Music Genre Research - Dubstep

Dubstep is a new style of urban music that came into prominence in the early 2000's. It originated in London and stems from many other urban genres from the UK. It sometimes is regularly featured on many radio stations such as Tim Westwood's 1xtra and Radio 1. It has been described as a mix between grime and 2-step with some of the grime scene popular artists making the odd tune in the dubstep genre such as P Money and JME.

The characteristics of dubstep include sounds and beats from other genre's such as UK Garage and grime. Sometimes and often in present day, music videos use dubstep elements or a whole dubstep beat for their music video. Many perceive dubstep as a fusion genre which can be mixed and used to make entirely creative, fresh and funky soundtracks and beats.

Present day dubstep has had mainstream popular success with many o mainstream artists using the dubstep vibe in their songs. Also the dubstep genre has been popular for theme songs of tv shows, the main example being Channel 4's Dubplate Drama.

How are artists work promoted?

There are many ways an artists work can be promoted, these methods include mainstream TV, posters, billboards etc. The reason that an artists work will be promoted could be for different reasons. These reasons can include:

-       To boost an artists sales in terms of albums.

-       To popularise an artist so he/she would be an influential and iconic person to a certain target group.

-       To get artists in to shows to further promote them.

-       Many times an artist would be promoted so he/she can be signed to a major label.

-       If an artist brings in a new sound then they will be further promoted as the music industry knows that they will be successful as well as influential.

There are also other reasons why artists will be promoted. Positively there are a number of methods that can be used to promote an artist. These methods are used very strategically and effectively so that they produce results to a maximum level. The methods used or can be used are:

• TV Commercials – TV commercials can be used to promote an artists album, shows etc. TV commercials can be seen as an effective method to use to promote an artists work as it reaches out and promotes on a mass scale. It is also effective as many people get to familiarise with the artist.
• Brand Association – By associating an artist with a big brand it can popularise an artist as it allows the market that are familiar with the big brand to become familiar with the artist.
• Posters, Billboards, Newspapers etc. – These methods of promotion are useful as it can also reach a wide range of the target market which can create a lot more awareness for he artist.
• Shows – Doing shows is an important part of an artists career, not only is it because of the revenue that a show can generate for an artist but also because of the turn up numbers, the more people that turn up for the artists shows means the more people that know about the artists or will know about the artist as the show can generate more marketing, through word of mouth. The more people talk about the artist the more promotion they will be getting.
• Tours – Tours around different countries is a more common way for a major record label to promote their artists work, this is because tours include doing shows which creates awareness of the artist, not only this but doing shows in different countries means the artist would be promoted and known in different countries which results in the artists being known on an international level.