Digipak analysis

Digipaks contain higher quality images for the audience and usually contain a letter or note from the artist to the audience to help them relate to the artist and give it a personal touch, they may also contain bonus songs which is unavailable on CD, it has six sides, so there is more room for promotion and information on the artist which helps the artist sell themselves and catch the attention of a wider audience, it will be seen as a collectors item by fans as well, making them want to purchase it, the information is easy to access, making it longer lasting and appealing to the audience. I have chosen to analyse Gabrielle Aplins 'english rain' digipak, this is her most famous digipak and is huge within her fan base.

This image represents the artist as unique and different to other artists, almost in her own world, drawing in the audience to see whats so different about her compared to other artists, the connotation of the digipak invokes happiness, although there is lots of dull colours around the artist she shines through and this is portrayed using the multi coloured umbrella, the black and white colours portray depression and sadness in the background but at the forefront the multicoloured umbrella shows the happiness and joy and her flamboyant personality shining through, the layout has the artist in the dead centre to show that she is the most important and the key person within the song, helping the audience memorise her as an artist and therefore helps her sell future songs to her audience, the typography for 'english rain' is extremely indie and shows the audience what genre the artist is, helping attract the audience she wants, the style of language of 'english rain' shows the simplicity and purity of her music and shows how straight up it is and has no hidden meanings, it is just what is says in the song, this part of the digipak shows the audience the theme of the rest of the digipak and songs within it, allowing for the correct audience to be drawn in and therefore prevents the wrong fans from listening to it and not enjoying it, therefore it's chances of succeeding along with the artist are increased and allows the artist to become wider renounced within the indie genre industry.

The digipak promotes the genre as dark, but having a silver lining and a not being all gloom, through the use of dark colours contrasting against the bright colours, it also shows it has truth about it and not just a load of concept in which it is selling you a dream life style and isn't just showing off the artists wealth, something that the audience would be able to relate to and understand/ emphasise with the artists situation, meaning the artist and audience create a closer relationship, which makes the artist more likely to be successful and relate to a wider audience.

It promotes the artist as down to earth and a normal, everyday person that goes through the same feelings and relationships as every other person and does not live a different lifestyle to her fans, it does this by using a simple lay out and plain background, this makes her more appealing and achievable to the audience, making her, in turn, more likeable, which is helpful when trying to become a big artist as you need a lot of people to like you and your music and to back you in your journey to become a star and to become successful within a wider audience.

The digipak attracts the audience as it does not show off any flashy lifestyles or cars and half naked girls, it is a mature and real genre which the audience can relate to and really get into, not just use to dream of a better lifestyle and become jealous of the artist, it attracts those that are more mature and realists, just wanting to enjoy music instead of envy the artists behind it.

This research has allowed our group to see how to appeal to certain audiences and specifically the indie audience, this will help us understand what our digipak should aim to look like and why, we will use a dull dark background with flashes of colour to show it is real and blunt but not too sad and depressive, but enough to be real and relatable to the audience, letting them really get into the music, also we will place our artist in the direct centre of the screen to help the audience focus on her, having a blank background around her so there are no distractions for the audience, helping them memorise her face and therefore helping her become more successful and appeal to a wider audience. There will be a slide specifically designated to the list of songs within the album, which will stick to the colour scheme and will have a scene of fields, the same with all the other slides, allowing for them to link together and give off an effect of a nature loving, down to earth artist, all the slides will follow this theme to reinforce this idea into the audiences head and make her more likeable to her fanbase.

Magazine advert analysis

The main purpose of a magazine advert is to promote an artists album or upcoming tour dates, it will allow the artist to reach a wider audience, e.g people that read magazines and listen to music, will possibly interest them enough to , to help constantly remind her audience of upcoming singles/albums and tours, also to create more marketing for the tours or upcoming albums/singles as well, it also allows other companies to support her and push up sales which profits not only her, but the company promoting her as well, and finally to link in with any articles within the magazine. The two adverts I have chosen to analyse are a Gabrielle Aplin tour advert and a Nina Nesbitt tour advert, I have chosen these as one is my chosen artist and the other is an extremely similar artist to Gabrielle Aplin, allowing me to make a comparison as to why the adverts differ when they are very similar artists and what makes them different as indie singers and their fans enjoy each individual in a different way.

The artist is represented as a dark and deep/emotional person that has felt pain and is using that to influence her music and using real emotion, which gives the music more depth and allows the audience to relate to her as she is a normal person, dark colours are used to contrast with the white, showing her unconventional side and her unique personality breaking through, also the words stand out due to the white being opposite to black, she is positioned in the middle to focus the attention on her to show her importance and that she is the main person. The advert promotes the music genre as it shows the unconventionality of it and why it is different from other genres and the talent of its artists, it shows the individuality of the artist and makes her stand out, due to her being different to other artists she stands out and appeals to the audience, the connotations of this are that the artist is running away from depression and sadness (dark background) to try to stay in the light (happiness), also it represents her as having a dark background she wants to get away from, the typography is very bold and stands out, this shows that she is very open and is a very forward person, also it is done so that the audience can memorise what is said due to the boldness of it, making it stick in their mind, the style of language is straight to the point, again showing how forward she is and helping it stay in the audiences memory, it only uses the information the audience need and no more than that, the advert promotes the music genre as open and light hearted but with a dark emotional hidden message, which the audience can relate to and emphasise with the artist, it promotes the artist as open and down to earth, with a dark background like many other people in the real world, that she is just trying to get away from and start a happier, better life, the advert attracts the audience as it shows the information needed without any information thats not needed and therefore attracts the audience as it is a brief read that informs the audience in all they need to know.

The artist is represented as bright and colourful, meaning she has a bright and lovable personality, making the audience like her more due to her being so upbeat, the colours show her bright and upbeat music and therefore attract the audience to her music due to it looking fun and enjoyable, the design has quite a blank background of just a brick wall, making her the main subject, her being enlarged to make her stand out is key as well. This promotes her as an artist as it makes upbeat and fun loving audiences attracted to her music due to the poster standing out and drawing them in, it promotes her as it makes the audience want to be around her as they know they will enjoy it, the bight colours draw in the audience and keep them interested, the connotations of the advert is that the artist has simple music with a simple life which is no different to anybody else, we can see this through the use of a plain brick wall as a background to show how she is not glamorous and rich like other artists and can be related to by the audience, also she is staring directly at the camera, showing she wants to relate and create a relationship with the audience as it creates a personal relationship with the audience, the typography is fairly bold for the tour dates to help memorise them, but her names is different to normal writing and is more squiggly, showing the fun and  individual side to her personality that they may not have got from the rest of the advert, making the audience warm to her as she has a bit more of a personality,the language is straight to the point so that the audience can memorise what dates are for what locations, the advert promotes the genre as down to earth and straight with the audience, but also has a bit of flair and fun within it which the audience can enjoy and create a relationship with, it also promotes the artist as willing to build relationships with the audience due to her looking directly at the, and also a friendly, down to earth artist that is unique, finally it attracts the audience as it is a simple but colourful advert, which the audience can get all the information from quickly, whilst it is not a dull advertisement.




These ideas have helped us as now we know that the key to drawing in audiences to look at adverts is to relate to the target audience, this means we will need to take ideas from gabrielle aplin as she is who we are basing our music video off and our music aim and target audience will be similar, so we will use the dark songs, also the blank background to keep the audience focused on the artist as well as putting her in the centre of the advert, we want some colour around the artist to show her fun and unique side but also some darker colours around her to show the sadness within her songs which the audience can relate to, also we want the advert to be simple so that the audience will not get overwhelmed with information but enough information to allow them to know tour dates and new album releases, also the name needs to be memorised by the audience and this will be made to stand out to the rest of the poster, along with an image of the actual artist herself, finally we want her to be seen as down to earth by adding a normal, not over the top background, and have her looking at the camera so the audience believes she wants to create a relationship between her and the audience.