The Purpose Of A Music Video

Promote

The purpose of a music video is to promote the song as well as the artist’s image.

A well executed music videos means a greater number of audience is likely to watch it and furthermore purchase the music video through downloads or purchasing CDs/DVDs.

An example of this is Michael Jackson featuring Justin Timberlake “Love Never Felt So Good”. This music video is dedicated to displaying the influence Michael Jackson has had with the public and the music industry. This is portrayed when young children are attempting his famous moonwalk dance.  Also in the music video are clips of Michael Jackson in his past music videos at 0.00 and people are imitating his unique dance moves at 0.05. This music video was used to help promote his latest album “Xscape” which was release in 2014. Despite Michael Jackson not being available to be present in this music video, he is displayed more than anyone else to cater for the audience who are passionate about seeing and hearing Michael Jackson voice. The record label realises that Michael Jackson is more of a selling agent than Justin Timberlake therefore is the face of the video. While Michael Jackson is more well known to the older generation, Justin Timberlake is more popular in the modern era therefore this music video appeals to a larger scale audience. Also Justin Timberlake won the Michael Jackson Vanguard award therefore is the ideal person to collaborate with the man himself. Record labels know that they will receive they will make a lot of money from this music video because they are using two of the biggest faces in the music industry.

Synergy

Synergy is when two companies work together to promote a video such as a music company producing a music video which contains clips that belongs to a film company.  An example of this is the music video by Wiz Khalifa featuring 2 Chainz “We Owe It” which includes footages from the sequel of The Fast & The Furious franchise.  The music video is a summary of all The Fast & Furious films and is promoting their latest film Fast & Furious 6. The Fast & The Furious sequel is worldwide therefore the music video appeals to a wider audience. From the entire music video 0.00 -  2.38 we see footages of Fast & Furious The advantage of synergy is that it helps to promote the music video if the film is popular because in general the song is played as a theme tune at the beginning or at the end of the film. Also it helps record labels get more income and get more contacts with important members within the film industry.

Visual Representation

This is portraying the musician based on their appearance and character to enhance the impact of their music to the audience.  Visual Representations are a good way for the audience to connect with the musician and see how they change their style throughout their career. For example Justin Timberlake started his music career in a band called N Sync in 1995. N Sync targeted their type of music to young female audience. This is shown in their music video “It’s Gonna Be Me” where the band members are displayed as dolls from 0.07 – 0.18. At the same time as this music video was released they decided to sell these dolls in stores designed to be purchase by young female viewers.  Justin Timberlake decided to go solo in his music career in 2002 and released his first song “Like I Love You”. In 2006 Justin Timberlake changed his visual representation in the music video “Sexyback”. He changed his hairstyle as well as wearing a suit rather than casual clothing. He changed his target audience to a much older community. This can be shown in his song “Lovestone” where he compares the attraction he has to a woman to be similar of that of a drug. We also see the genre of his music change from pop to a more R n B type music.

Art

Artist can show art through their music videos as a way of entertaining the audience as well as setting a story. For example, Naughty Boy music video featuring Sam Smith “La La La” describes a story set in Bolivia in the 19^th century. We see a young deaf boy who fled home and finds a dog to keep him company at 0.44. Later he meets an old man with an unhealthy heart and buys him a new heart at 1.55. He then meets a disfigured man at 2.25 who helps take him to see the demon. Since the boy is deaf he could not be controlled by the demon called El Tio and he uses his ability to stop the demon from cursing anyone else. We can see this in the music video at 3.35. There are various artistic clips from the scenery of Bolivia’s desert to the cotton material to represent the disfigured man. This is Naughty boy first music video and the art of this video helped receive 425 million views on YouTube. Whilst it will cost the record label more to fund this music video they are more likely for audience to watch this video leading to an increase in purchase of CDs/downloads.

Extended play video

Extended play video is the amount of time a music video is played by the audience. It is how frequent the music video is played on a music channel such as Pharrell Williams “Happy” which has been viewed 490 millions times on YouTube. The music video is about various people as well as celebrities such as Kelly Osbourne dancing on the streets at 2.52. The genre of the song is pop and it is an uplifting song about being happy. This music video is played a lot by various music channels such as MTV and 4music and artist receive royalty when the music video played on the channel. Also this helps to promote the artist and   record labels benefit from this as they take a cut from the royalty of the artist. Extended play ability is likely to increase the chances of an artist reaching the charts. This can be portrayed through Pharrall Williams “happy” topping the charts worldwide.

Music Video Outlets

Music video outlets provide a huge impact on making music videos known worldwide and helping the artist and their record labels make maximum money based on the musician’s talent. The more outlets a musician has the more likely they are to appeal to their audience and gain their support through sales of their music such as Rihanna who has her personal website, she is on social media such as twitter and her music videos sells on Itunes. All of these outlets have helped her become an international superstar who has a net worth of $48 million.

Social Media

Social media is a way for people to interact online and share content to other associates through various websites and apps. This includes websites such as Facebook and Twitter which play an essential role for artists to interact with their audience such as introducing and promoting their latest video. These social media websites are very easy to use and are do not come with a fee. Also it encourages musicians to upload unreleased music videos to the audience who can respond by providing supporting feedback. A disadvantage for the artist is when they use social media to promote a controversial music video, For example, Katy Perry music video featuring Juicy J “Dark Horse” which shows a man being burned, whilst wearing a pendant with the word “Allah” which was viewed as disrespectful to the Muslim community.  This results in the record label sharing the blame and therefore making their image look appalling.

Mainstream TV

Mainstream TV is similar to music channels in the sense that they are media outlets whom provides artist’s music videos such as The Graham Norton Show and The One Show that are on BBC One. Also these shows do not show music videos they provide in-depth interviews and a live performance by the artist. These are an easy way for musicians to become more well known and promote their image. Also it provides the opportunity for the audience to see the artist’s personality. The only disadvantage is that over promoting an artist can lead to the audience getting bored and not watching the artist’s music videos.  Record labels receive income from the mainstream TV that wants the artist they are representing. An example of this is Justin Timberlake promoting his new music video “Suit And Tie” on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. It also gave Justin Timberlake the chance to discuss his new album and showed a clip of the new music ''Suit And Tie'' and when it would be released.

Music channels

A music channel is a channel dedicate to showing music videos of various artists. It is the best way to promote musicians as most new music video are viewed by the target audience through different music channels such as MTV or Viva. Music channels have different genre of music for example pop, R n B, classical as well rock music. This is a positive because it can attract new audience to a particular music video that they thought they would not enjoy. Also music channels tend to have a chart of the most popular songs such as UK singles top 40 on 4music, for the audience to acknowledge which music video are in demand. Musicians receive payment through royalties for music channels to display their songs and record labels receive a commission from this income. sometimes record labels are promoted in the music video by the artist, for example, Lil Wayne promotes his record label called Young Money. The downside of music channels is that they usually have an break for advertisement which helps increase their income of money . However this is view negatively by the audience as they rather listen to music than to wait patiently through advertisements.  Also the audience cannot control what music video they want to see. Another issue raised by music channels is that they censor inappropriate language, which is condemned by the viewers as they prefer to listen to the original song. However it prevents young audience from being exposed to foul language and singing the dirty version of these songs.

Direct CD/Specials Editions CD/DVD Releases

CDs are used to store and play audio recordings of the album whereas DVDs provide pictures of the music videos . Recently there has been a decline in the demand for CDs/DVDs due to more people downloading music instead.  The number of CDs purchased usually indicates how successful an artist is. CDs help to make an artist worldwide as most charts are based on who sells the most music videos and downloads. The artist and their record label both make money out of each CD/DVD sold to the consumer.  It is a great way for the audience to gain more knowledge about the artist’s life and how they broke into the music industry. The problem with DVDs is that they do not provide the best sound and image quality for the audience. The artist gets a small percentage but the record label gets a lot.

The disadvantage to the artist and record label is that they have to pay some money towards tax.  Also record labels receive over double the amount of money that the artist gets from the sale of each CD/DVD. However Record labels pays the cost toward producing and distributing the CDs/DVDs. They are also responsible for marketing, getting the song on radio and setting up accounts department. An example of a music video DVD is “2Pac- The Best Music Videos” who was supported by Death Row Records.

Streaming websites

Streaming websites shows music videos on the internet which can either be live stream or pre-recorded such as YouTube. Streaming website can have a huge impact in how they affect the rise of an artist, for example, Cody Wise who produce one video on Youtube before he was signed by Interscope Records. This resulted in Cody Wise being about to collaborate with will.i.am smash hit “It’s My Birthday”.In terms of record labels, it is easy for them to spot the talent a potential artist may have from their music video but it is not always guarantee that the artist will become a success.  Also record labels have to spend a lot initially to make the artist well known to the population without realising if the artist will be able to deliver and the audience wouldn't know the artist very well and they might think he is not good. There are many negatives to streaming websites such as when a celebrity does an action that attracts negative attention for example, Wiz Khalifa and Snoop Dogg inhaling marijuana in the music video “French Inhale”. Not only does this ruin their reputation as respectable community members it is also likely to cause young audience who idolize these musicians as their role model to imitate their actions.

Artist website

An artist website is a great way for the artist to promote themselves and help raise awareness of their music videos. The main advantage for artists making their own website is that it is quick and easy to produce. Also another positive is that for the artist is that they are uploading personal videos which they feel comfortable sharing with their audience. Also they provide in-depth detail of the artist, for example, on Sean Paul official website contains all his music videos and photographs as well as live events.  Other features on Sean Paul website has a mailing list for fans to get in contact with him. In the views of the audience it is very simple to access these websites and it is a good way for the artist to distribute their information to larger audience. Most Artist display their record labels however Sean Paul does not on his website. This is a disadvantage for the record label because it does not expand their image. However Sean Paul website has a direct access to a store which sells goods and the record label is likely to make money from the sale of these merchandise.  The only disadvantage of artist websites is that they only attract a particular type of audience who are very passionate about following the artist and therefore are unlikely for other audience members who are not as interested in the musician to go onto that artist website.  

Download legal/ illegal music

Legal and illegal music vidoes are provided by websites which puts these music videos into a format that is available on most devices. Over the years legal and illegal music downloads have been increasing a lot. This is due to the advancement in modern technology such as being able to download and transfer music onto iphones and other devices resulting to a decrease in the number of CDs purchased. Legal programs such as Google Play charges a set price for downloading music videos. Illegal downloads are free for the audience however can lead to fines or a prison sentences. For example, Pirate Bay co-founders were arrested for copyright violations in 2010. As more people use illegal music downloads, this affects the music industry as artist and their record labels lose out on money that could have been gain if people paid for the music. illegal music websites do not offer the best quality of sound and image in the videos.