Research: Ancillary Tasks

What is a digipak?
A digipak is a gatefold (book-style) paperboard or card stock outerbinding CD; it is the equivalent to a CD, only with extra features (such as extra tracks, extra information in the booklet etc). A digipak has a plastic tray to hold the CD and can be made from paperboard or cardboard. It has a folded section with a book about the artist/album. Digipaks generally offer more than what CDs do.

Conventions of a digipak:

photo of the artist
CD inside
information of the artist(s) - who plays what instrument, etc
song list
bar code
record label
copyright
website
logos - production companies
overall theme/colour/font
name of the artist on front
name of album
primary image
spine - name of CD/band
colour follows throughout digipak
secondary images inside
design behind CD tray

An example of a digipak (Motionless in White - Infamous)

Digipak 1: The Fray

From looking at the cover of The Fray's self titled album, you instantly notice the bright lights spelling out the band's name. The use of the lights which spell out the name of the band instantly attract your eyes to the brightness of the shot. What else stands out from the cover is the number 2 in the corner. This number 2 could simply be a reference to the fact that this is the second album by The Fray. From looking at the album cover, you see a lot of people walking around but blurred out. With the lights heavily beating down on them, this could be a reference to performance or performing in general, as it shows the lights to illuminate the people walking about; this could show the people in the picture to be depicted as a crowd of people at a concert.
You also notice that the typography follows throughout the front and back cover. This could have been done to attract the attention on the songs, or to show that the songs are shown to be amazing and great to listen to since they are all lit up to grab attention. This could be the same for the front cover as well; the band's ame could be lit up to show that they are a big band and that their album is one to listen to. There is a lightswitch shown on the back of the cover, which could have some significant meaning; this could show that they are a big band however they enjoy not to be in the spotlight too much.

Digipak 2: Taking Back Sunday - New Again

From looking at the cover of New Again by Taking Back Sunday, you can see a variety of things. A majority of things could be linked in with the same thing; starting anew. For example, the dress the woman is wearing is white; the car she is driving is white. This could show that, because of the constant changing scenery, the woman wants to feel ‘new again’, referencing the album’s title. The red on her coat in the back cover could represent death, or loss, as she may have to leave the place soon. However, even though you get a ‘retro’ feel from the woman’s clothes and car (and the style of photograph taken), you see that there is a windmill to gather electricity in the background, which could represent modernization or how life around is digitally and technologically adapting.
You see that Taking Back Sunday are not featured on the cover or back cover of New Again, however this may have been done because the image makes more sense in relation to the album title than just a picture of the band. The typography of this album cover could be in relevance to the title, and also the car; the car is pure white and that could symbolize the new beginning which the album title talks about. The text is quite small on the front cover; this could have been done so you can get the feel of the album art rather than just entirely focus on a massive piece of text in the middle of the cover. The colour of the text could also symbolize this; it is just white, however it is placed over the colour blue (of the ocean), andthese two colours do not contrast so you would not notice them predominantly.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Band Logos

There are a variety of different genres, however the name features the most
The logo represents the band
Black and white is a contrast; most logos use it, so it catches the eye

Black Eyed Peas

electric design to it, makes them seem like they are an 'electric' band

One Direction

An arrow points in the middle of the 'D', references the band name

The Lunar Pilots

The logo looks as if it is flying away; it is a reference to the band's name

Robbie Williams

A star is in the logo, and this shows that he is a famous 'star'

Led Zeppelin

A peculiar font to use, however it is an easy font to remember and recognize

Oasis

A basic font is used to show they are a basic band (guitar, bass, drums, singer)

Kiss

The logo is on fire, which could be shown as they are something to be seen

Queen

It is colourful and bright, so it stands out
There are lions and a phoenix in the logo, shows the band to be royal and majestic
The logo looks majestic and mighty, which could reference the band's name

The New Inventions

The logo seems unique and new, which could be a reference to the band's name

Recording Label

Dine Alone Records: City & Colour, Alexisonfire, At the Drive-In, Marilyn Manson, The Lumineers.
Vagrant Records: City & Colour, Placebo, Protest The Hero. Formely had Alkaline Trio,
Dashboard Confessional, FACT, Rammstein.
Island Records: Mumford & Sons, Justin Bieber, Fall Out Boy, Def Leppard, Ben Howard, The Killers, Ladyhawke, Owl City, Queen, Stevie Wonder.
Heavenly Recordings: The Head and the Heart, Cherry Ghost, Stealing Sheep. Formerly had Manic Street Preachers, The Vines, Monkey Mafia.

I believe all four of these recording labels could appeal to my music genre. Dine Alone Records would be able to appeal as they already have City & Colour signed, and they most have indie rock and acoustics acts under their name. Vagrant Records could appeal to my genre as they also have City & Colour signed, and they also sign a variety of indie acts. Island Records could appeal to me as they have a variety of big names signed to them, and they have a variety of genres signed (electro, rock, indie, r&b). Heavenly Recordings could appeal to me as a variety of the acts they have signed are indie acts, and they don't have many bands currently under their name.
After careful consideration, I decided that I would use Vagrant Records; not for the fact that City & Colour are signed to them, but that they are an indie label and that it would appeal to my genre because a lot of acoustic acts are signed under them.

Band Logos

The Head and the Heart logo is shown to be bright and the words 'Head' and 'Heart' seem to be highlighted more than the other words. This is done by making the font bigger and putting it in capital letters to make it stand out more than anything else. The colour used can catch the eye of the audience, as it is bright and it could also show the band's genre (as they are folk/acoustic genre). The writing seems to be quite country styled, as it is curly and you could say it is also quite 'relaxed' too. This shows the relaxing tone to the band's music and tone.
The Mumford & Sons logo is written in an old fashion font, but set to a black background. Putting something white to a black background makes it stand out, so they may have done that to create this effect. This font could connotate towards the genre as you wouldn't normally see it be used for other bands, so this could show that they feel like they are something 'new' and 'unique'.
The Kodaline logo is quite a basic logo compared to the others, however putting the white logo to a black background could make it stand out. like the Mumford & Sons logo. Kodaline's logo has no fancy font to it, however the basic elements of the logo shows that they are just a basic band.

I've noticed that the logos all have a variety of differences; that the logo never (obviously) stays the same. I find it intriguing how that the logos change all the time, yet in different ways they all connotate the same genre. I feel like my logo will have a variety of colours to connotate the genre of the band, and also a fancy font to show how relaxed the music on the album is.

Stockists

HMV
Amazon
iTunes

By looking at these three stockists, I will choose which one I would choose to stock my digipak and why.
HMV would be a good stockist to use as pretty much everyone visits HMV. The audience could walk into the shop and see the digipak (hopefully catching their eyes with bright colours) and may want to purchase it.
Amazon would be a good candidate for this production, as Amazon is a cheap website to buy things from, so the audience could find a cheap version of the digipak to order. iTunes would also be a good place to put the digipak as the audience could access it from anywhere using their phones and the internet.
Overall, I have chosen to use iTunes as my stockist; not only can anyone download it from anywhere, but they can also only download one or two songs if that's how many they want.

Worst Album Covers

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Adverts

Katy Perry - One of the Boys

It has lots of colours, which makes it stand out
Katy is wearing shorts in the shot, which may attract the male audience to the advert

Rihanna - Rated R

Dark colours are present in the advert; this could connotate dark themes present in the album

Plan B - The Defamation of Strickland Banks

The advert is set out like a movie poster
The album tells a story, and you see that from the advert
The dark colours on the advert (black and red could represent death, hate) could connotate dark lyrical themes in the album

Kings of Leon - Only by the Night

The peculiar album art makes the advert stand out from the 'norm'
The advert lists their current and most famous singles to date, which could attract the audience as it includes the songs they know

Ellie Goulding - Lights

The bright colours makes the advert stand out
There are reviews from different places, which shows that it is a good album

Conventions of an Album Advert

The release date of the album
The main feature of the album (for example, Katy Perry's album says "Includes the #1 smash hit I Kissed A Girl")
The recording label logo
The image of the album
The name of the album
Information of the album
Where you can buy the album
Quotes
Reviews

Advert 1: Slipknot - 10th Anniversary Edition

From looking at the advert, you can tell this is an advert for a metal band. The use of black consistently gives you the feel of how a metal band advert would be; it could also be connotated towards the metal genre. The use of the band's trademark mask image could give you a sort of claustrophobic feel and also cause you to become scared (due to the clown mask). However, this may also draw you in, as it is a unique way to express yourself on stage.
The quote "If this is the future of music, I don't want to be alive" at the top of the advert could have been placed there as an ironic note, as the original release of this album is what made the band a multi-million success. From reading the information about it, you can clearly see you get more from this digipak than what you do with the normal album. The list of things you get in it may draw the audience in as you are getting a lot more than what you usually would for your money. The pictures are all of the band in their old masks; the quality of the photographs are a bit low, however this gives a nostalgic feel to it as it makes them look like they were taken long ago (they all look like singed Polaroids which gives it that essence).

Contents of the Deluxe Box set

Advert 2: Ed Sheeran - +

The advert for '+' stands out more than anything. The obvious reason it stands out is the colour. A bright orange is used consistently throughout the advert. The bright colour obvious represents Ed's hair (as he has ginger hair), but it could also be used to stand out to the crowd. Because it is such a bright colour, it would obviously catch someone's eye more compared to the first advert. The use of bright orange could also be used to show Ed's 'younger' side (seen as one of his logos is a paw print), as the colour is a soft and relaxed colour. A drawing of Ed emerges from the orange; this shows the artist so the audience can see who is on the record. It also has examples of where you can buy the CD; this way, you can either go to a shop and buy the CD (HMV), or you can go online and buy it (Amazon), or you can go on your phone and buy it (iTunes).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brand Identity of Artist

1) Kodaline (www.kodaline.com)

From looking at Kodaline's website, you may be able to tell what genre they are by first glance. The font used for their logo and throughout the basis of the website is a basic, soft font compared to a metal band's font (for example, compared Kodaline's logo to the logo of the The Black Dahlia Murder). The top of the page lets your view all of the music videos they have released so far; this is instant advertising as you can see what type of artist they are straight away and listen to their music to see what you think of it. By clicking the 'Buy The EP Now' button, it instantly links you another part of the website and gives you a list of countries in which, when bought, the EP can be shipped to. It also links to their social networking pages (SoundCloud, Facebook etc) which you can listen to their music on also.
There isn't much merchandise; the only items they have to buy from the store are the EP and a digital copy of the EP. This could be shown as a big marketing flaw as by having a wider range of things to buy from the store could get them more money and also more fans, as wearing items like shirts on the street could inspire someone to listen to the band.

2) The Head and the Heart (www.theheadandtheheart.com)

You can get the feel of what genre of music The Head and the Heart from looking at their website. The bright colours gives a presence a light mood, which is connotated by their music. They have a variety of features on the website, and a snazzy transition when you select the different sections at the top of the screen. There are a variety of links which take you to all their social networking media sites. You can see where they are touring next and pictures of the tour they are on, so you can see which cities they have visited and where they will be going next. They also have a few of their songs on their website, so rather than click on their social media sites to listen to a song, you can access them on the official website itself.

The problems with the website could be the fact that the 'Store' button is reasonably hidden. If you are quickly glancing at the website for just a second, or you simply did not bother to read the above buttons, you wouldn't really notice the store button (you only see 'ST'), so if you wanted to purchase something from the store and you could not find where it is, you would feel a bit let down. Other than that though, there is nothing really wrong with the website. There are more features and aspects to The Head and the Heart's website in contrast to Kodaline's website, so there is nothing really bad to say about it.

Name Ideas/Brand Image Ideas
Names