Introducing Tinashe (Chosen Music Artist)

The song my group and I have chosen to do our music video on is an R&B artist called Tinashe. Below is the song of our choice. 






Here is a basic fact file of the artist Tinashe herself:

 

NAME: Tinashe Jorgenson Kachingwe

AGE: 22

BACKGROUND INFO: Tinashe Kachingwe was born on February 6, 1993 in Lexington, Kentucky, the eldest child of Michael and Aimie Kachingwe. Her father is from Zimbabwe, while her mother is of Danish, Norwegian, and Irish descent. She and her family moved to Los Angeles, California when she was eight years old. She attended Crescenta Valley High School for a year before finishing early to pursue a career in music full-time.

GENRE: R&B and PBR&B

MUSICAL INFLUENCES: Tinashe was inspired by the music her parents would play in the house when she was young. She cites Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Britney Spears, Sade, and Christina Aguilera as her influences.

"I think that they're all iconic in some type of way. They're all amazing singers, performers and that live aspect is something I admire. I always want to put on a great live show."

Janet Jackson is an influence for her stage presence and dance style.

Wildfire - Lyric Analysis (Chosen Song For Video)

The song that my team and I have chosen is by a new RnB artist called Tinashe. The song is not released as a single. Below is the song with my interpretation of the lyrics.

Click the image below to enlarge it (so you can see the analysis better)

Overall, the song itself is very dark and gloomy with this ongoing sense of anarchy. I am intending to create various blog posts to brainstorm potential story lines for the music video. 

Music Video Final Song Choice

We have finally chosen a song after a lot of back and forth debating. The song's name is 'Wildfire' by RnB star Tinashe.

The Record Business - Majors & Indies

THE MAJORS:

The 'major' record labels dominate the music production and distribution scene in the industry, owning or having shares in masses of smaller labels too. As a result, they have a huge amount of power over the music we all listen to and buy. This is because the major labels select what talent records what music as they record the music, print it on CDs, commission videos to be made, publicise the music and essentially distribute it around the world. 

It is obvious that a record deal with one of the major labels, or a company related to one of the majors (such as Atlantic Records which is a subsidiary of Warner Bros), has many advantages for up and coming music talents. The majors have more money to invest in high quality music videos, tours and other promotional methods. In addition to this, they have a huge influence in other forms of media such as TV, games and films. Currently, the biggest 'major' labels are known as 'The Big Three':

1) Universal Music Group - Artists such as Ariana Grande, 5 Seconds of Summer, Game, Jessie J and Madonna.

2) Sony Music Entertainment - Artists such as Becky G, Kid Ink, Outlandish and Prince Royce.

3) Warner Music Group - Artists such as Bruno Mars, Wiz Khalifa, Ed Sheeran and Jason Derulo.

THE INDIES:

An Indie record label is one that is not owned by any of the majors. There are two kinds of independent labels.

1) THE MAJOR DISTRIBUTED INDEPENDANT:
This is a label that finds its own talent, signs its own acts, records its own music, but then has a contract with a label to do all the other elements such as promoting the act, manufacturing the CDs and packaging and distributing the music. An example of this is 'Roc-A-Fella' records - a subsidiary of Universal Music Group, being distributed by Def Jam Records. 

2) THE TRUE INDEPENDANT:
This is a label that has no links to a major, and does everything itself in-house. Often these labels specialise in certain genres of music, and have a niche market.  

The History Of The Music Industry

The music industry has developed extremely in comparison to what it used to be: vinyl records, cassettes and more. Below is my initial timeline I put together of what I thought was the history of the music industry.

Click the image to enlarge

However, after I created this timeline, I studied the history and realised my perceptions of the history is much different than to what it actually is. After acquiring the knowledge on the history, I then decided to create another timeline showing the correct order of the history.

Click the image to enlarge

THE EARLY DAYS

The first machine to record sound was the phonograph, invented by Thomas Edison (who also invented the telephone) in the late 1800s. This worked by using sound vibrations to make small notches in rotating cylinders that passed a needle. The needle then amplified the sound and allowed it to be listened to. In 1878, the first music was put on record. However, cylinder phonographs were very bulky and expensive, and while they were popular, very soon discs were developed, initially to be played over the radio.

Making music to sell, rather than be played at live events really began in earnest in the 1940s, marking the music industry as we know it. Vinyl had been invented as an easier way to transport music to entertain the troops during WW2, who had a need to be reminded of home: a happier time period.

Jazz was a music genre that essentially lifted the spirit of people in general; its popularity began in America and soon spread to the UK. Jazz (and similar genres such as ragtime and swing) offered a rhythm and a beat, and was first and foremost music meant for dancing. As it became instantly popular with the youth audiences, dancehalls were packed with people needing 'fun' in their lives. In 1949, Todd Storz, owner of KOWH-AM radio station in Omaha started studying the listening trends of his audience, and of jukebox choices in the local area and decided to introduce a top 40, the forerunner of our modern-day charts.

THE 1950s 

With WW2 ending, the world itself was a different place. People essentially wanted some sense of 'pleasure and release'. The war had broken down old traditional values such as those associated with women's roles and the place of ethnic minorities in society. Music that had previously been performed by African American artists and began to be played by white artists, and was aired on white radio stations, which widened its appeal, firstly in America, and then in Britain. Black and white artists sometimes even worked together, something previously unheard of, and this at a time when America was still a very radically separated nation.

In this spirit of coming together and expressing oneself, rock and roll was born - which developed through the merging of black and white music styles. With it came what became known as 'youth culture': the idea that the time of life between childhood and adulthood had its own particular characteristics, interests tastes and needs was the beginning of the idea of the 'teenager', and with it came way of looking and behaving differently to the older generation. Denim jeans were a fashion statement that marked teenagers out as being different from their parents. This profited both the teenagers, who felt a part of something new and unique, but also organisations profited from youth culture. Alongside the movie industry, the fashion industry and the food industry, the music industry thrived on its newly found teenage market as young people went out to buy records in their droves.

In 1956, Elvis Presley burst onto the music scene and the generation gap widened. His music, and that of other artists like him, was defiant, sexual, anti-authority and celebrated freedom. Because of this the older generation felt threatened by it and worried about the effect it might have on the morality of their children.

Radio was an extremely popular way of listening to music at this time, and the portable radio was invented in 1957, which enabled people to move the radio around their homes, and listen as they went about their business.


THE 1960s:

Despite the fears of a generation in moral danger, rock and roll thrived and in 1962, The Beatles signed with EMI records, and released 'Love Me Do'. They were an instant hit. The following year they released 'I Want To Hold Your Hand', which sold 1 million copies before it was officially released. 'Beatlemania' gripped the world over the coming years until Paul McCartney quit the band in 1970.

Up until this point, people bought their music on vinyl records but in 1963 audio cassettes were put on the market for the first time. Originally intended as a way of playing music in cars to American car owners, the cassette quickly developed into a popular format for listening to music.

The BBC resisted giving rock and roll airtime until 1967, mainly because it served middle-class, middle-aged audiences, and was known as a 'respectable' and 'responsible' broadcaster that would alienate its audience by introducing the new, dangerous style of youth music onto its airwaves. Instead, audiences could tune in to hear new rock and pop tunes on the radio by listening to one of a handful of 'pirate radio' stations which were transmitted from ships moored in the seas around Britain, such as Radio London or Radio Caroline, or from the tiny country of Luxemburg, which was where perhaps the most famous of these stations, Radio Luxemburg was transmitted from. The pirate stations were set up outside of British territory to avoid having to obey the UK's strict broadcasting laws, which at the time only allowed the BBC to broadcast in Britain. These stations were commercial stations (funded by advertising and played adverts during the shows) and their lively style of broadcast gave British youths a taste of American-style radio. The pirate stations were extremely popular and gave young audiences what they wanted: new, modern music and celebrity glamour.
It was during this time that music piracy first began to threaten the music industry as people regularly recorded their favourite music from the radio onto cassette tapes.

In 1967, the government closed the loophole in the law that allowed the pirate radio stations to operate, and promptly closed them down. This allowed the BBC (perhaps not so coincidentally, given the BBC's relationship with the government) to set up a new radio station to serve a younger audience. This was Radio 1, and to this day, Radio 1 plays an instrumental part in the music industry. In addition, The Monterey International Music Festival became the first ever music festival. Two years later in 1969, a momentous event in music history was held near New York. It was a music festival called Woodstock, and the event sparked a movie, two soundtrack albums and has since become the stuff of legend because apart from showcasing some of the most famous musical acts of the time, such as Jimmi Hendrix and The Who, it captured the cultural feeling of the time of peaceful protest, love and happiness.


THE 1970s:

Following on from the 1960s, the 1970s was the decade of happy, optimistic disco music, progressive rock from bands such as Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin and at the other extreme, the rebellious, angry punk movement with bands such as The Sex Pistols and The Clash. The 1960s feeling of discontent with the authorities spilled over into the 1970s, and punk bands sang about crime, girls and sniffing glue. The music was fast and frantic, tough and gritty, and attacked the establishment.

The Sex Pistols, were described by the BBC as being 'the definitive English punk rock band'. Their anger at the world was evident in their lyrics, and they attacked the government and the establishment, singing about anarchy (a state of lawlessness and disorder as a result of the government failing).

The punk genre influenced fashion, and torn T-Shirts, leather jackets customised with patches, metal studs, chains and artwork, tight jeans and outlandish hairstyles dyed in a variety of colours were worn by many young people in the 1970s. Just like the teenagers of the 1950s and 60s, teenagers of the 1970s used music as a way of rebelling against the older generations, and to make their own mark on the world.


THE 1980s:

The 1980s was a hugely influential decade for the music industry. In 1981 MTV was launched as the first ever non-stop music video channel and marked a new era in the promotion, consumption and power of pop music. Young people grew to expect their favourite music to come with moving images, and their thirst for their favourite bands was quenched with MTV's schedule, which was a constant flow of music videos, hosted by VJs (video jockeys), many of whom went on to become celebrities in their own right.

Due to the popularity of music videos, it quickly became necessary for record companies to increase their marketing budgets for music artists in order to produce a video to accompany every new release. In return, sales of records increased dramatically and MTV became instrumental in promoting the careers of artists like Madonna, Michael Jackson and Duran Duran.

Ever since the birth of MTV, the music video has become a necessary element in creating a band's success. It gives the music a personality, and makes the faces behind popular music instantly recognisable. It raises the importance of the image and 'look', because music is by now only a part of what it's to be a musician or artist; it's a package that combines fashion, sound, attitude and style. Music videos are the showcase that allows audiences to have access not just to the music, but also the artists ideology.

By 1981, the must have gadget was the Walkman which was first developed by Sony, which had been released in Japan two years earlier. The Walkman ensured that music sales on cassette continued to rise, but it also had a negative effect on the industry too. Recordable cassettes made it possible to record vinyl records onto tape and people began copying music to play on their walkmans, rather than buying a cassette version of their favourite music.

In 1982, the CD or Compact Disc was first released to the public by Sony and Phillips, and was hailed as being indestructible as well as producing clear sounds. At first, people weren't sure about the new technology, but gradually as CD players became more affordable, the CD overtook vinyl and cassette as being the recording medium of choice. In 1983, Live Aid was broadcast to the world in its entirety on MTV and becme one of the biggest television events in history.

By 1985, Madonna was storming the world with her post-punk, sexualised image and her poppy yet optimistic sound. She was the first musical artist to really succeed at selling the idea of 'girl power'. She was elevated to superstardom through her music videos, shown on MTV and other music slots where she captured young girl's imaginations. She subverted stereotypes of women by taking elements of female iconography of the 1940s, 50s and  60s such as bright red lipstick, lace corsets and high heels - turning them raunchy and rebellious. She also had male backing singers, which was historically unheard of for female artists.

At the same time, Michael Jackson was leading the way as the top male solo artist of the decade. He too used music videos as a way to increase popularity, and the legendary 14 minute 'Thriller' video, became a global phenomenon. Sales of Thriller the album had declined before the release of the video, but the minute the video hit MTV screens, the single shot to number 1, along with the album, which still remains as the best selling album of all time. 


THE 1990s

The decade started off with a surge in popularity in the genres of techno and hip-hop, but in general music of the 90s was extremely diverse. The UK music industry was booming. The British interpreted the dance music coming from the states (house music), and named it drum and bass, and this continued to rise in popularity and became more mainstream, along with Bhangra, a mixture of Bollywood film music and techno or house beats, which originally came from the Midlands and the north of England. 

In America, Nirvana was reaching superstardom. In the UK, however, perhaps the biggest musical phenomenon of the 90s was the rise of Britpop, which was British produced rock, created by such bands as Blur, Suede and Oasis. It began as a backlash against the slighlty 'cheesy' rock coming out of the US. It was mainly guitar-led rock, influenced by earlier British bands such as the Beatles. 

Technologically, there were many advances during the 1990s. Since 1998, the Discman was the portable music machine of choice up until release of the first MP3 in 1998. Most homes by the mid-90s had home computers, and for the music industry that meant that music could be copied from CD onto a hard drive. This in turn meant that the royalties that might have come from the legal sale of copyrighted music wasn't going to the artists or the record companies. For the time being, in the 1990s this didn't create too many problems for the industry, as CD sales kept rising. 


THE 2000s:

In 2001, Apple introduced iTunes, and the world of music changed forever. The iPod was released in the same year. Originally only for AppleMac computers, in 2003 with the introduction of the iTunes Store, PC users were able to access music downloads. CD sales plummeted and illegal downloads meant that people who might have bought the music on CD (which would have paid royalties) were able to get it for free on any number of illegal download websites. The downturn in profits to the music businesses threatened to be the death of the recording industry because less money was available to invest in new and existing artists. It is currently estimated that around 95% of all music files exchanged online are unlicensed and unpaid for, meaning that no money goes back to the people who actually made the music.

Meanwhile, record labels profited from TV talent shows such as Pop Idol and The X Factor, where 'safe' musical artists were showcased and groomed to becoming the next big thing. Ratings for ITV's 2009 The X Factor final topped 19 million viewers - a ready made audience of potential music buyers fighting to part with their download fees in order to make their favourite the winner. The careers of the winners of these reality music shows intended to be short lived however, and the finalists weren't reliable earners for the record companies once the hype surrounding their celebrity had died down.

Websites, blogs and forums on the internet, as well as social networking websites allowed fans to get closer to their favourite bands and artists than they ever could before. The creation of MySpace as a forum for showcasing and accessing musical acts offered artists yet to be signed by record companies the opportunity to have their music heard, and to create a fan base without actually going to the expense of releasing a record (such as Adele). And although CD sales were at an all time low, many argues that audiences had more choice over the music they listened to since the introduction of alternative ways to access music, instead of only being able to choose from the range of music that the major record labels decided we should buy.

Hip Hop and Rap dominated the UK and US popular music, with artists such as Eminem, Jay Z and Kanye, whilst in the UK, an offshoot of grime, made it into the mainstream with Dizzee Rascal and Tinchy Strider. This genre remained very male-dominated, performed mainly by male artists (with the occasional guest vocal support from popular female RnB artists), and featured very male-oriented lyrics and videos that often undermined and exploited women. 'Indie' rock remained popular, with bands such as Muse, Kings of Leon leading the way. Hard rock or metal punk rock also had popularity, with bands such as Paramore. Pop was less clean cut as a result of a more pessimistic post-911 era than the previous decade, and artists such as Britney Spears hardened their image, while Miley Cyrus led the way with pop-rock hybrid. In the UK, popular pop acts were Girls Aloud, JLS and Sugababes. The popularity of R&B continued with Beyonce, Rihanna and Alicia Keys being some of the more successful acts of the decade. 

Auteur Theory - Floria Sigismondi