Project Title

Feedback.

Once I had made the product, I asked my family and friends for some quick feedback.

1. They pointed out that there is no song list so they do not know which track to go to for a Gotye song for example. I am going to fix this soon, as it is a problem I identified myself. I am putting the songs list on the inside images, I have already done these and posted them. I now just need to print them.
   
2. While I was putting it together, I was told that I needed to add some images that relate on the inside so it doesn't look blank and boring.
   I think I should also stick them to the front cover images or put a piece of paper inbetween so they are less flimsy. This will seem more professional. On the mock CD I made more of a net and then wrote what was going to be on it. I could do this again. The paper used was pretty solid paper. Real CD cases have everything together and when taken out, isn't in different pieces. I will look at CDs at home and figure this out!
   
3. The Pop image needs to fit the case, I need to adjust the sizes. The alternative one almost fits perfectly, the inside image is a little bit big, but I am replacing this anyway. I don't understand how this happens as I made both the same, but the image doesn't seem wide enough for the case. I should be able to fix this easily.

Personal review of product so far.

I think i've done quite well with my product so far, but it does need afew more things changing until it is completely done.
When i first decided I wanted to do this for my project, I didn't realise it would be this difficult or the numerous things I would need to do, like names, songs, designs, and reasons why. This reality hit me after my email from the graphic designer, and i realised he did EVERYTHING where designing was concered.  It seemed like a really amazing job, and maybe something I would like to take up one day.
However, I don't think my CD cover for this project is nothing near as professional, so it would have to be a skill I work on if I want to take it further in life.
Also, I can't design the CDs. I could only draw on them with a permanent marker to add some design to them. I might get feedback on this and try it once the music is burned to the CD.

I am pleased with both of my edits, but the contrast between colours and style is pretty odd. I should have tried to link the colours or text as they are supposed to be a similar brand of compliation CD, just with different genres.

Error

When putting together the CD, I realised that I should have put the songs list on the inside of the CD, because unlike normal CDs, i can't put it on the back as they are back to back. I put these images in because it looked bad with a blank inside. Both of these related to the front covers.

CD Copyright

https://www.eversheds.com/uk/home/articles/index1.page?ArticleID=templatedata%5CEversheds%5Carticles%5Cdata%5Cen%5Ctmt%5CTMT_ebriefing_Advertising_Standards_Authority_copyright_laws

This website is for the Advertising Standards Authority on music copyright laws.
A part that jumped out at me was; "We concluded that the ad misleadingly implied it was acceptable to copy CDs, vinyl and cassettes without the permission of the copyright owner. We also considered that the ad encouraged people to use the advertised product in this way and that, therefore, it incited consumers to break the law."To me, this seems like my CD would be illegal if I published it officially because I haven't asked for permission from the copyright owners (owners of the music, and their image on the front of the picture, photographer and artist in the Pop case.) Even the comsumers can be breaking the law by having the CD.


This website also has a part on format shifting, so in this case, burning to a CD. "This is the case even where the owner of the CD is the only person who listens to the music in the shifted format." So even if it were just me and the diploma class listening to the music, if it weren't for education purposes then it would be illegal too.
Some websites claim that if you own the CD you are ripping or copying, it should keep you on the right side of the law. (http://mp3.about.com/od/digitalmusicfaq/a/cd_copying_laws.htm)


However, there is set to be an updates or a more relaxed law which makes this legal to keep up with the new age of advanced technology. The other reason is that millions of people are copying music and CDs without knowing it is illegal. Some people think this shows "a lack of respect remains for artists who create the original product." (http://uk.news.yahoo.com/archaic-copyright-law-shelved-013411645.html)

Final Pop Edit!

I am really really pleased with this edit!

It was inspired by the one of The Wanted I posted before. I took should and headshots of the featured artists from google, cut them out individually and then put them together on here.

Then, I added a 'posterize' effect, which makes them look a little more cartoon like. Next, I used something I didn't use before. I clicked on 'gradient map'. This gave it the two-tone colour it has. I then adjusted the dark and lights to get this.

The background is the newspaper at the top, which is another google image.

Of course, I cannot claim copyright for the images used but I can't take my own photographs of these artists so it was the only thing I could do to produce my own response to my feedback.

Next, I just need to add text. My next task is deciding on a title for the albums, and create my final edit for the alternative edit.

Album Name Generator

Looks Like Alternative/Pop! - I like this because I can change it to 'Looks like Pop' for the Pop side and 'Looks Like Alternative!' for the Alternative side .It also sounds like 'Now! That's What I Call Music!', and doesn't have any thing to relate to a certain song or artist.
I Can Taste Alternative/Pop! - This also sounds like a good name for a compilation CD because it can be changed to suit both.
Alternative/Pop Is Free! - People say music is free (even though it's not always free), and i think this is a good album name to show this.
Did I Mention Alternative/Pop? - I like this because it's a rhetorical question therefore different to the examples above, can be changed and is good for a compilation CD.

Mock CD

On this side, I would like the pop edit. I want this because of the extra strip at the righthand side. I want to put a pattern that will suit the edit on here.
I have measured, and my edit will need to be 12.cm by 11.8 for this part.

This is the inside where the pop CD will be. I would like an image on the side opposite the CD, because a black piece of white would be boring. It might be simply a background similar to that on the front. I will also put this image underneath the CD, so there are no white parts.

This is where the alternative CD will do. Where it says 'DISK 2', i will have an image. It is useful that i have several guitar pictures.

This is just to show how it is a double disk case.

And finally, this is the back. This is where I will have the alternative edit.

Final song choices - Alternative

To collect these songs, I am just going to make a tally of the most popular artists, of anything but a 'pop' genre,on the song lists. I will then use spotify to find their most listened to song. Then I will have a contrast of consistantly popular, and ever changing on my double disk CD.

As I went through, I found that I wasn't going to get 12 songs mentioned more than three times.
Instead, I am going to see which have the most hits on a song on YouTube. This will be from looking up their most listened to song on Spotify,



Songs I have come up with;

1.The Killers - Mr. Brightside

2.Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Californication

3.Breaking Benjamin -  The Diary of Jane

4.Thirty Seconds To Mars - Closer To The Edge

5.Panic! At The Disco - I Write Sins Not Tradgedies

6.Three Days Grace - I Hate Everything About You

7.Black Keys - Tighten Up

8.Foo Fighters - The Pretender

9.Foster The People -  Pumped Up Kicks

10.Florence+ The Machine - Dog Days Are Over 

11.The Offspring - The Kids Aren't Alright

12.System Of A Down - Chop Suey!

Final songs choice - Pop.

I went through and did a kind of tally of songs on Notepad.










I then went through and chose the 12 most popular songs by putting a '*' next to it, then wrote a new list. I had a problem when I got to number 12, as I had no more song that had been mentioned 5 times, but 2 that had been mentioned 4 times. I chose Flo Rida - Wild Ones because it is a very recent one and very popular one, and has had many weeks in the charts. I added the red dots after the screen shots so the process was more visable.

And this is my final list;

1. Gotye - Somebody that I used to know
2. David Guetta - Titanium
3. Jessie J - Domino
4. Rizzle Kicks - Mama Do The Hump
5. Flo Rida - Good Feeling
6. Labrinth - Earthquake
7. Olly Murs - Dance With Me Tonight
8. Beyonce - Love On Top
 9. Rihanna - We Found Love
10.  Avicii - Levels
11. Drake - Take Care
12. Flo Rida - Wild Ones

Most of the songs are not a suprise as they were consistantly popular. However, there are is one song on there that wasn't on my chart lists, and one that appeared ones. Drake - Take Care and Avicii - Levels. These were very popular on Spotify.

Slightly more complicated edits

I started with this. I cut out each guitar, before i realised I could have just cut out one and then made the rest smaller! I don't think it made any different to the edit though. I like it because it is different to the other edits as I have simply made some colours brighter, made some shade darker, or made something stand out more.

I then messed around and did this. I didn't like the background too much on the other picture, so i tried to make it contrast with the guitars more.

Simple edits and photographs!

Yesterday I painted the guitar again. I wanted to do afew different seasons. I have not uploaded the 'Winter' ones yet. The Autumn ones were the first I uploaded.
To show Spring through this i have included the daffodils and painted flowers on the guitar.
I tried lots of different angles and took more than 50 photographs, and these were the ones I liked best. I edited them to make things stand out and emphasize the parts I liked the most.

I am pleased with all of these, but I am not sure if I would like them to be on the front of my album cover.

 I think i need something abit more clever for this. It will take me more time but I have an idea of what I would like to do.

I would like to take pictures of guitars, each one step further away, and overlap them together. I don't know how well I will be able to do this, but i really hope it works!

Songs list 4/3/12

Top 40 chart -  http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/chart/singles

1. Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know ( 8 Weeks In Chart )
2. Emile Sande - Next To Me ( 2 Weeks In Chart )
3. DJ Fresh - Hot Right Now ( 2 Weeks In Chart )
4. Flo Rida - Wild Ones ( 5 Weeks In Chart )
5. David Guetta - Titanium ( 15 Weeks In Chart )
6. Jessie J - Domino ( 12 Weeks In Chart )
7. Nicki Minaj - Starships ( 2 Weeks In Chart )
8. David Guetta - Turn Me On ( 13 Weeks In Chart )
9. Gym Class Heros - Ass Back Home ( 1 Week In Chart )
10. Will.I.Am - T.H.E (The Hardest Ever) ( 3 Weeks In Chart )
11. Ed Sheeran - Drunk ( 10 Weeks In Chart )
12. Alyssa Reid - Alone Again ( 4 Weeks In Chart )
13. Kelly Clarkson - Stronger ( 9 Weeks In Chart )
14. Lana Del Rey - Born To Die ( 5 Weeks In Chart )
15. Rizzle Kicks - Mama Do The Hump ( 13 Weeks In Chart )

This time I have added how many weeks they have been in the charts. This is because I will use this as the decider as to who should be on the album. If someone is on my lists alot, then they should be because they have stuck it out in the charts, however, if they also keep falling down the charts and then back up again then it does not show that they are consistantly popular.

Pop edit- Complilation. Messing around on Photoshop.

I really like the style of The Wanteds new album cover. I like how the white spots on the dark background make it look older than it is, it gives it a really good effect. The only problem is, I'm not sure how to do this to my photos. I will need to look for a tutorial.
I also like how there is no colour on the album cover, and how the faces of the artists stand out against the background.
You can tell it has already been professionally edited because the artists look airbrushed and perfect, their pictures will have been taken seperately specifically for this album cover also.
The text used is a text similar or exactly the same to the text on other covers, posters, and any other merchandise they have.

This is an edit of my own. I saw The Wanteds album cover before I did this (because their album art was only released yesterday!) but I think theirs is more effective than my attempt. I wanted to make it colourful to show the pop aspect, but I don't think it worked. The text didn't look as good as I thought it would when i imagined it in my head. I'm not very proud of this edit, the only thing I like is the layout of the images.

Pop Edit - Jessie J. Messing around on photoshop.

Here is one with just one artist, Jessie J.

I edited a butterfly onto her face, but i did afew in different colours as thought i was going to do a 3D effect. I have to add things like this because I can't airbrush her like proffesionals would do when editing her album cover because she is already airbrushed on these pictures.
I didn't know what to add on the background, so I just added something weird as that is usually Jessie J's style. I think the text also suits her image.

This was made when I was just messing around on photoshop. I am currently still experimenting as I am not 100% sure what techniques I will be using for my final edit.

Spotify Song Suggestions 26/2/12

Songs most listening to by friends on Spotify

Songs most listened to by the whole of Spotify

Top 5 Pop albums

I'm going to look at the top 5 pop albums and write about what I think makes it a good album cover.

1.
I think this is a quite a creative and eye-catching cover. The colour scheme is simply shades of grey, black and white. It features the artist like I have noticed most in this genre do. She is dressed in very fancy clothes as has a fashionable hairstyle. She's a new entry into the charts, so this artist needs to make a good impression to stay there and release more successful songs and albums.

2.  This has quite a vintage look, which I think would stand out on a rack of CDs. I think this by the way the artist is dressed, the simple and bold font, the simple background, and random yellow square around the image. She is also dressed quite fashionably, just like the last album. Similarly in another way, she is a new artist in the charts who got popular through a recent song of hers. She also has an impression to make through music, fashion, and album covers.

3.

Adele is an incredible successful artist, and this album has been in the charts for 56 weeks! It's simple, and again features the artist on the front. It's very simple and the picture of the artist is very beautiful. As a successful artist, many people will often see her album covers so it's important that any more she produces continue to live up to this one, of course music-wise too. Her previous album was called '19' and was designed similarly to this. I think this consistency is good as it helps you to recognize the artists album by a glance when you see the style of it. It is just like logos and fonts for other products.

 4. This is another recent album.

Ed Sheeran found success through one extremely popular song. After that, he had a huge fanbase. I think this is what will happen to Lana Del Rey and Emili Sande.
This album features two of his most popular songs, A Team and Lego House.
I don't think it is a very good album cover. It's simple and features the artist, but I don't think it's very effective. The editing looks a little odd and so does the colour. You can't see the artist very well.
The album title isn't very interesting, and from a first glance you might not even know if it was called Plus. 

5. These are another new entry to the charts. They are very different to alot of artist in the charts, and this is also shown in their album art. It doesn't feature an artist, and it is very creative. It doesn't have their album title on, but their name is down in the bottom corner almost like an artist signature on a piece of art. I do not know if they design this themselves or if someone else did, but it would definately stand out against other albums. I love it!
They are new so it is uncertain how popular they are yet to be, but it looks promising.

Spotify Song Suggestions 20/2/12

Songs most listened to by friends;

Songs most listened to by the whole of Spotify; 

Songs list 20/2/12

POP

1. DJ Fresh - Hot Right Now(Ft. Rita Ora)
2. Emeli Sande - Next To Me
3. Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know
4. David Guetta - Titanium
5. Flo Rida- Wild Ones
6. Jessie J - Domino
7. Alyssa Reid - Alone Again
8. Will.I.Am. - T.H.E (The Hardest Ever) feat. Mick Jagger and Jennifer Lopez
9. One Direction - One Thing
10. Cover Drive - Twilight
11. David Guette - Turn Me On
12. Rizzle Kicks - Mama Do The Hump
13. Kelly Clarkson - Stronger
14. Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You
15. Lana Del Rey - Born To Die

20th Feb - http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/chart/singles

Alternative

1. The Black Keys - Lonely Boy
2. Foo Fighters - These Days
3. Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know
4. Chevelle - Face To The Floor
5. Shinedown - Bully
6. Bush - The Sound Of Winter
7. Foo Fighters - Walk
8. Paradise - Coldplay
9. Rise Against - Satallite
10. Florence + The Machine - Shake It Out
11. Volbeat - A Warrior's Call
12. Young The Giant - Cough Syrup
13. Fun. - We Are Young
14. Foster The People - Don't Stop
15. Five Finger Death Punch - Remember Everything

20th Feb - http://www.billboard.com/charts/rock-songs#/charts/rock-songs?begin=11&order=position

Album name

I'm going to need two album names. To do this, i'm going to use a random band name generator, and see if one comes up which can be used as an album title!

http://www.webvivant.com/bandnames.html

Here are some I like for if I were just having one title for both CDs;

Autumn Remix
I like this because photos I have for the alternative side are autumn like, and the other side would be not particularly remixed, but it makes sense for a compliation CD.

Complimentary HandsSome of my photographs for the alternative side have hands painted on a guitar, and I'm sure I could edit something to do with hands for the pop side.

Here are some I like for just the alternative CD;

The Vintage All-StarsI like this because the songs I will pick won't particularly be new songs. Some could be more than 10 years old. I know that is not vintage, but it's not new either,

Here are some I like for just the pop CD;

The Electric Shakedown TeamThis reminds me of artists such as LMFAO and Gym Class Heros. It suggests more than one person which is good for the compilation CD.

National Stereo GoodnessBecause these songs will be on the radio around the country, and they're popular, hence the 'goodness'.

Mike Farrell- Graphic Designer

'I guess graphic design is the umbrella term that covers illustration, typography, and design. Typography is the design and composition of letters or words, just as illustration is the design and composition of images. When all those elements come together it’s referred to as Graphic Design. There’s a lot more that goes into it, but I will leave it at that.'- Mike Farrell.

Mike Farrell is the graphic designer at Fearless Records. I emailed him a couple of month ago, asking questions about his work and his role in creating a CD for a band/artist.
I tried searching for some of his work, and I found he has helped design the quite popular 'Punk Goes...' albums. (Punk Goes Pop, Punk Goes Classic Rock, ect.)

Next I went onto the Fearless Records' website and looked through all their albums.
I printscreened some and grouped a couple from the same artist together for comparison.

I think it is amazing how the only similarities there are are when artists have several or more than one albums and there is a look about them. But if you look at Blessthefall and Mayday Parade, they are completely different.
Looking at one specific artist, let's say Tonight Alive, there are some similarities that create an image for that band. First noticable thing is the main text, where it shows the audience the band name. This is the same on 3 of the album covers I can find. Another similarity is that none feature a picture of the band. They have illustrations which all look like they have been done by the same artist (Not particularly Mike Farrell. He probably did the text on the cover.) They are all quite simple, and very interesting.

Mike is incredibly good at typography, and you can definately see this in these album covers. He was interviewed by Jeff Fuller and the interview was put onto his website; http://www.rebelliousreflection.com/?p=1089

He thinks his first exposure to typography was his childhoods friends older brother. He would write graffiti style letters in a notebook and Mike wanted to copy that. This interested died down during highschool and pick back up again in college. In college he worked in a small graphics shop with a friend who got him back into it. This friend taught him a little more about typography, such as the do's and don't's.
He says he is insprired by sinage in and around L.A. He takes pictures throughout the city when he sees something interesting them tried to incorporate it into his drawings. Also being around his friends and taking inspiration from their work.

Spotify Song Suggestions (1/2/12)

These are the songs that are most popular among my friends.

These are the most listened to throughout the whole of spotify.

Songs list 1/2/12

POP

1. David Guetta- Titanium (feat Sia)
2. Jessie J- Domino
3. Cover Drive- Twilight
4. Flo-Rida- Wild Ones
5. Rizzle Kicks- Mama Do The Hump
6. Gotye- Somebody That I Used To Know
7. Kelly Clarkson- What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger
8. Flo-Rida- Good Feeling
9. Labrinth- Earthquake
10. Pixie Lott- Kiss The Stars
11. Olly Murs- Dance With Me Tonight
12. Coldplay- Paradise
13. Maroon 5- Moves Like Jagger
14. Beyonce- Love On Top
15. Rihanna- We Found Love (feat. Calvin Harris)

I found this on; http://www.bigtop40.com/chart/ on February 1st


Alternative

1. The Killers- When You Were Young
2. Audioslave- Original Fire
3. Red Hot Chilli Peppers- Tell Me Baby
4. Stone Sour- Through Glass
5. Breaking Benjamin- The Diary Of Jane
6. Papa Roach- To Be Loved
7. Hinder- Lips Of An Angel
8. Thirty Seconds To Mars- The Kill
9. Panic! At The Disco- I Write Sins, Not Tragedies
10. Disturbed- Land Of Confusion
11. Keane- Is It Any Wonder?
12. Angels and Airwaves-  Do It For Me Now
13. Taking Back Sunday- MakeDamnSure
14. Three Days Grace- Animal I Have Become
15. Lost Prophets- Rooftops

I think this is a very good list, as I recognise more on here than the other which is a good sign that they are popular songs. I have even heard of those I haven't particularly heard. I got this list from; http://modernrock.com/charts/

More edits!

I found this, and wanted to replicate it but with an artist who will most likely be on my CD.

It didn't work out as well as I wanted. I'm going to try again, but this is what I got on my first try;

It didn't work out as well as I wanted. I'm going to try again, but this is what I got on my first try;

Spotify Song Suggestions (12/1/12)

This is a screenshot of the most popular songs listened to by my friends. I might also use this to get a playlist of songs together because it shows which songs are popular. I'll sort them into which genre I think is suitable and I'll check this every couple of days!:)

This is another screenshot which is similar to a top 40 chart, but it's also from Spotify, a music program that has thousands of songs you can listen to for free. This shows the top 15 songs listened to by all Spotify users (which is alot of people!). I think this is also a good source for me to choose my playlist from.

Songs list (12/1/12)

POP
The difficulty with the pop side of the CD is that the charts often change each week. So if I put together a list today it will have most likely changed next week! So I'm going to post the top 15 each week until I'm close to downloading the music to burn onto the disk. Then I can pick those that remain in the top 15 the most.

1,Flo Rida- Good Feeling
2.Jessie J- Domino
3.Rizzle Kicks- Mama Do The Hump
4.Coldplay- Paradise
5.Taio Cruz- Trouble Maker
6.Avicii- Levels
7.Labrinth- Earthquake
8.LMFAO- Sexy And I Know It
9.Olly Murs- Dance With Me Tonight
10.Ed Sheeran- Lego House
11.Maroon 5- Moves Like Jagger
12.Rihanna- We Found Love(feat. Calvin Harris)
13.Lloyd- Dedication To My Ex(Miss That)
14.Beyonce- Love On Top
15.Katy Perry- The One That Got Away

I got these from; http://www.bigtop40.com/chart/ on Thusday 12th January.

As well as doing this, I am going to ask some friends what their favorite song from the radio is. I hope to ask 30-50 people. I'll record this and post a tally and the results.

Alternative

For this I am also going to look at an online chart. I want to put on songs that are still popular among the people listening to them. It wouldn't be right, or easy, to just pick my favorite songs!
I think I might need to look at afew sites for this because different sites might have different songs. Each time I check the top 40, I will check a different top 40 alternative songs. I will do the same, and keep a tally of the most popular.

1.Black Keys- Lonely Boy
2.Young The Giant- Cough Syrup
3.Foo Fighters- These Days
4.Bush- The Sound Of Winter
5.Red Hot Chilli Peppers- Monarchy of Roses
6.Switchfoot- Dark Horses
7.Cage The Elephant- Aberdeen
8.Blink 182- After Midnight
9.Chevelle- Face To The Floor
10.Foo Fighters- Walk
11.Seether- Tonight
12.Foster The People- Don't Stop (Colour on the walls)
13.Florence+ The Machine- Shake It Out
14.Rise Against- Satallite
15.Awonlnation- Not Your Fault

I got these from; http://www.americasmusiccharts.com/index.cgi?fmt=R3 so it was an american chart. I don't think it matters if the chart is English or American because many artists in English charts are american.