Friday, 19 April 2013

The Purpose of Music Videos



Music Videos are short videos that integrate with a song mainly for promotional purposes. The first ‘real’ music video was released in 1975 for Queen’s hit single ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. This video set the wheel rolling and music video have been released for songs ever since. The purpose of this essay to show understanding of why music videos are so popular, the promotion of artists in music videos and the extension of media outlets, amongst other things.

Music videos are sometimes used as a way for 
 the artists to promote themselves.To do this they use techniques such as having their band name or logo feature in the video for example on the drums or just as a title at the beginning. They can also promote themselves by dressing in a certain way that the audience will recognize. An example of an artist that promotes themselves through their music videos is LMFAO. One of the duo has a signature Afro that is even feature on their bands logo.

The directors can also promote themselves through the music videos they direct. An example of this is Richard Ayoade's music video for Vampire Weekend's song ''Oxford Comma''. The video is very stylistic and reflects the style of Ayoade's film Submarine (Ayoade, 2010) which promotes him as a visionary director.
Artists are marketed in many different ways. The way in which they are marketed usually reflects the style of their music. For example Michael Buble is marketed with a 'polished' look as this reflects his image, his inspirations and his music. The way artists are marketed usually shows in their music videos as in Michael Buble' music videos he is usually wearing smart expensive suits. On the other hand, there are independent bands that do not always have the finance to market themselves the way they would like to as their music videos are paid for by independent record labels who have a smaller budget.The main way that artists on independent record labels promote themselves is the clothes the wear and the way they style their hair.

Artists and the record company will usually receive money every time their song is played on the radio. The same goes for when their music videos are shown. Artists use music videos to extend their income and in fact some release music videos just for this reason. The more popular a track is the more likely the music video is going to be watched and aired which leads to a larger income for the artist. The music video doesn't have to be very well directed for people to watch it as they may just want to watch it for the song. Mainstreams artists have a larger income from royalties as their music is played more on the radio and on TV channels and that leads to more people hearing the song and then paying for a copy.

Media texts are accessed through media outlets. Media outlets are media devices like the internet that allow us to view music, videos, information etc. Examples are televisions, DVDs, Internet and public screens, but their are many more. Most people watch music videos on either a television music channel such as 4Music or Veva. The first music video channel was MTV that started broadcasting in 1981. Since then their have been many new music channels, some that specialize in certain music genres and some that show a variety of all types of music. Now that most people have access to the internet and a computer music videos are watched a lot online. YouTube is a huge website for music videos with the most watched music video being PSY- 'Gangnam Style' which as of now has over 1,500,000,000 views. There are advantages and disadvantages of the growing number of media outlets; the advantages include that the audience have more of a choice of what they want to watch, there is more of a chance for artists to get publicity and there is better accessibility. However there are disadvantages such as increased piracy, it's harder to find certain videos and more competition for artists.


Another form of promotion is synergy. This is when licencing deals are made to sell certain products using an image such as a character or logo to increase sales. An example of when this happens a lot is Batman. Batman, the characters and logos are owned by DC. Consumers can buy almost anything with the Batman license on it, such as clothing, cakes and stationary. Instead of the owners of the licence releasing these products, deals are made for other companies that may specialize in the goods to release them. This way both companies can make money for the product and their income will greatly increase. This is sometimes used with music videos. An example of when synergistic marketing was used for a music video was for Pink Floyd's "Brick in the Wall". Badges and t-shirts were released with the picture of the walking hammers as featured in the music video. 


I think that music videos are popular mainly because they usually show the audience the artists. People who are fans of the artist will want to see the clothes they are wearing and their hair style etc. Another reason I think they are popular is because some of them are 'events' and are sometimes better than the songs themselves. For example the music video for "Gangnam Style" is very surreal and it attracted audiences to the song and allowed for parody.

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