Research - What is Selling Well

This chart shows the album sales in the UK by the country of the artist's origin, the figures show that 51.9% of the albums sold in the UK last year were of UK artists, and second were American artists who made up 33.8% of album sales. These figures demonstrate that UK artists sell really well in the UK and that new British artists are often welcomed with lots of support in the UK.

The chart below shows the best selling singles of the past year in the UK and how long they remained in the top 10 for. According to this, almost all of the best selling singles of the past year have been of the Pop genre, singles like Happy, Story of My Life, and Trumpets are all examples of singles from this genre. Although, artists like Martin Garrix, Mr Probz, Avicii, and Clean Bandit have also made it into  the top selling singles, which shows that music belonging to the umbrella term EDM is growing more and more popular.

Top selling singles in the UK charts over the past year,

Headline from a BBC online article published in February 2014

Digital album sales and a surge in streaming boosted total digital revenue in 2013 to £365m - up from £326m in 2012.

Streaming revenue increased by 41%, bringing total UK revenue to £730.4m - the first growth since 2009.

£54.7m was generated last year alone through subscriptions on streaming sites such as Spotify.

The BPI said some 7.4bn songs were streamed in 2013, double the levels of 2012.

Digital album sales also grew 19.5% to £160.5m, helped by the success of new British acts like Bastille - who scored the biggest selling digital album of the year with their debut Bad Blood.

However sales of vinyl LPs grew 49% to £12.1m, the highest level of annual income for the format since 1995.

From these stats taken from BPI's figures, it is clear to see that the use of digital streaming and digital downloads is how music is now selling and is vital to the UK market. It also shows that new indie-pop Birtish bands such as Bastille are selling albums more than anyone else. This means that there is still a strong desire for this type of music in the UK and people are still buying albums. Also, there is an increasing income from vinyl LP sales, with bands such as Arctic Monkeys releasing their albums onto vinyl as well as CDs. As vinyl is becoming more popular among the younger generations it gives an insight into the groups of people who are spending their money on buying music.

Research - Current Trends in Popular Music

According to YouTube these are currently the 10 most popular music videos on the site:

And these are the top 10 music tracks being listened to / watched in the UK at the moment. All ten of these tracks would come under the 'pop' genre, the only exception to this could be the Robin Schullz remix of Waves by Mr Probz.

These are the top 25 highest selling singles on iTunes at the moment. The majority of these songs come under the pop genre, and the few exceptions to that are tracks that come under the dance/pop category so they are not drastically different. There is a clear lack of rock music in the top 25 downloads, and 'pop' is definitely dominating the charts in the UK. However; Sam Smith, Ed Sheeran and George Ezra all appear in the top 25 and are all young male British singer-songwriters which shows a new emerging trend in the market. 

MTV held a poll online through Twitter in which music fans sent in tweets voting for their 'hottest summer superstar' this year. In first place was One Direction, after receiving an astonishing 56 million votes via Twitter. This does not only show how many fans they have but also the dedication of their fandom, who beat the Beliebers (Justin Bieber fans) when he came second on the list, receiving 47 million votes. 

The rest of the top 10 'Hottest Superstars of the Summer' was mainly solo female artists, with the likes of Taylor Swift, Rihanna and Lady Gaga, all receiving millions of votes each. This shows that female pop/r'n'b artists are very popular at the moment, especially among the viewers of MTV and frequent users of Twitter.

This list also shows that boy bands are popular at the moment with One Direction dominating the poll by a long way, leaving little room for any competition. However, new Australian boy band 5 Seconds Of Summer have come in 5th position raking in 18 million votes, not even half as much as 1D, but still managing to get more than Rihanna, and Coldplay - artists who have been releasing records for years before 5 Seconds of Summer had even formed. 

Research - What Kind of Music Video I Want to Make

I would really like to make a music video that wasn't shot entirely in a studio, however I know that we have access to a great space in school that we can use as our studio and I know this works well, as I have seen videos filmed in the school's studio as well as filming in there myself. Saying this, I would like to film outside and in different locations, especially around London to give the video a very British look to it, rather than an Americanised studio-filmed video.



This video for King Krule's track, Easy Easy sums up the sort of vibe I want my music video to give off. An almost nostalgic style of filming, using fish eye lenses and other effects so that the video isn't so HD looking. It is filmed in different locations and is a very active video in the sense that there is constant motion of the camera and of the artist, switching between scenes. This is how I would like my video to be filmed. Also, I really like how it has familiar features of places, with my video I would like to film in places like train stations or places where we could use the city as the backdrop, utilising the city we live in as much as we can and use London to our advantage; but I know that this isn't always practical and can be more difficult to film effectively in an uncontrolled environment.





The video for Sticks n' Stones by Jamie T is another good example of the type of video I would like to make; it's shot outside and is clear that it was shot in London. It has the feel to it where it almost looks like one of their friends' shot it, and that they were doing it themselves, not with a proffessional cameraman or in a studio. I also really like how the video is not just focusisng on Jamie T but is full of friends all interacting with eachother, almost like we as the viewers have been watching in on a day in their life; it's a very fun and playful video in that sense.





There are lots of things that I really like about this video although I don't like the song very much. I like how the video is styled to give it a very retro - 90s look to it. I think that the mixture between studio shots of the singer and shots of other people working/dancing/driving is really nice and I love how they have included lots of shots of people at parties/festivals/clubs. It would be interesting to try and replicate something like this although it's obviously very difficult. The colouring and effects on the video make it really look like it could have been recorded in the 90s on an old camera. The styling and costumes of the girls in the video are really cool and show a very retro/vintage side of themselves. I also really like how they have used projected images over the singer in the studio shots, I think it creates a really effective look although it is quite simple.





The thing that I like about this video is that it's all shot outside and doesn't focus solely on the main singer - Paloma Faith. I like how it cuts between shots of ordinary people going about their usual business, rather than having shots of professional dancers and models like in lots of music videos. Although the video doesn't follow a complicated narrative it is still fun and interesting to watch and the characters are all likeable so the audience enjoys watching them. It has a very feel-good nature to the video which matches the song.

Research - My Music Consumption

Music is generally a huge part of my life and has definitely shaped the person I am today. When I wake up for school I like to put on some upbeat music while I'm getting ready to help wake me up a bit, at the moment The 1975 is the album I play in the mornings as it puts me in a happy mood. I have to listen to music on the bus to and from school every day, the thought of getting on public transport without my headphones genuinely horrifies me.

The three pictures below are screenshots I took on my phone are from the album section in my iPod. These are all album covers of songs I have on my own, the pictures show a wide range in

genres amongst the albums, from classic rock, to indie/folk, and from metalcore to hip hop. My personal music libary is very diverse. However, I don't have much recent music on my phone as I have been using my Spotify premium account a lot lately which lets me listen to loads of music in playlists I create for about £5 a month.

                             

As well as music being a part of my day-to-day life, it also plays a huge part of my social life, I love going to gigs and concerts as often as I can, and I would say that the money I've spent on buying tickets for shows outweighs the amount of money I've spent on buying music, tenfold. I've seen over 90 bands/artists live and have been to 7 festivals, where I 've created some of my most favourite memories!

These are 4 photos I took myself and I think they are good examples to show the different ways I experience live music. The first two pictures were taken at The Camden Underworld when I was seeing a band called Your Demise play their last ever show. They weren't a huge band but they had a really dedicated fanbase and to be part of their final ever show as a band was special, the atmosphere in that small, dingy venue that night was something contagious and it's a night I won't forget.

These pictures show just how small and intimate the gig was, the stage only being two feet off of the floor without a barrier between the fans and the band. This meant that there was constant stage diving and at the end, I got on stage with the band for their last song. This is the reason I like being at small gigs, the atmosphere is something you just cannot match at a stadium or an arena sized concert. The sense of community is a lot more stronger in venues like The Underworld.

At the other end of the spectrum of live music experiences is the festival. I took these two pictures at Reading Festival this year at the main stage. The vibe in a festival crowd is so different, when a song gets played that everyone knows and the whole crowd sings along, it's one of the best feelings ever and the music unites everyone to create an amazing atmosphere.

Research - What Music Means To Me

The following videos are songs that have been significant to me at different stages in my life.

The Who and Red Hot Chili Peppers are two bands that were played a lot at home, and in car journeys from when I was born; I still listen to both of these bands, and have seen the Chili Peppers live. Music that I listened to when I was a child has very much influenced my music taste today. Although The Who have been a band for longer than I've been alive, I borrow their albums from my dad to put onto my iTunes and still listen to them today. The Chili Peppers, along with Green Day were some of the first modern bands that got me into punk/rock music, introducing me to countless different bands of all different genres that I would never have discovered otherwise.

Mr Brightside is a song that is significant to me, and a lot of people my age. Whether you like this song or not, it's almost impossible to claim that you have never sung along to this song at the top of your voice at some sort of occasion. Mr Brightside is definitely an anthem of my generation and will stick with me forever. It's one of those songs that if it was played in 50 years time, I would still know all the words.

The song Naive is important to me in a very similar way as Mr Brightside. This song reminds me of my friends and good times in general. Me and my friends all love this song, and is definitely one of my most played songs ever!

Basement are without a doubt one of my favourite bands. I only started getting into Basement when I heard the news that they were breaking up as lots of people I follow on twitter were going to their farewell tour. Ironically, after listening to them just once they quickly became an obsession of mine..right after they had just broken up. Luckily for me, they have since got back together and I got to see them at Reading Fest this year; even though I went on my own as none of my friends know them, I still had the best time and can't wait to see them again at their show next month!

Basement are a really important band to me, they represent a period of my life where my music taste really expanded, and I feel like a completely different person with the bands I listen to now as it's almost like belonging to a community. This 'community' is made up of people I've met through Twitter and sometimes Tumblr who all have the same shared interest in music, especially the same 3 or 4 genres and sub-genres. Meeting these people through Twitter and then seeing them at shows and festivals is great, and is now a major part of my life. The following for Basement aren't huge, and they'll never sell out Wembley but their fan base is incredibly loyal and intense. I've picked this song from this record as this was the first album I ever bought on vinyl and this song is one of my favourites.

Prelim Edit

Audition video