How global is the appeal of your three main texts?
Nirvana, Lady Gaga and Radiohead all had different ways of making their albums appeal to their audiences. This could be done through the material of the product, the promotion of the album and the use of technology.
Nirvana took a long time to rise to the top, it took them 5 months to get to number one in the charts even though they were on a major music label, this was partly due to limited marketing because there was no use of internet and partly due to the fact that the 'grunge' music that they played appealed to a niche audience. Their second album "Nevermind" wasn't expected to sell anywhere near as many copies as it did, with initial production of only 35,000 copies made for the UK. The appeal of Nirvana to their audience was their rebellious appearance. An example of how Nirvana appealed to their audience was their performance on the Jonathan Ross show when they were supposed to perform their new single 'Lithium' but instead performed 'Territorial Pissings'. This showed their rebellious attitude towards fame and this appealed to their fans. Their music video "Smells like teen spirit" adds to their appeal to their fans, the video shows the band members wearing casual clothing and having a rebellious attitude, appealing to their young teenage fan base.
Lady Gaga has a large fan base and uses high production value music videos to promote her album and appeal to her audience. She released the album "Born this way" in May 2011 and it sold over 1.1 million copies in its first week of release in America alone. This was due to her being on a major music label called Interscope records, this helped promote her music through marketing and helped her rise to the top of the charts quickly. This was something that Nirvana could not do because of the time that they were around, the internet was not available to be used as a promotion tool, this is why it took them 5 months to reach number 1. The appeal of Lady Gaga's album appeal was focused on her love of fame and individualism and this was backed up in her music video for the single "Born this way". The music featured on the album is very similar to the music on her previous album, this repetition in style is part of her appeal to her audience. The video uses lots of different sets and lots of dancers, this makes the video appear as more of a production and appeals to a much wider, mainstream audience. Lady Gaga also makes a reference to her fans in the video, she calls them "little monsters" and in the music video she says "put your paws up", this reference appeals to her fans because she makes a personal connection with them.
Radiohead appeal to a much more niche audience than Lady Gaga or Nirvana because their appeal is strongly focused around fans of the band. When they released the album "In Rainbows" they decided to launch it in an unusual way. They decided to put it on their own website and let people decide what price they paid for the album. The idea behind this was that real fans of the band would contribute a fair price in order to support the band. The following album "King of limbs" was also released on their website at a price of £6 for a downloadable copy. Again, this meant that the album was first released to their hardcore fans, this is because Radiohead are an independent band, they are not signed to a record label and therefore don't have the marketing and publicity that a band on a major label would get. This means that it is harder for them to appeal to a mainstream audience so they choose to just target their more niche, loyal audience.
