as their favourtie genre and 0 females.

Where do you buy your clothes?
Which websites do you visit on a regular basis?
These question helps with our audiences consumption habits as well as where they buy their music and which websites they use. They determine how sociable they are and almost how they deal with the outer world. Females here showed us less demand in where they buy their clothes. 75 percent answered High street, 10 percent internet and 15 percent independent retailers. This is quite interesting as its shows the females preferring the high street, it show there consumer habits how they like to shop in store for there clothes instead of online, like how they access there music. The males answered 50 percent high street, and then the rest was for internet designer, independent retailer and other. This shows both males and females choosing high street primarily to buy their clothes.
Both males and females answered equally and the highest for Facebook showing signs of sociability and that they are good with accessing new technologies and websites online. They both put high for you tube, this reinforces their entertainment from online for music and videos for recreation. They both again put equally for itunes, but males put higher for hotmail. This is again another sign of males being comfortable with online socialising and organisation of their sociability.

What types of gizmos do you own?
Females here had more types of gizmos than males. They answered 4 for mobile phone and ipod, 3 for laptop, 2 for mp3 and home pc and 1 for blackberry. This shows females being better with accessible technologies and socialising through phones and laptops instead of online sites like the males. Males here answered 4 for laptop, ipod and mobile phone and 3 for home pc. Here there is a similarity in the answers as most people in this generation have both a mobile and a home pc and certainly an ipod. This portrays our young generation as quite technologically advanced as they are used to consuming and socialising online. This is important as the audience we are accessing is youthful and these are the types of consumer habits they have, being up to date with technology and music.




Results Ideologies:
Clothes:
The audiences clothes are very important for their appearance and impressions and these findings show that both males and females prefer high street shopping to online or another way. I think this is effective as it implies that they aren’t entirely bothered on appearance as high street is inexpensive and accessible than internet and independent retailers. I think the males voted higher for internet shopping as they seem more interested in using the internet than the females.
I think to find out more about the appearance of our audience we need to ask them what shops they buy from and also need to include how much they buy clothes. The males clothes for our target audience would be music orientated as they seem to strongly associate themselves and interests to music as seen form the results. The shops would maybe be independent places like Philippe Brown or generic high street places such as Topshop and H+M.

Music:
The males showed a stronger passion for music than females, as they brought it weekly and fortnightly and buying it In second hand could imply that they value it and don’t mind where its from or its used appearance. Females seemed less interested in where they buy their music or where they hear about new music or how often they buy it. This implies a female audience who maybe isn’t as bothered with up to date new music and bands but hears it when its on the radio or in a magazine. None of the males answered mp3, showing their music passion and answered Ipod instead. This is interesting as Ipods are the most typical and generic device for playing music on portably. All most everyone in this generation has an Ipod and it shows the audience as being up to date with music and having a strong interest in it. The males also showed a strong interest in music again as 2 answered Spotify. Spotify is is a proprietary peer-to-peer music streaming service that allows instant listening to specific tracks or albums with virtually no buffering delay, this is used world wide buy music audiences who want to listen to the music without ileaglly downloading or puchasing. Females on the otherhand answered 0, showing a lack of intertest in this type of listeing to musicn and downloading.


Sociability:
From out results its seems that the females answered that they listen to music with friends and by themselves, but mostly by themselves. This shows a more personal experience with music which may show them as using music as a form of escapism as to the males maybe more recreation. This is because they answered higher for the choice of both, showing that they could listen to music socially with friends (at a gig, party) but also by themselves for escapism as well. The gizmo and social networking question gave us an interest in how sociable they are. I think the males seemed more sociable as they heard about new bands form both word of mouth and the internet. This shows them as musically active on the internet and talking to their friends maybe at gigs or events about new bands their interested in, portraying them as interested in new music and being socially active.


Before my questionnaire I created an audience demographic for my music video and someone who would listen to Smaller Than You's music. I based this on the type of music, the style, the people I know and music genre's and audiences I am familiar with.
I have learnt that my target audience is focused on males and how they consume music, for example that males don’t mind where they purchase music from, and listen to it on music devices such as Spotify, and enjoy using Facebook and Youtube. This leads to my advertisement which could be an advertisement add on Facebook, and I will upload my music video onto YouTube for wider advertising.
The results are similar to what I expected, I knew that Ska was more popular with a male audience. Females came across as not that musically active in the questionnaire which could have linked to asking the 'wrong' people, and if I did this again i would have made sure i had one participant from each age group i wanted to explore and target. The weaknesses of this questionnaire is that I would have liked to find out more on their appearance and consumer habits, maybe asking a question of where they shop and what is their favourite item to purchase. Also I think a question asking them on gigs or festivals would be good as Ska's target audience from what I have researched like to go to many gigs. The strengths in the questionnaire are the gizmo question as if gave us an insight to their use of technologies and how they consume media texts. I also would have liked to get more information on the participant so i could get a clearer explanation of my target audience.
This method was effective as it allowed us to ask questions without either a really long answer which could be hard to interpret but it didn't give them a chance to express their full opinion, for example if we hadn't used multiple answers we could have got more qualitative information on their dislikes and interests.

Smaller Than You- Who Knew Lyrics

-
It was easy to see when you were looking around at me,
A face of despair and a dream for prosperity,
But things started to to change a descision was made,... See more
About what you wanna do...

WHO KNEW!

About all the troubles and the hassle of life,
Run away from it all, run away from the light,
Can i deal with these problems,
Later on in my life.
Later on... later on..on in my life.
Later on, on.

All the things that you said and all the things that you've done,
Have only set in upon the minds of the young,
Actions have consiquence as some may say,
And they're coming for me not you,

WHO KNEW!

About all the troubles and the hassle of life,
Run away from it all, run away from the light,
You can't deal with these problems,
Later on in your life.
-


These lyrics are extremely important for my video to be successful in following the Godwin Theory. As the Godwin theory implies there is a link between the visuals and the lyrics, and the music and the visuals. Our video was based upon a fragmented narrative (developed by the editing) where the characters are running (Run away from it all) frantically from one another with a pair of drumsticks. These drum sticks are significant as Jake, the drummer of the band, is unable to play without them and it's his quest to retrieve them back. The characters are skaters and band members from 'Smaller Than You', and also connote youth and the genre of Ska. The form of the lyrics itself are extremely high in punctuation developing a fragmented and fast paced style, even on the page. This was utilised by our edit, where we put intervals between certain frames to get a flip book event. This added a comic-cartoon aspect to the video and the use of cross fades also progressed this.
We wanted the narrative to be fast paced because of the music, but as the lyrics constantly refer to movement, transition and time- "run", "change", "later", "away", "actions". We started the narrative off to a vibrant beginning and set it in the afternoon, to show time had changed we shot each progressing scene hours later, when the sun was setting and it was becoming noir, to connote this time transition in the lyrics. The lyric of- "And they're coming for me not you"- influenced the relay of narrative, the characters chasing after one another and only out for themselves.

Vinyl Covers

I am going to look at some Ska CD packs and vinyl which is going to help me with ideas on my vinyl pack for 'Who Knew- Smaller Than You'. I am generally focusing on Ska and SKa-punk as this is the audience and genre (of 'Smaller than You') I am going to target with my product.


STUDIO ONE SKA:
Although this is not an actual artist, this compilation of various Ska and Reggae artists are presented very effectively on this record cover. Studio One is one of Jamaica’s most renowned recording labels and recording studios, and were involved with most of the major musical movements in Jamaica in the 50's/60's (including ska and reggae).
The record cover is extremely interesting and appeals to an older generation predominately as it's an authentic format of music, which is still massively popular. This vinyl appearance also caters young adults for example, DJ's who play a lot of electronic dance music, hip hop, punk and jazz. As of 2009 the use of viynl has become more popular to this generation and are used for the distribution for generally independent and alternative music artists, unlike more mainstream artists producing digital packs.
This compilation is incredibly eye catching and attractive to audiences who could be just flicking through Cd's in a record shop who stumble across this, and, I think this attractive display is effective for sales and the audience. The bright contrasting colours of blood red and dingy green reinforce a retro representation. This again, pulls in a wider audience of Reggae and Ska lovers of the 1950/60's, as well as a new younger fan audience who are passionate for Ska and Reggae. This appearance of the Cover is quite ironic as it looks like an old vinyl passed down, but actually was released in 2004. I particularly like how some of the artists names stand out from the rest, in bold white, and how the centre makes the appearance of a vinyl. I also like how their isn't a picture, just a list of influential Ska and Reggae artists, and how the layout is cluttered or impossible to read. The title is very eye catching and as it's one of the most important parts of a CD's appearance is presented well, and the different fonts are used for the different descriptions. I think this would be a good idea for my vinyl package as I think the audience and band members would be fond of this authentic format which will cater numerous generations.




THE SPECIALS:
The Specials were and still are a very popular group who were considered a '2 Tone Ska' band. 2 Tone: is a music genre formed in England fusing elements of Ska, rock punk and reggae. There music had a focused and informed and political stance and their image was very mod, consisting of 60's period rude boy outfits and trilby hats and braces. Their messages portrayed through their music were very politically powerful especially 'Free Nelson Mandela' and 'Ghost Town'. 'Ghost Town' was in response to Margaret Thatcher's policies influencing the bands thoughts and lyrics on unemployment.
The appearance to their album 'Too Much Too Young' is very intertextulised. I believe this layout was influenced by their messages of Black and White races beings equal, displayed with the black against the white. This is also emphasises in the patterned black and white squares at the bottom and the kind of ‘Ying Yang’ effect it implies. Another reason for this Cd covers appearance is the bands co founded record label with Jerry Dammers. The record label was named '2 tone' and the 'Walt Jabasco Logo' is the signature image for the specials.
The packaging of the album 'Too Much Too Young' is simple but effective, I think the divide in the middle of the two tones creates a dramatic effect, and the signature logo fits in perfectly. I think the way they always include the logo in some, making it a well known face almost personifying it is intriguing. The title is presented well, just below the artists name which can't be missed far off, and although this is simpler than the other design of 'Studio One Ska' I think it is much better to their audience.
This Specials representaion was also used by Lily Allens Cd Cover/ Special additon viynl of her copy of 'Gangstas' by The Specials.




THE TOOTS AND THE MAYTALS:

QUESTIONNAIRE

This questionnaire our group made is to help us with our audience demographic for our target audience. We are asking questions on their gender, age, music interests, and places they shop to get an idea of the audience for our music video. We are asking 20 people, 5 males and 5 females this questionnaire on a hard copy, and then 5 males and 5 females on a vox pop. This will give us a variation of displaying our results and an idea of what our target audience's appearence, we believe this method will b the most succesful as filling out questionnaires can be rushed or not thougth about.



Music Questionnanire- For Audience Demographic

What gender are you?
Female Male

How old are you?

Where do you hear about new music/bands?
TV/SKY/Freeview Word of Mouth Internet Radio Magazines

What would you say your favourite music genre is?
Indie Folk Emo Country Rock Pop Classical Metal

Other.......................................................

What types of gizmos do you own?
Mobile Phone Ipod MP3 Player IPhone Blackberry Laptop Home PC

Which websites do you use on a regular basis?
Facebook MySpace BEBO YouTube Ebay Hotmail Itunes

Where do you buy your music?
Itunes Amazon Play.com HMV Independent Supermarket Secondhand

How often do you buy your music in a month?
Once a week Once a fortnight Once Never

What festivals have you attended this year 2009?

Where do you buy your clothes?
Highstreet internet designer independent retailers other

Location Shots

- St Benedict's
This shot establishes our opening scene where Jake walks out from the shop and gets his drum sticks taken by Jasper. We used the location of SoundClash as it utilises popular culture ie: the youth or the bands music, our target audience and an ametuer/independent music store. This store is very popular in Norwich and is associated with good music. I also like the clashing of the colours, which always relates to the name Sound 'Clash'. This also is signifitant as unsigned bands sell their gig tickets and ep's here, which is useful either in our advertisement or evaluation of the music video.


-Pottergate
This shot is where Jasper and Jake are chasing after each other around the city towards the beginning of the video. It creates a sense of claustrophobia when they is a low shot of their feet skating down the narrow steps. Its creates suspense in the video as its anticipating to watch stunts and fast movement, i think it motivates people to get up and do something .i.e. skate. The types of surrounding shops and companies in the area are small and independent for example Soho Hip and Bang! This emphasises Norwich's independent audiences in relation to the unsigned band. The small streets like Pottergate also emphasise the bands roots, the Britishness they represent, this street is home to a local Chip Chop which is sterotypically britisht, a Church, and small independent stores.


-The Forum
This is where we have shot another fast skate scene with Jake and Jasper travelling. The Forum is a very important aspect of Norwich's music and film scene and is also a very scenic place to shoot. You can find almost any stereotyped persona here and it is renowned for its 'emo' and 'ska' scene. The perssona's are variated, the forum is a very academic place and has strong links with music, especially BBC Voices music and film festival. The Forum attracts all ages, but the youthful population often locate outside giving them a place to meet people, a place to skateboard, a place to have coffee, or evenstudy. The Forum in the youthful populations perspective is primarily known for 'Emo's as many of these sterotypical 'groups' hang around here. However it's also a safe familar place to Norwich where everyone is excepted and seems to choose to go there a lot. We thought this would be affective as our audience would immediately no where the location is and it's importance. The open smooth pavement and high steps are also very effective for skateboarders and are very good to shoot on. We hope this location will improve the strength of how we are presenting genre, aswwell as SoundClash as they promote a independent ideolgie. This ideolgy represents unsigned bands in local areas, where the BBC and SoundClash promote them, and the Forum also creates a slight message of Rebellion. This is produced as the 'yobbish' type people who are found at the Forum, either skateboard or smoke and almost create a statement rebelling in a public place where is is frown upon. This is emphasised as there is a signs on the wall saying 'No Skateboadring' creating humour as no one abides this rule. In the video whilst we were shooting we also got warned to stop by a the Forum Security, as we were shooting and skateboarding. This is the prime location that appeals to our Ska audience of mainly males aged 14-19. It also provokes a British representation because of the traditional Church, and is especially known for the BBC. The BBC (Britsh Broadcasting Coperation) is the largest broadcasting coperation in the world and has been associated with many mainstream musicans such as The Beatles and produces many independent musical based projects such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra. This will be effective in our music video and is utilises genre, Norwich, and youth which are three very important aspects of our production.















-Forum 2
Here is a shot again showing another perspective of the high sloped stairs which are good for professional skateboard tricks.







-Forum 3
This location is very important as on the wall there is a sign saying 'No Skateboarding' which addes the rebellion and youth to the video. These small steps were very useful for getting both high and low angles or giving the camera to the skaters themselves as there wern't a major hazard.




-Anglia Square
This location is good for its unglamorous, and desolate atmosphere. This location is used several times in our video, the first is where I get out of the car, the second for filming in fast forward, and 4th where most of the skateboarding and stunts happen. Its is also quite effective in the video as we shoot for hours on end, when we fast forwarded the capture the sun and shadows moved rapidly in a matter of seconds. This was very significant as it could be used in our video to show that time has changed or moved on. Anglia Square itself is full or high dingy building which adds to the sense of claustrophobia.


We watched the music video of Africa Shox- Leftfield and wanted an urban atmosphere in the mise en scene with the dystopic presence. The band's music is very upbeat and energetic but we wanted an overpowering of enclosed buildings, which were dingy and run down. I found this still from the music video and thought it's presence was powerful and effective almost bringing the location alive. This is a shot we want to include in our video, particulary in Anglia Square as it's unglamouros buildings create this threatening effect.

-Anglia Square 2
This location of the vast noir lit car park adds to the sense of entrapment and climax, as well as its unglamorous aspects. As Anglia Square is renowned for its skateboarders and open smooth pavements it is usually used for parquet and sports like skateboarding and roller skating. It shows Norwich's urban area which emphasises the 'urban' aspect of our video in and around Norwich's CBD and the Ska genre. As our skateboarders are representing crime and rebellious activity it is effective. There is also another 'No Skateboarding' sign here which implies this.


-St Benedict's 2
In the narrative we are brought back again to St Benedict's where we start and end our video. This is significant as it will be familiar to Norwich audiences. The close narrow ally way space creates claustrophobia and entrapment which relates to the climax or the fast paced chase. I think this will be an effective shot in our video, as when Martha runs up the stairs she is seen from a low angle created a lower status or power, as she is the next person to get the drum sticks taken. However this location is quite different to the rest as it is old and scenic but shows Norwich’s historical culture and scenary which was important to us. I also really like how when we shot this scene the street lamps were the only source of light we had.


-The Art Centre
This location is our last in the narrative and leads to the closure of the story. Its is where Daniel and Jake meet, Jake retrieving his drum sticks and them both walking into the gig. The Art Centre is very significant to this video as it promotes independent music and unsigned bands so we chose this especially. 'Smaller Than You' often play here and have been features in some of their magazines, this gives smaller bands and artists the opportunity to show their talent and support mainstream acts that feature there.

Argument/Findings/Conclusion

Above is my assessment sheet ^

In my investigation I felt my argument was especially strong in three areas. These are Gender, Misogyny, and Feminism. Although they are different in themselves, they are highly influenced and motivated by gender, and it's 'boundaries'. By this I mean that the music industry has created certain boundaries for gender, using binary opposition. Music was created for people to be able to express themselves, and is a type of escapism. I think that it almost feeds and influences peoples actions, especially a younger generation. This maybe biased but when people are listening to degrading music of some kind it can be detrimental to them. Although I could have elaborated genre more, I aimed mainly at Rock as it contains the most discrimination.

Gender:
Gender has been the main direction of my research and has developed into two sub topics such as Misogyny and Feminism. I have been really fascinated with this project as it has enabled me to use my own initiative and focus on my interests. I chose genre because I knew I would be able to write a lot of content but found it hard to keep it condensed to one argument. I found that music was a huge inspiration to the progression of gender and almost helped both the sexes with expressing their opinions to one another. My findings will be extremely useful for my music video. This is because Smaller Than You, the band I am using consist of 5 males and one female. Although the genre is Ska, which I haven't looked into, this type of knowledge I have learnt provided me with a new perspective to music. This project will help me also with my digi pack and advertisement for the band. I will be able to look into types of zines for Ska music, and its roots. I also will be able to understand the lyrics more from this investigation as I have been analysing meanings in songs, and how the band wanted us to interpret them. This will help me with creating the style of the digi pack/advertisement and also how the audience wants it to look. I am going to aim to make these (digi pack etc) desirable packages for both genres but I want to especially market Alice as women in men's Ska groups are quite rare, the only example I could think of linking to the genre would be No Doubt, or even The Raincoats.



















Misogyny:
Misogyny implies a hatred of women and comes from the word misandry meaning hatred of men and women in general. I have always had a clear vision of what misogyny means, but further research in the music industry made it clearer to me that that misogyny was present in the music I was listening to. I used to be very fond of Eminem and his extreme depth into music. These type of misogynist artists were detrimental to young audiences. I remember listening to Eminem from the age of 13 and now see that those discriminating types of music, (feminist and misogynist etc) music should not be promoting a dominant gender to their audiences. This is as music is listened to audiences for recreation and escapism and it is easy to let the music influence you passively.
Another word that could be associated with this topic of my argument is the degradation of women. It is present in many genres, especially the 3 R's. These are Rap, RnB and Rock. I think it is hard for some men to appreciate women in these genres as our culture has defined what is right and wrong for genders. I agree that both genders should have the ability to speak their mind, but bands such as Rolling Stones seemed to have expanded...

"Hear him whip the women just around midnight.
Ah brown sugar how come you taste so good
(a-ha) brown sugar, just like a young girl should"

I think it is clear that young audiences are going to think its acceptable and usual for music to be discriminating against both genders, as many imitate their idols. This is seen strongly with the audience of Brittany Spears (from a fan site blog) "Sometimes I pretend I am her just to boost up my confidence". Wikopedia "teenagers who spent more time listening to music with lyrics that objectify women or praise men for their voracious sexual appetites were more likely to become sexually active earlier in their youth." I think this statement can relate to any genre of music, for example artists who sing about murder, drug abuse or discrimination etc, are almost feeding the audiences minds and actions. When this audience is old enough to depend on their own beliefs, it could be that they have been influenced highly from their passion of music and the environment they grew up in.
This definitely applies with Feminist music and art as their is not a 'better' gender, but as the majority of their lyrics imply 'sisterhood' and awareness against domestic violence like Riot Grrl, or more modern artists like Christina Aguilera 'Can't Hold Us Down' there is less to apprehend about.



Here are two examples of highly sexualised album covers from The Rolling Stones, they can be viewed as asthecially offensive to women, and recent photographers have been manipulating this image to the womens perspective, so that a naked women is hugging/clenching the man almost invading the mans privacy instead of hers. The first could be seen as implying the male dominace of their sexuality, and it is clear The Rolling Stones like this kind of frontal explicit humour. This also realtes to their lyrics in their music, of using women and being sex symbols.






Feminism:
My argument for this is that women did not have enough recognition in the Rock industry. I think this was and is still to do with Rock being aggressive and seen as too 'hard' core role for a stereotypical women to play. This is a lot to do with binary opposition, for instance Rock is typically associated with men and Classical ballet is seen as a feminine sport/dance, which is ironic as many men take ballet.
In my research I found Riot grrrl very intriguing. The genre was formed by women who wanted equal rights, or even just to rebel back to this classification in culture and society. It was very rare for a women's voice to be taken into account seriously in the 1990's, and Riot grrrl gave them the chance as I believe music is the easiest way to raise awareness. In this project I have realised what an impact music and media have on our culture. As music can target a passive audience, it enables them to subconsciously be influenced. I think that this type of feminist approach to music was successful to women and their empowerment, It gave them the ability to speak through their music and image- DO IT YOUSELF. Media has changed our culture in this topic, before Riot grrrl, Zines ( a type of small magazine issue) were male orientated, but the Riot grrrl movement used the media for awareness. They manipulated the Punk's movement of underground music, by spreading word through these zines and their lyrics.

Ironically The two members of Bikini Kill I looked at both had typical make rock boyfriends. This was interesting as they were promoting women to be free and independent from the males who degraded them in the first place. Kathleen Hanna was married to Ad-Rock from the Beastie Boys who was a very mainstream rock artist. And Toby Vail was once with Kurt Cobain, the lead singer from Nirvana. Both of these women show dependence on men, not just men but 'rockers', the men who they were rebelling and singing against. After I researched this I was astonished as their music consists of stories of men using women for sex and they are quite sarcastic "All Men Are Evil Except My Boyfriend" with there lyrics.

Feminist music to me seems more acceptable to be listening to. The feminist artists I researched didn't degrade men, but sang full of sorrow of domestic violence, or empowering genders advocating Girl Power. The outcome of this music isn't to sing out loud how 'pathetic' and 'powerless' women are classified as, but to how they really feel and to inform other women that they are not alone. New modern artists such as Florence And The Machine empower women also in this way, giving the music a positive vibe.
Her song 'A Kiss With A Fist' I think is very influential to women as it is sending a positive message to her audience. In this song she is singing about being domestically abused, but ironically she is also abusing him back. This creates themes of equal gender and how women aren’t defenceless and they are as bad as men. The lyrics also imply a sexual ambiguous aspect:

"You hit me once
I hit you back
You gave a kick
I gave a slap
You smashed a plate over my head
Then I set fire to our bed"

She is acting with power and reversex the role of a 'innocent' typical women and is implying that the sexes here are just as equal physically which is rare in this musical industry. Here Florence is creating a message of equal gender quality, giving no benefits to either sexes. Although this is true, Florence's success is due to her distinct femininity, by her Pre-Raphaelite image of beauty. She portrays her femininity also with the softness of her first name ‘Florence’ contrasted to the masculinity in ‘The Machine’. She presents a new feminism in the music industry as she is allowing herself to explore the humour and horror in the relationship of a man and a women and doesn't chose a sex to degrade.