Record labels - Metalcore

 There are a few record labels which specialise in metalcore music. They sign bands that play metalcore or hardcore music (like defeater) in order to organize tours, or host festivals with lots of bands who will attract the same crowd. Some of these labels include:

Rise records was founded in 1991 by Craig Ericson in Nevada, California. The record label started off small, having only a few bands, they started off making 7" records, then moved on to CDs. Rise now has 34 bands.

These include: Of mice and men, Miss may I, Sleeping with sirens, Crown the empire, In fear and faith, Sharks, Bleeding through and The plot in you.

Fearless Records is an alternative rock-oriented record label that has been signing artists since 1994. Fearless is based in Westminster, California and are best known for their early pop-punk. However the label has experimented with different acts in recent 

years, these include:

A skylit drive, Motionless in white, Blessthefall, For all those sleeping, The word alive, Upon this dawning, Pierce the veil and Alesana. 

Sumerian records is an american independent record label based in Washington DC. Like fearless and rise, they specialize in metalcore bands, and Sumerian  have mostly  american bands signed to their label, and only a few British bands. Sumerian's bands include:

Asking Alexandria, Born of osiris, I see stars, Upon a burning body, Stray from the path and After the burial. 

Music video directors

Just like in a feature length movie, a director is required to monitor the production of the video and ensure everything is going to plan. The director is there to ensure that the band is doing the correct conventions of that genre, unless the video is based on something else. They are also the director of a back story that may take place to go along with the music video, ensuring all actors and other cast are doing the correct thing, just like in a movie. These 2 aspects are important in the music video to ensure a video is developed for the specific genre of music. The director makes sure that the conventions of the music match the genre of the music the video is applied to, unless it is intentionally altered for obscurity or comic effect. A popular director in the metal/metalcore scene called Robbie Starbuck is a director of bands within that particular genre. He has worked with bands such as Asking Alexandria, Times of Grace and Escape the Fate and developed music videos that fit to the various subgenres of music. The video for “Caraphernelia” by Pierce The Veil appears bright, and has a story relating to the lyrics of the song. Whereas the video for Asking Alexandria’s “The Final Episode (Let’s Change the Channel)” has a more gloomy and dark approach to it, hence the style of music played. Robby has done a good job of working with different conventions of music video genres. His website (http://www.robbystarbuck.com/) has all of his various videos on the site.

two videos that robby did for "Asking alexandria"  

Brainstorm for music video ideas

We think that the best way to make this music video is to follow the narrative. The song has a strong narrative which would seem pointless to ignore. The basic idea will be to have a guy and a girl following the lines of the song (which can be found in the last post) and going to different locations to do this, E.g A beach or the seaside. 

We want the video to match the pace of the music, so it will be fairly slow and also peaceful to fit in with the feel of the song. Another possible idea that we have at this time is to keep the people in the video anonymous and to not show their faces  throughout the video, to create an element of mystery. This will also inspire us to have to use a lot more creative camera angels, and possibly have to film at lot of it using low angels showing the bottom half of the bodies only. 

We feel that in this type of video its not particularly important to "have a lot going on" but more about how the video is made. Slow motion shots are another thing that we are considering to use, and also changing the contrast to make the whole video brighter, as we will be filming in the winter and we want the video to have a warmer feel.

When we finalise the ideas I will post again to show what we have decided to do and how we intend to make it happen.  

Defeater - I Don't Mind

When making a music video that tells a story, it is always good to keep the lyrics in account. They can assist in the portraying of the story very well and will make the music video not only easier for the audience to understand, but for the people to make as well because they will already have a template for the video. The lyrics I have posted are for the song “I Don’t Mind” by Defeater, our most probable candidate for our song choice. The song itself does not have a music video created for it, but when looking at the lyrics, it is quite easy to build a rough idea on what a music video for the song will look like. 



Let's talk about the old days, 
Let's talk about your friends, 
Let's talk about the summer 
And how you wish it wouldn't end.

Did I forget to tell you, 
How pretty you looked in that dress? 
In the first time that I saw you, 
You cleaned the mess from my head.

And I don't mind, 
If we take our time. 
No, 
I don't mind.

Lets go walkin' on the boardwalk, 
Dip our feet into the sea. 
Lets find ourselves lost for hours, 
Until we find ourselves a drink.

Lets talk that sun into setting, 
Just need the sound of your voice. 
Need that calming and the comfort, 
Something to drown out the noise.

And I don't mind, 
If we take our time, 
'Cause I'm all yours 
If you're all mine.

Something I've been meanin' to tell you, 
About three years and a day. 
I'd very much like to get married, 
Maybe have kids and move away, 

'Cause there ain't nothing like your smile, 
Your legs and those eyes. 
I will beg and steal and borrow 
To keep you safe your whole life.

And I don't mind, 
If we take our time, 
'Cause I'm all yours 
If you're all mine.

Star appearances in music videos

A guest appearance is a participation of an outsider performer usually called guest artist. Guest appearances are often described with the words featuring, with, or and. It is abbreviated in credit lists as Feat., Ft., f. The terms guest role or guest star are also common, the latter term specifically indicating the guest appearance of a celebrity.In the early stages of music videos this was with artists such as Queens "Under pressure" Featuring David Bowie. Although in the early stages on music videos artists were not always credited.  For example, Eric Clapton was not credited in print for his guitar in the release of While My Guitar Gently Weeps of The Beatles. Gradually guest appearances have become a fully credited staple of music industry. The custom of guest appearance has become especially prominent in rap music, and this influenced other genres too. In metalcore and rock music it is especially common, often getting other bands vocalists to add screams or clean vocals over tracks. 
In the video for You me at six's track "Bite my tongue" It features guest vocals from Oli Sykes. The singer of You me at six's singer (Josh) and Oli are actually good friends in real life, probably a reason they wanted him to feature over another artist. You me at six are a UK based rock band, often only having clean vocals in their songs. Having a featuring artist such as Oli, who's band primarily use screaming vocals give the band a more diverse sound.In the video Josh begins at the platform of a control panel while his band are playing instruments while his band are held up like puppets on strings. Giving the impression that Josh is in charge and controlling his band. When Oli's part of the song kicks in he throws Josh off the control panel and takes control himself. Showing that both singers are just as important as each other. Its also a good way to get a clear view of both vocalists on camera. In the pictures shown I have screen grabbed the shots from the same camera viewpoint.  

Record labels

Within the music industry; most recording artists have become increasingly reliant upon record labels to broaden their consumer base, market their albums, and be both promoted and heard on mp3, radio, etc. and of course television also, with publicists that assist performers in positive media reports to market their merchandise, and make it available via stores and other media outlets. The Internet has increasingly been a way that some artists avoid costs and gain new audiences, as well as the use of videos in some cases, to sell their products.

A record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion, and enforcement of copyright protection of sound recordings and music videos; conducts talent scouting and development of new artists ("artists and repertoire" or "A&R"); and maintains contracts with recording artists and their managers. The term "record label" derives from the circular label in the center of a vinyl record which prominently displays the manufacturer's name, along with other information.

EMI

The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a British multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and was one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major publishing arm, EMI Music Publishing – also based in London with offices globally. The company was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but since February 2011 it has been wholly owned by Citigroup (which took the then financially troubled company over because of more than $4 billion in debt it held).

Warner music group

Warner Music Group (WMG) is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies. For three decades the conglomerate was known as WEA, which stood for Warner Bros.-Elektra-Atlantic Records; three major record companies that signed and developed musical acts and, in turn, distributed product for subsidiaries and other record labels.

Sony music entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment (SME or Sony Music) is the second-largest global recorded music company of the "big four" record companies and is controlled by Sony Corporation of America, the United States subsidiary of Japan's Sony Corporation. The company, which evolved into Sony Music, was founded in 1929 as the American Record Corporation (ARC) through the merger of several smaller record companies.

History and Development of the music video

1929 - Blues singer Bessie smith appeared in a 2 reel short film "Saint louis blues". It was shown in theaters untill 1932.

1940  - Walt disney released Fantasia, an animated film based around famous classical music.

1956 - Tony bennet was filmed walking along the serpentine in hyde park, london as his recording of "Stranger in paradise" played. This film was distirbuted and played by UK and US tv stations, Leading him to claim he had made the worlds first music video.

1967 - The beatles took the music video to new heights when they released music videos for Penny lane and Strawberry fields forever. These videos used techniques from films such as dramatic lighting, unusal camera angles and rhythmic editing. These two videos were the first of concept videos to try and illustrate the song and its lyrics in an artful manner.

1970 - Around this time Top of the pops helped music videos to progress rapidly. It created a lot of competition between bands and artists as the limited space on the show meant it could only showcase as number of videos per show. This encouraged bands/ artists to make the best videos possible.

1981 - MTV (The worlds first music channel) was launched. It was devoted to showing bands/artists videos. This also encouraged people in the industry to make the best possible videos. At this time videos were more focused on narative than just the artist performing.

Modern day - Today music videos are even more important to artists. The budget for videos has increased, along with the technology available to artists to make videos. Nowadays music videos are heavily featured on narative.