(Unfortunately the scanner cropped my notes off both sides, but we used physical copies during group work in class, so this is just here as evidence of my work.)
This enabled us to realise the true meaning behind the lyrics, identifying the key subtextual themes and ideas behind literal interpretation, as well as picking out key places where the lyrics changed to show a shift in the artist's attitudes (ie on the second page, the song expresses a new, regretful tone). This exercise allowed us to discuss how best to represent the lyrical ideas with as video.
These notes show how we will link the content of the lyrics to the visuals we plan to create.
A great example of a successful independent record label is Strange Famous Records. Based in Providence, Rhode Island, it focuses entirely on underground and alternative hip-hop artists; "the kind of artists that most labels would write off as too risky or too weird". Started in 1996 by hiphop writer Sage Francis as a way of bootlegging and releasing his own songs on tape, the label evolved gradually through a mail-order, cash-only store, through which SFR distributed CDs for many underground acts who were not stocked in any independent shops, let alone any large record stores.
This diy, punk ideology (Sage was the first ever hip hop artist to be signed to legendary punk label Epitaph) is still in place today, with each shop order coming "with various ‘random goodies’ Uncle Sage had hanging around his Rhode Island home and office". Sage has said that "it would probably be more profitable for us to carry popular music but that’s not the impetus to our being. We will continue to uphold our standard for art and business until there’s no demand for it, at which point we will gladly bow out of the game."
(Above: Video for 'Let Em Come' off Scroobius Pip's latest album, featuring label-mates Sage Francis and POS. On Soundcloud.com, the label offered a free, exclusive remix of the same song, featuring new verses from new SFR artists:Let Em Come REDUX (Scroobius Pip, Sage Francis, Metermaids, Cecil Otter))
This shows how SFR has not only carved and accepted its niche, but fights to represent it. And with only fourteen artists in its roster,the label has effectively created a close-knit community within the genre/movement, but on a national scale. The artists tend to support each other on tours, guest on each other's tracks, and appear in their videos, and re-record different mixes of songs. The (now online) store is the company's way of maintaining a "direct link" with the fans who support these artists, stocking a variety of items, including those who are not signed by the label directly, but closely associated through the music community, and also features a free, exclusive mp3 every week.
The music videos of SFR tend to be low budget (such as Scroobius Pip's £100 video for 'Introdiction', see below), featuring guest appearances from associated acts on a friends-basis. Often, the style is amateurish and the videos rarely get much exposure. In Sage Francis' video for 'Escape Artist', the location used is legendary New York punk club CBGBs, a real-life intertextual link to demonstrate the artist's true roots (see bottom).
