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

1. How effective is the
combination of your main
product and ancillary
tasks?
MAIN PRODUCT IS OUR MUSIC VIDEO OF “TENNIS COURT”
ANCILLARY TASKS CONSIST OF THE CD PACK AND WEBSITE

2. Synergy of Products
Synergy refers to different forms of media cooperating together to create a great final product.
For example, we used a website, CD pack and music video to create a combined product for our
artist ‘DAKOTA.’

3. Music Video
Our main product, was the music video of Lorde’s song “Tennis Court.” We
uploaded our video to YouTube, which is a huge global video sharing website
accessible for free but still provides profit for artists through the use of adverts.
YouTube allows us to link our music video on a varies number of platforms such as
our website and social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook which then can
be shared with friends, this allows for further promotion of the artist, album and
music video as the packages are linked together for example, the audience can
find the music video on YouTube which in the description can hold other various
links such as the website where the album can be bought e.g. iTunes.
Due to media convergence and cultural convergence it has made it a lot easier for
users to watch and share content, which in return puts huge amounts of pressure
on the video creators to ensure they produce something the audience will be
expecting and will enjoy. Our song being electropop it will have a mass audience
as this genre is played across many platforms on top charts, etc. Often now to the
wide variety of platforms available and media convergence, artists are often seen
more and more releasing their own music and not being distributed through a
record label, this is possibly increasing creativity of artists as they’re not limited
by their record labels restrictions and expectations an example of this would be
the increasingly popular grime singer, Stormzy.
This is an example of and can be closely related to media 2.0
which is an idea introduced by David Gauntlett as users
become passive to active such as commenting or sharing
content such as our music video. Due to these advances in
technology and the internet the creation and ability to share
the content so easily to audiences increases artists’
promotion and therefore profits. However, it is argued that
there is too much content on the internet therefore a great
deal may only be viewed by limited number of users. Due to
this, we would be likely to pay for our music video to be
hosted by Vevo so that it has less chance of not being
noticed on YouTube as Vevo promotes music videos.

4. CD Pack
One of our ancillary projects is the CD pack, which includes
the front cover, insert booklet and back cover. Although
todays generation is moving swiftly towards digital
downloads due to the ease and accessibility, CDs are still
relevant as fans of artists enjoy having a psychical copy of the
music as it feels as though they ‘own it’ and also for aesthetic
pleasure.
This perhaps relates to Dyer’s star theory as the CD is more
materialistic than a digital copy such as having a t-shirt or hat
with the artists name on and the CD feels more branded and
have more of the artists persona such as images of the artist
or exclusive content within the booklet such as personal
messages from the artist. As within our booklet on the back
page we inserted a small “with special thanks to” paragraph,
this gives a very personal touch from the artist to the
audience.

5. Website
Our other ancillary project was our artists website, a website is
unique to the artist and provides a platform in which the artist can
design and choose what they publish upon the site. The website
should represent the artists and the artists theme to give the
audience the right atmosphere and reflect the genre appropriately.
Our website for, “DAKOTA” provides the audience with official links
to our music video, Spotify, purchasing merchandise and the album,
social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, etc. Our site acts as
a one-stop shop for new visitors and fans themselves due to all of
the links available on our website. Due to media convergence,
audiences now expect websites to have such links as people want
quick, official and easy links to what they’re looking for.
Although we created a CD pack and made this available for the
audience to buy on our website which is a physical copy, we also
have digital copies such as iTunes and Spotify as this is now one of
the most used way of listening and sharing music. We decided to
make both digital and physical copies available to the audience so
that they have a choice, despite this increasing costs and production.
As Hepworth states that, “people either want their music fast and
portable or slow and cherished but often find a place for both.
There's great preferences on how people want to consume their
media, for example via physical or digital.”
(https://abzbabz18.wixsite.com/Dakota)

6. Combining our Products
Our main product (music video) and the ancillary tasks (website and CD) collectively represent conventions of real media products
which are within this genre, electropop/indie rock. Throughout all of our tasks we followed a similar theme for all of the pieces,
we found that within this industry and genre this is very common as the audience can link albums, websites and social media
themes all to one artists – this may be a way of identification of the artist. The general theme was dark colours, simple colours and
typography such as black and white and a direct focus on the artist, ‘DAKOTA.’ All 3 of our projects followed this theme, our CD
pack consists of 3 simple colours throughout – black, white and gold we wanted to keep the colour scheme very simple to
emphasise the atmosphere of the album and the song we chose, “Tennis Court,” as the song has a very mellow and emotionless
feel to it therefore representing this through the use of colours. We chose to use a soft gold colour for the title on the album
“PURE HEROINE” so that it would stand our from the rest of the CD pack and it will draw attention to the title making the
audience recognise and remember this album. For the CD pack we also lowered the contrast and saturation to give the photos a
darker tone to them to ensure we are adhering to the mood appropriately. To ensure the focus of the album was the artist, we
used a photo of the singer for the front cover, as this is typical of the genres electropop/indie rock to focus on the artist as this is
who the fans recognise. For our music video, we also followed these themes in our music video we focused a lot on mise-en-scene
to ensure that the combination of all our projects was appropriate, such as using dark clothing, dark make up, dark background,
locations used was simple and not ‘flashy,’ and the lighting used particularly within the lip syncing shots which ensured we focused
primarily on the artist. Finally for the website we followed the same theme using dark colours such as black titling, black and white
coloured typography, black backgrounds and again similar to the CD pack we used low saturated photos of the artist. When you
first open the website you’re greeted directly with a GIF of the artist which is a clip from our music video, again ensuring the focus
is on the artist and that we are promoting the artist through all different formats. Promotion of the artist through all of these
media products emphasies ‘DAKOTA’ as the brand which links to Dyer’s Star theory, his idea of particular artists partially in this
genre electropop that the artist/star is a construction and not a real person and this image is constructed through videos,
magazines, advertising, etc. He suggests that artists generally are known for their idtentity or persona which doesn’t reflect their
true self, I believe with the combination of our products we have created a persona for DAKOTA which allows the audience to
recognise the artist. We also took advantage of the stardom of the artist by creating merchandise such as T-Shirts and Hoodies on
our website.

7. Evidence of Similarities
CD Music Video Website
The music video, CD and website all focus on
the artist. Music video uses mid shots and
focus lighting to emphasis the focus, the CD
uses photos of the artist on the front cover
of the CD and the front cover of the insert
booklet and the website also uses
images/GIFs of the artist.
All 3 of the projects use dark
colours and tones.

8. Aim of the Products
The aim of creating combined products - CD, music video and a website is to promote the artist and
their albums and also give their already existing fan base products to listen to and buy such as
merchandise and new albums to ensure their interest is kept. As well as this, the products help to
attract a new audience and fan base, if an artist isn’t active on their website or isn’t creating music
often they’re not promoted on social media or other forms of media therefore reducing their profits
and audience. I think those who are more invested and want to cherish the music they opt for
the physical copies such as the CD whereas 'casual' fans prefer fast digital downloads on platforms
such as iTunes for the convenience and ease of it.
We would release our music video first, as a promotion of the single “Tennis Court,” as a lead for the
album “pure heroine” this helps to promote the album as fans and new fans will be aware that there’s
going to be new music available which encourages people to look out for it. Then when the album is
released the CD will be released and updated for the website the CD and website will build upon the
portrayal of the artist in the music video.
Overall, I believe the aim of the combination of products was well met as the focus is directly upon the
artist and promotes the artist well through the use of a range of media products.