Three similar artists

Nick Drake
An English folk singer-songwriter and musician.
Nick Drake's public profile remained low before his death and it has only been since the mid 1980's when people realised how influential his music was/is.
Who is their audience and how do they appeal to their audience?
Nick Drakes audience are those of the 'hippie culture', and some are also likely to be alone and unhappy - the same position as what Drake was in while writing his songs as his lyrics reflected his emotions. Although since researching up on Nick Drake's fans a lot have said that when they are in that state of mind they listen to his albums to bring themselves back. Nick Drakes audience is more middle-aged working or middle class people rather than the younger generation.
Nick Drake died long before he was recognised so he did not manage to land himself any big gigs. However, he did sign to island records and released his debut album "Five Leaves Left". There are now fansites made for Nick Drake - http://www.nickdrake.com/
Nick Drake was very secretive and no footage of him exists he was only ever captured in stills. This makes it hard to understand how he appealed to his audience or even if he appealed atall while most of Drakes lifetime he relied on word of mouth. Most musicians/singers appeal to their audience by their fashion, although Drake doesn't look like the typical 'star' this is how he appeared to gain fans with his unique style of clothing as he has somewhat been frozen in time there are still people today who dress as Nick Drake did.
Lots of musicians respect Nick Drake for his inimitable way of producing his music for example his song River man is noted for its 5/4 time and use of prosody.

A Stranger Among Us Documentray - Nick Drake. Part 1


This is the first part of a documentary of Nick Drake.

Nick Drake didnt interact with people very much therefore he didnt have much of an audience. However, the fact that there is no footage of him makes people of this day in age more interested in him and interested in his life as to why he was so idle.
In his song Fruit Tree his lyrics are "safe in your place deep in the earth, thats when they'll know what you were truly worth, forgotten while you're here"

Fans of Nick Drake may also like:

• Bob Dylan
• Niel Young
• Paul Weller
• Janis Joplin
  

Eels
An American alternative band formed by the singer/songwriter Mark Everett, better known as E. Other members rotate frequently.
Who is their audience and how do they appeal to them?
The eels music is a mixture of alternative, rock and lo-fi. This gives them a wider range of audiences; from the 'indie' kind of style and the 'rock' kind of style. The eels correlate with their audience with their fashion which is generic for their type of genre - plain clothing, no bright colours, mostly dull colours like green, black, white, denim etc.
The eels come across as the sort of 'lazy boy' type of people who smoke and drink and dont care about current issues, this is similar to their typical audience.

E interview on an Australian TV show. 2003. Part1.

This interview is very ironic and E is clearly being sarcastic with a lot of the things he says. I cant work out if its because he doesn't like the interviewer or he may have been told what to say, either way I think he plays it well by not grinning or smiling throughout. E from the eels is arrogant in himself, this may be the cause of his success as most successful people will agree with me that you have to be arrogant to be successful otherwise there is no place for you. For the younger viewers of this television programme who dont know who The Eels are, this can be very misleading and give a bad impression about the band, but to be honest; I dont think the eels care about this aspect as they have reliable fans and a lot of fans anyway.

This is the album cover of daisies of the galaxy 2000.
It appears that none of the eels album covers actually show the band all together - a few just have E but most of them are more arty.
This album cover seems to be the most colourful and the most illustrated one, this sort of reflects the songs from this album as they're more cheerful for example their most known one from this album is Mr. E's beautiful blues as it was featured on the film 'Road Trip'.



This is the latest cd cover for the eels (2010) for their album tomorrow morning. This album cover is rather tranquil and shows a more peaceful representation of their genre/songs.
I really like this album cover and I think its affective. However it's not very generic but I think that works well.







What can you learn from this artist about how to appeal to their audience?
The fact that E barley interacts with the audience at gigs and live shows makes it difficult to learn from the band, however in the long run it is mostly mainstream artists who like to interact with their audience at gigs. The eels do world wide tours and shows and have recently opened an official website for their fans http://www.eelstheband.com/
Their fans are clearly important to them.

Fans of the eels may also like:

• Blur
• The Verve
• Supergrass
• Radiohead
• RX Bandits
  

Finley Quaye
A British musician. Grew up influenced by jazz musicians such as Pete King and Ronnie Scott.
He won the 1997 Mobo Award for best reggae act and the 1998 BRIT award for best male solo artist.Who is their audience and how do they appeal to their audience?
Finley Quaye appeals to a multicultural audience. The obvious influences are from reggae and acoustic folk. These genres together give a unique and interesting sound that is easily distinguished. The combination of folk and reggae broadens his potential audience as each are very different in style but share various musical similarities such as the chilled tempo and use of samples and effects. Finley appeals to his audience by maintainig a contemporary image. He also follows the trend of successfull mainstream musicians as he conforms to the expectations of a typical pop star.

How do they interact with their audience?
Finley Quaye interacts with his audience with the lyrics he sings which are mostly about nature and love; they are things that all kinds of people of all ages can connect with.
Finley Quaye doesn't have a fan site or an official website as of yet. However he is currently touring the UK and is scheduled to do many festivals through the summer.

CD Covers

Maverick a strike 1997. This was the album that made Finley Quaye. His first album. The front cover is a close up of his own face, the font is done in a digital kind of style which enhances the fact that he's a new addition to the music scene.







Finley Quayes second album Vanguard. Again a picture of himself on the front cover. Looks as though he is really trying to sell himself as an artist.
The font looks almost psychedellic - opposite to his style of music.








Much more than much love (2004).
The whole cd cover is simple, which I think is affective. However I think that this cover looks more like a single cd cover rather than an album cover.










Finley Quaye - Even After All


Finley Quayes music video for his song Even after all. Lots of references to nature as the seasons turn while he maintains sitting on the bench. The video shows the artist throughout this shows how Finley Quaye is trying to make it as a 'popstar'. Many close up shots of his face and close up shots of parts of his body. The black and white effect make the video authentic and sort of dream like with cuts to rain drops and leaves flying in slow motion. The video begins and ends in the same place which I also think is very affective.

Fans of Finley Quaye may also like:

• Jack Johnson
• Bandits Of The Acoustic Revolution
• David Gray

This is the camera I used for shooting my music video. It's a Sony Handycam. The quality of the camera isn't great but it's good for landscape shooting. It also picks up the diegetic sound while filming - this is good for future use in the video, for example in my video Im keeping the sound of the wind and the sea in parts of my video.

Costumes

I asked Laurence to wear casual clothing. As this resembles his genre.
Originally I wanted a plain t shirt for him to wear as I thought i didnt want to draw much attention to his clothing as it wasnt the main feature of my music video. I began thinking that blue was the best option because it gives the impression that the artist is quirky or energetic which i think the artist has plenty of.
However, on the day of the shoot he came wearing a grey t shirt with "O'niell" written on it. In the end this t shirt worked out well because of the audience he attracts (surfers, campers, festival go-ers).


I asked Laurence if he could wear green trousers, this was because I think that the colour green reflects someone who is laid back and this goes with the genre and the song itself.
I wanted Laurence to wear trousers so he would look sophisticated.
I also think shorts or an alternative garment would look effortless and carelessc.








These shoes are very similar to the ones Laurence was wearing on the shoot. As i said before I wanted his appearence to be as casual as everyday wear so his audience could familiarise themselves with him.
The fact that they are black draw no attention to them which i thought was a good addition because they could be distracting if they were a colour.

Folk, Acoustic and Alternative album covers

Janis Joplin's album cover isn't very generic to her music but i really like the psychedellic writing. This is something I have considered for my album cover.
I also like that the picture is her looking like a queen, sitting on a throne with glamorous clothing and throws around her.
This album cover isn't like the normal folk album covers as they normally have some sort of reference to the music.




The eels have some of my favourite album covers. This one being one of them; there is something about kid art which i really like and it being on the front of an album cover gives it a peaceful kind of look.

I have thought about drawing something for my album cover too, maybe not kid art but something similar; i like the idea of abstract art sort of like picasso.

This is another one of the eels album covers, this one called 'beautiful freak'. I like the idea of the young girl with the psychedellic eyes. and that its in black and white - the only part that isn't in black and white are the words 'eels' which i find effective.

This album cover is very famous for this genre. It's known as 'the sublime sun' I really like this album cover and its most probably my favourite.

I think that this album cover only suits bands or artists that are alternative or ska. This sort of album cover does not suit the type of genre that my artist is, however I really like the idea and the image.

Neil Young's album cover is the kind of album cover I would use for my artist. As i said before I really like drawings for an album cover and this one is very affective, i like the bright colours and the abstract patterns at the bottom of the cover. The font is simple and bold which contradicts the rest of the image. In my opinon this is the most suitable for the genre of my artist.

Nick Drake 'Pink Moon' album cover is many different objects floating around, it takes a while to work out what the objects are and this is what I like about this cover. Its not very eye catching and it doesn't really mean anything but thats why its so affective. With Nick Drake being as modest as he was - this suits his type of music.

Jason Mraz - Im yours

This music video was what I was somewhat basing my music video on.
I like the middle-of-the-summer impression of the video and that the shots dont look professional; as if it was done on a hand held camera.
There are many landscape shots which is what i was trying to achieve from the beach, hay bails, the river and the mill. When i first saw this music video really liked the silhouette shots of the artist which is also what I tried with my artist on the sand dunes.
Close up shots of different parts of the artist's body, for example: feet tapping or fingers tapping to the beat of his song is also something that i really liked about this video and i think it works very affectivley.
I used skateboarders in my video which is similar to this one, i think it works well if it is slowed down into slow motion and the skateboarders land/perform their tricks to the beat.
Unlike my video this video is slowed down the entire way through, I thought about doing this however my song is a bit faster than this one so the slow motion wouldn't work as well. My video lacks other people as at the moment i only have two people in it, I think this puts more emphasise and focus on the artist.
In this video Jason Mraz is dressed in casual clothing and is wearing a hat, it looks as if he is on holiday - this is what i was trying to attain with my artist, I asked him to wear impromptu clothing (t-shirt and everyday trousers) to capture the feel of the late summer; my artist also wore a hat and with that i asked him to take it off now and then and use it as a prop by throwing it and playing with it.
The Jason Mraz video is very much similar to mine in the way that there is no strict narrative structure to it, it is just shots of the artist (alomost like a day in the life) and his friends.

Eels - Novacaine for the soul

This is one of my favourite music videos. I really like the idea of the floating band.
There is no diegetic sounds in the video, this makes it seem even more as if it is a dream or a fanstasy; along with the black and white effect.
Lots of close up and high angle shots of the band make them look over powering, in addition to the fact that they are all wearing black.
I really like the ending to this music video as they all stop floating and walk out of the passage way and into the street.
The genre of the eels (alternative) has elements of the same genre of my artist as it is quite tranquil; with this song by the eels is loosely alternative and not the typical alternative rock song that you would expect.
The costumes of the band is casual/informal which is the same costumes as my artist is wearing on my music video.