It's Over

Hello Jennifer Andreae and class,

Considering I have no previous experience with creating podcasts, I am surprised by how good and semi professional mine sounds. I'm happy that I was able to research a topic that I'm genuinely interested in. I was able to discuss the economic, political, and social aspects of music in a way that is accessible to listeners, in comparison to theses and books written on the topic. This assignment was a nice break from the typical string of essays I'm used to doing. 

If I had a couple of more hours I would have changed the fading for my music, at parts the transition into dialogue isn't as smooth as I'd like it to be. I'd also think of a better title.

What's one piece of advice you'd offer to a student just starting this course?

I feel like I've answered this question at least three times, in response to some similarly phrased question. Don't mind my sass, I am just overly stressed and tired. My one piece of advice for future students would be to get as familiar as you possibly can with your chosen recording software. I am not, as I've mentioned before (in a similarly phrased way), very technologically capable. I had to rely on someone to help me save and convert my podcast to the correct file. Short story shorter, said person did not save my work, and actually lost it in the process. So I had to rerecord, reformat and reedit my entire podcast... on the day it was due. Also, don't procrastinate. Like one of my blogger's friends said: procrastination is an art, sadly one that doesn't pay well.

The Marriage of the Popular and the Commercial

Remix Republic

Welcome to this week's episode, "The Marriage of the Popular and the Commercial."
Why do people listen to the music that they listen to? Why is it that the songs that you hate the most are the one's floating around in your head right now?

I discuss copyright law and the effects of popular music in advertisements on consumers. 
This episode will focus on the licensing process using current commercial advertisements as a topic for consumer targeting and manipulation.

I do not own the rights to any of the music used in this podcast. This podcast is intended for a private group of academics, not the general public, making the use of copyrighted music admissible under Public Music Law.

Bernice Afriye, W14: Software

Hello Professor Andreae and class,

I had to make two small downloads to get access to all of Audacity's features. I also needed to download an encoder to be able to transfer the recorded file into mp3 format. I am not at all technologically competent, so I relied on tutorials, videos, feedback and reviews (go figure) to teach  me how to use basic I recorded a simple conversation and then proceeded to try and edit it. It was very difficult to cut out specific portions, until I watched a video by seeitdoit titled "Audacity - Audio Editing" and learned how to use the zoom function to accurately edit files.

Audacity has a great Wiki page that goes though how to stream audio, split and record tracks, remove tracks, record vocals, fade music and other helpful tips for new users. I'd recommend that before downloading the software you check the site to make sure your laptop can support Audacity and that you feel comfortable using the software. The Wiki page goes through step by step how to se specific features, but it is hard to absorb all of that information at once. These are some of the most helpful sources that beginner programers should visit:

seeitdoit: "Audacity- Audio Editing"

Jerome Gratigny: Learn how to use Audacity

wiki how: 4 Ways to Use Audacity

How to Podcast: Audacity Tutorial for Podcasters

If you are having trouble using Audacity, even after accessing these sources and visiting Audacity's page, know that you are not alone. Learning how to use Audacity is a frustrating process. You should allow yourself at least a week to familiarize yourself with the new software. If you are still finding the tools difficult to navigate, try to make your recordings as seamless as possible so you are required to do less editing later on.

With that said, I don't like how my voice sounds recorded. That isn't something that is not likely going resolve itself overtime. However, I am satisfied with the quality of the recording and can't wait to start recording the entire episode. My micrphone is really sensitive, as a warning to my fellow and aspiring podcasters, make sure that noise interference is a minimal.

I haven't recorded anything so complex as a podcast and am a little intimidated at the thought of editing my material down to fifteen minutes. Editing my sample conversation was easy, but I don't know if I will have the same luck with my episode. I am committed to getting to know Audacity but I have alternatives just in case this relationship doesn't work out.

Bernice Afriyie, W14: Structure

Hello Professor Andreae and class,

My podcast episode involves a lot of background information on licensing, popular music and viewer response, followed by dynamic and interesting examples that illustrate my point. Throughout the podcast I return to my main example of OneRepublic and Walt Disney, but I also tie in other instances of popular music being used in commercials. 

Because of the back and forth between illustration and exposition, this diagram best describes the structure of my podcast. There are large amounts of information that is easy to understand, followed by examples that listeners will be able to easily digest. Under the Influence uses a similar structure, where O'Reilly explains complex ideas and then gives examples that illustrate his point. The examples and anecdotes are the high points and they are spaced out in such a way, for both my podcast and the one that I am emulating, that the listener's interest is sustained throughout the episode.

Under the Influence sometimes starts with captivating anecdotes. I tried to emulate that in my podcast, starting off with a story about me and my experiences with popular music in commercial advertising. The exclamation points represent anecdotes and stories, and the curved lines represent the build up towards them.

However, my structure differs from Under the Influence in that my episode can be divided into two major sections (as represented by the vertical line). The first half deal with music licensing and the second half with the effects of popular music in commercial advertisements on viewers. Under the Influence doesn't have such distinct sections in their podcasts, they usually deal with multiple topics related to a single marketing concept. With that said, we both present topics that are relevant to consumers.

I counted 23 citations in total for the episode "Icon for Access."

Bernice Afriyie, W14: Research Strategies

Hello Professor Andreae and class,
I preferred using and primarily relied on library databases for my research. The databases provide peer reviewed scholarly articles in their full text. The jounals that I found on the databases also included full citations and references so it was easy to find similar articles.

Google Scholar was not as useful for my research because there were not a lot of options for search modification. Refining my search with Google Scholar did not give me as much relevant articles as Proquest Sociology did. Also, Google Scholar's citation information was not easy to find, and I could not find the sources that authors cited. Another one of my irritations with Google Scholar is that some of their sources are useful but they are only previews. I found a book by Al Kohn that was related to my subject but there were only select pages available with no page numbers at that. 

I combined the two resources by focussing my quantitative efforts on Google Scholar and my qualitative efforts on library databases. Despite my difficulties with Google Scholar, I found some information on music licensing. Using York Library's resources I was able to find articles on music's effects on consumers, music's relationship to advertisement and music's ability to encourage brand loyalty. 

Both forms of data are important but for future assignments I will rely more on library databases. These databases offer specific information and source credits, and if I familiarize myself more with these online resources I am sure that I will be able to find quantitative data through the library as well.

Bernice Afriyie, W14: Digging Deeper

Hello Professor Jennifer Andreae and class,

As I've delved into my research these past days it has been frustrating finding sources related to my topic, even popular ones. However, through some search refinement I was able to fin some great pieces.

Some of the popular sources that I've read provide an intra-music perspective on popular music and advertisements, whereas I'm looking for a sociological and economic perspective on popular music and advertisement. I am trying to find articles in mainstream journals and magazines that challenge the use of popular music in advertisements, beyond the typical: artists sell themselves to companies, but it is hard. 

I found a great entry in a work by Theodore Adorno called "Popular Music," and though it was published in 1976 his observations about the effects of music on the psychology of consumers is accurate. His work with the nostalgia, contradictions, ideologies and marketing of popular is so well written and accurate that he has probably been sourced by his modern peers. I am in the process of finding recent articles that source Adorno so that I can maybe reference his work in relation to an author focussing on the current state of popular music.

My focus, as I stated before, is in a sociological and psychological perspective of popular music and its use in advertisements. I have the Adorno article as well as a peer reviewed article by Hsuan-Yi Chou and Nai-Hwa Lien's article "Advertising effects of songs' nostalgia and lyrics' relevance." My next step is to review these two piecces and find out the credibility of the authors as researchers. If these articles suit my needs and are credible and peer reviewed, I will proceed to find articles that they source and are sourced by them to build a solid research bank.

Bernice Afriyie, W14: Topic Refinement

Hello Jennifer Andreae and class,

I found the pitch to be helpful in deciding the general topics I wish to cover, but the actual Initial Research Plan aided in narrowing my focus significantly. My pitch involved sub questions of my research thesis, however I felt that in my pitch my thesis was not as clear and concise as it could have been.

With that said, the pitch was useful and should be used in other writing assignments. It forces you to tailor your ideas to a targeted audience – the people who will theoretically be hearing your pitch, instead of your professor – which is good for accessing whether or not your topic is relevant, engaging and interesting. I also liked the pitch assignment because it forces you to do research beforehand, instead of a week before the assignment is due. I saw problems in my research thesis and was able to fix it weeks before the podcast was due. That wouldn't have been an option without these little assignments along the way.

My refined show idea is as follows:
Do companies use popular music in their commercials to reach large audiences in the hopes of securing a target demographic?

If anyone is interested in reading my pitch, here it is:

             How many of you have a jingle from a television commercial stuck in your head, running around wildly? Well considering that millions of advertisements are released annually and that the Journal of Advertising Research reports that in 2008 alone 94% of the 3456 ads aired during prime-time television contain some form of music, it makes sense that at least a couple of these would cling linger and cling to your mind. I have hundreds of nonsensical jingles cached away in my brain, ready to be triggered by the slightest of provocation. I was having a conversation with my brother the other day and he mentioned personality. Personality, a word with many constructs, concepts and emotions attached to it, and instead of thinking about any of thee I thought: spreadable cheese. After which, I sang the jingle for Cheez Whiz. The process of associating personality with something so completely unrelated as spreadable cheese was instantaneous.

            Companies employ a musical rhetoric, playing on lyricism, rhythm and visual stimulation all compacted into the fifteen second jingle. This form of musical persuasion encompasses popular music in ads as well. Under the Influence, the podcast show I am emulating, discusses the process of anchoring in their “Psychology of Price” episode. A company will advertise an expensive product alongside (acting as an anchor) alongside a cheaper product of similar design, so that the consumer is steered towards the less expensive product – the actual target product.

            Popular music, with its catchy tunes and simple lyrics are used in commercial advertisements to steer consumers towards the actual message of the advertisement. Whether the consumer likes the music being used or not, the music – combined with visuals and dialogue – will influence how the consumer remembers the ad. For example, a heavy machinery company that airs a commercial with no dialogue or music, simply a man working intently in a bulldozer would be far less impressive than an advertisement containing the same man, sweating and talking while swinging on a wrecking ball with Miley Cirus playing in the background.

            People think that their musical preferences are a result of their own interests and inclinations; therefore they can’t be swayed so easily by music in commercial ads, but is this true? Are music preferences, whether they are rock, pop, hip hop, Goth or country in nature, manipulated by companies through ads to gear consumers towards certain products? The hipster who only listens to artist with less than a thousand followers keep the feather earing, headband, leather bag and Doc Martin companies in business. This is characteristic of music genres in general, as they all have certain codes, clothes and materials associated with them. With this in mind, can music be artistic as well as a tool for marketing? Is music even an artistic endeavour, or is it just another flashy trick to ensure consumers keep consuming? Are the people that tailor our clothes, shoes, bags and hair tailoring our music? I want to know specifically, and I think consumers will as well, is popular music a manufactured product, created by companies to secure a demand demographic?

...

I'd love to hear feedback form you, my wonderful class, on how intriguing and suitable this topic will be for Under the Influence. I'd appreciate any tips suggestions avenues I should explore in musical advertisement, especially from those who have a background in music, marketing and psychology.