Assignment 1 Task One

Purpose of Music Video 
The quality of music videos have developed over the years as technology as gotten better and people are becoming more exposed to the technology. The purpose of a music video is to sell the song and to let you remember it. to entertain the audience. Also it gives the listener a better understanding of the song if the video is narrative. Music videos provide the ideal opportunity for experiment with visual moving imagery allowing learners to use their creative imagination to the maximum and to apply technical skills, which have been developed in other units. 



Availability of Artist

In 1964, The Beatles starred in their first feature film “A hard Day’s Night”, directed by Richard Lester.

A year later in 1965 they then began making promotional clips for distribution and broadcast in other countries.

They did so to enable them to promote their record releases without having to make in- person appearances.

It was only after the success of Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ that it became regular practice for record companies to produce promotional videos for artists ‘ single releases.

These videos could then be shown on television shows such as Top of Pops, without the need for the artist to appear in person.

Before the promo videos became popular if the artist was unavailable they would have their music broadcast and accompanied rather than dancers such as Pan’s People.

Brain May said the video was produced:

     a) So the band could avoid miming such a complex song on Top of the Pops

    b) As they would be 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.

It is designed to draw attention to the music and illustrate the song.

Appeals to a visual audience

An example of a promo video is PSY- Gangnam Style. This is a good music video because of the effect it has on the audience.  It is not necessary a song that holds a strong meaning to it but the dance makes it more important and captivating to the audience. Perhaps without the dance and video quality the song would not have been that popular, it is almost like the video was made to distract the audience from paying attention and trying to find a meaning to the song, rather than picking out the faults of it.

Extension of income

A music video provides a great opportunity to increase income.

Watching the video may encourage audiences to purchase a number of items; singles, albums, merchandise such as t-shirts, wristbands etc.

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” e.g. Christine Aguilera & perfume (not Myself Tonight). In this music video she sprays a perfume on a few parts of her body but we do not really get to see the perfume brand, but since she has used it in her video we can assume it is from her perfume line. A better example of this the Britney Spears’ “hold it against me” in this video we see her use a variety of named brands like SONY and her perfume brand. Also we see her on a website called “Plentyoffish.com”.

The purpose of this is to freely advertise the product on a video. The makers of whatever product is being advertised know how famous or well like the video owner is and how helpful they will be.

 - The Britney Spears "Hold it against me" video. She is holding the perfume as she looks straight into the camera 

  - Christina Aguilera and the perfume which we do not see the name in the video but we can assume the perfumes are from her brand.

  

Synergy

 This is when two media products work together to mutually benefit each other. The aim is to produce a combined effect greater than the sum of their separate effects.

A good example of this is Skyfall featuring Daniel Craig. Both Adele and the producers of Skyfall stand to benefit from this arrangement. When the fans of Adele watch the music video they could be interested which would drive them to watch the movie, in the same way the 007 fans could feel connected to the song. The film promotes Adele’s song and Adele’s song promotes the movie, both parties are helping and benefiting from each other. However sometimes the fans of the artists that have not seen the film would not like the fact clips from the film keep appearing  in the music video as they would love to see more of the artist in the video. 

Creating a Band 
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 "Mis en-scene" and the extended the "look" of the video into the rest of their lives. Each artist in the band will have their own image but still in  conjunction with the rest of the band. for example TLC, a girl band from the 90s consisting of 3 girls with different styles "crazy,sexy,cool" they all have different images as individuals but as groups they are compatible. Another example is Junior Mafia, sometimes some groups usually have a girl and a bunch of boys, like the Black Eyed Peas.

 Major label 
The music industry is dominated by four multi national corporations

Universal 

Sony music 

Warners Brothers 

EMI 

These 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 Record Strategies

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. an online platform like VEVO where it is owned by the Universal Music Group, Google, Sony Music Entertainment and Abu Dhabi Media. It was first launched in December 2009. Which enables the company to make 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 niched in the industry, HipHop,Rap,Electronica/Dance. These are known as independents a successful independent is "Wrap Records"