Tuesday 1 April 2014

The Purpose Of Music Videos

Introduction


In this essay I will be exploring the purpose of the music video. I will be exploring how it has developed over the years in providing the media industry with innovative ways to expand enthusiastic music artists and director's exposure.

History:
  • First music video that used advance special effects was 'Bohemian Rhapsody' by Queen.



  • In August 1981 MTV opened its 24-hour satellite music channel. Over time it became rapidly popular but only a couple of TV operators had it.
  • 2005, iTunes opens, allowing users to access music videos and download them from the internet. 1 million downloads after 20 days. 

Promotion Of Artists

Music videos have help in different kinds of promotion. These are promotion for the band /  artist and the director / filmmaker.

Lawson, 'When She Was Mine' - This music video was the first for Lawson and used simple but effective promotional methods like adding their name 'Lawson' onto their drum kit. This music video also shows off their style of playing and fashion.




Chris Brown, 'Next To You' - This music video was directed by Colin Tilley and contains a narrative as well as the artists performing. This provided promotion for the director by showing off his directing skills. It gained promotion by adding the name of the director at the beginning of the video. In favor it added promotion for the song too.

 

Producer's Strategies

Different artists market themselves in different ways. Major labels / artists market their videos with a 'polished' image giving it an appealing appearance to the audience. Polished image videos will contain conventions like high sex appeal, high budget, possibly heavy CGI, and fashion trends. These videos can be found on websites like 'YouTube' and on TV channels like 'MTV Music'.

For example in Shakira and Rihanna's "Can't Remember To Forget You" the two artists are portrayed as beautiful and sexy women. Sexual appeal is polished in this video through their costumes. For example a lot of skin is shown. This shows that the video could be aimed at a male audience.

Here are some pictures that show this:
Will.I.Am, 'T.H.E' - This video uses CGI of the artist dodging impossible obstacles. This shows that the artist is skilled in dodging these obstacles and that he is working hard to accomplish this. This then links with the lyrics "Imma go hard".

    
Independent and unknown artists will market their videos differently. These artist will try and expose their talent rather than producing a narrative, however, this isn't always the case. They are often low budget due to tighter finances. Found on websites like 'Vimeo' and on TV channels like 'Scuzz'.
Zolar X, 'Timeless' - This video shows the band performing, showing off their talent and their style. Zolar X are an American glam rock band, founded 1973.








This picture shows one of the band members performing their talents which is him playing guitar whilst wearing his unique costume. Their costumes are similar to alien like wear.







There are also other scenes of them backstage as well as them at other concerts and locations with fans.








Dressing Room / backstage.





Due to websites like 'YouTube' and 'Facebook', self-produced artists are able to distribute and exhibit their music videos for free. This allows for full control of their videos which have some advantages and disadvantages:


Advantages:
  • Innovation on ideas
  • Free marketing
  • Freedom for new ideas
  • Can set your own deadlines
Disadvantages:
  • Low budget, limits ideas
  • Saturation, less likely for the artist to get noticed
SoMo, 'Ride' - Famous on YouTube, SoMo has made his own music video to his song 'Ride'.

The picture below shows the artist using a low budget location, which is, from the looks of it, a quiet countryside road. A good example of a low budget video.
Artists who like to express their music videos through artistic visuals will do so to promote a statement or address an issue. They will normally be:
  • Visually experimental
  • Low Budget (not always)
  • Contain various transitions / shots like crossfades
Michael Jackson, 'Leave Me Alone' - This high budget video conveys a message in a creative and experimental way.

The pictures below shows good examples of experimental visuals within the video.

Michael molded into a theme park.

Lizards and a set of chattering teeth.

 Dog wearing a suit.


Extension Of Income

Like radio, when a music video is shown on screen the artist gets royalties. Each time it is watched another payment is made. The artist will 'in theory' get royalties as it is almost impossible to track the consumption of the video. Instead an estimate is made which is based on the popularity of the artist or song. One problem with that is only some unrecognized artists get royalties and is due to mainstream popularity.

Reasons are:
  • Mainstream artists are popular
  • Companies don't want to take the risk on paying the unrecognized artists
  • Budget may be low or the music video might not be well made due to low budget
There are other methods for unrecognized artists to get paid for their videos:
  • Coming up with innovative ideas
  • Uploading to YouTube, payments can be made through the amount of views a video gets
  • Other methods of distribution and exhibition
In-wall flash drive - In New York people can download and share files from a pen drive in a wall to gain exposure.



Extension Of Outlets / Platforms

In the media world today, the are different kinds of media outlets / sources that allow people to access media text. When it comes to music videos there are different kinds of outlets / platforms and they are:
Having an extension of outlets / platforms has its advantages and disadvantages.

Advantages:
  • More platforms to distribute and exhibit videos and music
Disadvantages:
  • The ideas become saturated due to other artists doing the same thing
  • Innovation is required to gain exposure
  • Piracy is becoming popular

Synergy

Adding a name, logo or symbol to another product like a clothing line or merchandise can gain exposure for the artist. This is known as synergy. This allows the artist to gain exposure as well as allowing the product maker to make profit. The trademark owner will contractually allow production companies, like a clothing brand, to use their logo, name or symbol for a fee.

An example of this is Drake. Being a famous rapper through his talent, he also has his own clothing line which gives him an image that his fans can purchase. This gives Drake more exposure. Other companies may make or sell the clothes and Drake will supply the 'name'. For example 'wehustle.co,uk' are a shopping / retail website that provide merchandise of different artists.

- Merchandise of Drake.
- Drake's symbol.




Conclusion

I believe that music videos have help enormously in generating more exposure for an artist as well as creating an enjoyable viewing experience. With the different ways to watch these videos, the popularity to want to see them has risen. For the future I believe that music videos will live on selling their purpose. However due to legal issues like piracy, the music video business may go down the drain.  

References

Queen Video, Bohemian Rhapsody - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ9rUzIMcZQ
Lawson Video, When She Was Mine - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmQRAXJoHg0
Chris Brown Video, Next To You - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEuQU6a90Pc
Alternative Tentacles Information / List Of Artists - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_Tentacles#Current_artists
Zolar X Information - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zolar_X
SoMo Picture - http://dgfpkz9520wnr.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/somo-new.jpg
Michael Jackson, Leave Me Alone - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crbFmpezO4A
Michael Jackson Picture - http://www.mrldavis.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/ariana-baby-i21.jpg
Flash Drive Information and Picture - http://gizmodo.com/5677377/theres-a-usb-stick-in-my-brick-wall/all
Moonwalker Picture - http://www.imdb.com/media/rm1995215616/tt0095655?ref_=tt_ov_i#
Drake Picture - http://cdn.urbanislandz.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Drake.jpg
Owl, Drake Picture - http://www.drakeofficial.com/
Drake, HYFR - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KCWqnldEag
Shakira, Can't Remember To Forget You - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3mP3mJDL2k
Drake Merchandise Picture - http://www.wehustle.co.uk/drake?page=2
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1 comment:

  1. EllieB22 June 2014 at 14:52

    Ollie,

    An excellent first draft - you put so much effort into your work. YOu should be very proud of everything you have achieved over the last two years, both academically but also in regards to confidence and skill.

    This is pretty much a distinction level already as you have defined the terms, provided examples and, in some cases, explained the examples but I would like you to do two things to solidify a D:
    - define synergistic marketing in a bit more detail (don't worry about the word count)
    - for producers' strategies, give more detail into how each type is unique, eg., you say mainstream is polished (and I agree) but HOW is it polished; provide some stills of costumes changes, sexy stars etc. and do this for each of the four strategies mentioned.

    Great start Ollie,
    EllieB

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