Genre Conventions

There are lots of Genre's in the Music Industry, I have looked and researched them all to find out the codes and conventions of them. I will also be researching my chosen Genre which is Dance. I have looked at different music videos, styles and also artists to see what each individual Genre does differently to another.

What an artist wears and their image is what can separate different music genres. If an artist didn't wear the right clothes or have their hair in a certain way it would be hard for the audience to know what genre of music they represent. Also they have to dress to the target audience they are representing, for example, Miley Cyrus caused outrage when she started dressing with small crop tops and tiny hot pants, as her audience was mainly children under the age of 10, as she was Disney Channels Hannah Montana. She lost a lot of her fan base when she did this, so making sure you don't dress nothing like your music is a big no. She did change her music though and the look eventually did go along with her music.

Pop - The clothes what Pop artists usually wear are very colourful, and are clothes that you wouldn't usually see a normal person on the street wearing. Since the music is always very upbeat as well, they have to make sure that the outfits that they wear match the music. Since Pop is mainstream music this is music that is listened to and seen everyday, so its a big must that Pop artists are careful with what they look like. Most Pop artists are girls, there are still boys who do this genre, but its mainly known for girls. Its also caused lots of controversy as most Pop artists are slim with good bodies and there are a lot of people who think that this is all Pop music is about now is how the artists looks and not about the talent or the music they bring out. Katy Perry (Pictured Right) is a great example of a Pop Artist. She wears bright colours, has a slim figure, and even has brightly coloured hair. Also Pop artists tend to be young and good looking, its very rare you see old Pop artists, and if so its because they started out young and have grown.

Dance - With Dance artists, their image is not as important as other genres of music. Its very rare that you know what they even look like. Artists like Chase and Status, Deadmau5 and Nero, you never hardly see them at all. I think the reason is because they don't want to be your typical mainstream artist. They only want to be known for the music, and not what they look like. One of the few artists that do show their face is David Guetta, he appears in most of his music videos and album covers, even if in the videos he only makes a five second appearance, he is still in them. They mainly dress casual if you do see them, in jeans and a t shirt, clothes you would see on everyday people, some do dress up too, for example; Deadmau5, he wears a massive mouses head to every gig he plays, this is because he doesn't want people to know what he looks like, and people still don't, but listen to his music. I guess that it doesn't matter what you look like if the music is good.

Indie - Indie Artists tend to make their look as if they haven't tried at all, they are not polished and they are always on their guitars or other instruments. The boy bands wear skinny jeans and have big hair, or really messy hair. They never really make an effort, but in the Indie scene this is a good thing. Their audiences like to see them like this. Bands like The Kooks, Arctic Monkeys and The Wombats are all Indie artists who never really look like they have made the effort. They look like everyday people, and wear really casual clothes. The colours they do wear are usually black, grey and white, and if not its dark colours, so navy and dark greens. I think this again is because they want it to be all about the music. Also its more often that Indie artists do drugs, smoke and drink, and in their case this is seen as cool. So in their music videos, in candid pictures and when on tour they will do probably all of the three.

Rock - This is the Genre which is also very based around their look. They always wear black, and if its not black, then its very dark colours. There is mainly male bands in the Rock Genre, and they tend to have very long hair, and beards, well this is the stereotypical look of a rock artist. If its a female Rock artist, they have very dark hair and wear a lot of make up. Girls also like to wear corsets, gloves and things that are dark and quite Gothic. They also like themes too, so maybe vampires, and dark themes like that. They also don't look very well groomed either, as the same for the Indie artists. When you look in magazines like Kerrang everything in general is usually dark and sometimes quite creepy. They have a very strict audience that do like to dress like this, and Rock is becoming more and more popular.

R&B - This kind of Genre is usually very bling and flash. The artist is always seen as they are rich and have loads of money. Most of the music videos are filmed in very flashy places and they have lots of cars and jewellery. They are quite classy with what they do, the colours are usually colours like gold, silver and black. They are stereotyped to have lots of of money. The male artists also are known to always have a girl around their arm. R&B is becoming more of a popular genre, so its becoming more and more mainstream, the artists also use different language to a normal everyday person, they use words like Swag and Shawty which again are becoming more popular. The clothes they wear are usually baggy or if not they are suited up. There are many different R&B Artists, Cee Lo Green, Chris Brown and Akon are all examples.

The target audiences for them all are all different. R&B is usually older people, around the age of 20 is the target audience, also a lot of black people listen to this genre, they usually sing about what this target audience want to hear about, and also the artists are usually around the age of twenty so this makes them very relatable.  Rocks target audience is usually people around the age of 18+, as they do swear and scream and shout abit, someone under that age would usually need parent advisory and also they relate to older people. Indie artists target audience is people again around the of 16+ this time, younger people are starting to like the genre a lot more and is becoming even more popular, as younger people are starting to listen to older indie music too. The reason for it being 16+ is because its relate-able to them as some are starting to smoke ect and this is what this genres artists do.  Pop is the most versatile genre. Most people listen to this as its very mainstream, all ages can listen to this, young children, older people and also people in their 30's, the reason is because the usually sing about happy things like having a good time and everyone can relate to this. Also since they are played on the radio everyday, everyday people get to hear them and start to like them, as for other genres, they dont all get played on the radio as often.