Are Gig Posters still Relevant to the Promotion of Music in the Internet Age?
In the current social and historical climate, it is almost impossible for most people to go a day without looking at some sort of screen or digital device, whether it be mobile phones, tablets or laptops. These devices give us twenty four hour access to the latest news and events via apps and social networking sites, saturating us with the latest relevant information designed for us based at what we have been looking at. A big part of this information is now visual, in the form of videos, photos and illustrations, most of them commissioned and made specifically for screen viewing. The demand for this is increasing every day, as new apps and websites are being created, and we are getting more and more used to looking at images in this form; it is the go to way of finding pictures. Photo and picture sharing websites such as Instagram and Pinterest lead the way alongside search engines like Google Images, giving us access to thousands of the same version of one image. However, amongst all this instantly communicable and reproducible imagery, the desire for tangible pieces still exists, and is even on the increase.
To focus on one industry which processes masses of imagery digitally, the music business has seen a massive comeback in the past few years of consumers wanting tangible artwork, in particular posters and vinyl cover designs, that they can keep and collect for themselves. Why would this be, when a lazy generation can find any picture or music video they want from device in their pocket? It’s not like the music industry needs physical imagery to get noticed when it dominates are large portion of the internet, from Top 40 lists to sites dedicated to new bands and releases. It could be an oversaturation of the digital; people turning away and wanting to go back to how it was before, when posters and flyers were used to advertise music events and bands. This would be more easily explainable for the older generations who have not had internet access their whole lives, but the younger are also showing a massive interest in owning these physical designs. Has digital given value to “the hand-made, the detailed and the patiently skilful over the instantly upgradeable and the disposable"? (O'Hagan 2011).
It has been argued that posters are like a kind of affordable ‘gateway’ art for consumers, “street level, accessible art” (Hasted 2012). Owning your own artwork is usually something most people cannot afford to choose to spend their money on, but now this is changing. Even limited edition hand printed posters only sell for around $75 maximum original price; it’s like the designers are trying to give people the option to have these pictures. Bands “don't have a 12-inch gatefold sleeve now; they have a 600 x 600 pixel picture on iTunes” and “posters give them an outlet” (Hasted 2012); they are commissioning more and more artists and designers to create them one-off artworks for gigs tours, therefore giving the consumer a much wider selection of pieces to hang on their wall. Bands are wanting to have great, one-of-a-kind gig posters, and are using the limitations that come with digital sales to create newer opportunities. All of this in combination with that we now look at pictures all day every day means that music posters are flying off the shelves, from mass produced re-printed ones to hand crafted originals. The poster scene is “a way of bringing back something beautiful into a digital world” (Hasted 2012) and everyone can be a part of it.
Bands are also using the increased interest in gig posters to give themselves more of a niche, or a sense of style; “iconography is visual” (Hasted 2012) and it is not just about the music any more, it is the visuals which go with it, and the right poster could promote exactly what they want the consumers to see them as. For example, the Arctic Monkeys in particular have developed a massive following for their collection of gig posters, now some of the constantly most desired by fans and collectors. Even if you weren’t a fan of their music, you could be a fan of their poster and want to be a part of their style, giving them more exposure.
A good example of how the Arctic Monkeys use posters to give them something extra is the poster created by Dan Stiles (2014) for a gig at the Artpark Outdoor Amphitheatre in Lewiston, New York. It would have been a massive event, as the Arctic Monkeys are currently one of the worlds most popular and well known bands, especially in America. It is also very current, as it was made in the summer of last year. The target audience for this poster is very wide, as the popular tour it was created for had seats for thousands of people per gig. It appeals to both male and female viewers of a wide age group, by depicting the silhouette of an attractive lady in psychedelic, sixties looking colours and patterns. The majority of the lyrics within the bands songs are based on women, so the poster is literally visualising what the band is 'about'. The vintage connotations also link directly to the band, as they currently have taken on a more old fashioned look themselves, and gives the poster a more fashionable edge. This would also help the appeal towards the female audience; the only detail on the silhouette are a pair of vintage sunglasses and pouty lips, looking like the kind of editorial illustration you would find within a fashion magazine. The male audience would be (more obviously) drawn into the bold image of a woman with a sexy figure. The graphic look of the poster enhances this, drawing attention to how she has been designed with an exaggerated hourglass figure; what men historically deem as ideally attractive.
The colours involved within the poster reflect the time of year when it was published; sunny yellows, hot pinks, bright blues and clear greens all hint at the idea of summer. It is a feel-good poster, probably even drawing in the eyes of passers by who are not fans of the band. It is an image of mass communication about the band; bright, bold and relatable. The poster has been very well designed, as it does it's job perfectly as a bright and eye catching advert, linking directly and indirectly with the music and look of the band, and the fashionable themes of 2014.
This poster exists physically in a series of 130 limited edition screenprints, bringing back the essence of handmade quality for the more passionate fans and collectors (of the band and artist alike). "Today, our lives are so taken up with tweeting, blogging, browsing and networking that the time it takes to master a trade or a musical instrument, is time many of us think we can no longer afford.” (O’Hagan 2011) Does this mean we are appreciating the skill behind creating beautiful images more than we did before, in analogue methods that are less widely used? Combined with the musical element of the band the hand made posters are advertising, it makes the whole image a representation of skills to be admired. It can be easily argued either way whether the digital age has provoked a backlash into using these analogue methods again, or if they were never stopped being used and the internet has just given us a gateway into promoting the older ways; many popular poster artists, such as Drew Millward, create work digitally but still distributed physically as limited edition prints and are equally in demand for commissions. Perhaps it is a combination; “The poster, with its mix of both low-tech and high-tech, of old and new, has become a cornerstone of 21st century advocacy" (Reznick 2013). Images now will always be able to be accessed anywhere, so what is it that is the difference with these posters - compared to a piece of clip art made in five minutes, a wonderfully crafted poster with hours and intent put into it gives it something extra, and that is what people want.
Many believe the internet has fully helped kickstart the new poster age rather than replacing the need for physical posters, by just doing what the internet does - making sure everyone using it sees them. "With the steady growth of broadband connection, a full-color poster can be created as a digital file small enough either to send by email or to download from a website set up for the purpose, and printed by the recipient in as many copies as necessary or simply passed on digitally.” (Reznick 2013). We now indeed have the modern ability to be able to share things that catch our eye to the world in a matter of seconds, but why has this resulted in an increase in the demand of physical prints? Again, it must be due to the allure of craft. A person can view a poster on their screens, but it will never be the same as the original production; now that more people can view a thumbnail image and browse online libraries such as Gigposters.com, they want the real thing, or as near to it as they can get. However, just because a poster is being viewed on a screen does not mean it isn’t a poster, and the demand is still there; “digital production technologies has expanded the poster's role well beyond the limitations of the printed surface." (Reznick 2013).
It isn’t just modern music posters that have made a big impact; the original Woodstock Festival poster has becoming something iconic. Designed in 1969 by Arnold Skolnick, it is quite basic compared to the stylised posters of now, with much more text involved. It is interesting to see the difference between this poster and the ones that have been created after the invention of the internet. It has been made for printing, not screen, and it shows in how the colours come out before editing; it looks dull and lacks in contrast. It portrays a dove sitting on the neck of a guitar, next to the text ‘3 Days of Peace and Music’; basic but communicative symbolism to get the intent and feel of the festival across. It is clear, bold and graphic, and very obviously of it’s time, with the block shapes and bright colours. It has an air of authenticity, and when knowing what Woodstock became after, a sense of nostalgia. The philosopher Walter Benjamin stated “The authenticity of a thing is the essence of all that is transmissible from it's beginning, ranging from it's substantive duration to it's testimony to the history it has experienced. Authenticity is jeopardized by reproduction when substantive duration ceases to matter" (1999). It is the reproductive nature of the internet that arguably devalues a piece of work, and again why the limited printed editions are seen as more worthy and desirable. In reproduction and printing you loose elements of the original piece, such as textures or exact colours, so even mass produced versions of iconic posters will never be as beautiful. The Woodstock poster is authentic because of the history behind it, something the average Instagram photo of someones dinner does not have. Consumers now want to see authenticity.
In much more recent times, the band Ok Go commissioned a poster for Alex Todaro for their Lincoln Hall, Chicago gig, which is interesting to compare to the old Woodstock poster. It is very different in that it features almost no type, just the four faces of the band members with the name wound into them. The colours are also different; a white background with rainbow shades leaning towards pastel. However, it uses the same simple approach to image making as Skolnick’s poster; basic shapes, arranged to make an image, and kept very graphic. It is like a modern twist on the old posters in the Woodstock era, but keeps the authenticity by reflecting vintage style; new ideas with a nod to the old. Ok Go are a band who widely use the internet to promote themselves, by creating original and very visually interesting music videos that go viral. They put time and effort into these videos so it is fitting that they have created a set of beautiful posters to go with them; launching themselves from two very different types of platform. To see this kind of highly crafted gig poster produced in limited edition prints again suggests that it is a combination of the old and new working together to kickstart this surge in interest in poster artwork.
Bibliography
Fig.1, Skolnick, A. (1969) "1st Printing Concert Poster" [poster] U.S.A, RecordMecca. (http://recordmecca.com/item-archives/woodstock-festival-1st-printing-concert-poster/)
Fig.1, Stiles, D. (2014) "Artpark Outdoor Ampitheatre Poster" [poster] U.S.A, Gigposters.com (http://www.gigposters.com/poster/168262_Arctic_Monkeys.html)
Fig.1, Todaro, A. "Lincoln Hall Chicago Poster" [poster] U.S.A, Gigposters.com (http://www.gigposters.com/poster/169025_Ok_Go.html)
Hasted, N (2012) "Ultimate Pop Art; Why Gig Posters are a Sound Investment" [internet] U.K., The Independent (http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/ultimate-pop-art--why-gig-posters-are-a-sound-investment-7827640.html)
O'Hagan, S. (2011) "Analogue Artists Defying the Digital Age" [internet] U.K., The Guardian. (http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2011/apr/24/mavericks-defying-digital-age)
Reznick, E. (2013) "How Posters Survive and Thrive in a Digital Age" [internet] U.S.A, Phaidon. (http://uk.phaidon.com/agenda/design/articles/2013/july/15/how-posters-survive-and-thrive-in-a-digital-age/)
Benjamin, W. (1999) "Illuminations; The Work of Art in an Age of Mechanical Reproduction", 2nd Ed., London, Pimlico. (pg.215, 218)
