Ellis's Media Blog

A CD digipak should have a representation of the artist on the cover, be it an actual picture of them, their logo, or something representative of the album or their music. It should appeal to the audience and indicate what genre they're in. The digipak is normally 4.75 x 4.75 inches, and is made from printed card. The main features of a digipak are the album cover itself, the track list, and potentially a photoshoot done by the artist specifically for the album.

The front cover is there to entice the target audience and appeal to them, as well as serving as a protective sleeve. They can also give the buyers information about the band, lyrics, and extra pictures to add to the product. Most digipaks have these same features in common.

CDs themselves are not so relevant anymore because of the increase in technology and how easy it is to download an album instead of buying a physical copy, however, the album artwork is still necessary in the representation of the artist, and in the selling of the album itself because the cover can attract the target audience and bring in new customers.

Mcfly's album cover (front and back) have the same water-related theme, showcasing the band and their logo, as well as the track list on the back, so this is a typical example of a digipak. The name of the album itself is 'Motion in the Ocean', so the water theme is relevant and suits the genre of pop-rock.

The artist I've chosen - Dua Lipa - is a female pop singer, but is self labelled as being 'dark pop'. I've used a lot of the conventions typical of a music artist's website, such as the social media links, the large logo, where to buy her music, tour dates, merchandise, and her face as the first thing you see. The brighter pastel colours contrast the dark greys, which reflects her genre of "dark pop' and makes the pictures and writing stand out against it. The pinks and purples make her seem girls and flirty, but the black and dark grey add an edge to her look, and the flower she's biting comes across as rather sensual.



I have used Dyer's star theory by involving Dua Lipa as a commodity, and including ways to buy her music and merch which the management makes money from. She is also present and not present at the same time, as you can access her social media, listen to her music and see her in videos, but she's still a 'star' and the fans don't know her personally. Her image is a construction on the website, and not necessarily a true reflection of herself.

I liked using Wix because it was really simple to create a well designed website that's easy to navigate. I think my website looks effective and is a good representation of the artist. Comparing it to her actual website, it is not that different at all. I'd used some of the same pictures and colour schemes, so I think I was successful.


Here's the link to my website:
https://ellismonk5.wixsite.com/dualipa

The music video begins with Madonna running away from something and falling over. We're not sure what she's running from yet, but this becomes clear later, and she starts to lip sync the song. Images of a burning cross briefly flash on the screen, as does the slamming of a jail cell door.



A flashback in slow-motion shows the reason why she's running. A woman that looks a little bit like Madonna is being surrounded and attacked by 5 men, who are portrayed as stereotypical males as they have slicked back hair, wear dark leather jackets, are aggressive, and are dominating the situation. The woman is seen to be weak and vulnerable, and cannot outmatch the men that attack her.


We then see a black man, who gets arrested after trying to help the woman, as the police think he's the one that did it. This is a hegemonic ideology of an African-American man in the time that the music video was set because he's immediately guilty unless proven innocent, and the police don't even question him before they arrest him.


When Madonna enter the church she's surrounded by a golden light that looks almost like a halo, which portrays her as innocent and almost like a saviour, however, her rather provocative outfit is atypical of what one would wear to church, and, paired with her sexual dancing, would further anger catholics because it's seen as disrespectful to god. The black saint behind bars would be very controversial at the time of release because devout catholics would never think of saint as black, so this would shock and perhaps even anger them because it goes against their beliefs. After being released, he kisses Madonna on the head, which makes it seem as though she's disregarding the religion as she's supportive of the black saint.



In Madonna's 'dream' she appears to be flying, and is caught by the black female gospel singer, who sends her on her way but in a different direction, almost as if being guided on the right path.


The burning crosses are involved in intertextuality as they're a reference to the KKK, who believe in white supremacy, so the contrast between the crosses and race hint at the injustice happening in society at the time. Madonna's dancing in front of them - and apparent enjoyment of it- would be considered disrespectful, but it further emphasises her support of the black community.


The lines between legality and religious beliefs is blurred when the bars of the court room replace those of the saint in the church. This reflects the constraint and powerlessness that black people had, and their lack of freedom. Madonna's freeing of the saint, and freeing of the man who came to the stabbed girl's aid shows her willingness to change the opinions of society. His imprisonment is unfair, so Madonna does not shy away from the threat of the attacker, and makes amends.

Intertextuality is shown again at the end with the curtain call. One of the reasons as to why this was created is to show that it was all an act, and not real, so people take it only as a representation of a situation, and not exactly how it is.  It sends the message to not run away when someone needs help or is wrongly accused, no matter what their race is, and that it's a team effort to change minds.


This music video presents Madonna and race in a positive way because even though her promiscuity and actions are controversial, she's fighting against the miscarriage of justice against black people and is a spokesperson for those who don't have a voice in society. Race is portrayed in a positive way because whereas they're normally unrepresented and repressed in media, they aren't in this music video, and have the support of Madonna, who is an icon for representing minorities such as the LGBT+ community.

The whole point of a website is to put all things related to the band in one easily accessible place, such as merch, social media, photos and tour dates. By having a specifically dedicated website, the artist or management has control of how they come across in their online image, and the look of the site can reflect the look of the related products and the artist themselves.

On its homepage, an artist needs to have their logo as one of the main elements, so it's clear to the viewer who they are. They also need to have their social media links so that fans can follow the official accounts if they want updates on the artist, and there's often a mailing list where, if you sign up, you can get emailed update on tours or new music without having to constantly check the website. As well as these, one of the main things on the website should be new music, and where to buy it, so fans can see what's out recently and can buy it (which makes money for the artist).


Selena Gomez


The target audience for her website is young girls and teenage girls because her new single is called 'Bad Liar' which is about a boy so is likely to attract girls as they could relate to the song. The font of the single is written in pink lipstick, so has more feminine connotations, as does the bright and sleek design of the home page and logo.



Selena's face is one of the first things you see when you enter the website, so she's being promoted and is the centre image of attention. She's lying in bed, wearing not much clothing and little makeup, which portrays her as quite vulnerable and quite sexualised. Her website has most of the conventions typical of a music artist's website, like her social media links, her recent single, tour dates, merch store, news, videos and more.

There's a link to the 13 Reasons Why soundtrack, which can be bought on tape (like in the series) which Selena was producer of. This again helps to promote other projects that she's involved in.







Two Door Cinema Club

The target audience for their website is teenagers and young adults both male and female. Their logo is bold and right at the top of the page, which draws the eye. however, the main attraction is the video playing in the background which showcases the band and their relaxed nature, as the sea has connotations of calm.




The video is like a mini-documentary about them, how they started and why they wanted to make music. It shows them as organic and into their music.
The singer is also shown wearing no shoes, which portrays him as quite hippy-ish and comfortable. The band are by the beach drinking coffee in the sun, which further highlights their laid-back nature.


Their website has most of the conventions of a typical website, including their social media links, a merch store, news, videos, their latest album, and their tour. The background of the merch store matches their recent album cover.





Comparison of the two

Similarities:

• Both websites are similar in the fact that they have most of the typical conventions of a music artist's website, such as the shop, newest music, social media links, and bold logo to name a few. 
• They also both have their newest music in full view (Two Door Cinema Club not quite as much as Selena) with 'Gameshow' and 'Bad Liar', so the main focus of their websites is for promotion. 
• They're both very easy to navigate as the tool bars are clear and simple, and so are the pages, with a simple scroll bar and well laid out design.
• The overall design of the websites are fairly similar because they're sleek and simple, with the logo centre top, and the navigation bar at the top too.

Differences:

• Two Door Cinema Club have a video playing in the background, unlike Selena, which is not a typical feature of a music website, however it adds another level of interest to it as people will want to watch to see what it's about.
• Selena herself is a main attraction of the website, as her face/album cover is large and in the centre of the screen, however, Two Door Cinema Club have little promotion of their actual faces, only in the video in the background, so they're not sexualised at all compared to Selena, which goes to show the differences in their star images.
• The websites appeal to different target audiences, Selena for younger girls, and Two Door Cinema Club for male and female teenagers and young adults

I've used the band Royal blood as my example of a music campaign.