Music on Television

The Music Industry.....

2008-03-11T11:56:00.001-07:00

The music industry has five major players who account for a large proportion of music sales across the world....
Find out more about the Music Industry....

The music industry has changed dramatically in recent times, it has had to modify itself in order to fit the demands of digital television/radio and the internet. The journey from tape to mini-disc, cd to downloading has been a short one and the industry has had to adapt.

What about the future? A huge chunk of the population no longer buy records but they do own a music collection courtesy of the music library on their computers.
Have a look at the video below, this man suggests that we may have no need to own any music in the future, why? What effect might this have on the relationship between the music and tv industries?

Digital TV and Music Videos

2008-03-11T11:52:00.000-07:00

The advent of digital TV and in turn the creation of many channels, has changed the relationship between TV and music. There is now more music on TV but less music on the 5 main terrestrial channels. Here are some key points and questions worth thinking about when you are considering how music on TV has changed.......

Ask yourself why?????????

Top of the Pops is no longer screened by the BBC.
Saturday morning TV schedules no longer include programmes like CDUK.
Later with Jools holland and Transmisson are scheduled late on a Friday night.
Both programmes only show live performances.
Both programmes always include interviews with the guests.
The most popular music programmes on terrestrial TV are talent competitions/reality TV.

So what does digital TV have to offer?

Many, many music channels.
Specific channels which play specific genres of music. (Narrowcasting)
Presenters who look and speak in a certain way, which appeals to the target audience.
Music Videos
Choice?
Interactivity ("Send your texts/videos in to .........) encouraging the audience to be active.
Viewers quite often continually flick throught the channels and quite often leave music channels on, while they are hanging out with their mates, almost like listening to the radio, listening while doing something else. Encouraging the audience to be passive.
24hr Music TV
Numerous chart run downs.
Competitions
Information about artists.
Other programmes aimed at the channels target audience, which quite often help consolidate gender stereotypes, Jack ass, The Simple Life, Pimp my Ride.

Music Videos......

Use PLODCAMEDLEG as your starting point....
People
Location
Objects
Dress
Camera Shots
Editing
Lighting
Effect
Graphics

Have a look at the video below and write a sentence about each term above....

+ Does the video have a single or multi strand narrative?
What about the genre?
Can you apply Todorov’s theory? Equilibrium/Disruption/Resolution
Are there any enigmas?
How about Propp’s characters? Hero/Villain/Damsel-in-distress
Who are the characters?
Are they stereotypical?
How are they represented?

Have a look at the video below and think about the questions above.......
In particular think about how the genders are represented.....

X-Factor and hybrid programmes...

2008-03-11T11:50:00.000-07:00

Variety programmes have always been popular on Saturday night TV and live music has always been a part of the Saturday evening schedules, whether as part of a talent contest, or on a chat show, or game show.

In recent years, the talent contest format has become increasingly popular, starting with Pop Idol and then Fame Academy but more recently the most popular programme on Saturday night TV has been, X-Factor.

These programmes are a hybrid of reality TV and variety. The producers want us to get to know the performers, creating a level of personal identity and helping us to form personal relationships by having our say on who is likable, mature, stupid, quality, weak etc.

The relationship with the audience is integral to programmes like X-Factor. The live audience in the studio play a huge role in creating a lively partisan atmosphere and they form a relationship with the contestants and judges, booing, cheering, reacting to key words, dancing, crying, putting their thumbs up or down in a symbolic gesture, in a similar way to an audience watching a pantomime.

The audience at home get to play a part in the outcome of each show, voting to change the ending but never the narrative. We learn to love or loathe the contestants, as we enter on a journey into their past. (Most have had some kind of terrible accident happen to them, or their family and some are even single parents, or are the offspring of single parents! The horror, the shame, the bravery to survive such terrifying circumstances, please pick up on the irony in this rant.) We are told about their hopes for the future. (All have only ever wanted to be a singer, from the moment they took the shape of a foetus in the womb, it's their dream, their need, they will not survive if they do not succeed) We are exposed to their everyday turmoil as they expose to us the problems of, having to learn how to murder another song, a bout of tears, a promise to raise their game. We are asked, with the help of some stirring non-diagetic music and a powerful voice-over explaining to us that this contestant is overcoming all the odds after their tragic pigeon incident last year, to identify with these contestants.

Watch and weep....

And then, come the judges, think about the very word! They have the power to elevate contestants above the average person, even if, especially if they are only have an average voice(not that this is the case with King Leon, or is it?) or they have the power to sentence them to a life of under-achieving, even though they have such a unique talent, or as some of us call it a life sentence in the real world.

Have a look st this clip, as the Caesars are introduced to the crowd at the Colosseum..........

Ask yourself...

Who is the hero/villain/damsel-in-distress?
This can apply to the judges and the contestants, the roles change regularly. Leon went form the damsel-in-distress, to the hero and did you know he was from a single parent family? I'm not sure he mentions it very often.....

PLODCAMEDLEG is once again a good starting point for analysing this style of programme, you should know it by now + don't forget, the uses and gratification theory....

Surveillance:
We want to know what is going on the contestants lives, we may even log onto the website to see what kind of a week they are having. We want to know about their family, or lack of one, their hopes, their aspirations(I reckon I could take a wild guess at what they are!)

Diversion:
We want to step away form our own sensible, real, grounded lives and enter the world of humiliation, disillusion, entertainment, pantomime.

Personal Relationships:
We just love to have an opinion on who's hot and who's not.(Of course I have no opinion, as you can tell from this blog) We love to talk to our friends about what we have seen, what we think.(Who are the judges now?) We love to watch with other people and pronounce our hatred, our disgust for these vile, putrid, pointless characters. (That might just be me then..) Or of course declare our love; our backing' our whole hearted support for these contestants living the dream. We may even join a fan club or write comments on a blog, or discuss why we fancy Leon, or Simon Cowell(just me again) on MSN.

Personal Identity:
We may even, heaven forbid, identify with the contestants, their problems, their attempts at trying to reach notes that are beyond them.(I was once involved in an incident with a pigeon) We do after all want to be famous, want a recording contract, want to sing in front of thousands of people (My aspirations began when I started to use the umbilical chord as a microphone). We all want to be a celebrity and earn, sorry, I mean have lots of money, we all want to have a string of hit albums and prove that nasty Simon Cowell wrong, we all want our five minutes of fame, don't we?

Sets and Settings. Why are they important?

2008-03-04T00:10:00.003-08:00

You can tell a lot by looking at the set for TV programmes. If we are trying to ascertain the target audience for a programme, then the set, including the furniture, the colours, the use of technology gives us an idea.

Take a look at the clips below.....

What are the main signifiers? (Location, Objects, Lighting, Effects, Graphics)

Can we make an educated guess at wh0 the target audience might be?

Prenter Led Music Programmes....

2008-03-04T00:10:00.001-08:00

Presenter Led Programmes....

Steve Wright introduces this show through a voice-over. His mode-of-address is informal and chatty and he gives the viewers just enough information to anchor the images.

The text is positioned in a colourful box and again anchors the images that we are seeing. Information such as the chart position and an interesting fact about the performer scrolls across the screen, feeding our need for surveillance.

The programme plays on our nostalgic needs, as it shows us a variety of performances from TOTP over the last 50 years. Comments are often made about the costumes and the dancing, these are the historical and cultural codes that interest us, particularly as music is a good insight into the fashions of an era.

Due to the nostalgic element to the programme and the fact that it is being presented by a Radio 2 presenter, we would guess that the target audience would be slightly older than teenagers and would incorporate people who have been watching TOTP for many years.

Popworld is a very different type of music programme which is heavily presenter led. The programme relies on the personalities of the presenters to build up a relationship with the audience.

Presenters employ a direct mode-of -address and adopt a very ironic tone when they are introducing guests and videos. This way of presenting ensures that they are never really voicing an opinion on the quality of the music and all guests are subjected to the same sardonic style of interviewing.

Presenters are always young and fashionable and very much in the same way as MTV presenters relied on their quirky presentation techniques to forge a relationship with a young media savvy audience, Popworld presenters have followed suit. Simon Anstell has gone on to present Never Mind the Buzzcocks which is aimed at an older more adult audience.

Popworld is part of Channel 4's T4 strand of programming, which is aimed primarily at teenagers but also draws in a huge amount of students and young adults as a secondary audience. The presenters of T4 employ the same mode-of-address, creating the kind of relationship with audiences that Disney have managed to do with their popular animated films over the years, ie; codes and conventions that appeal to young people but a sardonic undertone which appeals to an older audiece.

The visual elements of the show are very important, such as the set and the dress of the presenters. Presenters must be able to attract an audience on different levels, so it is not just a sense of humour that is important, presenters must look the part. The way the presenters are dressed is part of the mode-of-address and a visual cultural code.

The audience must feel that they can identify (personal identity, U&G Theory) with the presenters so its is important that there is a high level of cultural verisimilitude evident in the programme, this is created by the choice of clothes, the tone of voice, the language used (slang, colloquial, ie; mingin!). The programme must appeal to a target audience and to do that it must reflect its target audience, it must in essence, speak their language.

A brief history of Music on TV...

2008-03-04T00:09:00.000-08:00

Music on Television.........

The way we watch music on TV has changed dramatically over the years, as technology has advanced, viewing habits have changed. We can access music from many different places, at any time and more than that we can decide which era, genre, artist, song we want to see.

This blog will attempt to guide you through a brief history of music on television and analyse the different codes and conventions of the genre(s).

In 1952 The Hit Parade was launched and the songs were not performed by the original artists but by a group of resident singers, led by Petula Clark. You might no Petula Clark for singing this song,.......

In 1955, Off the Record was launched, a programme about music which included, pop news, behind the scenes footage and interviews.

From 1955 onwards, music became popular on children's TV shows, including Blue Peter, which many of you will know and Crackerjack.....

1955-67 Sunday Night at the London Palladium

....presented originally by Bruce Forsyth
and including a game called 'Beat The Clock'
- later to grow into the 'Generation Game'.

Often featured pop stars of the time. Biggest audience was for Cliff Richard and the Shadows in 1960 (over 20 million viewers)

The term 'Beatlemania' was invented by the press after the group's performance here in October 1963 when hundreds of screaming girls gathered outside the theatre.

1957 (February) - BBC -'Six-Five-Special'

..... ended a period of 'toddler truce' between 6-7 p.m. Aimed at young people for the first time, including live music and a live audience.

In 19589 came Juke box Jury, the idea was to judge a contemporary song, the format continuesd for many years on radio and children's TV.
Do you recognise anyone in this clip? What are people doing on this panel show that you would very rarely see on similiar shows today?

1963 (August) - ITV - 'Ready Steady Go'
.... started as a local London show but, in 1964, became national.

1963 - Example of 'The Royal Variety Show'

This show began in 1912 as a way of raising money for the 'entertainment artistes benevolent fund'. Top artists were invited to entertain the Royal Family.

On November 4th 1963, The Beatles became popular with all age groups after their appearance.......

In 1964 Top of the Pops was launched and lasted for 42 years.......

1966 - 'The music video' pioneered by The Beatles who found it difficult to visit every country any more.
They sent out films of 'Paperback Writer'/'Rain'.

1985 - VH1 launched.

1985 - 'Live Aid' - global broadcasts.

Pop music in support of charity ... massive TV coverage ...

On August 1st 1981 MTV was launched with this song.......
Why was it an ironic choice of song?

1989 - Sky TV in the U.K.

1990 - BskyB was formed from the merger of 'Sky' and 'British Satellite Broadcasting'.

1990-95 - Channel 4 - The Word... late night entertainment.

1992 - Later With Jools Holland ... BBC2 late night show presents new acts, star guests, live music, jam sessions .... wide variety .... compares to Old Grey Whistle Test....

In 2007 Channel 4 launched Transmission, a late night music programme on a Friday night but a different target audience to the more sophisticated Later with Jools Holland.

One of the most popular programmes in recent years is a mix of reality TV, variety and music.