Channels/Festivals

Music Festivals

Music festivals are very popular and a great way to promote yourself and your music. Thousands of music fans flock every year to see their idols perform on stage, camp out in muddy fields, and dress in a somewhat conventional style according to the festival they are attending. Music festivals are also a great way to raise your popularity - if you're not that well known but you have the opportunity to become a support act and get up on stage, then there's your chance to raise your status and reputation.

1. Lovebox Festival

Lovebox is a summer festivals, usually around July time. It's typically held in traditional areas in London and most commonly in one of London's many parks. 65,000 fans come for the variety of music styles including folk, hip hop, indie, disco-punk, rock, world or electronic music. Lovebox has been running since 2005 and has had artists such as Katy B, Chase and Status, Sub Focus, Duke Dumont and Route 94 headlining the festival as well as many upcoming artists. Tickets are ranging from £70+ and there is an minimum age of 16 (which must be accompanied by an adult.)

Reviews from 2014 are below:
General rating: 4/5 stars.

"The atmosphere at LOVEBOX was AMAZING. Seeing all the acts I love being with my friends was AMAZING. If the line -up is good next year, YOU SHOULD GO!"

"Been to Lovebox a few times now and it has changed quite dramatically in recent years. This year (2014) seemed to be the busiest yet and a very very young crowd compared to previous years. Chase & Status were by far the best on the Friday. But the Manor stage had really poor sound."

"All the acts this year were amazing and definitely worked up the crowd. Everyone was dancing and singing along to every act. It was music that brought people together. The acts ranged from Annie Mac , Joey Bada$$ ,A$ap Rocky and Ettta Bond. I seriously wish I could relive the moment all over again!"

 

 

2. The Isle of Wight Festival

The original Isle of Wight Festivals were landmark moments for their time - they sit alongside Glastonbury and Woodstock in festival history.

The first Isle of Wight festival took place on 31st August - 1st September 1968 and featured the likes of T- Rex and Fairport Convention. The 1970 Isle of Wight festival was a five day marathon featuring The Doors, Hawkwind and Joan Baez. Jimi Hendrix also played at the festival in 1970 just weeks before his death.

As the festival is situated on the Isle of Wight, it makes it one of the easiest festivals to get to, with 6 areas on the Isle to sail into. This is particularly useful for the targeted age group of 17+ who are studying at Southampton, Southampton Solent and Portsmouth University and any of the surrounding areas.

Tickets range from £125-195, so it's pretty expensive and this may be a disadvantage of the festival as even a student ticket is £160.
The 2014 line up included acts such as The Red Hot Chili Peppers, John Newman, The 1975, Calvin Harris, Biffy Clyro, Rudimental, Tom Odell and Kings of Leon.

Isle of Wight Festival Reviews:
Average rating 3.5 stars

Telegraph: "Energetic and breathtaking."

"The weekend was great. A good variery of acts. Biffy Clyro and Passenger were particularly amazing. Well worth the cost for the weekend :) and being pretty much as far south in Britain as you can get always helps as there was amazing weather !"

"Absolutely Fantastic festival, can't fault content, stalls, fantastic time, people lovely. Apart from the transport which was abysmal and could have spoilt our weekend if the music hadn't been so greatl! and that's an understatement."

 

Music Channels

 

Music channels are another popular way to promote yourself an as artist. Music Channels focus on relaying music videos from artists and will typically host their own awards and charts. This also extends out to radio stations which converge with other platforms to create music charts e.g. Vodafone's Top 40 UK.

 

 

1. MTV

MTV is an American company which is based in Los Angeles and is a subsidiary company of Viacom Inc. MTV began 1981, and originally its role was to play music videos suggested by television personalities. At the time, MTV's target audience was just young adults, but today it has expanded to not just young adults, but older and younger generations as well.



The original programming format of MTV was created by media executive Robert W. Pittman, who later became president and chief executive officer (CEO) of MTV Networks. Pittman had test-driven the music format by producing and hosting a 15-minute show, Album Tracks, on New York City television station WNBC in the late 1970s.

MTV's effect was immediate in areas where the new music video channel was carried. Within a couple of months, record stores in areas where MTV was available were selling music that local radio stations were not playing, such as Men at Work, Bow Wow Wow and the Human League. MTV sparked the Second British Invasion, with British acts, who had been accustomed to using music videos for half a decade, featuring heavily on the channel.

The channel received many complaints about the controversial situations that appeared on many of its videos and so MTV has edited a number of music videos to remove references to drugs, sex, violence, weapons, racism, homophobia or advertising. Many music videos aired on the channel were censored, moved to late night rotation, or banned entirely from the channel.

 2. 4Music

4Music is a music and entertainment channel in the UK and available on some digital television providers in the Republic of Ireland. It is owned by Box Television, and has many sister channels including Channel 4, Film 4, Magic, Kiss and E4.

4Music also owns many programs, some of the most popular being UKHot40, 4Music Big Ones, The 4Music Buzz Chart and Today's 4Music Top 10.

4Music began in 2008, on the 15th August. The channel launched with an on-screen countdown counting down from ten minutes down to zero. During the countdown, clips from popular music videos were faded through the screen including clips from promotions for the channel. The channel then launched at 7pm with a promotional advert for the channel then fading into "Davina and Steve's 20 Big Ones"; the first song at number 20 being "The Pretender" by The Foo Fighters and Kylie Minogue's "Can't Get You Out Of My Head" at Number 1.

4Music has coverage at both V Festival and T4 On The Beach during the summer, with highlights repeated frequently throughout the Summer. The channel also has stages at both events. At T4 on the Beach since 2007 (renamed the "T4 and 4Music Stage" in 2010) and at the V Festival since 2005 (then known as the "Channel 4 Stage", renamed to the "4Music Stage" in 2008). Sadly, T4 on the Beach ended after T4 closed down on 30 December 2012.