Digipak Edits and Audience Questionnaire

After researching professionally made digipaks/CD packs I designed my own digipak for my artist, including songs, in a variety of colours. 

Once I had made an array of colour combinations, I made a questionnaire in order to receive some audience feedback from my target audience. I did this as I wanted to know which sort of album would appeal most to the people that would potentially be buying it - allowing to make any necessary changes to my digipak before completion.

These are the questions I asked, along with providing pictures for each digipak.

Digipak Draft

This is the cover design I originally drew before digitally creating my Digipak.

This is my front cover I have designed for my digipak. I kept it quite simple, as do most pop albums, using a head shot of my artist/character, including his name and album title. I chose the name "Illustration" as I wanted the album to be an illustration of the artist's life. As it would be his debut album it would allow his audience to get to know him better. People often feel more endeared to buying something if they know more about it and the background behind it, hence my decision for this.



Here we have the back cover of my digipak design. Once again very simple, incorporating all the song titles that are featured on the album along with a music company logo, barcode and general information that is always shown on an album. I made up all the song names, barr "Photograph", which I listed as the first one shown. This was to make people continue reading after they see a song they are familiar with.


Next is the inside of the digipak

As it open's up you see one blank side and one side with a ripped up photograph on. This is in reference to my music video. It also reference's the song choice "Photograph". I kept the left side blank as Pop albums don't generally go over the top on decorating the inside, but rather pick a colour scheme. At the current time I have decided to pick black and white/cream as it is gender natural and can match any other colours I may want to add

On the inside I will keep the centre square black and the two side boxes white. I didn't feel it was necessary at all to over edit my digipak as that isn't a convention that is generally cosistent or popular in the pop genre.

Music Magazine Advertisement Draft

This is my draft design for my Magazine Advertisement. 

I will be using a similar photo of my artist to the one used on my digipak, similar to artists such as Ed Sheeran and Shawn Mendes who have experience in the field of music and the same target audience as my artist.

As shown above the first thing that will be noticeable as you view the advertisement is the close up headshot of my artist. I want this to be the first thing seen as, not only is it a staple design feature used in most pop advertisements, it will allow the audience to see what the artist looks like. The artist will be smiling and look layed back, in order to make the audience feel comfortable and interested in him. If he was screaming for example it could put off  some people and as soon as they look at the advertisement they would have a distaste for it. The artist will be wearing a smart shirt, whilst not having the top buttons done up to create a relaxed feeling and not to be to uptight.

The next noticeable thing is the artist's name. I plan to use a bold font, whilst not to aggressive as to suggest a more rock genre. I want it to look as if the writing was hand written, to match the idea of the album being illustrated. Bold artist names being noticeable are a big convention in pop music advertisements. Each artist seems to have their own distinguishable font used on their albums and advertisements, most noticeably artists such as Jessie J, making them unique. I want the illustrated idea to be that for my artist, without looking too unprofessional and messy

 The other writing shown says "Illustrated" which is the album title, and "Hit Single 'Photograph' ". This is another convention I found whilst researching advertisements that pop artists generally use. By naming a popular, well known song featured on the album the target audience is more enticed into buying the album.

I will also include an image of my alum cover. This was only used on a few of the advertisements I researched but I believe it would attract the audience further and help them know what they should look out for.

At the top I have included a black information bar which will have the logo in one corner and all necessary information in the other. Although a bar wasn't used in many advertisement, I thought it made it look smarter and went along with my colour theme and kept the bottom of the page from looking too clustered. It prevents to much small print taking up unnecessary space, as many people don't read it.

Music Video Editing

Whilst editing my music video I took some screenshots, using the "Prnt Sc (Print Screen)" button, to show the process an explain how I did what I did. They are shown below.

My first screenshot is a zoomed out shot to present all the cuts I made to make the transitions between shots match the tempo and beats of the music. This was taken half way through editing so there was a lot more once I had finished. To the left you can see a list of images, these are the shots I imported in to the editing software from the camera. At the top right is a singular image of the main character walking. This allowed me to watch the video as I was editing to make sure everything was how I wanted it.

This second screenshot shows how I edited the song itself to shorter the duration of the video and trying to make sure the music still smoothly blended together. There was a segment of the song that increased the length whilst I had nothing to place in that area. The beats of the music around this area where duplicated from the previous line of lyrics so I removed this area. As it was repeated I was able to make the music smoothly continue without making it obvious some of the song had been cut out.

In this shot you can also set a closer up view of some of the cutting I did to make the transitions match the beats of the music

This clip shows a technique I used to edit the length of some shots. While for most shots I used the crop tool to edit the shots to my desired size, for some others I was able to drag the clip along when a red bar popped up as I scrolled my mouse over it. This allowed me to make the shot the exact length I needed it to be by re-adding cropped out areas.

The next tool I used was called "Scale to Frame Size". When imported in to the editing software the clips I had filmed were cropped to fit the size of the editing screen. By using the Scale to Frame Size tool, the shots returned to the original size and fitted everything in, rather than being cropped and missing out vital parts of the video. Scale to Frame size is found under the "Video Options" section in the "Clip" drop down bar.

This screenshot shows the tool I to create my time-lapse. The shot was originally 1 hour long but by increasing the speed on the editing software I was able to create a time-lapse and insert it at the beginning of my video. By increasing the speed from 100 to 10000 the clip almost doubled in speed, which I then cropped to fit the gap at the start of my music video.

Risk Assessment

During the filming of my music video, there may be some risks that could affect the actor and potentially harm them. I have thought about these in advance and will plan on taking the following precautions to assure that no one is injured during the filming of my music video.

The first risk I have assessed is the potentially unstable/ uneven ground at the grave yard. Due to the various graves that will be there, the ground will potentially be uneven

Magazine Advertisement Research

One of our ancillary tasks was to design and create our own magazine advertisement for our artist so before anything else I decided to do some research in to other magazine advertisements and posters from popular pop artists already in the industry.

The first magazine advertisement I looked into was Ed Sheeran's first album. I did this as I am using one of  his songs for my music video and for my artist it would also be his debut album. Ed Sheeran's advertisement consists of a close up of him, his name and information such as his singles. The poster consists of two colours being his signature colour, orange, and white. However the picture of him is black and white which allows the writing to stand out. Out of all the writing on the advertisement the biggest and boldest is Ed Sheeran's name which portrays him as the most important. The poster also shows a wallet photo of his album cover, allowing people to know what to look out for. 

The next advertisement I looked at is for Adele's album, 21. This advert is very minimal, with her name and album name being considerably bigger than Ed Sheeran's, once again being the biggest piece of text on the page. Once again the layout is very simple, with a close up backing shot of the artist, and writing in the foreground. The small writing underneath her name brings up the fact that she is a grammy award winner and also mentions one of her most popular singles, "Rolling in the Deep", similar to Ed Sheeran - expressing the quality of the artist. Also similar to Ed Sheeran's is a wallet sized photo of her album cover. The text "21" and "Available everywhere now" are in green font, unlike the rest of the advert, which makes them stand out more. The fact that it's "out now" along with the "21" suggests they want you to get it "now". 

Above is the magazine advertisement for the Pop artist Jessie J. It is mainly composed of a detailed close up of the artist's face, along with her name and album title. The close up image is what first catches the audience's eye, which will be especially effective with artists familiar with the artist. One of Jessie J's main quirks is how unique her style is, which is shown through her haircut (her long fringe) and her bold colour choices, this occasion being black. The colours contrast the background making her stand out, whilst also contrasting the bold gold writing, making her name and other writing also stand out and easy to read. The writing is classy yet simple and gets across the most important information, being the debut album and a international best seller- "Price Tag", which also brings up another artist, being B.O.B, which will attract audience members from both artist's audiences.

For Olly Murs' advertisement his name is once again the biggest piece of text shown. It also, once again, consists of a big photo of him, this time however is a wider shot so his body is visible. This allows the audience to see what he is wearing and attracts his target audience, which is teenage girls, due to the suave and attractive tendencies of his photo. His gelled up hair, rolled up sleeves and hands in his pockets portray him a cool guy, which is generally attractive to teenage girls. The colours of the writing are made to match what he is wearing, as opposed to contrasting them similar to the previous adverts. This is probably done to contrast the background as no writing covers his body as well as emphasising the appeal to his target audience. Once again it shows another artist, to appeal to a wider audience, and the fact that one of his singles reached no.1 showing his quality as an artist.

The last artist I looked at was Shawn Mendes, which is the most minimal advert out of all the ones shown. It once again features a picture of him, but unlike Olly Murs does not show his whole body, despite their similar target audience. This suggests that despite their similar target audience, their songs are quite different. The colours are very basic and match his album cover, being black, white and blue, with the writing.

In conclusion the following conventions are normally used with a Pop Music poster/ magazine Advertisement-

-Clear Image of the Artist in the Background
-Artist Name - Biggest Writing
-Album Titles
-Minimal colour variety- Obvious Colour Scheme
-Hit Song Included
-Artist's Website
-Record Label Logo at the bottom
-Awards Won

Album Cover Research

In order to create my digipak I needed to do some research in to how other mainstream pop artists compose their's. A digipak is styled packaging usually used for physically copies of CDs, the front cover is often also used for digital copies of albums. Digipaks often consist of information about the band, a CD and possibly song lyrics. The front cover normally shows something related to the artist/s, their name, the song or album title and possibly some artwork in the background. The inside then has the CD, possibly photos relating to the artist and then song lyrics or a leaflet with various information/more lyrics inside.

The first cover I looked at was Ed Sheeran's as he is the artist of the song I have chosen. His album cover is very simple and is just an orange picture of him, it is named after him and doesn't have an alternative title suggesting he wants the focus to be on him and his music. The little other writing on the cover shows the most popular songs on the album, which will capture the audience straight away as they won't have to check the back of the album to see if songs they like are inside. It also has a small promotion to entice you more, saying that if you put the CD in your computer you will unlock extra bonus content.

On the inside there is a removable leaflet, which is also attached to the front cover. Inside this leaflet is song lyrics to the songs on the album.The inside colours are once again black and white keeping it simple.

On the back of the digipak it is once again simple  and includes the songs that on the album. This is helpful for when you want to buy the album as they are usually sealed and therefore you won't be able to look at the leaflet inside. There is also a barcode and the less important stuff in small writing as that isn't what the customer wants to see nor will it entice them in to buying it. This writing also includes his website, which isn't as small but isn't so large that its overly noticeable. It is bolder than the small writing so if the customer wishes to visit his website they won't miss it.

When I looked at digipaks I also looked at artists similar to the artist who's song I have picked. One of the digipak covers have looked at is Justin Beiber, a popular pop artist who is appealing to my target audience. His cover consists of a photo of him with his head down and his hands together, he looks pretty relaxed. The album cover itself has quite a few different patterns over it but in all is quite a simple design. The colours are blue, grey and white, with Justin himself also being black and white which makes the album seem pretty relaxed and calm. The patterns over him are prominent whilst not taking away from the fact the Justin is on the cover as well. The writing on the cover is quite stylised which makes it hard to read. It matches the colour scheme and is once again simple, being one word "Purpose". This adds to the thoughtful and simple effect the album gives off. The title has been placed at the bottom of the cover and I didn't notice it at first, which suggests the creator of the cover wanted to portray Justin more than the title, which makes sense as he is a very popular artist.

The next album I looked at was "Handwritten" by Shawn Mendes. Once again, similar to Ed Sheeran's and Justin Beiber's, it consists of a photo of Shawn in the centre, with simple colour and other things going on, but not enough to take the focus of the artist himself. Very similar to Justin Beiber's, their is writing/ patterns surrounding him, which looks as if it was written on a chalkboard. In this case it is appropriate as the album is called "Handwritten". The title itself includes his name and the name of the album, with his name being bigger and a bolder colour than the title. The style of the handwritten writing on the chalkboard is quite messy and matches that of the writing on the back cover. This consists of the songs in the album, a barcode and then copyright and dedications etc in small below. Once again the album colours are blue, black and white which gives it a clean finish and allows for certain parts to be prominent.

By researching these digipaks/albums I have realised that nearly all, if not all, pop artist's albums follow the same conventions with a simple design including a picture of themselves, a back cover with the song included and little else and bold colour choices which all go together and capture the audience's eye.

Costumes and Props

These are the props and costumes I plan on using within my music video

First off we have the letter and notebook the character uses to right to his sister. The notebook is basic and has lined paper inside, the outside won't be shown so the blue colour doesn't have any significance. 

Reccee Shots

The first area I plan on using in my video is the above bedroom. I chose this location to be used for the scenes where the main character portrayed is in bed in the first part of the video. I chose this room as it is quite small and I wanted to show the character's loneliness whilst still showing that someone had been in his life previously, shown by the double bed to signify 2, and the flowery wallpaper which isn't stereotypically associated with masculinity. I plan on making the room messier to enhance the idea that he is depressed.

This second room is what I plan on using for the scene where the character looks under the bed. I chose this particular room as it is more feminine whilst having similar wall paper to show how the two are connected. I will remove the towel rack and tidy up the room, hopefully achieving the idea that it hasn't been touched in a while.

This is the corridor the character walks down.

This is the staircase. The curtain at the bottom could potentially be used to create an interesting shot by rapidly changing the lighting as the character walks past.

Here is the graveyard I hope to film in. It is easily accessible and with few visitors so hopefully filming there won't disturb there. I took this photo in the evening in order to create the eerie effect I hope to portray in my video. I chose this particular graveyard as all the graves are lined up which should make it obvious where the character is. It is also surrounded by trees so no cars or vehicles should ruin the mood of the shot.

Storyboards and Shot List

Before creating my storyboards I prepared a shot list so I knew what i was doing.

I had ___ shots in total, as presented below.

Email to Ed Sheeran's Manager

I sent a request to Ed Sheeran's manager, via the email I found at rocketmusic.com. I asked them whether or not I could use Ed Sheeran's song as part of my music video and have stated I will give full credit for the song to the artist and company and will not claim the song as my own.

31st October 2016- As of the 31st October I have not yet received an email reply from Ed Sheeran's manager..

Lyric Analysis - Photograph

"Photograph"

Loving can hurt
Loving can hurt sometimes
But it's the only thing that I know
When it gets hard
You know it can get hard sometimes
It is the only thing that makes us feel alive

The first five lines of the songs are pretty self explanatory, stating how the singer can see the both sides portrayed through the words "hurt" and "feel alive". On one hand he is saying that love can be painful and difficult to deal with at times. On the other hand he is saying its amazing and you won't truly feel alive until you experience it. Despite how much he gets hurt it's the only thing he knows so he sticks with it. The repetition of the words 'hurt' and 'hard' as well as 'loving' put emphasis on the idea of the two being linked. 

We keep this love in a photograph
We made these memories for ourselves

These next two lines focus on the idea of holding onto the greater moments of a relationship through a photograph as it truly captures the love you feel at the time it was taken. There isn't really any metaphors or connotations to be discussed from these lines as they are pretty self explanatory. 

Where our eyes are never closing
Hearts are never broken
Times forever frozen still

The next three lines almost create three juxtapositions which suggest that love can make the impossible happen. It is impossible to keep your eyes open forever. It is impossible to never have a broken heart at one time or another. It is impossible to freeze time. These three lines put emphasis on the previous two lines by conveying how important it is the capture and remember the loving moments through means such as a photo.

So you can keep me
Inside the pocket
Of your ripped jeans

Holdin' me closer
'Til our eyes meet

You won't ever be alone
Wait for me to come home

"So you can keep me" and "wait for me to come home" suggests that the singer is going somewhere so he is given or gives someone else a photograph to remember him by in the hopes that their eyes will "meet" again. "You won't ever be alone" is a metaphor for how the photograph will mean whoever gave it to him will always be there in memory.

Loving can heal
Loving can mend your soul
And it's the only thing that I know (know)

"Loving can heal" refers to how they use memories/photographs to mend the sadness of the separation. 

I swear it will get easier
Remember that with every piece of ya
And it's the only thing we take with us when we die

"The only thing we take with us when we die" refers to the memories they have made and shared together. It suggests that when people die the only thing they take with them are their memories.

We keep this love in this photograph
We made these memories for ourselves
Where our eyes are never closing
Our hearts were never broken
Times forever frozen still

So you can keep me
Inside the pocket
Of your ripped jeans
Holdin' me closer
'Til our eyes meet
You won't ever be alone

The pre-chorus and chorus then return, with the music intensifying accentuating the emotion and therefore strengthening the message.

And if you hurt me
That's OK, baby, only words bleed

Inside these pages you just hold me
And I won't ever let you go

These 4 lines show that despite how much he is hurt by the person it's OK because only the words hurt him and not her and whats important for her is that they love each other. The metaphorical pages that she holds represent a part of him and she has captured him so strongly it's as if their relationship is a story that he never wants to end shown by the line "and I won't ever let you go"

Wait for me to come home [4x]

The "wait for me to come home" line is then repeated 4 times which one again emphasises the line and shows how much he wants the relationship to work.

Oh you can fit me
Inside the necklace you got when you were 16
Next to your heartbeat

Where I should be
Keep it deep within your soul

Here he is saying that she should keep their memories as close to her heart as possible because where he belongs is as close to her soul as possible. He is basically saying they are soulmates and nothing should ever separate them.

And if you hurt me
Well, that's OK, baby, only words bleed
Inside these pages you just hold me
And I won't ever let you go

This is repetition of the previously stated

When I'm away
I will remember how you kissed me
Under the lamppost
Back on 6th street
Hearing you whisper through the phone,
"Wait for me to come home."

The final lines show how he will always remember the little things about their relationship, no matter how far apart they are. The backing track also slows down and simplifies a bit which intensifies the words. He remembers the way she used to talk to him on the phone and once again repeats "wait for me to come home" showing how he wants the relationship to last.

Contemporary Media Landscape

Throughout recent years media, across all platforms, has developed and adapted to fit into culture at increasing rates- an example being the vast increase in online streaming or purchasing music via apps such as Spotify and Itunes, as opposed to buying an physical Album/ CD (or DVDs when it comes to films). This is becoming more and more obvious due to the great development in online abilities and the wider access to media online. As new media technologies are developed people's interest in media experimentation increases, making online access to media more convenient, e.g buying a £10 membership for Spotify each month for unlimited music access is much cheaper than purchasing separate physical albums. Spotify subscriptions have increased from 10 million in 2010 to an average on 68 million in 2015. The recording industry now only makes 39% of their revenue from physical copies due to the increase in popularity of digital albums which make up 45% of their total revenue.

 Music is more accessible due to devices such as mobile phones.

However, despite the huge rise is the popularity of online media outlets, there was a 64% rise in the sales of vinyls in 2015 due to Rock sub genres becoming more popular as retro style vinyls becoming ore popular whether it be for the box art or the vinyl itself. Sales of music on vinyls generated more income for UK artists in 2015 than the social media site Youtube, with British singer/songwriters such as Adele and Ed Sheeran accounting for one in six of all albums sold globally. Ed Sheeran is also the most streamed artist in 2015.

Vinyl sales continued to grow in 2015 with 2million+ LP's sold just in the UK- whih is the most since at least 1994. In the first quarter of 2015, Vinyl sales increased by 69%, which is three times that of that first quarter of 2014.

Audience Questionnaire Results

As I have collected the results to my audience questionnaire questions, I have made graphs to show and summarize the results.

I picked four questions that I thought were most important to look at when it came to making and advertising a music video/song to turn into tables/graphs

The first graph I made was asking people whether they prefer Digital or Physical copies of music. 80% of the people I questioned said Digital whilst the other 20% preferred Physical. The reasons given for preferring digital copies of music were majorly because it's easier to access or harder to lose which suggests people enjoy having music with them at all times whenever they need it. The people who said they preferred physical copies were more attracted to the box artwork, which is normally also apparent when viewing music on apps such as Spotify.

The next question I turned into a pie chart was 'How do you hear about new songs?' I thought this was a good and appropriate question to turn into a pie chart because it relates to the above question in terms of the results- which both hugely favour digital copies of music. The four results I received for this question 

  

The third graph I did showed the mixed opinions on whether or not people like pop music as it is the genre of music I am focusing on. Out of the people I asked, the majority of people enjoy listening to pop music but over a quarter said they did not enjoy the genre.  This suggests that although people do enjoy pop, it may be a good idea to have a sub genre to satisfy those who don't, or at least entice them into watching the video.

My final graph shows a variety of artists that people have listed as their favourites from the pop genre. Out of all the artists given, Shawn Mendes was most popular with 6 votes, closely followed by The 1975 with 5 votes and Ed Sheeran with 4. This links back to my target audience research where the target audience was primarily female. Most of the people I asked were female, suggesting they prefer male artists as all three of the previously listed artists are male/male bands.

The majority of the artists listed on by the people asked are chart leading artists who have had a hit in the top 10 at one time or another. I am surprised that a wider variety of artists weren't listen, due to over

Music Regulations

Next I am looking at music regulations and how it is regulated for the audience.Unlike films and video games, which are regulated by BBFC and PEGI, the music industry (in the UK) is mostly self-regulated meaning either the artists themselves or the record labels/companies  regulating the videos.

However, BBFC does help regulate some online music videos in partnership with YouTube and Vevo by age rate all music videos by artists signed to Sony Music UK, Universal Music UK and Warner Music UK that are unsuitable for younger children (under 12s). Record Companies submit any music videos the the BBFC that they would expect to receive atleast a 12 rating. The BBFC then rate the videos based on factors such as language, sex refernces, behaviour and sexual scenes/nudity. These videos are then posted to Vevo and/or Youtube.

The UK Copyright Collective is in order to make sure copyright law between artists is upheld. Some companies may have an agreement 

Ofcom

Ofcom, short for Office in Communications and UK copyright collecting agency is a body which regulates the copyrighted music and makes sure that the artists get royalties for the use.

Research- Related Artists

I have now tried using the website music-map.com to find artists that are similar to the ones I previously looked at. The closer the artists are together the more related they are.

First I looked at bands associated with Hailee Steinfeld. This shows that Hailee Steinfeld doesn't have a lot of chart topping artists that are similar to her- an example being Ellie Goulding which is one of the furthest away. She does however have quite a large group of artists chunked around her, with a variety of different pop sub-genres insinuating that she appeals to a wide variety of the pop audience.

Next is Shawn Mendes who's graph is more close knit than Hailee Steinfeld's which suggests he appeals to a more focused target audience. He does however have more well known artists surrounding him, such as One Direction,  Justin Beiber and Ed Sheeran. Hailee Steinfeld also appears on this list which suggests they have somewhat similar target audiences.

The sub-genres of pop are less but become more apparent as you work your way out, such as Bridget Mendler who is somewhat of a Soul Artist as well as Indie Pop.

Audience Questionnaire

Next I made a set of questions aimed at and to ask the target audience that are relevant for the genre and artists I am looking at doing.

The questions I have decided to ask are:

1.  Name
2.  Age
3.  Gender
4.  Interests
5.  What is Your Favourite Genre/s of Music?
6.  Who are your 5 favourite artists from the above Genre/s?
7.  How do you normally access music? e.g Spotify, Youtube, Itunes etc...
8.  Do you have a favourite music video?
9.  If so why? 
10.  What do you think makes a good music video?
11.  How do you hear about new songs/music?
12.  Do you enjoy Pop music?
13.  If so who are you favourite Pop artists? (Maximum of 5 only)
14. Do you prefer physical or digital copies of songs?
15. Why?
16. Do you have any brands you have/buy frequently?
17. Do you have a favourite genre/s of film?

Artist and Genre Research

Pop Music

‘Pop’ music is a popular genre of music which originated from the 1950s – 1960s in as a softer alternative to ‘Rock and Roll’ style music in the Western World. Despite originating in the 1950’s - 60s, the term ‘pop song’ was first recorded being used in 1926 to refer to a piece of music having “popular appeal”- however the term was mainstream at least 10 years earlier.

Although Pop music tends to borrow elements and ideas from other styles of music, including urban, dance, rock, Latin and country, there are core elements and factors that define pop music. These include an often short to media length song, normally written in a verse-chorus structure where the chorus contrasts the verse with a higher level of dynamics. Pop music also commonly includes repeated choruses, catchy, melodic tunes, and hooks. Many other genres such as country, blues and hillbilly music.

Shawn Mendes

Shawn (Peter Raul) Mendes is a Canadian singer and songwriter born in Toronto on August 8^th 1998. He is a moderately recent artist, gathering a following when he began posting covers of popular songs on Vine (the app) in 2013 gathering millions of views/loops and followers in just a few months. By August 2014 he was the third most-followed musician on Vine. This brought him to the attention of artist managers Andrew Gertler and Island Records AandR, Ziggy Chareton- bagging him a deal with the record label. After signing to the label Shawn Mendes released an EP and his first studio album, ‘Handwritten’, in 2015. His most notable single from this EP was ‘Stitches’ which reached the top 10 on the U.S charts and No.1 in the UK. Despite the popularity Mendes’ first single was called ‘Life of the Party’ which he released in June 2014. This single made him the youngest 15 year old artist to debut a song on the Billboard Hot 100 where his song made it to No.24 on the week ending July 12^th 2014.

Shawn Mendes Current Albums

·         Handwritten (2015)

·         Illuminate (2016)

Singles on the Hot 100 charts 

·         Stitches (No.4)

·         Treat You Better (No.6)

·         I know What you did Last Summer (No.20)

·         Life of the Party (No.24)

·         Something Big (No.80)

·         A Little Too Much (No.94)

·         Mercy (No.95)

Awards-

2014

Teen Choice Awards:

Choice Web Star

2015

Shorty Awards:

 Vine Musician

Much Music Video Awards:

Fan Fave Video (Song: Something Big)

Teen Choice Awards:

Choice Web Star Music

Streamy Awards:

Breakthrough Artist

MTV Europe Music Awards:

Best New

 Best Push

2016

People’s Choice Awards:

Favourite Breakout Artist

Nickleodeon Kid’s Choice Awards:

Favourite New Artist

Much Much Video Awards:

Best Pop Video (Song: I Know What You did Last Summer)

Fan Fave Video (Song: I Know What You did Last Summer)

TOURS

Headlining

Shawns First Headlines (2014–15)

Shawn Mendes World Tour (2016)

Illuminate World Tour (2017)

Co-Headlining (with various other artists):Jingle Ball Tour 2014  (2014)
Jingle Ball Tour 2015  (2015)

Opening Act (North America):
Live on Tour (Austin Mahone) (2014)
The 1989 World Tour (Taylor Swift) (2015)

Target Audience:
The majority of Shawn Mendes' target audience is young adults, often between the ages of 18-24. The gap between percentages is quite small with females being 51% of his target audience. These target audience members often have a disposable income of £1000 or more and are interested in hobbies such as spending time with family, shopping and watching TV. Shawn Mendes' music is quite family friendly which relates and is suitable for his audience.The audience often like to experiment with new genres of music and new artists. Mendes' style is quite unique and he is a relatively new artist which also works to his favour. Other artists they enjoy include Jess Glyne, Justin Beiber, James Bay and Little Mix who all produce upbeat pop music- relatively similar to Mendes. 

James Arthur

James Arthur is a British Singer and Songwriter who started as lead vocal in unsigned bands such as ‘Cue the Drama’ and ‘Moonlight Drive’. He rose to fame upon winning the 9^th Series of The X Factor in 2012. After winning he was signed to Simon Cowell’s record label, Syco Music, before signing a new deal with Columbia Records in 2016. Whilst at Columbia Records he has released a second album called “Back from the Edge”. He has since re-signed to Syco Music.

His winning song ‘Impossible’ debuted at No.1 on the UK Singles Charts in its first week of release after the finals and has sold over 1,289.000 copies in UK and 2.5 Million Copies worldwide since. He had a follow up single named ‘You’re nobody ‘til Somebody Loves You’ as well as a debut album named ‘James Arthur’ which both reached No.2 in the UK Charts.

Current Albums:

The James Arthur Collection

James Arthur

You’re Nobody ‘Til Somebody Loves You

Fractured Hairs

Honte Dural

Da Funktastic Resolve

Back From the Edge

Singles on the Hot 100 charts 

Say You Won't Let Go (No.1)

Impossible (No.1)

You're Nobody 'til Somebody Loves You (No.10)

Awards:

2013:

Los Premios 40 Principales:

Best International Song (Song: Impossible)

NRJ Music Awards:

International Breakthrough of the Year (Song: Impossible)

TOURS


The X Factor Live Tour (2013)
James Arthur Tour (2014)
The Story So Far Tour (2015)

Target Audience:
James Arthur's target audience is supposedly middle aged females at 55+. I however, find this hard to believe as Arthur is an X Factor winner who's audience is majorly young adults and teenagers. He seems like a teenage heartthrob so I would've thought that his target audience would be considerably younger. His target audience has a disposable income of £125 or below and as Arthur isn't as big as artist as say Rihanna, he is less expensive for consumers. General interests include People and celebrities, and Television- which is appropriate due to how he rose to fame.They are bighearted which matches James' style of music.

Hailee Steinfeld

Hailee Steinfeld is an American Actress, Singer and Model born December 11, 1996 and has been nominated for numerous acting awards.

Steinfeld featured in the music video of ‘Endlessly’ by ‘The Cab’She debuted her singing voice in the film ‘Pitch Perfect 2’ where she then released a cover version of the song ‘Flashlight’ which was written by Jessie J for the film. She has since also been in Taylor Swift’s ‘Bad Blood’ music video as well as the ‘Sing’ video by Pentatonix.

In November 2015, Steinfeld released her debut EP named ‘HAIZ’- which is a nickname given to her by her fans. This EP consisted of four songs “You’re Such A”, “Rock Bottom”, “Love Myself” and “Hell Nos and Headphones”. Critics questioned the album on having too few singles as it didn’t give us a true sense of who Steinfeld is. She has released a second version of her song “Rcok Bottom” featuring DNCE, as well as a single called “Starving” alongside Grey- featuring Zedd

Republic Records:
Republic Records is the label Hailee Steinfeld is currently signed to. They were founded in 1995 by Monte Lipman and Avery Lipman and are under the parent company Universal Music Group.The label's best selling artists include Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Amy Winehouse, Drake, Lil Wayne, Nicki Minaj, The Weeknd, and Lorde.

Current Albums:

HAIZ (2016)

Hot 100 Charts:.

Love Myself (No.30)

Starving (No.31)

Awards:

0 Music orientated. However she does have 2 film awards.

McFly:

Mcfly is an English band formed in 2003. The band consists of 4 members being- Tom Fletcher, Danny Jones, Dougie Poynter and Harry Judd. McFly rose to fame after fellow a English band, Busted, invited them to tour in 2004 after which they signed to Island Records (2004-2007) and eventually making their own record label, Super Records. In November of 2013. Tom Fletcher originally auditioned to be a member of ‘Busted’ in 2001 but after losing out on the opportunity he began developing his songwriting skills as a member of their songwriting team. Whilst in this position, Fletcher was asked by the record company to film auditions for a new band which is where he met fellow band member Danny Jones after Jones mistook the auditions to be for an instrumental band as opposed to an all singing band. Harry Judd and Dougie Poynter were later recruited via a classified advertisement in the NME magazine. McBusted was formed when McFly and Busted joined together to form the supergroup.

McFly became known as the youngest band ever to have debuted at album at No.1 not once but twice with their debut album, named ‘Room on the 3^rd Floor’ and their second album ‘Wonderland’ which also debuted at No.1. ‘Room on the Third Floor’ later went one to be certified as double platinum and earned McFly a Guinness World Record for being  the youngest band to debut their album in their charts in the top position, a record previously held by The Beatles. Their first album was closely followed by their first headlining tour a month later. Their popular singles ‘5 Colours in Her Hair’ and ‘Obviously’ both topped the UK charts when released in 2004.

Island Records:
Island Records is a Major record label which has been based in the UK since 1962 after being founded in Jamaica 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall and Leslia Kong. The possess 3 Island Brand labels being Island UK, Island US and Island Australia. Their UK base is in London.  They have signed many major artists that are well known throughout the world including- Demi Lovato, FallOutBoy, Nick Jonas, American Authors and Aviicii. The record label is parented under the Universal Music Group

Super Records:
Super Records is an independent record label operated, founded and owned by the band McFly. They made the label due to issues with previous label Island Records. The label has yet to sign any other artists other than McFly but one of the singles they released whilst at the label, 'One for the Radio', reached number 2 on the UK charts.

Current Albums:

Room on The Third Floor (2004)

Wonderland (2005)

All theGreatest Hits (2007)

Radio: Active (2008)

Above the Noise (2010)

Memory Lane: The Best of McFly (2012)

Hot 100 Charts

Just my Luck (No.25)

Awards:

McFly have ALOT of awards. Here are a variety of them-

2004
Walt Disney Awards – Best Newcomer
Smash Hits Awards – Best UK Band
Smash Hits Awards – Best Album (Room on the Third Floor)
Smash Hits Awards – Best Video for (Song: That Girl)
Smash Hits Awards – Best Stars of the Year

2005
Smash Hits Awards – Best UK Band
Smash Hits Awards – Best Single (Song: All About You)
Smash Hits Awards – Best Album (Wonderland)

BRIT Awards – Best Pop Act

2006
Virgin.net Music Awards – God Group
BT Digital Music Award for People's Choice Award for Best Official Music Site

2007
Nickelodeon UK Kids Choice Awards – Best Band 
UK Festival Awards – Best Pop Act (V Festival)
Virgin.net Music Awards – Best Live Act

2008
Nickelodeon UK Kids Choice Awards – Best Band
Star Smash Awards 2008 – Best Album (Radio:ACTIVE)
Star Smash Awards 2008 – Best Band
Star Smash Awards 2008 – Artist of the Year

2009
Meus Premios Nickelodeon Brazil 2009 – Best International Artist
UK Music Video Awards – Best Live Music Coverage

2010
4Music Video Honours – Best Video of 2010 (Song: Party Girl)

2011
Nordoff Robbins – American Express Digital Innovation Award
In Rock Magazine – Best British Band

2012
Nordoff Robbins Music Awards – Best Live Act

2013
The Verified Teen Awards – Best Live Act
The Verified Teen Awards - Best Band

2014
Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards UK – Favourite UK Band of the Decade 
(Source Wikipedia)

Tours:

McFly: The Tour (2004)
Wonderland (2005)
Motion in the Ocean (2006)
Up Close and Personal (2007)
Greatest Hits (2007)
Radio:Active (2008)
Up Close ... and This Time It's Personal (2009)
Before the Noise (2010)
Above the Noise (2011)
Keep Calm & Play Louder (2012)
Memory Lane (2013)
McBusted Tour (2014)
McBusted's Most Excellent Adventure Tour (2015)
Anthology Tour (2016)

(Source Wikipedia)

Target Audience:

McFly's main target audience is between in the of 18-24 with the majority being female. This target audience is probably people that grew up listening to McFly as they began around 2003. They are often in the entertainment industry. Their general interests are music and people and celebrities.Hobbies include quizzing and spending time with friends, which is why they may like friendly group made music. Their target audience's personality is often loyal which further suggests they grew up listening to the band. An example of a TV they may be interested in is "Im a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here", which Dougie Ponyter won in 2012.