Hurtwood Media A2 - Formula for Future Music Business Model cont.

CwF + RtB = $$$$

Could alternatively stand for something different.

CwF - Connect with Fans

could stand for 

                  Compete with Free

and

RtB - Reason to Buy

could stand for

                Return to Business

Rather than focus on complaining about piracy and worrying about new technologies.

Focus on a Business Model that actually Works.

and although its frustrating to hear for most industries the ULTIMATE thing is that all you NEED to do is:

     CONNECT         give them a REASON      >because it works

WITH THE FANS         TO BUY                    

                                                         for musicians both BIG and small

Renzor is leading others and helping them to use it in their own, unique way all they need to do is use this 

simple formula.

Hurtwood Media A2 - Michael Manick's presentation on Trent Reznor and his Formula for Future Music Business Models

Michael Manick works at the company 'Floor64' where they work to try and help people to understand new media and social media as well as helping to connect with different communities with a mutual benefit.

On January the 17th 2012, Manick gave this 15 minute presentation at MidemNet in Cannes explaining the importance that musician Trent Reznor as had within the music industry and the way in which he has produced a Successful Music Business Model.

Trent Reznor uses this a simple formula (below) that is the basis for making money in the music Business:

CONNECT with FAN's + REASON to BUY = THE BUSINESS MODEL

This has proved to be difficult for those to combine these two elements in a way that actually allows them to make money.

HOWEVER Reznor has proved through many different

ways that this is in fact a very simple process, and used in the right way 

can be EXtremely successful.

Some examples of the ways that Reznor connected with his audience are below:

• Alternative Reality Game
• connection with fans
• energised them, excited them

• USB sticks dropped in his gigs toilets
• engaged with fans
• RIAA were not happy with this leaking and in some ways this limited fans

• His CD changed colours acording to heat, so when it was played
• this gave people the reason to buy a physical copy.

Due to the above reasons Reznor was dropped by his label and was forced to go solo, this in fact enabled him to produce his work in his own way and therefore not liable to anyone else in the process.

> He gave people REASONS as to why they should Buy and Give him money <

With his new 36 track album ' Nine Inch Nails', Trent did just this through a variety of different ways and  techniques.

1. Started with free downloads

• 36 tracks - 9 were FREE
• $5 36 songs
• $10 two disc CD set + 16page booklet

1. $75 Deluxe Addition Package
2. $300 Ultra-Deluxe limited addition package 

• only 2500 of these
• personally signed - makes them Special and Unique

These SOLD OUT in 30 hours!!

This album continued to sell throughout the year of release (2008) and proved that Reznor's 'formula' that he was working by was successful.

Aslong as you can connect with your fans

AND give them a Reason to buy there's plenty of money to be made.

2 Months after Trent Reznor released an album 'The Slip' which was Entirely FREE!!

• Highquality downloads
• Had an option of Mp3 or LossLess version

He also produced a map using Google Earth showing where everyone else in the world was downloading from. Yet another cool way to connect with fans.

When we released this album he also put out the concert dates. 

His live shows were not just a show - it was an ENTIRE entertainment experience, one not to miss.

He also put together an online package showing info and songs of the support acts that would be performing before him on the day. Yet AGAIN giving fans and audience more of a reason to connect and therefore buy his tickets.

Moreover, he put together CD's and Vinyl's with exclusive, limited edition content with a ton of extras.

'You have to CONNECT with Fans all the time and Keep it UP'

A great ad easy way of doing this is through the use of the internet and of course Trent used this to the best of his ability. His website enabled him to have an on going connection to his fans and the public.
Reznor's website was full of all kinds of interesting and technical attributes. He had the obvious:

• music to listen to
• chat
• forums
• community stuff

But Trent wasn't going to let this kind of opportunity go to waste. On his website he included extra things like:

• Aggravated photo's
• collaborations of professional photo's and fans own personal photos.
• Created wallpapers
• able for fans to download
• Use of videos
• a mixture of fans videos and his own.
• there was no legal requirements, enabling people to download and share freely.
• 
  
• concert dates
• co-ordinates for fans to hunt down free tickets to gigs
• hidden tickets
• Trent sent out a 10page survey
• He also sent out an email that made him sounds human! - a very difficult thing to do when in the music industry.

Trent Reznor is constantly experimenting and doing new things.

Which is what makes him so unique

He even went on to give out 450 gigabytes for free - in HD VIDEO quality stating the below:

'I'll bet some enterprising fans could assemble something pretty cool'.

Hurtwood Media A2 - Photoshop work

The other day we spent a lesson on how to work some basic tools on a program called 'Photoshop'. This wasn't the first time that I've used this so it was more of a 'refreshment' for me and i did also become more familiar with many tools and how I can use them to the fullest of their ability.


To begin with we imported a variety of images into the program to work with. The main focus is to manipulate these images and turn them into something of our own work, to create an individual and unique image; but the main focus for todays lesson is just to becom familar with the program as a whole.


An image that I worked with to begin with was taken from the film 'Kane & Lynch - Dead Men'

First of all I used a tool called Polygonal Lasso Tool where I carefully went around and created an outline of the left character’s head. This causes it to separate and become ‘selected’. With this I moved it into another layer so I could multiply it and manipulate it without affecting the rest of the background image.

I then made this separate head a pink colour by selecting the ‘adjustments’ tool. Here you can make any selected area become whatever you want through using the mass of different affects available.

After this I copied it a couple of times, making sure they were all in separate layers to ensure no problems would occur unnecessarily to anything else.

Once I had done this I was able to use the ‘head’ image on other images that I had imported into photoshop and place wherever I wanted to.

In addition to the changing of colour on the chosen objects, I was also able to ‘transform’, ‘rotate’ and ‘crop’. You do this by clicking on your object and clicking on ‘image’ option where you are presented with a variety of different manipulation options.

Hurtwood Media A2 - Dancing in the Distraction factory

'Dancing in the Distraction Factory' is a book written by Andrew Goodwin which consists of his discussion about how the music industry is built and what it consists of.

When speaking about Music Video's he states that there are 3 main area's that video's fall into:

1. Illustration - Video shows what the lyrics say, its like a visual story. For example Madonna's song 'Pappa don't Preach'. This is a very rare type of video for stars to produce as most of the time the audience see's this as being more of a comical video and has a reputation for fans to create a parody which is produce for a humor purpose.

2. Amplification - This DOESN'T go against what the lyrics say, but it brings an additional meaning and puts across different meanings.

3. Disjucture - This is when the visuals have NO relation to the lyrics at all or can even go against the lyrics. A good example of this is Micheal Jacksons infamous 'Man in the Mirror'

Surprisingly, some videos can in fact consist of all the above and this tend to make quite an impact on the public.

An example of ILLUSTRATION would be the lyrics "See the kids on the street, with not enough to eat". When this is sung at 0:39 there is an image showing people suffering exactly this.

The lyrics "I'm standing with the man in the mirror" and also "If you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change".

Finally AMPLIFICATION would be the one that is slightly harder in this video. Throughout the video there is a wide amount of images showing various religious figures such as Desmond Tutu and Mother Teresa. Interspersed images of religious figures implies that he is suggesting that the transformation involves looking and connecting with God as he is the key of the change. In addition to this he also includes images of various political and goverenment figures as well has videos of missiles and army/goverenment bodies attacking people.

This implies the message that political figures are the problem and religion is the solution during a time like this.

Hurtwood Media A2 - Photoshop work

Hurtwood Media A2 - Music Video Analysis

Music Video Analysis

Artist: Lady Gaga

Song Title: Bad Romance

1. What are the men/women doing?

This music video begins with an obvious set up. There is a group of people, all dressed in neutral coloured clothing but quite ‘busy’, despite this though the centre of attention is obviously Gaga herself. Positioned in the middle of the group causes the viewer’s attention to go immediately to her and this set up continues throughout the majority of the video; being in the middle/centre of whatever is going on. For example this starting image, the dance routines that she is involved in and this is all helped by the way that the camera is set. She is always in the fore-ground and usually centred screen.

2. How are the men/women dressed? How much skin is revealed?

Despite the strange set-up and weird actions that surrounds Lady Gaga, it is obvious that she is the ‘main focus’ of this video and this is helped by the difference of costume she is in, in comparison to the rest of the cast. Throughout, Lady Gaga wears near to nothing most of the time as this is how she portrays her message to the viewers. Although fans of her work will recognise that this is a common element that runs throughout her work as her unique sense of style and fashion is part of what Gaga is known worldwide for.

Here Lady Gaga is fully naked apart from the addition of super high heeled boots.

By shwoing her body like this she also reveals ger spinal bone which is part of the message that she wants to portray within her video/song.

This is Lady Gaga herself out in public in her 'normal' clothing which indeed is particularly revealing in comparison to normal everyday peoples clothing.

3. Are there more, fewer, or the same number of men as women?

There is a similar amount of women as there are men within the video, at the beginning they are mixed together however as the video develops and the audience begins to understand the story line of the video itself it becomes apparent the separation of sexes; due to the message that is being portrayed.

4. Describe the body language of the men/women?

The body language in this video is one of the vital elements that helps to portray the message and meaning of the song and it is obvious the difference between either sex. The men are up right, stern and powerful whereas the women (who are mainly dancing throughout) are shown as being rather vulnerable and an ‘easy target’. Because they are mainly using movement to express their feelings they fit the stereotypical view of women being more emotional; this is then emphasised by the role of the men.

5. Do the men/women have power? How do you know?

The men have the larger dominance within this video due to the position and body language that they perceive. A lot of the video consists of the shot of the women dancing in front of the men as they sit around and watch them making them seem much lower and less important. It’s as if they are being treated as an object to be watched rather than an equal human being to them.

6. What’s the message of the song?
7. What type of music is the song?
8. Describe the products that are highlighted in the video.
9. Are any brand names shown?
10. Focus on camera angles. How do they help tell a story or develop the audience’s relationship with the band/singer?
11. Look at how the shots are edited together, how does this add to the message being told?

Hurtwood Media A2 - Star Image

A star is an image, not the real person themselves, that is constructed out of a range of materials - for example the magazines, music videos advertising etc...

         >The Star is a Construction<

It helps a great deal if their image consists of a unique selling point, which may be copied/mimiced in a positive or negative way. This may be represented within a particular genre, so for a musical artist this genre could be pop or rap due to the type or music they produce and they way they present themselves.

Record companies produce stars for profit purposes only not for an artistic merit, their main goal and priority is to make money out of them. They pick and choose artists who they know are easy to build upon and then sell to the public easily through their costume, public appearences etc....

Some common values or music stars are:

• Originality
• Rebellion
• Youthfulness
• Origininality
• Sexual magnestism
• An anti-authoritarian attitude
• Aggression/anger
• Creativity/talent
• A disregard for social values relating to drugs, sex and polite behaviour
• Conspicuous consumption of sex, drugs and material goods
• Success against the odds

Richard W.Dyer is a English academic specialising in cinema and was born in 1945. He started at the University of Warwick then in 2006 he became a Professor of Film Studies at 'Kings College London'. His work is described as ''Emphasising the aesthetic and historical specificity of cultural texts'.

His theory suggests that a 'stars' construction takes several forms:

    The star is....

1. A Construction
2. A Commodity
3. A Idealogy

 The star image is made up of a range of meanings which are attractive to the target audiences, ultimately the star image is disorded and incoherent  that is incomplete and 'open'.

According to Dyer this is based on Two Paradoxes.

Paradox 1

The 'star' must be simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary for the consumer. This is because the 'star' themselves is ordinary so the public and consumer can relate to them. For example the way that they dress, not all artists dress in just expensive designer clothing, they mix it up by wearing high-street clothing as well and so the public can relate to them in this way as not everyone can afford the same luxiouries. A star being 'extra ordinary' enables the consumer something to asipre to being, for example how stars advertise themslves on the front of magezines and also performing in font of millions of people. This of course is extraordinary as the consumers aren't able to do this kind of stuff and live in this kind of way, its unimagible for a 'normal' person.

Paradox 2

The 'star' must be simultaneously present and absent for the consumer. Because they are present the consumer can feel closer to the artist. A way that this is done is through the use of youtube and being able to post videos online for the public to use at anytime, also through the access to personal webpages. The 'star' being absent means that the consumers rarely see them in real life but they are able to access information about them and their lifes through modern day technology.