Mike Dignam Demographics

As our chosen artist is Mike Dignam, I decided to look into his demographics and get to know his audience and how he has developed his appreciation and type of audience. At now 23 years old, mike has received a lot of attention through his music and has highly developed his popularity through Web 2.0 as social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook have been widely used by his target audience, therefore giving him an advantage in gaining followers. I first found Mike when I was scanning through Spotify where I was listening to some similar artists and Spotify suggested some artist that were related to his style of music. I watched a few videos of his work via YouTube, of him singing some covers of songs which I really enjoyed. 

Focusing on his way of gaining popularity through Twitter, he has over 11,500 followers, which shows that he is fairly known around the UK.

From looking at his followers and picking a random a bunch of them, I found out that the majority of them are girls, perhaps due to the love songs he writes and his masculinity. It appears only a few males follow him.
I then looked at his YouTube page and discovered that he is fairly known through YouTube as he has gained over 8,000 subscribers and regularly updates his page with recent gig videos and covers that he has made of popular songs in the charts. Looking at the representation of his YouTube page, it seems that he has provided his fans with a UK "Heart to Heart Tour" where he travels around the UK not only performing to a small number of people but meeting and greeting them which gives the pleasure of him and his fans of gaining appreciation.

I also took a look at some of the comments some of his viewers and fans have made below his videos. I looked at one of his most popular songs 'Great Escape' which has gained over 56,000 views. The comments include positive opinions such as; "Wow this is amazing", "Can't wait for the tour!", "Quality" and similar others.





All these positive responses say that Mike is a popular musician with a reliable fan base and this shows that our audience is of a similar type and age.

Similar Artists to Mike Dignam Part II

John Mayer
John Mayer is an American Singer/Songwriter, guitarist and producer; his genre is Folk Rock/ Indie which is similar to our Artists, Mike Dignam's, different songs. As Dignam John Mayer has a certain individuality and diversity in his music, but is still using the stereotypical convention of Indie, a Guitar; although he performs with a mixture of Electric and Acoustic. Like Josh Radin, John Mayer has been associated with Columbia Records, who are more 'mainstream' but have not always been signed by them as he also worked with Arista Records and Aware Records.

John Mayer's career started way back in 2000 where he started gaining major label and commercial success, throughout his rocky music career he has released many CD's, EP's and Singles. He has also won many Grammy and MTV Music Awards.


'Wildfire' is one of John Mayer's recent releases, so I have decided to look at the video on YouTube and see the views, responses, comments and likes that it has received; this will give be an insight into his Audience and Demographics.

Unsurprisingly due to his success, the video has already received over 1.2 Million views, over 9,000 Likes and 1,224 Comments. These comments are by Males and Females with the Ages being between 20-28.

Similar Artists to Mike Dignam

Ben Howard

Ben Howard is a British Singer/Songwriter, his genre is Indie Folk which is similar to our artist Mike Dignam, as he has a soulful voice and includes his guitar in most of his songs; additionally as you can see he is using it in his live performance. Howard is classed as an Indie Artist firstly of his music, image and overall look and because he is not signed by a 'mainstream; record label; his record company is Island Records.

Since 2008, Ben Howard has released several singles, EP's and has released an Album which has lead him to win two BRIT Awards and he was Nominated for a Mercury. He is only one of the few 25 year olds that have cracked the US and taken America by storm.

'Keep Your Head Up' and ' The Wolves' are popular singles that he has released, and all charted. Ben Howard may be the most famous British Folk Singer of his time, which makes him a similar Artist that Mike Dignam may aspire too.
Demographics

I decided to look into the statistics of his song, Only Love which has over 5 Million views, and over 2,500 Comments. These comments seem to be more commonly from Females, but as Ben Howard is one of the biggest British Indie Artists he is very popular by Ben also; these females seem to be between 13-24 and then males are between 18-24. I believe the lyrics and meanings of his songs attract many different age ranges as they are about love, relationships and tough times, which is easily relate able.

I looked on Ben Howard's Facebook page and you can see his like page is very popular due to over 500,000 people Like this, and over 8,000 have talked about him. The most popular fans on his Facebook Page are ages between 18-24 again, which links to the Demographics from his Facebook Page.


Through this fans are able to keep up with his Tour Dates, upcoming new music and any personal updates. A lot of the younger generations use these social networking sites so it help to keep in touch.

I had a quick look at Ben Howard's Twitter and Twitter followers, which are more than 345,000, not as many as Facebook but are still a large about. A mixture of males and females are shown to be Following him, with a small collection of Indie Artists and Indie Radio Station DJ's, such as Fearne Cotton

Josh Radin

Josh Radin is  an American Recording Artist/ Songwriter, his genre is  Acoustic Indie, and he   also uses a guitar in most of his performances and songs along with his whisper, silver bell voice. Radin's career started in 2004 as he was signed with Columbia Records ,which issued his Album 'We Were Here' in 2006, he was then signed by Mom + Pop Music, an independent record label based in New York.

Josh Radin decided in 2004 to take a stab at  songwriting and played one of his earliest compositions 'Winter' to his friend Zach Braff. Braff to an immediate liking to the song and as an Actor /Director he eventually used it in  his hit television show 'Scrubs'. After fan were requesting more music  from him, which encouraged him to  pursue his career in the Music Industry by making it his main job. 

One of Josh Radin's marketing styles that he made was in 2006 when he exclusively released his Album ' We Were Here' to iTunes for a month, before attracting attention from Major Labels. From this Radin has received high reviews from  magazines such as Rolling Stones. He has released several Ep's and 5 Albums, four by Mom + Pop Music; additionally his music has appeared in several T.V shows and Films.

Demographics

I decided to look into Josh Radin's song 'I'd Rather Be With You' and the demographics of the video. It has over 3.5 Million views and 1,500 Comments. These comments again seem to be slightly more female based but there is an obvious mix of Females and Males comments, indicating he is the 'Ben Howard' of America as he attracts a wider range of Genders and Age's. His YouTube Page initially helped these fans find his new and upcoming Music, these fans seem to be of a younger Age that would spend a lot of time on YouTube, these seem to be slightly older than Ben Howard, 18-27.

I looked on Josh Radin's Facebook Page and this page is not as popular as I would of imagined but I believe it is because the Audience are slightly older than Ben Howard. Over 330,000 Likes and nearly 4,000 People have talked about this, the comments again are from the age range we found on his YouTube.

This page again can  help him keep in contact on all media platforms.

I also looked at Josh Radin's Twitter Page and unsurprisingly found that he has again not as many Followers, but less generations use Twitter as their social Networking site. He has nearly 73,000 Followers, who again are a mixture of Males and Females. Radin also has a celebrity follower, Ellen DeGeneres, which looks good for his Audience.

Genre Convention Research

After looking into some music videos from similar Artists in the Indie Acoustic Genre, I decided to create a post which sums up the common conventions and aspects I have found in relation to the genre. This will help when we start planning our own Music Video we can use some of these to attract the Audience we want and keep the video in the style of the Indie Genre.

Camera
Indie Music Videos are designed to look as if they are made by an amateur, a home video, or by a handheld camera. Film Cameras may also be used to create a vintage look and authenticity.

Shots
Close up's, long shots and extreme close ups are essential within the Indie Acoustic Genre.

Editing
The Editing seems to fit in with the pace and beat of the song, longer shots are used when it is slower and quick changes when the pace gets faster.

Lighting 
The outdoor shots in Indie Music videos are effect due to the advantage and use of the natural lighting, which links to the popular convention of nature in the setting. The indoor shots seems to be of a darker and more subtle lighting.

Colour 
The colour of the Indie Genre is key to the Music Video as the right feel to the footage creates a vintage feel to the video, which is extremely popular in this genre. The hues and tones of the video are edited greatly to create this effect, additionally a lot of music videos are in Black & White.

Props
The simplicity of this Genre results in very little props, usually the stereotypical ones you will see are a Guitar (acoustic normally) , an old film camera, or a bicycle.

Clothing
Male Artists of Indie Acoustic are usually dressed with their own individual style but again is very simple. Many of the outfits seem to be influenced by vintage and retro styles and fashion opposed to the mainstream high street brands and fashion. The casual feel to the Artists clothes give the impression to the Audience that they are very down to earth, 'normal', and more in touch with the music than fame, this helps the fans relate to the artist and music more. Common brand used in Indie are Fred Perry, Ray Ban or Vintage pieces from shops on Brick Lane or Carnaby Street; the music and image of Indie Artists Mirror each other.

Locations
The music videos I have come across in the Indie Acoustic Genre have mostly be outdoors, in a natural setting, a popular style is in a field with the sun peaking through trees. An urban area is also popular.

Sound
Artists that have influenced the sound of Indie Artists are, The Beatles, The Kooks and Oasis, so many of the older generation of this Audience may have influenced the generation listening to Indie now.

Characteristics
The characteristics of these Male Artists seem to be down to earth, natural, relaxed and very casual. This can attract an Audience that is just interested in the music and sound.

Instruments 
Acoustic Guitars are very popular in Indie Acoustic, these are shown in bands such as Mumford & Sons, and an Artist such as Ben Howard.

Listener Profiles/ Radio Stations

The radio is an important platform for upcoming artist's music to be heard anywhere and everywhere, the radio allows this to happen as the right audience listens to a specific radio station which plays mostly the Music Genre they enjoy. Radio is the fastest way in which Artists can gain recognition in the music industry, and the more successful they become the more likely their new releases will be played.

Radio 1 is the most likely station our Genre will be played on unless it gets into the charts then it will appear on more. The station is aimed mainly at the ages of 15-29 but the average age of the audience is actually 33.

Meeting and Early Planning of Music Video

In our most recent video out Group Brainstormed and deliberated on our Music Video; we came up with the conclusion that we need to deliver 360 Degree Branding. Thanks to technical and media convergence 'stars' and Artists need to work harder than ever to advertise their image and represent themselves.
This means being consistent across a range or all media platforms.
We started thinking about- How are we going to 'market' our Product? and What 'overall' appeals are we going to have?

We started by Brainstorming and Initially getting an idea of our music video, how our Artist wants to be seen, and what conventions will be used.

This is our Brainstorming Board-

Interview 2

Person No.1- 28 Years of Age What do you like about the Indie genre? No.1- It brings an upbeat but a soothing, catchy feel. I like that it has a different style and I know it won't disappoint But I particularly enjoy listening to Indie Pop, to artists such as Florence and the Machine and London Grammar. Do you ever listen to the sub genre, Indie Acoustic at all? No.1- Yes occasionally, I think its very relaxing to listen to around the house. I enjoy listening to the likes of Lucy Rose and Daughter where they tend to use interesting sounds in their music. How would you describe generally of an Indie Music Video? No.1- Natural feel, outdoors, love narrative, lip syncing to the camera. When listening to our song choice, what are your first thoughts for the music video? No.1- Close up of the guitar scenes, lip syncing sometimes avoiding camera, natural surroundings, showing times when the relationship was present.

Interview 1

I asked a small amount of my friends and family on their opinions of the Indie genre. This will altogether gather more detailed research from a sample of people from various age ranges.

Person No.1 - 17 Years of Age
Person No.2 - 56 Years of Age

 What do you like about the Indie genre?
 No. 1- The guitar solos mostly, I play guitar myself so I find that I can relate to the genre as I like to play some of their guitar parts. Although I do enjoy listening to Indie Pop, such as Bastille where their music is more electronic or drum & bass.
No.2- I like the different sounds from the guitar, particularly enjoying Indie Rock with the likes of the Arctic Monkeys and The Vaccines. I like their upbeat tunes and how they suck you into their music.

Do you ever listen to the sub genre, Indie Acoustic at all?
No.1- Not really.
No.2- Not at all.

How would you describe generally of an Indie Music Video?
No.1- Cutting rate in time with beat, love story, natural scenes, showing something different to other music videos.
No.2- Happy, reminiscing over a relationship, natural.

When listening to our song choice, what are your first thoughts for the music video?
No.1- Strumming of the guitar, love story, good times.
No.2- Guitar present in most scenes to help represent the indie acoustic, love story shown throughout, lip syncing, gradually a build up towards an ending.

Research into Indie

As our song is inspired by Indie,  I have decided to look into the Genre as a whole, and in particular the motifs, styles and conventions of Indie.

What is Indie Music?
Indie Music, originally known as Independent Music, is not a distinctive style of Music but is a recognisable Style as a lot of the time Indie Bands are influenced by each other, resulting in a alike sound. They are 'Independent' as their record label may not be mainstream. Overall the sound of Indie is harmonious and melodic, and the instruments that accompany the sound are well balanced, effortless and effective. The Instruments usually consist of a guitar riff, with an overlay of an additional guitar riff, which complements the sound well; a minimal drum beat, a bass guitar, and soft remarkable, unique voice. The Lyrics usually contain powerful emotions, usually deep in thought but not obvious, tasteless or weak.

How popular is Indie?
As a 'Scene' the Indie audience mostly have a love for the music alone, not the stage setting, lights and 'fans'; the scene is kept quite small as the 'big' fuss is not what the Audience really want. They feel as if the music is what matters and they do not want it to be commercialised, it is all about the music. Overall the Indie Audience is quite big, but the following is not as big as Pop, as they just appreciate the music.

The Most Common Conventions of Indie And Indie Music Video's-
+ Instruments- Typical to Rock Indie
+ Assorted Shot Types - Montage
+ Flash Transitions
+ Cross Cutting between Artist and Place
+ Close up/ Long Shot
+ Cutting rate to the beat of the music, this creates synchronisation between sound and visuals.

Examples of Indie Artists and Bands-
+ Arctic Monkeys
+ Arcade Fire
+ Bloc Party
+ Mumford & Sons
+  The Strokes
+ The Decemberists
+ Death Cab for Cuties
+ Bon Iver
+ Ben Howard
+ Josh Rodin
+ John Major
+ Nick Camillo

Meeting 13/09/2013

In the lesson today we discussed  one of the songs that we are considering for our music video. One of the music videos we are considering is I'll Lie Here by Mike Dignam which presents an indie acoustic style. Mike Dignam is an English male artist who is known for his upbeat tunes and attraction to girls that are fond of the typical songs about love.

We think by choosing this song we can create a good music video that will involve many techniques.

Our ideas include:

- A narrative throughout the video

- Some lip syncing to the camera which will draw the female listeners in

- Narrative featuring a love story which corresponds to the lyrics of the song

- Natural environment with some picturesque and urban locations

- Guitar as one of the main features of the video

Mike Dignam Demographics

Mike Dignam is the artist of the song we have chosen to do, he is a 23 year old singer/songwriter with a husky, soulful and distinct acoustic/indie sound. Our group first came across him when we were shuffling through Indie Acoustic Artists on Spotify; I looked further into Dignam and found at aged 18 he won the 'Youth Music' National Competition, after gaining confidence he independently wrote, recorded and released his debut LP 'World of Our Own'.

He has over 11,000 followers on Twitter who are able to receive constant updates about his life and upcoming music projects. At a glance at his twitter followers, I can see that the majority of his followers are girls, more specifically teenage girls.

Mike Dignam has over 8 Thousand subscribers on his YouTube account and over 729 Thousand views and uses this social network as a platform to share his new music, inspiration and adventures with the world. The song I'll Lie Here by Mike Dignam (the song we have chosen to create a music video to) already has an Audio Video on YouTube but does not have a music video to go with it. The Audio has over 11,000 views and many comments; I look further into the comments on this video and found the majority were girls which was not a surprise as the Twitter followers showed the same statistics; although some of the comments were by fans who can relate to the song, and more recently many new potential fans have commented saying a beauty/fashion blogger (very known on YouTube and magazines) used this song on her new video. Mike Dignam personally thanked Tanya Burr on his comments, interacting with his fans. I then looked into the demographics of the video and found that his song is increasingly being watch an growing every month which is positive for his career; it also shows it got a leap in views after Tanya Burr using this song, and promoting it.                  
 



I also had a look into how viewers 
had come across the video and the majority had found it from social network sites, search engines or his personal YouTube page.

His Facebook page has reached over 16,000 Likes which is one of the highest statistics that he has shown over his media platforms so much; I can also see that 2,830 People have talked about him. The majority of Likes and Comments he has received on his Facebook page are again from girls aged between approx 15 and 19. The locations of the Likes are not available to view but you can see that as he continues through his tour more comments and likes are appearing, indicating these are coming from the places he just performed, throughout the UK.

He has many social media platforms to reach out to his fan base which evidently are the ones that are most likely to use these sites. These in
clude: Merch, SoundCloud, Tumblr, and Instagram.

I'll Lie Here Lyrics

'I’ll lie here' Mike Dignam

You can rest your head upon my chest
I feel warmer with you there
Go to sleep my love I’ll watch over us
Drift to a peaceful place there’s no rush for you to wake

With your eyes closed and me as your pillow
It feels as though you were made to fit with me

Through your gentle breath I exhale my stress
I know I’ve found contentment in these sheets

You’re the escape from my daily routine
The calm in my storm you comfort me

So I’ll lie here
So I’ll lie here

If I could describe this moment
A unique feeling knowing
Although my hearts been broken
Wounds from others are closing

You whisper my name when you begin to wake
It’s the sweetest sound, reminding me that

You’re the escape from my daily routine
The calm in my storm you comfort me

So I’ll lie here
I’ll lie here

If could change the weather I’d make it rain
So we could take shelter in this place,

Feeling your heartbeat is all I need

You’re the escape from my daily routine
The calm in my storm you comfort me
You’re the escape from my daily routine
The calm in my storm you comfort me

So I’ll lie here
I’ll lie here
I’ll lie here
I’ll lie here

With you

May have found a song?

Our Group have managed to find a song that we may be able to use to create a Music Video. We have contacted the Artist himself to see if we can use his song which we found through Spotify; The song is called I'll Lie Here by Mike Dignam. Dignam is not well known but Artists that can be compared to him are Ben Howard and Daughter, the Genre these Artists share is Acoustic Indie, but this specific song can be classed as Indie Pop Due to the Upbeat Tune.

This is the Emails that have been sent and received in order to gain permission to create a music video for the Artist, Mike Dignam's Single.

Due to the lack of a music video already we can be creative in making an original Music Video for this Artist. We will portray the individuality and personality of the Artist as best we can and represent him in the way he feels is 'him'. The Lyrics can create a narrative for this song as the Indie Acoustic Genre focuses on the Lyrics and meaning of the song more than showing off the Artist and Creating a image for them, very alike Pop does.

Finding a Potential Song

The process of Research & Understanding initially consists of finding a song in which we can portray the Genre, Artist and Music in the way it wants to be presented through it's Music Video.
I created a Slide show to show the ways in which you could do this.

Ideal Audience Member

As our Audience fits into the Indie Acoustic Genre, our typical audience member will be a female aged 18, as from looking at Mike Dignam's and other Indie Artists demographics, this is the most common gender for a male Acoustic Indie Genre, which stereotypically fits into the profile. The fan would have previous knowledge of what the conventions are regarding Indie Acoustic Genre; with the emotional and personal lyrics and the solo instrument which is usually a Guitar, which is attractive to the Female if the Artist can play an instrument.  The female fan will be able to relate to the lyrics in some form; usually in a relationship situation; additionally the female will not be far off the Artists age and will be able to relate and create a connection to his music.

REMINDERS- Must Do

+ Look for Similar Products and Potential Target Audience

+ Organise Actors, Location, Costumes or Props

+ Basic Work on Shot lists, Layouts, Drafting, Scripting or Storyboarding

+ Use of Digital Technology or ICT 

Narrative in Music Videos

In our lessons we have looked into the Theories of music videos, a lot of them relating to narratives.



Narrative in Music Videos on PREZI

Andrew Goodwin's Theory

"Music Videos ignore common narrative as they are essentially advertisements. As consumers, we make upour own meaning of a song in our minds; a music video can anchor meaning and gives the record company or Artist a method of anchoring meaning" Andrew Goodwin

Goodwin Identified 6 Parts of this Theory-

+ There is a relationship between the visuals either illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the Lyrics.
This Convention explains how Goodwin noticed a music videos visuals either have a complete similarity or direct contrast to the lyrics in the song.

Example
Lady Gaga Feat Beyonce- Telephone.
'Stop Telephoning Me'







+ There is a relationship between music and visuals again, either illustrating, amplifying or contradicting the Music.
Goodwin Identified that the visuals within a music video may be edited in time to the lyrics/ change in the pace of the song. He also stated that these visuals are commonly repeated within a chorus to emphasize the repetition in lyrics and beats.

Michael Jackson-Thriller
This music video shows this very well as the iconic dance moves to the strong beat provides a clear link for the audience to the music heard.






+ Music Video's demonstrate genre characteristics; their own music video style and iconography.
Goodwin recognised that most Artists have a trend of repeating certain actions within their music videos in order to establish this as their 'trademark' action and therefore making their songs recognisable due to it recurring often.This represents the style of the music the artist is representing and is a marketing strategy in order to be remembered in later years. Genre is also known by location, for example songs within the Indie genre are often filmed in an abandoned and lonely place to convey an individual in an isolated location.

Katy Perry- The One that Got Away
This represents Genre Characteristics as it is a Pop song, that can easily be related to teens/ young adults and girls about their 'young first love' that they will never forget. They potentially may of made them excited but this didn't last as they were young. This is also around the time Katy Perry went through her own relationship problems.



+ Demands Of the Record Label will include the need for loads of close ups of the artist/vocalist.
Goodwin found that many music videos include the voyeuristic idea with the Artist by watching them throughout their Music Video. This will show the Audience the Artists motifs and represent them in the way they want.

Beyonce- When I was A Boy
This video portrays this convention very well, as so does many of Beyonce's music videos. It shows the emotion of the Artist especially in a narrative story. It also shows how the Artist has a raw voice that she wants to show her audience.




+ They frequently refer to the notion of looking and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body
Goodwin recognised  that the convention of voyeurism is used in order to show the Artist throughout the video but it is most common with female artists as provocative angles are often used to sexualise the Artist following 'Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze Theory' causing a fetishation from the audience towards the Artist.

Robin Thicke's- Blurred Lines
This is a perfect example of how the female body is shown throughout a music video. Robin Thicke is a Male Artist who will attract Females and Males, but with the use of this Music Video he will attract a lot of Male Attention.




+ Inter textual of other artists products and text
Goodwin recognised that it was not uncommon to recognise either the visuals or lyrics of a song to be an exact reference to another media text. This is used to engage the audience and and provide them gratification if they recognise it.

Madonna- Material Girl
This Music Videos includes the intertextuality of Marilyn Monroe's Movies. This conveys a reference to these times in her music videos to the audience.