The purpose of music videos

Introduction.

This essay is going to be discussing the purpose of music videos and the function of them, the first start of music videos was in 1941 when clubs and bars in the USA had the Panoram which was a jukebox started playing video clips along with the music, then came music centered films such as Elvis' famous Rock Around the Clock. The essay will inform you of the history of music videos, promotion the artists and directors do, strategies, synergistic marketing and why they're so popular. 

Certain music videos can be made to promote the artist directly like they are a brand and they're advertising them, for example if a band is just starting out and it is their first music video they will most likely go down the 'promotion of artist' lane. By having the artist in the video it promotes their name, style and brand as well as the song they act as a product of the brand in the hope that the audience will "buy into the brand" artists usually having a consistent image across all of their platforms.


An example is a music video by the band 'The Smiths' in which is features the whole band playing the instruments on a stage, they're also performing in front of a live audience. The camera as well as just filming the band shoots the audience and shows young girls waving their arms around and dancing/singing along this is promoting them as well as the fan base, the song done was also the single from their new album. 

Directors of the music video themselves can be promoted by a certain auteur style that they have, Michel Gondry is a famous example of a music video director who promotes himself through them. He has a certain style usually involving people as props or almost visual pieces of art that are made almost like a film instead of promoting the music itself, starting off with music videos he has then since gone on to direct movies with a similar style.  An example of is the Bjork video for human behavior it has his name at the start and is very visual with props and green screen being used to create an almost different universe within the music video. His feature length film The Science of Sleep is definitely a promotion of him as a auteur with a lot of visuals such as big props and an almost 'trippy' look and feel to it, he is now well known within the industry with a lot of bands requesting him to direct their videos. 

There are various different strategies when it comes to producers, certain artists can be produced and marketed differently dependent on the level of fame and target audience. In major music labels such as Universal Music Group who have labels such as Capitol music group, Def Jam Recordings, Republic Records anymore. These labels contain big branded artists such as Katy Perry, 5SOS, Justin Bieber, Kayne West, Ariana Grande, and many other big name artists. These artists are all mainstream artists so will be marketed in a different clean, professional way this is due to the demographic they are targeted towards usually being the mainstream pop young adult audience. Some have spent years building a certain image and music videos are a major part of it, an artist like Ariana Grande starting off on a Nickelodeon TV Show a majority of her audience came from there her music videos are very high production usually including choreography a convention of a mainstream artist and will have an over the top finish to them. 

Producing strategies will differ with artists and labels, for example an independent band or artist will have a completely different music video mainly due to not having money for a large production therefore releasing music videos which are paid for by their independent record labels. Because of this artists are free to venture out more from a polished look and it can promote them more individually than just a glossy professional image, an example is Chance the rapper who has been approached by executives across the industry who wanted to sign him he sticks with Sound Cloud it being a free platform to release his music on. In the caption of his first music video on youtube it says
 'Download The Album "#10Day" for Free here: http://goo.gl/PlViD
Order "Hey Ma" Tee's here: http://shopchancetherapper.com/
@ChanceTheRapper
Directed by @AustinVesely'

current views for Work music video

Another reason music videos are produced and made is for an extension of income for the artist and the record label, every time a song is played the artist and label will receive royalties and payment for the use of their song. If a music video is made to accompany the song when it is watched the artist will in theory receive a payment in the form of royalties, its in theory because it's near impossible to be able to track the consumption of every music video, this means mainstream artists will tend to top the charts because of the radio play received due to popularity in general. In 2016 top artists Rhianna and Drake released a music video for the song 'Work' generating 13.5 million in just 24 hours the song remained at number-one on the Hot 100 for nine consecutive week. This makes it harder for independent artists to rely heavily on media outlets to get their songs heard and brand recognized, YouTube is now a popular place where bands will start out it having a wide reach to the majority of the population using social media. 

the vevo website, showing all new
music video releases for it.

 
There are several media outlets and platforms which allow us access to music videos, they are vastly growing due to the easy and free access they give to fans and audiences. The main one around today is YouTube hosting channels such as VEVO which give access to artists music videos, and also behind the scene things and exclusives. A lot of artists began to release their products on YouTube before releasing them on TV because of the wide reach, also a lot do countdown specials to the music video release this creates hype around it. The second biggest platform music videos are shown on is music channels such as MTV, launching in 1981 and broadcasting music videos daily and having exclusives now they are more  reality show based by music video channels still exist like 'The Box' 'Starz' 'Kerrang' and 'Scuz'  The big platform reach will come at a cost as they must give the outlet a certain percentage to have a place on their platform it means all the money it makes from being distributed will not all go to the record label. 




Synergy in media refers to the promotion and selling of a product, through existing products through licensing deals. Walt Disney being the most famous one when he granted other companies the rights to use Mickey Mouse in various products, now we can see him on clothing, accessories and even other films. An example I found is the song Mad World originally performed by Tears for Fears director Richard Kelly commissioned Michael Andrews to compose it and had Gary Jules sing it. It was completely remade and bought out as a single before the films release to create hype and promote the artist and film, also Michel Gondry director we spoke about earlier directed the video. Synergistic marketing is so popular because of how it can benefit everyone involved if well done, those featured will get promotion while those who own the product get advertising and association with a popular brand or artist.

I think music videos are so popular and are growing rapidly because of the various platforms they are viewed on and it what context, more and more artists are releasing them with bigger production values and are advertising them before they are even released. With Youtube, Twitter and Facebook allowing them to be viewed for free and easily, they're reaching a wider audience and are creating a trend for them. They also create an almost piece of art for the artist that creates a brand and insight for the fans with artists having visual artists such as Beyonce with Lemonade she dropped the album as "a conceptual project based on every woman’s journey of self knowledge and healing" it has sold 1.52 million copies in the US, making it the country's third-best-selling album of the year.