P2/P3 Learners profile the career development of an existing UK band or artist, through a focused case study

BARNS COURTNEY

A: Record Label

Barns Courtney is with Capitol / Virgin records. He was in a band (SleeperCell) before getting recognised and was also in a music label but was dropped after a year or two which left him working for a small electric shop. However he was in another band called Dive Bella Dive who were signed to Island Records and performed at Download fest in 2012. However they were also dropped after their music weren't released. However after a year he was picked back up by Capitol / Virgin for his solo career.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barns_Courtney

http://www.barnscourtney.com/home/

B: Songs/Album

His popular songs which have gotten the most views are in the image below;

However he does have other songs which aren't as well known but are just as good. These are the following, Golden Dandelions and Goodbye John Smith. He doesn't have a Album but more of an EP which is called The Dull Drums.  It was released in 2017 and the genre is Alternative/Indie which is what he has stuck with for years as it's his way of expressing himself. 

His song 'Fire' was his marketed break through EP that would get him publicity seen and start his career properly. After the release of Fire, Barns Courtney would release Goodbye John Smith, Hands, and Glitter & Gold which is the next song that would be his second success. 

2,768,116 Views

1,483,198 Views

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLEoictM8p4

His music can now be found on Spotify. 

C: Recording and Production


The two images below are from Barns' twitter. The first from when his music video of Fire came out and the second from when he found out Fire was on Spotify.

The screenshot above is from the time Fire was in the movie Burnt by Bradley Cooper and Barns got to walk his first red carpet.

Barns Courtney doesn't really use big studios and recordists. He normally uses his Mac laptop and microphones with his instruments. He documents the process on his Instagram with little captions of who is helping him. This is to let his fans know what he's doing and that new songs are on their way.

As you can see in the images above he has one or two people with him helping with the recording process. He has said in an interview that he will play the main cords of each instrument and listen to them back to see which ones go together and which ones aren't as good. He normally uses smaller rooms/studios as he says they aren't as eco based. 

For his EP The Dull Drums, he recorded a lot of it while on the road. This was due to him signing his contract then a week later he was thrusted upon touring which made it a bit hectic. He brought his friend along who was helping with the recording. He said in a interview that after a show he met a homeless man outside the venue who sung to him in french for 10 minutes while he recorded it. Afterwards he went back and used that recording for one his songs called The Attractions of Youth which hasn't been released as of yet. 

D: Audience profile

To figure out the type of fans he could have, I took the channel 4 Tribe Test which is made for helping you pick what type of person you are. I also made another fan of his and friend of mine take it to see the results and came up with two different ones.

His audience is a big mix ranging from teenage girls to older adults. He has fans from the rock, indie, country, and alternative genre who all listen to him. This is due to his style of music that he puts out as it has all of these genres mixed which he makes go together. At the moment he is touring the states and nearly every show is sold out thanks to his fans.

He has a Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram page that he uses to connect with his fans about his life, and tour dates or performances. On his posts his fans can comment and this is how he connects with them.

He replied to a fan that was going to his concert. 

On his Facebook page, it shows the like he has from his fans.

His Twitter. Along with his followers

Fans commenting on his post. 

It was hard to find ratings on his music but I found one site that had a few but not many.

I also went onto his iTunes to see who was on his similar list to see if I would like like any of them. Its a chance to get new fans from other artists. For example I like James Bay, Mumford & Sons, and Cage the Elephant. 

Images/videos from his concerts. As you can see, the audience is close in age and are mainly young adults. 

E: Public and/or industry response

Industry response:

When he sent his song 'Fire' out to the public the response was all positive from both the public and parts of the industry. Bradley Cooper who is a famous actor heard Courtney's song and asked if he could use it in his film 'Burnt' as the background, credits, and trailer music.
Below is from an interview Courtney did. He speaks about how his song 'Fire' got picked out from thousands that were submitted for the film Burnt.

Fan/Public Response:

Below are tweets and comments from fans of Barns Courtney.

A review from a fan of his for the song 'Fire'

Recently he has managed to get a a lot of radio time which is great for getting his name out to potential new fans.

P3: Promoting himself.

The series of screenshots below are tweets of Barns Courtney promoting his music towards his fans. He promotes his newly stared tour that is highly sold out.  He doesn't really promote separate songs or anything. However he does tweet about them at times which is a form of promotion in a way as he's showing it off to his audience. 

On his twitter he has as his profile picture and header, his Dull Drums EP cover. This creates a platform that he can use to promote his new music. It also keeps a professional look which makes him look serious about his work to he audience. 

In his bio on the left hand side, he mentions the EP again and gives a link to where you can listen to it. This helps give him views and recursion. 

Print Based Media:

Barns Courtney did a interview with M- Magazine. Below are some screenshots that he did with them.

He talks about how he started, when he started writing music, his love for music, and many more things about himself and his career.

 http://www.m-magazine.co.uk/newmusic/30seconds/30-seconds-interviews-barns-courtney/

Radio:

the management for Barns Courtney are called Various Artists Management 

This management company are made up of a group of people who scout around for new talent to manage and promote around the UK and sometimes all over the world depending on how well the artist is doing. This company are based in London UK and Los Angeles USA. 

The team for this management company is fairly large also which is good as it shows that they have a lot of people working towards the same goal. Here is the list of people who work for this management team...

Various Artists Management have a number of different artists that they manage and cater for, ranging from singers to engineers. They cater for a vast amount of talent that isn't necessarily specific to the media industry. 

as you can see, this management company cater for a large amount of talent and this is a list of the different musical talent that they manage...