New Artists/ Band Research

New emerging artists must ensure that their first music video establishes their name, the song and what the artist is about. Whether a solo artist or a group with many members, it is important everyone is introduced so they can appeal to their target audience.

The Ting Tings


The Ting Tings first formed in December 2007 and released the single 'That's Not My Name' in May 2008 and was number one in the UK Singles Charts. This video shows good techniques in terms of establishing the band however there are a few flaws. Firstly the band name is well established as it features on th drum skin, and many close up shots are seen of it. The editing, set layout and colours used are simple which is another common theme seen in first videos as once a band or solo artist is established, they can be more creative and adapt individual concepts into the next video. While the video establishes the name of the group, if we consider only this video and no other creative media or research on this group, it is difficult to establish if this is a band or just a solo artist that doesn't know her own name. It is uncommon not to see all of the band members in the first establishing video which is why this video is particularly flawed, however it still gained mass success and has over 22 million views on Youtube.

Destiny's Child
Another example of techniques to establish a band can be seen in this video:

Although first released in 1997 and Destiny's Child facing several line up changes, the video uses the basic technique of introducing each band member. They all have their individual situations in which they appear in the video and then their name is clearly displayed under them, this allows the audience to see each member and learn their names whilst the singers themselves get to be center of attention and display their own individuality.This video uses voyeuristic elements throughout which is another convention seen in music videos according to Andrew Goodwin.

The Saturdays


Released as a single in July 2008 the song reached number 8 in the charts. This video is another example of a video which features the name of the band often in the video, close ups of each girl are shown to introduce them, and individuality is shown through the girls wearing a specific different colour.

Mcfly


Again this is another example where the band members are introduced individually with their name being displayed on the screen. Their target audience are established and appealed to by simply showing them on screen during the performance part of the video; indicating they target teenagers, mainly females.

Although some of these elements may or may not be used in our video it is still interesting to note how bands are established through music video in order to see if we can conform to some of the conventions found. This research has been valuable and I have looked at many more videos other than these in order to find examples and I think my knowledge of the ways in which new artists are established has increased. A band's first video usually indicates who they are, and what they are about and the video is usually performanced based with a simple narrative.