Creating a Brand identity

The brand identity or logo for an artist is vital for simple recognition. After analysing previous CD covers before, I could refer back to see the style of logos being used currently.

From the research I had previously completed into the existing CD covers, it enabled me to thoroughly look through the styles of CD Titles and general logos. However, after much research, I found that there wasn;t a particular style which all RnB artists conform to, but they each have their very own style and it appears very up to them.

When thinking about my decided Artist name of 'Alyssa', I felt that the name was too short to abbriviate much like Jennifer Lopez as 'JLo', so I began playing around with different fonts from a variety of websites and slightly changing them through photoshop to create the perfect logo. Because a lot of my shots in the music video are quite 'Street RnB' with the brick wall and grafitti, I didn't want a 'Clean' looking logo such as Kelly Rowland's or the Sugababes, and I felt that a grafitti style logo would represent the style and look that I wanted Alyssa to have, similar to Alesha Dixon, and N-Dubz.

Whilst editing my final logo, i felt that the normal font was good, but  felt that like Nicole's logo with the different N, I wanted to change one of my letters to give it a personal touch, so I slightly bent the last A In Alyssa which I think works very well.

Overall, I am very pleased with my final Logo, and I feel that it will look very effective on my CD cover and Poster!

Artist Names

When deciding on an Artist name, I referred back to the other blogposts I had completed of research on other artists. I noticed that a lot of Artists used a simple name, almost like a statement, such as Rhianna, Beyonce, Alesha, Ciara, Shakira, Fergie and JoJo rather than using their first and last names much like an Indie artist may. This general trend within the R&B genre is very apparent, and therefore it was clear to me that I would like to conform to the trend.

I began playing with some ideas in my head, and came up with a few ideas such as:

• Alice (The Actresses actual name)
• Jayde
• Kara (Too close to Ciara)
• Sammy
• Lia
• Rosie

However a lot of the time, R&B artists names are usually quite original and quirky like Beyonce and Ciara. After reviewing my own ideas, I decided to quiz my peers within my Media class to see if they had any good ideas. A few suggestions were:

• Alyssa (A play on 'Alice')
• Jessii
• Kelly
• Grace
• Kitti

To seek more ideas, I posted a question on Yahoo Answers. The question was the same as I asked my Peers.

On my question, not many responses came in, however I found a similar question which has already been asked which had a few good suggestions such as:

• Malique
• Willow
• Etta
• Angel
• Breezy
• Serenity
• Celeste

After much considering of all my suggested names as well as my own ideas, I have decided to use the name 'Alyssa' as my artist name. I believe that it has the quirky edge to it much like 'Ciara' and 'Rhianna' and also fits the genre nicely.

How music is distributed

The distribution of music is very different to ten years ago. The new ways of distributing music definitely makes accessing music much easier as the only way used to be to buy the CD from a shop, however now we can easily purchase a MP3 straight to our computers to place straight onto an MP3 Player/Ipod. To demonstrate the different ways a artist would distribute their music, I am going to focus on one artist in the same genre as my own song, Rihanna, and her album 'Rated R'.

The Website for Rihanna is very simple, and there is a clear section that says 'Shop' which leads you to a sub-website where they sell all of Rihanna's albums as well as merchandise such as mugs, signed posters and T-shirts. Although this form of purchasing an album is very costly, it is definitely official.

ITunes is the new hype which has revolutionised the way the public purchases CD's and MP3's. This new way of downloading MP3's is a great way to directly buy songs straight onto a Ipod which is also a major trend. This of course has limitations. Because of the huge amount of traffic for marketing which comes to iTunes, the cost per song does tend to be high. 

Amazon MP3 is also another way of purchasing MP3's directly. The pricing strategies of Amazon MP3 is aimed much lower than iTunes, although probably not as popular. The price for the album here is 3.99 compared to a staggering 6.99 on iTunes.

A very new form of buying music is also through retail brands which are now opening web downloading stores such as Tesco. Tesco also would sell the album in store for a competitive price for the physical album, however now they are competing with Amazon, iTunes and many more such as HMV and Zavvi.

After researching the different types of ways music similar to my own gets distributed, I feel that I now know more about the kind of industry and competitiveness in pricing there really is. It will help for when I come to create my magazine advert, I know who i'm pitching the advert to.

Hair and Makeup planning

For the Hair styling, Makeup and whole character styling, I thought that it would be better to find an artist that already looks similar to Alice, and to then style her to look like the artist even more. The Artist I found is Fergie who sang 'Big girls don't cry'. I believe that Alice and Fergie look very similar, especially the hair styles I have created for Alice.

Alice's Styled look for the Music video

Fergie- 'Big Girls Don't Cry' Screenshot

When I came to designing the makeup for for Alice to wear for my music video, I wanted to keep it very neutral because in my mood board for makeup, I found a lot of neutral style makeup. I also wanted it to be a lot like Fergie as I believe that she is a major influence in the look I am creating for Alice.

Alice and my designs of makeup

Fergie- 'Big Girls Don't Cry' Screenshot

I'm very happy with my styling for Alice as I believe that although conventionally, RnB artists are Black, So I think Fergie is perfect to base my character upon.

Existing RnB Artists Album Covers

When I started to think about my Digipak more, I wanted to gain some more inspiration for other artists and their CD covers. As you can see below, i have gathered together a selection of cd covers from a lot of different artists, mainly female RnB artists, and took each of them a CD cover to look further into.

My Observations of RnB CD Covers
One main thing that I have noticed about RnB styled artists is the use of typography which styles around the artist, and also features as a main part of the cd cover. For example, the Alesha Dixon and Beyonce features a big text stating the artist name in a unique font that tends to be carried on throughout the other albums for the artists. A good example of this is JLS's typography that has now even become more of a logo throughout all of their albums and merchandise.

Another observation I have noticed it the fairly simple look which involves just the artist's name/trademark font/style, and a photograph of the actual artist, usually a close up or even extreme close up shot. The photograph of the artist usually shows the artist fully made up and looking to perfection (Or Photoshoped!). This helps to sell the artist through face recognition and uses the artists face as a marketing form. I would like to try this for my CD cover as I think its a definite characteristic of an female RnB artist's CD cover.

Record Label Research

In the music industry, a record label is a brand and trademark image associated with the marketing and promotion of music recordings and productions and music videos. This is much like a the Vertical distribution of films. After considering my style of song and the particular genre, i believe that the type of record label would be a massive mainstream company which also has signed other artists similar to my own. I have researched other artists similar to my own to find out which record companies they are signed with to then have a starting point for research into which appropriate record company I could use.

Mariah Carey- Columbia, Virgin, Island

Rhianna- Def Jam, SRP, Roc Nation
Jennifer Lopez- Epic, Island, Work
Beyonce- Columbia
Alexandra Burke- Epic, RedOne, Syco, RCA, J
Cassie- NextSelection, Bad Boy, Atlantic
Sugababes- London, Island, RCA
Alesha Dixon- Polydor, Asylum, Atlantic
Alicia Keys- Columbia, Arista, J
Pussycat Dolls- A&M, Interscope

The main 5 recdord labels which had two or more artists in common were:

• Columbia
• Epic Records
• J Records
• Atlantic Records
• Island Records

Record labels for RnB Genre

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 After Researching all five record labels, i think i have come to the conclusion that any of them would be appropriate for my artist, however i particularly like Island Records and Epic Records.

Typical conventions within different genres of music

Rock Music Videos

A typical rock music video contains many traits such as dark and grungy settings/colourization. Rock music videos also tend to express the real emotion they are singing about using close ups. Also, a lot of them are performance based videos with the band playing the heavy instruments to enhance the music.

Bon Jovi- "Superman Tonight"

Pop Music Videos

Pop Music generally tends to be very 'happy' and bright with their uses of colours as well as positive mise en scene surrounding the artist. They usually include a performance, as well as a narrative running along side. The costumes and choice of make up are usually also desirable to the public in some way.

Same Difference- "We R One"

Indie Music Videos

The conventions in an indie music video tend to be very similar of that in a rock video in the sense that they usually consist mainly of the artist/band playing instruments. The colouring of indie videos give usually a dark and mysterious feel to the video. There is also a lot of the time a narrative of some kind which usually contains more unique settings such as open and deserted streets or large empty rooms.

Adele- "Set Fire To The Rain"

Dance Music Videos

Within the category of dance videos, women are heavily objectified as they almost always are not wearing much! All the females usually look glamorous, and the setting is almost always a club or a party of some kind. A lot of the time, they use dance routines very much like pop videos, but more sexualised.

The Wanted- "Glad You Came"

R'n'B Music Videos

R'n'B videos have usually contain some kind of love story, and particularly usually a break-up or argument. There are also a lot of dance routines with women in revealing clothing like in dance music videos. R'n'B also contains a lot of expression of money, especially with more Hip-Hop styles with the 'Gangster' and 'Bling' style.

Pussycat Dolls Ft. Will.I.Am- "Beep"