Influence on music style

Example

The Artist i'm looking into is Paloma Faith. Her fashion sense is very old fashioned and retro. In all her videos she wears something unusual that we have never seen before and her style is influenced on that from the 50's and old jazz artists. In magazines and on television chat shows her image is again emphasised as she continues the theme in her outfits of a vintage look with a twist. This is because she fits into the indie genre and therefore is being unique and different. Her videos also use many different forms of modern day technology to create this old fashioned look to make it black and white and slightly blurred. Therefore we can see what has influenced her to become the artist that she is.

I will try to carry on using these elements in my music video to make sure it fits into the genre and also so the video looks as effective as possible. I will shoot half my video in black and white to continue the vintage theme and also look at mise en scene to make sure the costumes and settings all fit into the 50's era to make it as similar to the real artist as possible.

The Media

Technology

Laura Mulvey's theory of 'The male gaze' applies here as many artists image and the way they are perceived has changed because of the media. For example Rihanna was originally seen as a young female popstar, but now her videos are shown on the tv and internet, her image has changed massively and she is now seen as a provocative female artist which is not only apparent in her music but her image too. Media types such as the internet and magazines also show artists personal lives so they are now exposed to their audience at all times and we learn about their personalities more.

Technology has had a significant influence on music styles as new technology for video and sound has enabled artists to create new and extravagant music videos. For example, in the music video 'Bring me to life' by Evanescence many special effects are used to create the image of a city scape outside a window with the artist on the ledge of a window. This would not of been possible 20 years ago as the new special effects technology has enabled this to be possible. This develops the music genre of indie greatly as they are always looking for new ideas and ways to be unique.Also new forms of attracting an audience are available such as Twitter, as fans can follow artists and find out new things about their personal lives and their music. This helps new songs and music videos to be spread quickly as the audience can link straight to it.

Social Issues

Many social issues in the media at the time can influence an artist especially with clothing. An example of this is when Lady Gaga wore the meat dress to an awards ceremony and states 'the dress was a statement about one's need to fight for what one believes in, and highlighted her distaste for the US military's don't-ask-don't-tell policy'. That had a direct link to issues going on today which made many of her fans more aware of these problems. Another example of how it influences artists is in the songs they write. For example Chase and Status' 'Time' video focuses on the issue of domestic abuse in the home and as a result made people more aware. Migration is another issue that effects artists because as people move to different places, they take music with them and this is how music has become what it is today. Also artists are having to cater for new audiences with this issue so are constantly having to change their image and make themselves different and interesting.

Fashion

Fashion styles are constantly changing and this has a large influence on different genres as people start to pick up different styles which represents their music well. For example artists in the pop genre are more likely to wear bright bold colours to reflect their music style, whereas Indie artists decide to wear more quirky outfits to relate with their unusual music style. This then rubs off on the audience as magazines often look at artists clothing to influence the audience and also set trends. As the times change and fashion moves on, artists are constantly changing their look to keep up with the times and make sure they are sticking to the trends.

Influences on music genres