How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

The GOLDEN FILTER REMIX MUSIC VIDEO was promoted in connection with the brand I had planned to replace the conventional music label such as EMI, WARNER and SONY MUSIC. LSBARCODE was my attempt to challenge the idea of the label and question on the controlled amount of input by the artist inline with capitalist priorities. In this way, all of my ancillary products were linked by the common name name 'LSBARCODE' I chose to mock the idea of 'brand' in this way, by using my initials  with 'barcode' to refer to this generic, institutionalised approach to a creative outlet. 

My first product was infact not my music video, but the single itself. I created the remix using Audacity, then chose to release it via Youtube by converting it through Imovie. Having had feedback from the artists of the main background track 'DANCE AROUND THE FIRE' by 'THE GOLDEN FILTER' I was able to do this with complete legitimacy. My choice to release the track over Youtube would certainly be shocking to any label releasing real media products today, as the knowledge of piracy and illegal downloading has made them all too aware of the capital losses. However, having looked at the arguments, I believe the music industry needs to wake up to the real impact Youtube and other social networking sites can have on their products. The buzz that is created around so many new music releases today is made mostly online. And why wouldn't it? With technological convergence having come so far that today we have access to the entire world-wide-web in our pockets, people will be reluctant to wait for the paper/plastic goods when they could have them on their smartphone/laptops with one touch of a screen.

For this reason, I believed I would be appealing to my audience by giving them an easy way to access my track. I was also pleased to find that in gaining permission for the track, The Golden Filter had linked their own page with my remix one, which would hopefully lead to their loyal fans reaching my page also. 

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Now I have seen that the numbers of viewers is increasing and that once I directed people to my main product there was an increase in viewings of my channel, and therefore the remix itself. I was surprised that over 15% of viewings were directed there via an external site, this could in fact be from the post of the remix onto this blog, which again backs up my assumptions of the importance of sharing products on online social interaction as having a massive influence over viewing figures. 

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In terms of the effectiveness of my Main product, the reception I got was brilliant. I was extremely pleased that I appeared to have met my target audience, and in fact a wider age group than I had anticipated, was also commenting positively on and viewing the piece. Overall I was extremely pleased with the final product, but as the sole creator and somewhat of a perfectionist, I still find myself frustrated with elements. I did feel I had captured the aesthetic I had set out to reach. The editing techniques, in the style of Hogben and reference to Gandry, were a case of testing, creating, scrapping and improving which, although time consuming, I really enjoyed. It also made me truly appreciate the amount of difference made in editing from the initial storyboard ideas. They are a world apart, and elements I was sure I wouldn't be able to include, instead surprised me and I was able to use the technology to insert them, whilst some scenes I felt worked well, had to be cut in final editing for time purposes. I think one of the most crucial elements to the success of PROMOTING my piece and therefore determining its effectiveness, was when I uploaded it to Facebook. Immediately the number of views peaked and I received many comments. I also uploaded it to the creative hub Vimeo, and more importantly to the specific tagline 'MUSIC VIDEO' , as well as creating my own channel called 'MUSIC VIDEO?' with a short explanation of the purpose of the remix and its commentary, the viewings came in slower in comparison to Youtube and demonstrated to me the importance of the social networking site (Facebook) on my viewing figures when I had upload to Youtube. 

I was most pleased with the comments appreciating the 'thought provoking theme' as one viewer put it. This was instrumental to the message of the video and the ideas behind the symbolism in the visuals, so I was thrilled to see that my viewers had fully acknowledged the concept of a corrupted music industry and were approving of my commentary on it. I also think this demonstrates the role of the 'youth' and my target audience, and how they perceive that role to be changing with the increase in online consumption an immediate review.

My digipak was intended to echo the symbolism and aesthetic of the main product and I believe that I have achieved this in creating the covers using Photoshop. As I enjoy photography in my spare time, and also study Art and Design, I am familiar with Photoshop and so looked forward to creating a piece that could reflect the main product, I was also a little apprehensive of the task of choosing a single image to front the remix, yet I hope that the mix I have created has incorporated as many elements as possible, but in a subtle and as minimalist fashion as possible. As explained in my posts for their creation, I chose to use the scene of the musician entrapped and surrounded by the wires of the  headphones hung in a loose representation of a barcode. I was also referring to the removal of any LIVE music symbols, as the wires barred the musician from escaping and re-emerging herself in live performance. Obviously, these are all deeper symbolic creative references and I wanted to make sure that the cover was still directly referring to its Music video and artist promotion but giving this opportunity for greater inference. 

The website, was also another way to re-establish the aesthetic of LSBARCODE's remix single. I continued the use of Arial font and the sharp contrast between black and white, in keeping with the form of many websites for high end/established services. This attempt at a modernistic feel was replicated in the capabilities of the website itself, as I offered Youtube, Vimeo, rss feeds and email, all of which would appeal to my user. On reflection, I would intend to create another page dedicated to Facebook, twitter and myspace when another remix/single was created to really push the concept. I also added short films that were rejected from the final film which i though would interest viewers. 

The most important element to my website which, i believe, really makes it stand out from any other music website I have seen is that not only does it offer a single by the creator, but it invites the user to share their work directly with the site and creator. This means that users would be much more likely to use the site in connection with not only their interest in the remix track from LSBARCODE but with the option of sharing their own talents. I also incorporated a blog page into the website, that would serve the purpose of sharing new music videos, photography, fashion and creative influences with the user. This idea was merged from the concept of the blog incorporated into the website as with more successful artists websites such as Tinie Tempahs'; http://www.tinietempah.com/milkand2sugars/

Tempah has recently burst onto the music scene and where his personal blog was shared on the website it has attracted thousands of comments on a daily basis, thus increasing the activity on his website, videos and other promoted products. I also recognise the success of those bloggers who share their creative influences such as The Cool Hunter http://www.thecoolhunter.co.uk/ (to which I inserted a direct feed to on the website) and Dazed and confused (the latter being my most visited website), my love for such creativity and the platform offering others the same products led me to put emphasis on LSBARCODE as less a brand or label and more a site that would serve to explore and experiment with design and specifically music design and talent. As explained in my posts for the website '' I used the symbol of the '/' to encourage viewers to attribute the experimental nature of the remix with LSBARCODE.The importance of minimalistic logos of todays global brands (Macdonalds, NIke etc) made an impact on my early research and brand recognition was something I had intended to explore.  I was pleased with the concept of the / and felt it tied all the elements of production as well as the message of the work together strongly and with much greater coherence than if there had been no symbolic/logo-like hook for my viewer to recognise. 

I do believe that the combination of main product along with the ancillary texts and methods of promotion have proven effective, as can be seen as the finish of the products and the subsequent feedback and audience reaction.