Logos are the drawings/emblems of a band or an artist that make the artist more recognisable.
There are 4 different types of logos that you can find
Emblem logos
2. Mascot logos
3. Combination mark logos
4. Abstract mark logos
All of these types can easily be found in the music industry as well as everywhere else. Normally in the music industry logos are used in many different ways, but normally they are targeted at:
creates a Unique Selling Point (USP) for the artist or band, which makes the band/ artist more recognizable, so it helps it to sell
Represents the ideology/style of the artist
Sometimes it can even become more iconic than the band/artist itself but it is not a very common case
Helps the band to make its merch that then leads to an increase of a USP and the possibility of this band/artist becoming popular/famous.
If we have a look at the logo of the rock/metal band "Matallica".
This logo is very recognizable, a lot of people have clothing with these logos and these people do not even have an idea of what is this logo of or most of the people can not tell the name even if one of the songs of this band.
So, why it is that recognizable, well, first of all, I believe that as easier the logo is as recognizable it is. In this logo there is only one word -- and it is the name of the band. And the only difference that there is in comparison with the normal, original text is the fact that the first and the last letters of the name of the band are written in a slightly different style to the other letters. That simple and small thing made the whole logo and the band especially more popular and recognizable. '" it also created a great USP for the band itself.
In order to get a clear understanding of how logos work I made my own logo for the same band that I made an album on.
This is the Combination mark logo. On this logo there is and text (name of the band) and the key symbols of the band are flames and the skull.
I chose skull and the flame for the key symbols due to the fact that that is the stereotypical images that are associating with hell.
Skull -- a representation of somebody dead
Flame -- with the skull normally associates with hell, because it says in the bible that hell is underneath the ground, and it is hot there.
So the logo that I have designed is purely stereotypically based.
Nowadays, music videos became a form of art that as well as promoting the art of the singer/band is also promoting itself. So, the fact that now we are getting more and more music videos that are simply just a piece of art itself without music. Nowadays, we can find a lot of different music videos that include not only beautiful pictures but also brings some interte4xtual material and semiotics. In other words some hidden meanings and not only.
For the Analysis I used the music video of Childish Gambino -- This Is America. This is a very controversial piece of music and especially of the video. It contains a lot of intertextualities. As well as rising a lot of issues this music video also creates a very good Star Image of Childish Gambino. It shows that the artist cares about its country's problems and not only countries but society. So, the audience and society will see that celebrities and their idols know what is going on in the country and are aware.
Talking about intertextuality, throughout this music video there were raised a number of issues that American society is facing in day-to-day life. One of them is the fact that at the beginning of the video he shows America's two main sides -- the more violent one
to the less violent one, where he dances with the group of students.
Talking bout the details, right from the beginning of the video Gambino is wearing two gold chains around his neck, which clearly represent America's obsession with consumerism. It is also very noticeable that throughout the video, and especially in the beginning of it he dances with very exaggerated facial and physical expressions.
Talking about the actual lyrics, right at the beginning of the song Gambino touches upon the fact that nowadays the social media hides real-life issues from society. It becomes clear after the words We just want the money, money just for you.
Continuing with the movements, it is clear that the group that dances with Gambino and Gambino himself do it in order to achieve two things: 1) not to die, which links to the words in the song Girl you got me dancin', dance and shake the frame,which means that Girl, beingAmerica here tries to hide everything under layers of social media and in order to stay safe, alive, you have to be dancing, or more simply, you have to believe in what media says. 2) it distracts the audience from the chaos in the background, which connects with the fact that America keeps hiding what really is going on in the country with the pretty images -- propaganda.
Touching upon semiotics in the video at some point in the background there is a black-hooded man riding a white horse, which, in the bible stands as the symbol of an apocalypse.
The other noticeable thing is the fact that at the end of each shooting (a total of 3) there is a special person with the red cloth to whom Gambino handles the gun.
This clearly represents the fact that in America people tend to care more about guns/weaponry than about people's lives.
During one of the last scenes, Gambino is on the top of the old car and he is surrounded by the other old cars, this represents the fact that there is a possible lack of progression in America and that even though everyone is used to see America as a modern country for most people it is another way round.
The very last scene shows us, the audience how Gambino runs away from the crowd and America itself. It is clear that Gambino is scared not only by the use of the colors (only dark) but it is also clear by the fact that the camera zooms in from the bigger space to just concentrating on one person -- Childish Gambino.
The other fact that shows that he is desperate to escape because he is scared is how he stands and looks like in comparasents with the rest of the crowd. Gambino is the only character throughout the video who is topless and he is way in front of the crowd, although there would be definitely at least one person who would reach him but that did not happen, in order to show that he is different to everyone.
Talking about the genre, it is clear that there is no exact, specific genre. |It is mainly due to the fact that throughout the video there were many different interpretations and key conventions of each of the genres that are connected to the streets. By that, I mean all of the genres that include:
pop
rap
The most common representation of rap and pop that occurred in this music video were the golden chains on his neck
and the lady that was sitting in the car during the last scenes of the video.
Both of these details are stereotypical to rap and pop genres, but more to rap.
The other thing that is pretty intertextual is the fact that normally we get that types of music videos for the pop and rap genres. It is not that popular to have that use of intertextuality in such genres as rock or jazz. these genres tend to have most of the time intertextuality within the text rather than both within the text and within the music video.
Overall, my class understood that my album cover was for a band, rather than a single person (singer). It was also clear for them that the main genre of this group was dark metal/heavy metal. It was clear because of use of colours and the fond and the red skull on the top left corner of the front cover. The other thing that my class told me was good is the fact that on both of the sides of the album I have used the same background image that linked both sides of the album cover. The other thing that was successful in my classmates opinion was the yellow outline, it was contrasting and matching at the same time very nicely with the background. Talking about the background it rin=minded my class, my teacher and myself of the blood that is dissolwing in the black water this small element helped them realise that the genre was something to do with something dark and rock/mettal like.
I believe that I have used all of the key covections sucsuflly, although, the only one that I would improve a little bit more it they use of variety of fonds. Because as my class said, there were too many different fond stykes it was more than fine, if on the front cover I have used just two different fonds rather than three. They also said that the size of words "Presented by" has to be way smaller in comparasent with the band name, so not like it was on my album cover.
My teacher also spotteted the fact that the records logo normally has to be in the bottom of the back side af the album, just in the same place where the barcode and the copyrights. Whereas, on my back cover of the album the recording label was on the right top corner.
In order to understand what has to be on the music album cover of a band, I decided to develop and create it by myself.
The front cover consists of the name of the album on the top, the name of the band in a slightly bigger font, and a parent advisory in the left corner. All of this was done in order to 1) highlight the Unique Selling Point (USP) of the band (The name of it) and also 2) in order to highlight the fact that the band cares about its audience and tells in advance that it is not recommended for a younger audience to listen to their music.
The second side, or the back cover, consists of a barcode, so that audience would be able to buy it. List of the songs, in order to know what songs are there in that particular album. I also have added the recording label of the band, it is nice to do so because it is a way of self-promotion of this label.
Like anywhere there are certain rules that you have to follow when creating an album cover for the band/artist. Both front and back covers had to include the following things.
Front Cover has to include the following:
Title of album
artist/band name (It has to be in a slightly bigger font because it is the main selling point of the album
if it is needed any sort of warnings or parental advisory
The back cover has to include the following things:
Tracklist and it is better is it is in order
studio/label
legal information
barcode
For the main example, I would like to use one of the albums of Adele, it is a clear representation of what has to be included on both sides of the album cover artwork. On all of the albums, Adele had her face, mainly due to the fact that her face is her main USP, so she and her team are trying to use it as much as possible.
We have a look at any of Sia's albums, for example, the only thing that we, as an audience will be able to see is the girl who dances in any Sia's video, so this girl is essentially a USP of Sia and her art/creation, and it all will be based on bright colors, unlike Adel's album covers. It is also clear that on both albums, even though the music genre is fairly similar there are different fonds used.
Richard Dyer stated that there are number of common values in music stardom.
Youthless
sexual magnetism
talent in any area that the star is in
goes against something, rebellion
does not look like anyone else, originality
superior, higher than any other odd star
conspicuous consumption of sex, drugs, and material goods.
It is important to note that artists are just sold to the audience. They are created by specialists in order to be marketed and sold as something special, where actually they are the same as everyone else.
Stars are just simply commodities that are consumed and produced to the audience. They mostly depend upon subsidiary media such as magazines, radio, internet, and TV.
Star imagine sometimes can be changed over the time period, one of the most popular examples of that type of star apart from Miley Cyrus
can be Ariana Grande. She used to be in a cute, teenage girl style, now she is older, so she appears to her audience in a more open and not teenager-like style.
There are some situations, it occurs very rarely when the recording label of certain stars creates a Unique Selling Point (USP) for the star. It is something that will constantly associate with that star.
Like singer Sia has this big wig with a fringe and a giant bow,
so that no one would know how she looks like. But whenever she is wearing it, people can think that it is Sia, because the label has made it her (Sia's) USP.
In Dyer's theory the are three main parts:
Stars are just simply construction, yes, they can be based upon something real, existing, but everything is real.
Stars are constructed and controlled (commodity) by the record label in order to filter everything about the future star and get the idea of what the record label can and cannot use.
Star can represent ideologies, stereotypes.
However, normally for all of these parts to work and in order to have an actual star, there have to be at least two paradoxes
The star has to be a role model for the audience so it does not need to be perfect, sometimes it even has to be not perfect at all, so that people would know that they can trust that star
We, as audience members have to know everything about them, but not too much so that we would not get bored.
As an example of a star image I| will use singer -- P!nk and look at the way in which her star image has been created.
The key USP of P!nk is the fact that she has short, almost men alike hairstyle.
The other USP that P!nk is popular for are her shows that she makes as well as the concert.
If we take a look at her social media, we can have a taste of the fact that as well as a good singer, P!nk is a mother of two.
