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

With reference to Richard Dyers theory of star image.

Dyers Star Image.

The term star refers to the semi-mythological set of meanings constructed around music performers in order to sell the performer to a large and loyal audience. Richard Dyer has written extensively about the role of stars in film, TV and music. He claims that a star is an image, not a real person, that is constructed (as any other aspect of fiction is) out of a range of materials (e.g. advertising, magazines)

Dyers Star Image

A common belief is that stars are commodities produced and consumed on their strength of their meaning. Stars depend upon a range of subsidiary media (magazines, TV, radio, the internet) in order to construct an image for themselves which can be marketed to a target audience.

Ideologies of the Music Industry

Keith Negus- Producing Pop identifies two distinct ways of thinking about potential artists from within the music industry and these ideologies shape the way in which the artists images and careers are developed, and the way in which they are marketed towards specific target audiences. The two ideologies are the organic ideology of creativity and the synthetic ideology of creativity.

The Organic Ideology of Creativity

A naturalistic approach to artists. The image of the artist is enhanced by the record company. The artist is given time to evolve and progress through their career. Emphasis is given to album sales and the construction of a successful back catalogue. Often aimed at older or more sophisticated customers. Profits generated by this kind of act tend to be part of a long term strategy by the record company.

The Synthetic Ideology of Creativity

A combinatorial approach to artists and material. Executives attempt to construct successful acts out of the artists and their songs at their disposal. The image of the artist is often constructed by the record company. The artist will be given a short time to prove their success before other combinations will be tried out. Emphasis is given to single sales and to promoting first albums Often aimed at younger, less sophisticated audiences Profits generated by this kind of artist tend to be part of an immediate, short term strategy by the record company.

Promotion between Ideologies

There are clear distinctions between the ways in which different types of artist are represented to ensure short term or long term success. Organic acts are often sold on their authenticity, both musically and socially. The image of the artist appears unconstructed (although this in itself is a carefully constructed look) Synthetic acts are often sold on their look or personalities The image of the artist is carefully and unashamedly constructed.

Organic CD Digipak
Expression: He appears deep in thought and is looking in the distance, almost reaching out to the listener. This emphasises that he and the album are deep and serious and his most important relationship is not with the audience but with his music. Props: Guitar emphasises that he is a musician, not just a singer. Electric instrument hints that his music has a rebel feel and a rock element. This fits with his image as an individual with his own style instead of just another singer songwriter. It also gives him a dangerous feel, and gives him an element of sex appeal. Colours: The colours are mainly dark with a blue tinge. This could be used to symbolise the emotions that are represented in the album, for example the blue could represent sadness and the black could represent anger. . The fading of the colours when it gets closer to John could show that he rids the world of darkness, or that he is a shining light in the darkness. Lighting: Main use of blues and cold lighting gels with maybe some white lights. This is used to suggest the albums genre and style as the blue and dark nature of the lighting implies that the album is serious and isnt happy and a variety of the songs could be sad. It also helps to emphasise his rock/ rebel appearance the lighting accentuates his face and makes him appear pale and distant. The use of dark shadows makes him different to other artists as it has a sad and angry feel.

Styling: His hair is not heavily styled and is a basic cut to signify that he is not that fussed about his appearance and to give him a more natural look. His tattoo fits with his rebel ideal and gives him an element of sex appeal and danger. This is to attract more women to buy his album. His dark clothing symbolises the songs on his album as well his moody and dangerous personality. His clothes are basic, making him as a person seem approachable as he doesnt put on large shows or costumes. His stance is strong, with his legs wide apart and his arms straight down, this connotes that he is strong and manly, again giving him more sex appeal.

Font: The name and title of the album are stark, white and small. This connotes that the album is not over the top, isnt flashy and instead is serious and focuses on the music instead of the appearance. The titles are placed at the top to focus on John Mayer, himself. The attention is drawn to him standing in the middle, emphasising that he is the star and the one to pay attention to.

Synthetic CD Digipak
Style: Katy Perry is seen without any props, showing she doesnt play any instruments and doesnt write her music and most likely doesnt write her songs. She is shown in minimal clothing to appeal to her target audience and increase her sex appeal, showing off her body to make her appear sexual and rebellious. Her blue hair is individual and sets her apart from other synthetic stars of a similar genre, making her memorable. This supports Keith Negus idea that the image of a synthetic act is carefully and unashamedly constructed to appeal to the target audience. Synthetic acts are often sold on their 'look' or personalities and emphasis is given to album sales and the construction of a successful back catalogue. Expression: She can be seen in a sexual position looking directly at the camera, grabbing the audiences attention and pulling them in. This supports Keith Negus idea that the image of a synthetic act is carefully and unashamedly constructed to appeal to the target audience. Synthetic acts are often sold on their 'look' or personalities. It gives an impression that the single is not serious and she is not serious about her music and is more concerned with her sexual image. Colours: Unlike the organic CD digipak which had minimal lighting and instead focused on the artist, the synthetic digipak is bright and eye-catching with multiple bright colours and patterns and draws attention to Katy Perry through the extravagant colour selection.

Font: The font is big and is eyecatching, pulling the audience in. It fits with the cartoon theme of the digipak. The title of the single is big and bold showing that with synthetic acts emphasis is given to album sales and the construction of a successful back catalogue. The title is flashy and shows that the single is not serious or thought provoking. It focuses more on the appearance than the music.

Our CD Digipak
We decided for our digipak that the most important element for our artist was the music instead of the image of the band themselves. Because of this we chose not to have a picture of the band as the background but instead the world with a design in black over the top. This is because we wanted the band to be known for their music instead of having a target audience that focuses on what the band looks like and what they wear and the image they represent. This fits with the ideologies of a synthetic band. It also helps to establish the bands indie rock genre as it is eye-catching with the colours contrasting against the black background. The white edge of the digipak is rough and chipped as it helps to establish the bands style of music and genre. It connotes that the band are rough and perhaps rebellious and everything is not perfect, a recurring theme throughout the album.

The title is at the top so it is noticeable and helps to establish that Wonderland is a new and original band. As we read from left to right, the name of the album is on the right so that is follows the line of sight. We decided to make the letters transparent so that the colours from the globe behind would show through and help to grab our target audiences attention.

The background is black as this pulls focus onto the centre image and really helps the colours and design of the globe to stand out resulting in the front cover being very noticeable and complex without using the band themselves to advertise the music.

Our CD Digipak
The back cover of the digipak keeps in theme with the front cover, using patterns in a cartoon theme. The font we used matches the font from the website as they are both strong and bold and stick out. We also kept the same panelled look as the website with the panel down the left hand side. We kept a similar look as on the front cover with the transparent letters to let the pattern beneath be seen.

Again we chose not to have a picture of the band to focus on the music instead of the band so we kept with the patterned theme of the front cover, as we do not want an audience who focuses on the image of the band.

The panel set list is important to let the target audience know the songs that come with the album. The green banner behind the letters is eyecatching and is bright in comparison to the light blue pattern, meaning that the songs stand out, again showing the importance of the music to the band.

The dark blue of the background makes the green of the banner stand out and fits with the light blue of the patterned background.

Our Website
The website is of a basic design but it demonstrates the genre and style of the band clearly in a variety of ways. The website is of a black and white theme to fit with the indie rock genre. Our aim was for the website to have the same style and look as the music video and CD digipak.

We decided to use the same panel design as we have on the CD digipak with the same font as this connects the two and makes them more effective at advertising the band.

Our Website

We wanted the fans to be able to know the band members and be able to relate to them so we put information about each band member and where they came from and how they came to the band. This should interest the fans and although the band themselves are not the focus and the music is, it would help the fans and attract our target audience.

We chose to have a gallery on our website of the band to establish their image and presence as a band. As they are a new band, we felt it was important to make sure there are a lot of images of the band to get the members recognised by the fans. The photos themselves also help to establish the synthetic ideology of the band as they are seen playing their instruments, a common convention of synthetic artists.

Conclusion

Overall I think our ancillary products and main products are effective in promoting the band. The ancillary products compliment the main product in representing the indie-rock star image and appealing to our target audience. The ancillary products were designed to take into account Dyers theory of star image and Negus theory of ideology. We tried to ensure that our ancillary products had the same design and style as the main product, keeping with the genre and star image of our band. We tried to ensure that our all aspects of our campaign kept with the same style and appealed to our target audience and had the most success in selling the products. I think as a whole we did this successfully as there is crossover between the three products and this can be seen in many different ways.