Album cover analysis

This is the album cover to Eminem's 'Recovery' album, and similarly to many album covers the main focus is the picture and the way in which is used to connote the ideologies and emotions of the music within the album.
Previous to this album was Eminem's 'Relapse' album, so it is clear this is somewhat a sequel to it, displaying the 'RECOVERY' from the 'RELAPSE'. Which in emeinems case around this time would be drug abuse.
As a audience we are immediately drawn to eminem himself on the cover, with his hands in his pocket wearing basic clothing (nothing someone of his wealth and status would usually wear) connoting to the audience that he 'still human' and on the inside is like everybody else. This idea and connotation is carried on when we look at the long road he is walking down, explaining to the audience sub consciously the long road/ journey, ahead of him on his RECOVERY from RELAPSE, and as around the time emeinem released this album he only just recovered from rehab from drug abuse, this album is a clear representation of emeinem displaying to the audience the real him and how although he is 'rich and famous' he has to deal with problems such as drug addiction like everyone else and that like everyone else its a long journey to recovery, connoted very well in this album cover. We can also so how the photo around eminem in this picture is out of focus and has a slight distortion to it, displaying how this album focuses on eminem and only about him, in contrast to his other albums that never spoke of himself a lot mostly just about life and other artists. Linking back to the idea of him recovering and that he is like everyone else, we see in this picture eminem is standing alone displaying a sense of venerability which is something very unusual for such a strong personality as eminems.



This is the album cover to Dizzie Rascals ' Boy In Da Corner' album. This particular album cover has been kept very minimal in terms of fancy possessions and writing seen in many other album covers however due to this creates a lot more ideas and connotes far more emotions and ideologies. Immediately we are drawn to the image of Dizzie Rascal himself sitting in the centre of the picture in what looks to be in a corner of a room (linking back to the name of the album),this connotes to the audience a sense of individuality and how he is not relying on anyone and due to being the corner is something as an audience we see as minimizing venerability meaning Dizzie looks to be taking any attacks from the music industry or opposing fans head on.
The idea of sitting in the corner is also something commonly linked as what you do when you misbehave/ rebel, this connotes to the audience that Dizzie (a new artist at this time) was entering the music industry to rebel against the current styles and ideas talked about in songs at that time and instead is going to bring his own rebellious style to the industry. This idea of rebelling and being a nuisance to the current music ideas is also displayed in the way that Dizzie is making devil horns with his fingers, giving a sense that he's going to have a devilish effect and give him that 'bad guy' look/ theme to him that many people his age with idolize.
His clothing in this picture is also just another connotation of the way he is going against all possible ideas of the current music industry of that time and how he is not going lose his sense of roots and go to mainstream music, the fact that he (represented in his clothing) no matter how famous he becomes will stick to his style of music mainly about london gangs and sex/ drug abuse which at this current time was very much frowned upon.

Group Meeting

Just an update:
We met up to discuss how we are going to start our group blog and how we can make the work load even,maximising indivisual contribution as well as not forcing all work load upon one person. we found that it is best to just blog once or twice a week each, and if possible to communicate with at least one memeber of the group to go through ideas of the post and whether it is seen as relevent. We believe that this will make the work even and will make our group blog have many posts.

The Decrease of the CD Market

In the 90's CD sales hit an all time high and showed no signs of falling, but every product has its peak and sales began to fall drastically within the CD market.
The continuous rise of the internet meant that CD sales began to decrease, this was due to online downloads ( many being illegal) which became easier to purchase by the day. In the Noughties, music downloads became the latest trend in terms of purchasing music, and this trend is currently still happning.
Apple however created iTunes and this opened up a whole new market, the music industry of CD's fell and didn't look like it was ever going to pick itself up again, however at some consolation iTunes did begin to provide som music industries with a small income ( better than nothing i suppose).

Then came the peak of illegal downloads, music fans and the somewhat 'nerds' of the world set up websites to 'share' music. There idea of sharing music around the globe assisted in the attack on the music industry as a whole. Record labels were losing money due to lack in CD sales etc. Security online has helped some illegal download websites to be shut down such as 'Napste' but it is clear that this idea of 'sharing' will never end. Now shops such as HMV are finding it hard to keep sales alive but they are doing there best to keep the CD market alive, by selling extras such as complimentry tracks or added bonuses to CD's.

The idea of a physical CD has far died down and now people will happily pay for music and not physically get anything for their money. iPods and MP3 players are the reason people now want to buy music online, they store vast amounts of music on them with out any need for a CD,not to mention being accessable almost everywhere and anywhere.

Kid Cudi: Using the internet to promote

Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi ,better known by his stage name Kid Cudi, is an american born rapper, singer and actor, who has recently swept the globe and becoming an overnight success with his debut single 'Day n Night'. Kid Cudi is seen amongst other artists a new generation of stars where self promotion has become to play a major role.

Kid Cudi like many modern day artists, predominantly uses the internet to promote his new songs and his Brand.
For years any band or a artist such as Kid Cudi that wanted to be heard and had a successful career needed to sign with a record label, it was very difficult to be heard without having a record label. However, things have changed in the last 8 years, CD sales are going down and the Music Industry is suffering all down to new technologies such as the internet.

Now, technology is evolving the music industry, people on the internet share millions of songs every day and they can get it legally and illegally. Now fans can go online,buy their favorite songs at iTunes (or the likes of an illegal pirate downloaders) and listen to them on their iPods,phones,MP3's etc.
However, not everything is bad for the Music Industry, the internet has opened a channel for independent music promotion, now your Band does not need to have a record label to be heard, you can use the power of the internet to get fans and make a long lasting relationship with them, this is the new power that musicians have if they know how to promote their music online. This is the case of 'the artic monkeys' who are known for there success with self promotion using the likes of myspace for exmple.

Kid Cudi although signed to record label 'GOOD Music' uses the internet to promote his music. Like many artists he uses:
MYSPACE


TWITTER


when it comes to the likes of TWITTER Kid Cudi is seen as some what a pioneer in terms of of usage to promote. Unlike most artist he refrains from bombarding his 'followers' with tour dates and insights into dates of his new album etc, he keeps a far more personal approach giving his followers and fans a insight to hi everyday life,as well as replying to message, making them feel as if Kid Cudi values them and there support displaying a far more personal relationship with his fans.
To market however he will twitter little things such as his position in the charts 'daring' his fans to try get it to number one, this is subtle yet very good promotion as his fans will feel its directed at them and feel as if they are a 'team'.
Myspace is very much similar to this with the added bonus that the artist music can now be listening on the site as well.

This introduction of technologies in the music industry has altered the way it runs and the structure of what creates a successful artist/band. It means the music industry has become far more commercialized and in turn profitable for artists. It means that nowadays artist do not have to depend on promotion from record labels or are restricted to countries/genres as they can now promote there music worldwide and to almost all music lovers of the world.
Technology has also advanced fans relationships with artist, due to the mass sources of communication they now have with them, it means fans now feel closer to the chosen artist and in turn have a better fan stability/ following.
Overall we can see that advances in technology has altered the way in which artist such as Kid Cudi can promote themselves and build a everlasting relationship with there fans, contributing to the continuing growth of the music industry and the way it is now all around us, in different forms, from adverts, to mass videos on the internet.

Then there is YouTube.

This music video features artist Kid Cudi performing MTV's popular 'On the pursuit of happiness'.
This music video is very much in contrast to a lot of the mainstream music videos today in the way that it has displays a deeper meaning and holds a lot of representation.
The video begins with Kid Cudi surrounded by a number of party guests that we can only believe to be his friends, who all look to be lively, upbeat and having a good time, however they and everythink else around Kid Cudi are shown to be moving in slow motion, keeping Kid Cudi (who is at this point singing the song) in the centre of the screen and as main focus. This portrays to the audinece a sense of lonliness and the way he is not fitting in with the scene and therefore the party, however the lyrics explain ' Im'a do just what i want,looking ahead no turning back' displaying a sense of invisulality and independence showing how it is a choice to not be blending in but a want to be unique and find what he truley wants and not what everyone wants i.e HIS pursuit for happiness, and it is only towards the end do we see Kid Cudi begin to show signs of finding this happiness. This sort of emotional representation is very rare to main stream music videos, which tend to show the high life of hollywood fame and rich lifestyles. This representation is also rare when it come to the lyrics of such main stream artists such as Kid Cudi however that is a different matter.

Throughout the video, Kid Cudi continues to sing the song at the audinece as if it is us he is talking to, he asks questions,gives answers,and shown particularly at 2:41 shows actions towards the audience, basically displaying his interaction throughout. This goes against the videos contrast to main stream videos as in todays music videos such actions and purposful interaction towards the audience is now seen a lot, purhaps to allow the audience to feel close to this artist and as if he is singing it to them and them only.



This is another verison of a music video for this particular song (once again sung by Kid Cudi) and minus the party,the 'friends' and the lively atomosphere surronding him,it focuses on the same ideas and same representation as the last music video, however in this music video shows it even clearer.

As the music video progresses we see Kid Cudi continously trying to get away from the scene (whilst all the time singing the song as before) however he seems to be stopped by a number of obstacles or being put back to where he began. This is a representation of Kid Cudi struggle on his 'pursuit for happiness' and shows his incapability to find it or get away from the struggles of his life.

In this music video, lonliness,unhappiness and discomfort is in the form of a sofa, which becomes a main focus in this video as no matter how hard he tries he seems to always end up back on the sofa, which is clearly representing how no matter how hard he tries to get through the door (a symbol of a gate to happiness) he always seem to be knocked back or put straight back to the struggles of the sofa.
This all links back to the issues raised in the previous music video analysis.

Analysis Of Three Music Videos

Miss kazam music analysis final

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Music Video Analysis of 'Love The Way You Lie' Eminem

In the extract in which we watched (music video ‘Love The Way You Lie’ by Eminem) gender is portrayed in a variety of ways. The initial view is male dominance throughout the video, and the power of Eminem’s voice throughout over shadows Rihanna’s soft tone to emphasise this view. However when we look closer towards the relation of lyrics to the video and look closer at the actual actions within the video, these views can be quickly changed.

Initially the video portrays the idea of domestic violence, implemented mainly by Eminem , represented mainly through the lines ‘I guess I don’t know my own strength’, this female vulnerability is also displayed through the way Rihanna sings in front of burning flames singing ‘stand there and watch me burn’ however further on in the video Megan Fox throws the first punch-- while Dominic is still asleep. And the second, and pretty much all of the punches. This therefore goes against this whole idea of the male dominance. However we do see the male character show violence through punching the wall, a mirror and having a fight in a bar savagely beating his male opponent however shows no physical violence towards the female, except on one occasion 3:45 where the female is hit.

We then see scenes in which the male anger is shown; he tears the house apart and hits the female which is something which can be taken very seriously which would mean the audience may well judge him for doing so, but they would also get the impression that he is not in a correct frame of mind and he is just taking his anger out. Around these scenes something important happens. We go back to the scene at the start where the female is holding the flame again. Except now we see her close her hands to put the flame out which signifies that she has had enough and isn’t going to take this anymore; she is going to fight back (the rise of feminism). To end the song we see a series of shots where lots of things are on fire. Dominic is on fire which could either be to show that he is so angry he is now alight, or that now Meghan has finally stood up for herself he is burning away. Meghan is also engulfed by flames at one stage while she is cuddled up on her bad looking sad which could show that all the burning up that was going on inside is now coming out as she releases it from herself. Just before the end we see the singers turn to face the burning house which is showing that audience the destruction that this relationship has caused. However, to finally end, we see Meghan waking up in the same bed we saw her in at the start, so maybe all of what we saw was a dream, or a hope? But we know that their relationship status was very much real.

It is around this area where the views of the video by the audience changes and the meanings become far more deep. For example after a immediate shot back to Rihanna’s face we see the female character in a dark room with a flame being held. This supposedly could be a representation of how she is feeling emotionally; due to red being a very good representation of anger. This then happens again; a glance back at Rihanna as she sings and then back to the female however slightly closer to her. Within this particular stage in the song we see the change in tempo and feels very soft and slow, therefore the rate of cuts is slow and this mirrors how the female character feels, very sad/emotional. In addition to this ,a point that should be raised is Rihanna hair colour . Red is a hot colour (relation there to the fire in the background of most of her scenes). It's a strong colour that brings up a range of conflicting emotions from passionate love to violence.

This could therefore mean that the female is in a relationship which is passionate yet with that passion, come violence. For example when Rihanna’s chorus is introduced, we see the couple passionately kissing the wall the man had just punched. This could be to show that even though they fight like, they do still feel passion for each other, which can also be displayed through Rihanna’s fierce yet sexual facial expressions.

I therefore conclude that within this music video male dominance is seemingly represented and the audience are forced to see a male dominance and violence from the male characters however when they look closer we see how it is in fact controversial music video although the women shows a lot of violence , maybe not as powerful as the man she shows importance within the video and some mental strength which is then lost through the choruses where she loses all dominance when she shows her mental state.