R+P Post 6: Current trends in popular music

The breakdown of UK singles sales

Currently, Pop is still the biggest genre in music followed by Rock and then Dance (mainly EDM). Whilst Rock and Pop have been the 2 biggest genres for quite some time, EDM is on the rise with a 37% overall market revenue growth in 2013 and an industry worth $6.9Bn.

An article on the rise of EDM

UK top 15 

UK Dance top 10

The UK's top 15 songs has 3 songs under the genre of EDM and another 3 which feature an EDM sub genre. The charts are saturated with pop songs, there is also a clear lack of rock songs in the charts.

As seen in the top 10 of Dance singles, there are some notable tracks, all of which have had a strong radio presence.

R+P Post 5: The kind of video I would like to make

I'd like to create a video with simple but visually appealing background and effects, possibly on the topic of colour with a range of coloured backdrops and probable use of UV paints somewhere within our music video. I'd like to focus mainly on narrative with some possible performance shots integrated into the actual narrative.

The Black Eyed Peas - I Gotta Feeling
The really effective use of UV paint between 3.00-3.45 is something that we will certainly consider replicating as it looks really good on camera.

Drake - Hotline Bling 
The use of coloured backgrounds creates a really eye-catching effect with pastel colours making the video stand out from the screen. This can particularly been seen with the backgrounds between 1.15 and 1.35

Jake Miller - Rumors

The continuous effect is again very eye-catching and something that we could use as transitions within our real music video.

R+P Post 4: Audience groups of interest

The first audience of interest are festival goers and fans of the EDM genre. EDM is the fastest growing genre in music, this audience provides a large basis on which to target a product. With vast amounts of EDM being showcased at festivals too, this makes the festival goers particularly relevant to who we would market at. Certain festivals such as Tomorrowland are dedicated to EDM and this would a great place to showcase our artist.

EDM has a huge following in Europe and is played a lot in Nightclubs and bars as well as at the festivals. Fans of EDM can be any age or gender, although many tend to be teenagers or young adults with the heavy club or festival emphasis on the music.

A table showing how big EDM artists are in London via Spotify

R+P Post 3: Music genres that interest me

There are a huge number of music genres that interest me as highlighted by my vast range of playlists on 'Spotify' which are ordered according to genre or mood created.

I would say rather than general favourite genres, I have favourite genres at certain times of the year e.g. Tropical House in the Summer when it's sunny and slower genres such as RnB in the Winter.

Having said this, over the last few years, I've become particularly interested in Drum & Bass, particularly Liquid Drum & Bass. With such a noticeable rhythm, I find the genre particularly entertaining. However, DnB can be very unpalatable due to the heavy nature of the music, associated with clubs and raves, this is why I often find myself listening to Liquid DnB which offers a much softer tone and can actually bring out a huge range of emotion due to the trance-like effect created by certain songs.




I'm also very interested in Classic Hip-Hop, not only for the music but also the East/West Coast feud that went along with it. The genre has much more to it than just the music such as the image created and negative effects associated such as glorification of crime, homophobia etc. However, with some particularly meaningful songs written, the genre merges simplistic beats with lyrics often creating meaningful messages about society. The associated 'thug' image has stuck with the genre into the 2000s with modern day rappers such as Lil Wayne and Young Thug adopting this image but noticeably creating less and less meaningful songs on the whole highlighting the fact that the Thug image has become very commercialised.

Lil Wayne

The Notorious B.I.G. and 2Pac

I'm also a big fan of EDM and would enjoy making a music video on this genre as I feel the genre is very expressive. It is also full of surprises with DJs often coming up with remixes of each others songs and also songs of other genres. With a huge presence in Europe and North America, EDM has a loyal following and is the fastest growing genre in music. EDM is particularly huge in the Festival Setting with 'Tomorrowland 2014', a festival dedicated to EDM, bringing in 360,000 people, there is also large followings at the Coachella festival with artists such as Avicii and David Guetta performing.

Avicii at Tomorrowland

R+P Post 2: What does music mean to you?

Music has become particularly significant me from my teenage years, when I was younger, I only listened to songs on the radio but nowadays I listen to music whenever I'm at home, travelling somewhere or doing pretty much anything.

This song is very typical of my primary school years. The song topped the charts and I can remember singing it in school with all of my friends as well as at home with my brother. The song never failed to put a smile on my face and just helps to remind me of my childhood.

'On top of the world' is a big reminder of a time in my life when I would always be on my Xbox 360 playing 'FIFA' as this song was on the soundtrack of FIFA 13 and whenever it came on, I'd always sing along to it. Not only this but it was also the first Imagine Dragons song that I heard and after this, I extended my knowledge of the band. I still listen to the song today and every time it comes on, it reminds me of how I used to be which tends to put me in a good mood.

This song is on here as not only do I really like the song but it also serves as the biggest reminder to my summer in Cyprus. It's a real summer song and in Cyprus it was really overplayed meaning I always associate the song with my holiday. In addition to this, I also saw Major Lazer live in Cyprus so it just serves as another huge memory.

R+P Post 1: My A2 Group

I will be working in a group with Eddie and Iggy, I feel this is a strong group and we should work well with creativity and technical knowledge at a high level within the group.

Iggy on the left, myself in the middle and Eddie on the right

I feel we will work well together as we all get on pretty well but also, Eddie and I worked together for the prelim and found that our end product was to a high standard and also completed very efficiently.

As a group, we have decided to meet twice a week but we will meet more times if needed as we are all ready to put the work in.

Our main commitments to each other will be:

• Always attend and be on time to production meetings
• Put in the same amount of work and effort
• Always listen to each others ideas

1. Did you enjoy the main workshop shoot day? What role(s) did you take and what did you learn? What were your best bits and why?

I found the workshop shoot day to be a very long and tiring day but a very enjoyable one with a chance to experience a lot of new things. When I was in front of the camera, I played the drummer but my job didn't end there as when behind the camera, I was helping with cable bashing, using the clapper board and reflecting light.

Playing the drums

• I was the drummer for Band 1, which was one of the roles that I was happy to play. It was quite difficult to play as the drummer was the only role where you actually had to play the instrument rather than just miming it. This made it quite distracting as I have no drum experience so was pretty much just making random noises. However, after a few days of getting used to this, I learnt to ignore the sound and really focussed on the importance of gesture and facial expression.

Cable bashing for Shayam with Monica pushing the dolly

• Cable bashing involved keeping the cables aware from Jack, out cameraman, so he wouldn't trip up whilst filming. We practised in the lead up to the shoot and on the day, I did a lot of cable bashing. It was particularly important on the handheld shots where we had to be I had to be ready to move quickly to keep the cables away from Jack.

• Reflecting light was something new to me. It required me to hold a large reflector and keep still during the shot. This was sometimes quite hard as some of the shots were quite long and it was hard not to move.



The reflector on its stand

• Clapper boarding was nothing new to me but it was interesting that we didn't need to actually need to clap the board seeing as we weren't going to be using any of the sound in editing

• I tried to find out as much as possible about the industry as we were working with professionals. Jack taught us about a range of different lenses and what they did which I found very interesting.

Here is a timelapse showing what happened on set.