The purpose of music videos

Intro:

In this essay I will be discussing the emergence of music videos and the purpose of them. Music videos began with Queens Bohemian Rhapsody in the seventies which is known as the first proper music video.  Rolling Stone magazine states: "Its influence cannot be overstated, practically inventing the music video seven years before MTV went on the air." This set the bar for music videos and now every piece of music now has a video to it.

 

Promotion:

Bands and artists usually use music videos as a way of promoting themselves, as they get shown on TV and all across the internet on various sites such as YouTube and Vimeo. Videos can also get shared across social network sites by the band or artists themselves or by fans of them. Directors also promote themselves on music videos as they create them and get recognition for what they create. For big artists nowadays, it's important to have music videos as part of a strong album campaign to keep them relevant in an increasingly competitive and changing industry. Kendrick Lemar is a good example for this as his album Good Kid, M.A.A.D City tells a story from his first song all the way till his last.

 

Producer's Strategies:

Mainstream bands/artists are backed by major labels and this can be shown in the music videos they produce because of how polished they look. Beyonce is a good example as she is signed by Columbia Records who have lots of top artists and bands signed to them. Beyonce has millions of fans and is looked up to by so many people, this is good for the company as this will bring in lots of money with the merchandise sales and record sales. 7/11 is a well polished video, this is shown by the shots used and the effects of the video as well, there would be lots of cameras used to shoot it and it appears to be in a big location. The video would be shown on the big music channels such as 4 music, Kiss, MTV etc.

Independent bands/artists are not as financially backed by record labels like mainstream artists are. The XX is a good example of an independent band, they are signed Young Turks which is a British independent record label. The XX videos are not as well polished as Beyonce's because they are not financially capable of creating something on the same level. Crystalised is based in one room and the band is filmed in front of a white wall playing instruments which a projector projecting onto them, this wouldn't have cost a lot as only a few cameras would've been used and its not set in a big location. The video wouldn't be shown on the mainstream music channels it would most likely to be shown online through YouTube or any other video websites.

Extension of Income:

Every time an artists record or music video is played they receive royalties or payments in exchange for their product. An estimate is made depending on how popular a band or artists is and how well the single is selling, its then based on the popularity of it and then the
royalties are paid. Mainstream artists tend to top the charts because radio station will constantly play their songs, where as the unrecognised artists rely on media outlets to get their names recognised. Its difficult for the unknown acts to get their name across as people won't take much interest in them as they are not a big name so radios stations and music channels wont give them a lot of airtime to get them recognised. I think the best way for new unrecognised talent is to release their products over bigger media outlets and performing live in places and also creating music that would appeal to the main streamers which then can grab attention from big companies.

Before the days of YouTube the only way music videos could really get airplay was on MTV. How it works is, whenever a video is played, that artist receives royalties from MTV for using their created product but now YouTube does a similar thing but with the money coming from Google, who then give money out to certain video producers based on the fact of how many views they get as well as ads etc. It is important for networks like TV and radio to make a return themselves but they need to do this without running themselves into debt with royalty payments. So they need to ensure that a lot of people will be listening which means that they will need to make sure they're playing content they know people will like.

There are few media outlets to do with music such as streaming services (Spotify, YouTube, VEVO, Apple Music), Online stores (iTunes), Radio (BBC Radio, Heart, Kiss, Heart), TV (MTV, AKA, Clubland).

Synergy:

Synergy is where one company strikes up a deal with one another, that one party will promote the other's product if the other does the same. Examples of this being used is James Bond and Sam Smith as Sam sings Writing's on the wall which was the main song in the Bond movie, also when rappers have upcoming songs Beats tend to promote them in their latest ads. Both these things will bring in lots money to the artists from the songs being played and also huge amounts of money for the film company and also Beats as audiences will see them as the top things to see or use.