Contemporary artists of pop culture

Beyonce

Beyoncé performed in various singing and dancing competitions as a child. She rose to fame in the late 1990's as lead singer of the Pop girl-group Destiny's Child. The group became one of the world's best-selling girl groups in history.  The release of her debut album, Dangerously in Love (2003). established her as a solo artist worldwide, earned five Grammy Awards, and featured the Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "Crazy in Love" and "Baby Boy". Following the break-up of Destiny's Child in 2006, she released her second solo album, B'Day (2006), which contained the top-ten singles "Déjà Vu", "Irreplaceable", and "Beautiful Liar However the most popular music video of Beyonce's career  so far is "single ladies" obtaining over 604 million views the video contains her most iconic choreography. It's hypnotizing to watch, which may help explain why-perfectly timed to YouTube's beginning few years-fans chose to view it over and over again (along with helpful tutorials), hoping one day they too could dance like Beyonce. A black-and-white music video accompanied the single's release. It won several awards, including the Video of the Year at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. Beyoncé has performed "Single Ladies" on television and during her concert tours. The song and particularly its music video have been widely parodied and imitated. Several notable artists have performed cover versions. Media usage has included placement in popular television shows. 

Lady Gaga 

Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta (born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. A popular contemporary recording artist, she is known for experimenting with new musical ideas and images and for her unconventionality and provocative work.  Lady Gaga emerged in late 2008 as one of the most promising new pop stars. In just three years she amassed eleven consecutive top 10 pop hit singles including three that went all the way to #1. The visual art of music video has always accompanied her musical creations. Her most famous and watched music video is "Bad romance"  with over 800 million views on youtube. In 2011, the music video was voted the best video of the 2000's (decade) by readers of Billboard. It was nominated for numerous superlatives, including ten awards at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards, where the singer won seven, including a recognition for Video of the Year. Gaga has performed "Bad Romance" on various television programs, such as Saturday Night Live, at various award ceremonies, such as the 2009 American Music Awards, and in four of her tours, the most recent being Joanne World Tour.

Both Beyonce and Lady gaga present challenging the traditional ideas of pop music videos with the way they dressed and danced. 

Traditional artists of pop culture

Influences on pop music 

• early pop music drew on the sentimental ballad for its form 
• gained its vocal harmonies from the gospel
• another technological change was the widespread availability of television in 1950's; with televised performances, "pop stars had to have a visual presence" 
• in the 1980's pop stars such as; Michael Jackson and Madonna were popular because of the rise in music television channels like MTV.

HISTORICAL 

The Beatles 

The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960 and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of music. The bands song "She Loves You" in 1963 became the biggest-selling single in British History and in 1964, "Can't Buy Me Love" became the first record to top American and British charts at the same time. 

 





Jackson 5 

The jackson 5 are a popular American family music group. Formed in 1964 under the name the Jackson Brothers, the founding members were elder brothers Jackie, Tito and Jermaine. Younger brothers Marlon and Michael would join soon after. They participated in talent shows and performed in clubs on the Chitlin' Circuit. They entered the professional music scene in 1967. Signing with Steeltown Records and releasing two singles with the Steeltown label. In 1969, the group left Steeltown Records and signed with Motown. They were also the first group to debut with four consecutive number one hits on the Hot 100 with the songs I Want You Back, ABC, The Love You Save, and I'll Be There.

 Michael Jackson in 1970 began his solo career. He dubbed the "King of Pop" and was one of the most popular entertainers in the world. He was also the best-selling music artist at the time of his death.Jackson's contributions to music, dance, and fashionalong with his publicized personal life made him a global figure in popular culture.  Jackson's 1987 album Bad spawned the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "I Just Can't Stop Loving You", "Bad", "The Way You Make Me Feel", "Man in the Mirror", and "Dirty Diana", becoming the first album to have five number-one singles in the nation.

Madonna 

A leading presence during the emergence of MTV in the 1980's, Madonna is known for pushing the boundaries of lyrical content in mainstream popular music, as well as visual imagery in music videos and on stage. She was referred to as the "Queen of Pop" and is widely cited as an influence by other artists.  Madonna had a series of successful albums, including the global bestsellers, Like a Virgin (1984) and True Blue (1986), as well as the Grammy Award winners, Ray of Light (1998) and Confessions on a Dance Floor (2005). Throughout her career, Madonna has written and produced most of her songs, with many of them reaching number one on the record charts, including "Like a Virgin", "Live to Tell", "Like a Prayer", "Vogue", "Take a Bow", "Frozen", "Music", "Hung Up", and "4 Minutes". 

Record labels

"The business of music is a global multi-billion dollar industry comprised of individuals creating the music, and a whole lot of people doing everything else: working at labels, distribution companies, publishing companies, recording: studios, artist management, promotion, producing, and legal counsel."

Nielsen SoundScan in their 2011 report noted that the "big four" controlled about 88% of the market. The largest record labels are; 

• Universal Music Group (USA based) — 29.85% 
• Sony Music Entertainment (USA based) — 29.29% 
• Warner Music Group (USA based) — 19.13% 
• Independent labels — 12.11% 
• EMI Group - 9.62%

These companies have subsidiary ones as they are conglomerates, so these large record labels contain multiple platforms. 

Quantitive research

I have carried out quantitive research to see if it will influence my ideas when making the music video and how to conduct it. The questions are relevant to my target audience but i have also broadend the survey towards other ages and males to compare responses.Below is a link to all the questions i have chosen that have been sent out to people and i will write up about the responses and show screenshots of the comparisons between answers i achieve in a later blog post. 

Link : 

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/FNHHB9Y

Research and planning mind-maps

The mind-maps i have created on popplett are helpful for a basis of what i need to complete to carry out  successful blog posts. The research and planning are essential when carrying out the music brief or any media brief as it gives both an insight and understanding of pop music. 

History of pop music

This history of pop music is important when creating my music video as i need to have background information of the genre itself to understand why certain aspects of the lyrics,rhythms etc are needed.  Below is a mind-map created on word containing information about how it was created and why.  

History of Pop by Anonymous Nlbpmq on Scribd

Pop genre

POP GENRE by Anonymous Nlbpmq on Scribd

Exploring the music brief

Below is a start to my ideas on pop music, i have put together different artists and genres together to familiarise me with the genre itself. 

Examples of pop artists 

• Beyonce
• Justin bieber 
• Little mix 
• One direction 
• Katy perry 
• Rihanna 
• Ariana Grande 

Examples of RnB artists 

• Big sean 
• Drake 
• usher 
• The weeknd 
• Kanye west 
• Lil yachty 
• Jay z

Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form in the United States and United Kingdom during the mid-1950s. The terms "popular music" and "pop music" are often used interchangeably, although the former describes all music that is popular and includes many styles.

Contemporary R&B, also known as simply R&B, is a music genre that combines elements of pop, rhythm and blues, soul, funk, hip hop, gospel and electronic dance music.

Coursework outline

The briefs shown below are from the coursework handbook that gives me all the necessary information to help me create a successful production including the tasks i can chose from. The screenshot below shows the music promotion and film promotion as i am deciding between these two out of the 5 other briefs i could do. 

A mind-map that will help me obtain a productive blog throughout my A2 year

Introduction

This blog will allow me to express my research, planning and filming for my A2 media coursework, and to share with you my progress along the way.