R+P Post 16: My Band or Artist

Our artist is called AJ and he is a 19 year old R&B singer-songwriter from London. 

We decided on this name as it is quite catchy and follows the trend of R&B artists having one name titles (e.g Usher, Ne-Yo). In addition to this, the name was well received by members of our target audience when asked for feedback. 

Although some of his songs would be about relationships and romance, his music is not defined by these kinds of love songs. AJ is very open about mental health issues having suffered from depression himself and is keen to raise awareness and help support people who are affected by it. Therefore we also hope that his songs are inspirational and moving and tackle difficult subject matters, such as mental health, in order to really create a sense of escapism through his music. We really wanted our artist to be passionate about music and for his songs to represent his feelings and emotions. This contrasts with the current music trend of the majority of songs being about sex, money or drugs and therefore makes him stand out. 

Similar to Stuart from 'The Internship'

In terms of his personality, AJ is intelligent, fun, outgoing, goofy and awkward - a lovable geek. These traits aren't typically associated with R&B artists and so we hope that this is part of what makes AJ a unique artist in the genre and helps him to stand out. We also want him to be a role model to younger audiences and relatable to teens and young adults.

Raleigh Ritchie and Ne-Yo inspired us a lot when deciding on who our artist was and how we are going to represent him.

Influences

It is important that we can establish a clear brand image for AJ through his debut single, album cover and website to ensure that the audience understand who he is as an artist which will help them to relate to and enjoy his music.

R+P Post 15: My Record Label

Our Logo

Our record label is called Innovate Records. We decided to use the word innovate as it best describes what we wanted from a record label. The word innovate is defined as "to make changes in something established, especially by introducing new methods, ideas or products". We wanted our record label to be able to take something old (such as the old school R&B genre) and revamp it into something more current and exciting. 

Innovate also means "to introduce something new" which is why it is a good name for a label who is helping to new artists launch new artists into the music industry. 

We wanted our record label to help artists to be:

• Focused and dedicated
• Creative
• Inspirational
• Relatable 
• Unique

Grand Hustle Records logo

We have also decided that our record label would be founded by Rita Ora - a music artist who is already signed to Atlantic Records (a subsidiary of Warner Music Group) and so it would be a sub-label of Atlantic Records. This was inspired by other small record labels that have been founded by artists such as Grand Hustle Records (created by hip-hop artist T.I). He has discovered and signed artists such as B.o.B and Travis Scott. We thought that being discovered by an established recording artist would be a good way for our artist to be signed and introduced. 

Our Record Label Structure

R+P Post 14: My Target Audience

R&B fans

Our primary target audience consists of fans of the genre. In our case that would be fans of contemporary R&B music. From speaking to people aged 17-32 I know that R&B is a popular genre and as there is a gap in the market for songs of this genre it should be well received. R&B fans would be interested in buying the album and looking at the website as they are fans of the music and the songs. They would also be interested in live performances and concerts to experience that music firsthand. Similar audiences would be the fans of established R&B artists such as Diana Ross, Luther Vandross and Michael Jackson as well as newer artists like Ne-Yo and Jason Derulo.

Diana Ross Fans

We will appeal to R&B fans by following the conventions of typical R&B music videos for example the dance breaks, clothing and styling, lighting decisions and colour schemes. 

Our secondary audience would be people of aged 12-25. This is because they are the largest age demographic of music consumers. To appeal to this audience we hope to make our artist relatable and inspirational so that the audience would want to be like them. Additionally the opportunity to buy merchandise such as clothing or posters would also be appealing to them. The best way to reach this audience is through the internet so we need to make sure to have social media accounts and streaming opportunities. 

Teenagers

Young adults, early-mid 20s

We also plan to appeal to this age group by having relatable themes in our music video and song choice such as Love, Relationships and Heartbreak because within this age group people are starting to have or have previously had relationships and so can relate to the music easily. 

Additionally we plan combine genres of music as well (for example R&B and Pop or Hip-Hop) which will appeal to fans of those genres. These genres are some of the most popular genres of music so we know that there is a mass audience for our product.

R+P Post 13: Influences and inspiration from art, fashion and culture

We have been influenced heavily by the style of R&B artists, particularly from the 90's period, because we are trying to look more at traditional, old school R&B. In addition to this we have also looked at the film and television industry, in particular the "cute but socially-awkward nerd" characters. These characters are intelligent yet awkward but also lovable which is a mix of traits we would like our artist to potentially have. We hope that the overall styling will be a mix between 90s R&B fashion and modern TV influences.

90's R&B Fashion
Typical features I've noticed have been chains and hats and white t-shirts. There were also a lot of leather jackets and sometimes leather trousers. Accessories such as fancy watches and sunglasses are also common. Below is a mood board of images representing 90's R&B fashion, including artists such as Usher and R Kelly.

We would like to include elements of the fashion style and make it more modern and relevant to current fashion trends. For example the chain can be simple yet effective instead of one that's very big and in your face. Instead of a white vest top we could use a short sleeved V-neck or muscle-fit t-shirt. Additionally elements such as the hat can be altered so instead of a baseball cap or snapback we could use a fedora or trilby or even a beanie. I also think that we would probably use darker, less patterned clothing to keep the look casual.

TV and Film
We really liked the idea of our artist being slightly awkward as it challenges the idea that music artists are all confident and bold and instead makes the artist more relatable. Recently in film and television there have been more and more characters that are intelligent but awkward however still incredibly likeable and also good-looking. Examples include Stuart from the film The Internship, Barry Allen from TV show The Flash, Jack Hodgins from TV show Bones and also Spencer Reid from TV show Criminal Minds.

Examples from Films and TV Shows

Styles and items of clothing that I am inspired by from the above characters include the beanie, muscle t-shirt, rolled up sleeves and the messy hair look. I would really like our artist to be styled in a similar way. 

R+P Post 12: Artists/bands that have influenced my ideas

Ne-Yo

Ne-Yo stands out by breaking the conventions that R&B male artists are sexualised and shirtless in many of their music videos. Ne-Yo said about his album Year of the Gentleman that it "is all about a persona, a swag and a charm. I made an assessment of the music business. And, in my personal opinion, the essence of the gentleman is absent right now. Everybody kinda looks the same, everybody's kinda doing the same thing, everybody's rude and full of themselves. Whereas a gentleman is calm, courteous, kind and charming...So that title basically represents me trying to lead by example, and showing these cats what it is to be a gentleman in this business still". In a similar way, I would like our artist to be different and represent something that isn't being seen in the R&B genre as much as well as being a role model. Additionally, Ne-Yo's iconic hat is also something we are influenced by. We would like our artist to have a fashion item that represents him, like a hat. Although we would like to add something to it that is personal to our artist, for example his initials or name. 

Year of the Gentleman Album Cover

Raleigh Ritchie

I have also been influenced by Raleigh Ritchie (the name actor Jacob Anderson uses for his music). In particular I like the way the he presents himself on social media and his personality as well. From looking at his Instagram account he shows that he has a cheeky almost goofy personality which in my opinion shows him to be very down to earth and relatable, characteristics we definitely want to have for our artist. However when it comes to his music and videos, the songs are very emotional and personal which shows that there is more to him than just the fun-loving side. In addition to his persona, I love his fashion style as well. It's simple, casual and comfortable meaning it doesn't draw any attention from his music. I would definitely want our artist to be styled in a similar way as I find it really effective. 

Examples from Raleigh Ritchie's Instagram 

R+P Post 11: Artist websites that have inspired and influenced my ideas

Artist websites provide a platform for marketing as well as exposure. It is a place where all the newest information regarding the artist and their music will be published as well as a place to buy merchandise and music from the artist. 

The artists whose websites have been inspired by are James Arthur, Jason Derulo and John Legend. Below are screenshots of each artists home page.

Home Pages for each website

Key features all of the websites had were:

• Promo photos acting as backgrounds
• News button - where newest releases, articles about the artist, publicity events are posted
• Music button - takes to a page where you can buy or stream all available music recordings
• Videos button - where you can watch the most recent music video releases
• Tour/Live - information about concerts and world tours
• Store - where all the merchandise can be bought. Takes the viewer to another website where all the merch is available (usually clothing, music, posters, accessories).
• Social Media links (typically Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Spotify, Snapchat, YouTube)

In terms of the layout of the website, most of them has the buttons running along the top of the page. I like this layout as it is easy to navigate as well as being clearly presented. Additionally all of the fonts used are simple, making the website easy to read.

Button layout on Jason Derulo's website

For Jason Derulo's and James Arthur's websites you scroll down to access each section. Each section has a different cover photo behind the text and content. I really liked how this was done because there was synergy between all photos used creating a stronger brand image. For example Jason Derulo's photos were all black and white whilst James Arthur's had a similar grading for most of his photos as well as similar composition (with him on either the left or right third of the frame).

Jason Derulo's cover photo for the News section

James Arthur's cover photo for the Shop section

What I liked about John Legend's website was its simplicity. There was a single, elegant, black and white cover photo. All of the buttons were in the top right hand corner with his name in the top left corner. The same font is used throughout the website. Each button bring a page up in front of the home page. It is slightly translucent so the photo can be seen faintly in the background. I think that this is really effective as there isn't a lot going on yet it is still very stylised.

John Legend's Tour page

From looking at these websites I have definitely been inspired by their layout and styling. There are elements of each website I really like and hope to include these in our website to make it as professional and effective as possible. 

R+P Post 10: Album covers that have inspired and influenced my ideas

For this project we need to create a digipak cover for our artist's debut album. Album covers help to sell the artist's image as well as their music.

A debut album cover should:

• Introduce the artist and their identity/brand image
• Stand out and attract attention
• Work in synergy with other platforms such as the website
• Represent the genre of music
• Contain institutional information (e.g. Record label logo, year of release, copyright, distributor, bar code, website information for the artist)

Below are some albums we looked out in the R&B genre for inspiration. 

Album covers that inspired us

Although some are looking directly at the camera, most are looking away - in side profile - which I prefer. A lot of these are similar to what I would like our album cover to have - a close up of the artist, unsaturated colours or even black and white, simple fonts. Nearly all of these cover seem to be shot in studio, however I would like our cover to be photographed on location to add a sense of authenticity to the artist. By including these some of these features it will hopefully mean that our album cover will be following the conventions of R&B album covers.

Here is a close analysis of Raleigh Ritchie's album You're a Man Now, Boy. I really liked this cover due to the edited photo on the front. I would love to edit our photos in a similar way and make the cover as artistic as possible.

Overall looking at similar album covers has been really beneficial for us as we now have clearer ideas of what we want to include for our own album cover and knowing what albums of the genre should contain will help us follow conventions.