AS1: Task 1 - the purpose of a music video

The purpose of a music video

Over the years, music videos have developed dramatically. The style of editing them and the quality of how the videos are shown from back then up until today. The huge music band such as the Beatles were very massive in the 1960's and were the only big attraction at that time for music. The Beatles became very popular and were expected to be at different countries where their music made a big hit, so going to these different countries in such a short matter of time would have been impossible. So, because of that they created a music video but very different from how us today know music videos are produced.

Availability of the Artist

 In 1964, The Beatles starred in their first feature film 'A Hard Day's Night', directed by Richard Lester and a year later in 1965, promotional clips for distribution and broadcast in other countries. The Beatles did this to enable them to promote their record releases without having to make in-person appearences as I explained in my introduction. 

Only after the success of Queen's "Bohemean Rhapsody" that it became regular practice for record companies to produce promotional videos for artists' single releases. These videos could then be shown on TV shows such as "Top of the Pops", without the need for the artist to appear in person.

 

Before promo video's became popular if the artist was unavailable they would have their music broadcast and accompanied rather than dancers such as Pan's people. Brian May the singer and songwriter stated that the video was produced:

A) So the band could avoid miming.

B) As they were unable to appear on the programme every week as they were scheduled to appear on tour (it was number 1 for 9 weeks).

Promotional

Music videos quickly became a key promotional tool for the artists and for some time this was there main function. Fundamentally, a music video is an advertisement. This is also designed to draw attention to the music and illustrate the song. This method of music video appeals to the audience, and makes it more interesting for them to watch. 

Creating a Brand

Artists and groups are sold as a brand and the music video acts as a product of the brand, in the hope that the audience will be inspired to "buy into the brand". They often do this through the "Misen-scene" and extended the "look" of the video into the rest of their lives. 

The artist aim to have a consistent "image" across a range of platforms, music video, websites, CD covers, etc. Also, for some artists the 'image' is of greater importance than an example of this are the spice girls as they each had their own identity. There was Scary spice, sporty spice, posh spice, ginger spice and Baby spice. Each member had their own identity so there wasn't really just one main person that could be liked in the group but all of them had their own individual identity, easy to become a favourite. 

Extension of income

Music videos provide great opportunities to increase income. By the audience watching the video this encourages them to purchase a number of items; singles, albums, merchandise such as t-shirts, wristbands and more. 

The advantage of this is that it raises the profile of the artist/group and this encourages audiences to attend tours and/or festivals. It can be an opportunity for 'product placement' eg. Christina Anguillera & perfume, song - Not Myself Tonight. 

Another example is "Britney Spears - Hold It Against Me". Compared to Christine Anguillera's video Britney Spears shows her perfume more clearly as the perfume is shown straight away in the beginning of the music video.

The music video allows the artist to extend the outlets, for example:

- Music Channel
- Website
- You Tube
- Smart Phones

Each of these increases the possibility of the audience becoming a fan as it is shown anywhere and everywhere. Not every video shown will be loved by the audience it could be hated more than and so this could easily be remembered by people for whatever personal reason.

Synergy

What is Synergy?

Synergy is what happens when two media product work together to mutually benefit each other. An example of this is a song by Adele 'Skyfall'.

Pros

In this video we see that the film SkyFall uses Adele as she is a huge singer that can make songs that is easily liked by the public. Adele benefits from the video because there may be people who have always been a fan of 007 and would want to find out who sang a great song that matches with this great film which is how the film promotes Adele. So both benefit from each other. The music video for the film purely sticks to the whole purpose of the video, Adele is not shown in the video only clips from the film and it does make the audience want to watch the video because the audience would be tempted to know how interesting the film may be. By Adele's voice only being heard is the thing that aids her popularity for those who may not have known her before. 

Cons

The disadvantage of this are for the people who have not watched Skyfall before. The audience may not appreciate the fact that the video had to be a music video so regardless, this will be seen a number of times on YouTube, Music Channels and other outlets. Furthermore, the fans of Adele may have wanted to see more of her in the music video, making her whole image seem forgettable and not worth remembering and so this will cause a loss of interest in the singer which could bring a downfall to her career.

Major record labels

The music industry is dominated by four multi national corporations such as:

- Universal
- Sony music
- Warner Brothers
- EMI

These corporation are referred to as 'The Majors". The majority of these are backed by conglomerates with stakes in other industries such as; Film, TV, and Electronics.

Major labels strategies - VEVO 

The purpose for major labels are direct as they provide a strong online presence and openly allows them to make as much profit through advertising. For instance an online platform like VEVO where it  is owned and operated by the Universal Music Group, Google, Sony Music Entertainment and Abu Dhabi Media. It was first launched in December 2009, the company makes profits by advertising that plays before each music video. 

Independents 

On the other hand, there are other small companies that have very little financial connection to the majors. Companies which fall into this category essence on a small number of acts, within specialised  niches in the industry, HipHop/Rap/Electronica/Dance. These are known as 'independents' a successful independent is 'Wrap Records'.