Digipaks and music video conventions

What is a digipak?

“A Digipak is a patented style of compact disc or DVD packaging, and is a registered trademark of

AGI Media, a MeadWestvaco, Inc. resource, which acquired the original trademark holder, IMPAC Group, Inc., in 2000. MeadWestvaco

licensed the name and designs to manufacturers around the world.”

We would know a digipak to be a versatile disk that incorporates an ongoing theme and perhaps bonus photographs of the band and songs.

Major conventions of a pop video• Keith Negus, known as a pop producer Identifies

two distinct ways of thinking about potential artists from within the music industry.

• These ideologies mould the way artists’ images and careers are developed, and the way that they can be cleverly marketed towards specific target audiences

• There are two types of ideology:

1. The organic ideology of creativity and2. The synthetic ideology of creativity

Organic Ideology of Creativity

• Emphasis is given to album sales and the construction of a successful back catalogue

• Most commonly targeted to an older/ more sophisticated audience

• Profits generated are aimed at being a long term strategy by the record label

• A ‘naturalistic’ image is conveyed• The seeds of success are within the artists, who have to

be ‘nurtured’ by the record company..• The artist is given time to evolve and progress through

their career

Synthetic ideology of creativity

This involves manufacturing a band that reaches the largest demographic possible by having a wide range of people in the band. An example of this is the Spice Girls, they were selected and put together as a group to meet the satisfaction of as many people as possible.

• Executives attempt to construct successful acts out of the artists and the songs at their disposal

• The image of the artist is carefully constructed by the record company in order to generate the highest revenue possible

• The artist will be given a short time to prove their success before other combinations will be tried out, for example the Sugababes have none of the original members or the group

• Emphasis is given to single sales • Often aimed at younger, less sophisticated audiences

Elements of a Digipak-images of the band or artist

-possible image relating to the given genre

-images relating to the song/songs included within the Digipak

-a DVD or CD logo

-an ‘explicit’ warning logo, when necessary

-the record company’s logo

-record company’s name

-a barcode for scanning

-artist’s name, band’s name or title

-credits and thanks

-artist and record company’s web addresses

-a list of bonus material

-song lyrics

-a booklet or poster

-offers on future purchases

-information on the artist’s back catalogue

-a bonus CD (which may include: exclusive content, b-sides or demos of songs)

Some of my favourite digipaks are those of the alternative band Radiohead. I enjoy their use of bright colours as a contant theme throughout many of there digipaks, I feel these draw in the attention of their target audience and are visually interesting for passers by. Furthermore,I also like the fact that they have continuity from each one to the next, that creates a visually identity of the

Radiohead

Finally, although I do not wish my digipak to have this layout, I think that their use of a simplistic styling, is successful because, it lets the artwork on the front do the talking. It doesn’t allow attention to be diverted from what the digipak is all about, the band and their music.

Blink 182I also chose Blink 182 as they shows a common theme of colour and images. The collection of digipaks, It can be clearly seen that they have been constructed so that they match when all placed together, perhaps spurring consumers to collect all of By having one of the digipaks, the need to have the other matching two is much higher, because of the fact they are nearly identical. They practically become a collectors set. Moreover, the use of vibrant colours also adds to the fact that they are almost identical and is a good use of continuality within their products.

Lastly, the quirky images on the actual CD add a sense of excitement and youth to the digipaks and make them stand out from the other plain, one colour CDs. They entice the eye of their target audience.