Thursday, 28 February 2013
Monday, 25 February 2013
Brits 2013: nothing more than a mirror to the charts
Brits 2013: nothing more than a mirror to the charts
Packing no surprises or punches, the ceremony churned out yet another predictable list of winners
One Direction's Brit
award for global success was one of the night's predictable outcomes.
Photograph: Joel Ryan/Joel Ryan/Invision/AP
In Wednesday's Guardian, the outgoing chairman of the Brits, David Joseph, proudly announced
that during his three-year tenure he had successfully rid the awards of
their "chaotic" element and introduced "more gravitas". There's a
compelling argument to suggest that gravitas isn't necessarily the thing
you're looking for in an event that's supposed to be celebrating a
thrilling youth phenomenon, but what Joseph seemed to mean was that the Brit awards ceremony no longer has an interest in delivering surprises of any kind.
Lumbered with a script that appeared to have been written by the same person responsible for the quips in an early 70s Miss World contest, host James Corden spent much of the evening apologising for the solitary moment of off-message excitement at last year's Brits, when Adele's acceptance speech was cut short. Adele didn't turn up this year to collect her best single award for Skyfall, opting instead to rehearse for her performance at Sunday's Oscars ceremony in Los Angeles.
Certainly there were no surprises among the winners, which furthermore rather defy any kind of meaningful analysis. The Brits exist to reward success, thus the winners tell you nothing about the state of British music that anyone with even a glancing knowledge of the charts doesn't know already.
You could argue that makes the Brit awards slightly superfluous to requirements, as the winners had been rewarded fairly abundantly for their efforts even before they took delivery of the spotted statuettes Corden described a little confusingly as designed "by the visually British artist Damien Hirst", but it means there's something inarguable about the results.
Emeli Sandé, whose debut album was the biggest-selling new release of 2012, won two awards. Mumford & Sons, whose second album Babel was the fastest-selling of 2012 in the UK and the US won best band. One Direction won the global success award and even the most devoted opponent of their Simon Cowell-assisted brand of pop would have a hard time arguing that they aren't a global success, given that they've sold about 22m records worldwide.
There are doubtless people on messageboards and in comment sections currently positing angrily and at length that laid-back singer-songwriter Ben Howard isn't necessarily the most exciting new artist to emerge in the past 12 months. On the evidence of his two acceptance speeches, he didn't win on the basis of his fathomless charisma and star quality – but that's a qualitative judgment. The Brits is clearly interested only in making commercial judgements and Howard's debut album has gone platinum.
"The lineup goes from pop to discovery to indie," added Joseph, puffing the event's supposed variety. Leaving aside the fact that he appears to have invented a hitherto-unheard-of genre called discovery, it's perhaps worth noting that the winners aren't really as eclectic as all that. What holds sway in the British musical mainstream in 2013 isn't a genre so much as a certain earnestness: it's perhaps the only thing that links Sandé's pop-soul and Mumford & Sons' tweedy take on acoustic folk rock.
Even One Direction, an old-fashioned boyband cynically manufactured before the general public's very eyes on The X Factor, have bought themselves a slice of sincerity: their last single Little Things was written not by the kind of shadowy production team who make their living intensively farming pop hits but acoustic troubadour Ed Sheeran, whose success is at least partly predicated on his being the diametric opposite of a cynically-manufactured boyband. But again, that's a story already told in the charts, which the Brits, as is its wont these days, only served to reiterate.
Lumbered with a script that appeared to have been written by the same person responsible for the quips in an early 70s Miss World contest, host James Corden spent much of the evening apologising for the solitary moment of off-message excitement at last year's Brits, when Adele's acceptance speech was cut short. Adele didn't turn up this year to collect her best single award for Skyfall, opting instead to rehearse for her performance at Sunday's Oscars ceremony in Los Angeles.
Certainly there were no surprises among the winners, which furthermore rather defy any kind of meaningful analysis. The Brits exist to reward success, thus the winners tell you nothing about the state of British music that anyone with even a glancing knowledge of the charts doesn't know already.
You could argue that makes the Brit awards slightly superfluous to requirements, as the winners had been rewarded fairly abundantly for their efforts even before they took delivery of the spotted statuettes Corden described a little confusingly as designed "by the visually British artist Damien Hirst", but it means there's something inarguable about the results.
Emeli Sandé, whose debut album was the biggest-selling new release of 2012, won two awards. Mumford & Sons, whose second album Babel was the fastest-selling of 2012 in the UK and the US won best band. One Direction won the global success award and even the most devoted opponent of their Simon Cowell-assisted brand of pop would have a hard time arguing that they aren't a global success, given that they've sold about 22m records worldwide.
There are doubtless people on messageboards and in comment sections currently positing angrily and at length that laid-back singer-songwriter Ben Howard isn't necessarily the most exciting new artist to emerge in the past 12 months. On the evidence of his two acceptance speeches, he didn't win on the basis of his fathomless charisma and star quality – but that's a qualitative judgment. The Brits is clearly interested only in making commercial judgements and Howard's debut album has gone platinum.
"The lineup goes from pop to discovery to indie," added Joseph, puffing the event's supposed variety. Leaving aside the fact that he appears to have invented a hitherto-unheard-of genre called discovery, it's perhaps worth noting that the winners aren't really as eclectic as all that. What holds sway in the British musical mainstream in 2013 isn't a genre so much as a certain earnestness: it's perhaps the only thing that links Sandé's pop-soul and Mumford & Sons' tweedy take on acoustic folk rock.
Even One Direction, an old-fashioned boyband cynically manufactured before the general public's very eyes on The X Factor, have bought themselves a slice of sincerity: their last single Little Things was written not by the kind of shadowy production team who make their living intensively farming pop hits but acoustic troubadour Ed Sheeran, whose success is at least partly predicated on his being the diametric opposite of a cynically-manufactured boyband. But again, that's a story already told in the charts, which the Brits, as is its wont these days, only served to reiterate.
Monday, 14 May 2012
Marking Criteria
Level 1
Explanation/analysis/argument (0-7 marks)
Explanation/analysis/argument (0-7 marks)
- Shows minimal understanding of the task
- Minimal knowledge and understanding of institutional/audience practices – general opinions or assertions predominate
- Minimal argument evident, with little reference to case study material
- Of minimal relevance to set question or a very brief response
Use of examples (0-7 marks)
- Offers minimal use of case study material
- Offers a limited range of or inappropriate examples
- Offers examples of minimal relevance to set question
Use of terminology (0-3 marks)
- Minimal or frequently inaccurate use of appropriate terminology
Level 2
Explanation/analysis/argument (8-11 marks)
Explanation/analysis/argument (8-11 marks)
- Shows basic understanding of the task
- Basic knowledge and understanding of institutional/audience practices – factual knowledge will have some accuracy
- Basic argument evident, with some reference to case study material
- Some relevance to set question
Use of examples (8-11 marks)
- Offers some evidence from case study material
- Offers a partial range of examples from case study and own experience
- Offers examples of some relevance to the set question
Use of terminology (4-5 marks)
- Some terminology used, although there may be some inaccuracies
Level 3
Explanation/analysis/argument (12-15 marks)
Explanation/analysis/argument (12-15 marks)
- Shows proficient understanding of the task
- Proficient knowledge and understanding of institutional/audience practices – factual knowledge is mostly
- Some developed argument, supported by reference to case study material
- Mostly relevant to set question
Use of examples (12-15 marks)
- Offers consistent evidence from case study material
- Offers a range of examples, in some detail, from case study and own experience
- Offers examples which are mostly relevant to the set question
Use of terminology (6-7 marks)
- Use of terminology is mostly accurate
Level 4
Explanation/analysis/argument (16-20 marks)
Explanation/analysis/argument (16-20 marks)
- Shows excellent understanding of the task
- Excellent knowledge and understanding of institutional/audience practices – factual knowledge is relevant and accurate
- A clear and developed argument, substantiated by detailed reference to case study material
- Clearly relevant to set question
Use of examples (16-20 marks)
- Offers frequent evidence from case study material – award marks to reflect the range and appropriateness of examples
- Offers a full range of detailed examples from case study and own experience
- Offers examples which are clearly relevant to the set question
Use of terminology (8-10 marks)
- Use of terminology is relevant and accurate
Wednesday, 9 May 2012
Terminology Quiz to apply to your study
Convergence
-Coming together of multimedia digital technologies allowing audio, video, graphics, games and animation (eg iphone)
or
- Coming together of institutions (eg EMI bought up by Sony & Universal)
Synergy-
-The coming together of two media texts to benefit them both eg: a film and its soundtrack will be released
Conglomerate-
-An international company with a wide and varied range of commercial interests
Globalisation-
-The growing tendency of industrial and commercial companies to merge and operate on an international rather than regional basis
Vertical Intragration- -The takeover of companies operating at different stages of the production/distribution/exchange - in musicopoly this let you operate 50% more efficiently
Horizontal Integration-
-The merger of competing companies from the same line of business (ie if itunes & Spotify merged) and involved at the same level of activity
Major Record Label-
-They are the 'Big Three' music companies which are Sony/BMG, Universal and Warner Brothers
Subsidiary Label-
-A company controlled by a holding or parent company (ie Syco & Sony)
Independent Label-
-Not connected to a major company (ie XL or Ninja Tune)
Niche Audience-
-A targeting of a small but significant group of consumers with a media product directed specifically at their interests
Mainstream Audience-
-The uncontroversial, generally accepted attitudes, beliefs and values of the majority population
Fans-
-Someone who has a strong interest and belief in the band or artist
Prosumers
-Audience as active participantants in the process of both PROducing and conSUMING of media texts
Consumption-
-Buying/downloading/streaming/filesharing music, paying for live convert tickets etc
Web 2.0-
-The second phase of the internet, where the focus shifts from people receiving information and services to people creating and sharing material (music 2.0 is related to this)
Download-
-The practise of selecting and receiving digital information from an online source on a computer, as opposed to sending it by upload
Streaming-
-A method of relaying data over a computer network as a steady continuous stream, allowing playback to proceed while subsequent data is being received
Peer to Peer-
-The sharing of media material between two parties in an equal relationship
Piracy-
-Distribution of media material that infringes copyright law
Portability / Miniaturisation-
-The quality of being light enough to be carried (iphone & Djay app anyone?)
Sampling-
-the technique of digitally encoding music or sound and reusing it as part of a composition or recording - you have done this with your mash ups
Artists and Repertoire (A&R)-
-Is the division of a record label that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists. It also acts as a liaison between artists and the record label. They use your followers/friends on social media now to make this judgement
Record Deal - Contract - Royalties-
-A recording deal is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist or group, where the artist makes a record or series of records for the label to sell and promote
Distribution-
-Promoting music and getting it into shops, on the radio and downloaded for payment
Plugging / Marketing-
-The transmission of information about a media text to a target audience in such a way as to maximise its appeal to that audience
or
- Coming together of institutions (eg EMI bought up by Sony & Universal)
Synergy-
-The coming together of two media texts to benefit them both eg: a film and its soundtrack will be released
Conglomerate-
-An international company with a wide and varied range of commercial interests
Globalisation-
-The growing tendency of industrial and commercial companies to merge and operate on an international rather than regional basis
Vertical Intragration- -The takeover of companies operating at different stages of the production/distribution/exchange - in musicopoly this let you operate 50% more efficiently
Horizontal Integration-
-The merger of competing companies from the same line of business (ie if itunes & Spotify merged) and involved at the same level of activity
Major Record Label-
-They are the 'Big Three' music companies which are Sony/BMG, Universal and Warner Brothers
Subsidiary Label-
-A company controlled by a holding or parent company (ie Syco & Sony)
Independent Label-
-Not connected to a major company (ie XL or Ninja Tune)
Niche Audience-
-A targeting of a small but significant group of consumers with a media product directed specifically at their interests
Mainstream Audience-
-The uncontroversial, generally accepted attitudes, beliefs and values of the majority population
Fans-
-Someone who has a strong interest and belief in the band or artist
Prosumers
-Audience as active participantants in the process of both PROducing and conSUMING of media texts
Consumption-
-Buying/downloading/streaming/filesharing music, paying for live convert tickets etc
Web 2.0-
-The second phase of the internet, where the focus shifts from people receiving information and services to people creating and sharing material (music 2.0 is related to this)
Download-
-The practise of selecting and receiving digital information from an online source on a computer, as opposed to sending it by upload
Streaming-
-A method of relaying data over a computer network as a steady continuous stream, allowing playback to proceed while subsequent data is being received
Peer to Peer-
-The sharing of media material between two parties in an equal relationship
Piracy-
-Distribution of media material that infringes copyright law
Portability / Miniaturisation-
-The quality of being light enough to be carried (iphone & Djay app anyone?)
Sampling-
-the technique of digitally encoding music or sound and reusing it as part of a composition or recording - you have done this with your mash ups
Artists and Repertoire (A&R)-
-Is the division of a record label that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists. It also acts as a liaison between artists and the record label. They use your followers/friends on social media now to make this judgement
Record Deal - Contract - Royalties-
-A recording deal is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist or group, where the artist makes a record or series of records for the label to sell and promote
Distribution-
-Promoting music and getting it into shops, on the radio and downloaded for payment
Plugging / Marketing-
-The transmission of information about a media text to a target audience in such a way as to maximise its appeal to that audience
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