Codes and conventions
I feel that our artefact met the codes and conventions of CD covers in general because it included all of the features that a CD cover must have. It included legal and management information (the management being a typical ‘indie’ label – Rough trade) and conventions typical from its genre. Take the front cover image. I feel that this fits in with the genre we were aiming for as it is simple yet has a deep meaning. Symbolic codes behind the image of the burning match may be that it shows some sort of burnt out emotion or depression. The image ties in with the album title ‘Vanished’ because as once a match has in fact burnt out, it will in other words have vanished. Feeling burnt out and as if they had vanished from the ‘crowd’ of modern society may be things that listeners to music in this genre may be feeling. The style of the font that is feature throughout the inlay is simple and curvy, suggesting that the music that would be created by this band would be easy to listen to. We decided to either keep the photographs as black and white images or change them to have a ‘sepia’ affect put onto them.
Looking through the rest of the images in our inlay, you will be able to see that they are stereotypically like many others in the indie-rock genre. This was because we wanted to make sure that we fitted in with the genre. There are two pictures of each of our band members, one being musically influenced and the other to do with apathy or slight depression/loneliness.
Technical codes
Symbolic codes
Language
I feel that our CD cover is telling a story about the way that society can make people feel, rather than telling a story about our band. Society and the people in it can make people feel belittled and worthless, as if there is nothing that they have to keep them happy any more. The images within our CD inlay and the sleeve note within the first few pages tells this story to the listeners of our music and the readers of our inlay. We have succeeded in representing young people and the things that they are going through when completing this album inlay and the lyrics. Younger people (especially teenagers) seem to go through a very confusing and emotional period of time and I feel that we have written/adapted our lyrics and taken our photographs to portray the way that younger people may feel. I believe that we have met the needs of our target audience because of this and that the fact that they can relate to what the lyrics said and can use them for escapism would attract teenagers to buy this CD if it was actually released. We have based all of our decisions on stereotypical judgements.
Organisational issues
As I said earlier on in this piece of coursework, I would expect to released this under a typical independent record label e.g. Rough Trade. I would expect to find this CD released under this label because it is well known for attracting the more independent bands (usually indie-rock) that are stereotypically in our genre. I feel that the first single to be released from this album would be ‘Dirty Cigarettes and Cellophane Cameras’. When we researched into other bands we found that bands like ours had hit singles that had names similar to this.
Summary
If I was a consumer of music and was looking at this CD as an artefact in front of me, I feel as though it would appeal to me. I like the way that the front cover is simple yet has a deep meaning and I am the kind of person who bases their decision on buying a CD on the appearance of the front cover. Ways that this CD could be promoted and distributed could include:
- Advertising in magazines for music fans
- Sending free demo CD’s to subscribers to fan clubs of other bands signed to their label
- Play a live set/gig and promote it using posters and banners
- Hand out money off vouchers for copies of their CDs.
If we were to do this project again, I feel that I would like to try to be more organised about the taking and editing of the band pictures. I feel that we could have taken the pictures elsewhere out of school in more interesting areas with more interesting landscapes.
