Importance of Music video

Sone people would say that the music video is very important to the music industry. Although this may have been the case 40 years ago since then there has been a decline in the effectiveness of the music video. One reason for this is that the increased ways of people to listen to music has caused a shift in the amount of people that watch music videos as they are more likely to know the song from the radio or from the internet. However in recent years the music can be seen to have increased in popularity and effectiveness due to sites such as youtube. In the height of its use the music video would typically get hundreds of thousands or in some cases millions such as Michael Jackson's Scream.
        The music video would need a start to get it to be seen as a necessity to go with the actual music. One video that s thought to be the first proper music video is from a band called The Buggles with the song Video Killed The Radio Star. This is a prime example of how the music video helped to make a song popular as without it it is thought that the song would not have been as popular as it was. One reason for its popularity was because before this the only way that music was able to be listened to was on the radio and the music video allowed another format for music to be a form of entertainment. From this point onwards more money would be spent on videos for the music as the producers saw this as a way of making the music as popular as it could be.


Although more money was put more into the music industry for the videos this was not always needed in order to make the video effective. A key example of this is in the song  Nothing Compares 2U sung by Sinead O'Connor. This song was originally a Prince song and Sinead done a cover of the song. Because of the music video this song which was a cover was more popular than when Prince had released it. The record company gave the director of the video money in oder to be able to film the video and make it as good as he possibly could. The original idea for the video was to have Sinead walking through a cemetery with snippets of an extreme close up of her singing the song. However, after the video of her singing had been shot in the studio the director decided to use the footage of the studio more rather than the the footage of Paris which had all of its money spent on. The reason for this is because in the final video Sinead had some emotional connection to the song and therefore gave it the effectiveness and emotion that would not have been portrayed in the original idea. The director said that if he could then he would have had the whole song of the extreme close up but if he did then the record label would have been annoyed.

Assignment 1 Task One – Understand the purpose of music videos

Task One – Understand the purpose of music videos

Before the invent of music videos in order for a band to publicise they had to go onto television and radio in order to spread the word about a new song. However now band that would change this were The Beatles who, in 1964, starred in their first feature film 'A Hard Days Night' which was created to promote their new song. A year later this film was used to create promotional clips which were then able to be shown around the world. The effect of this was that the band and song were getting promoted in many countries without the need for them to physically appear on the shows and therefore would be able to reach a lot more people. This increased the availability of the artist.

Another way that the music and promotional music videos can help towards the availability of the artist is when the song gets very popular and is shown on many channels and played o may stations. The first band and song that really made use of this was Queen with their song 'Bohemian Rhapsody'. This song reached number number one and was in the charts for many weeks and every week bands that were in the charts would appear on Top of the Tops to perform their song was difficult to sing the song due to complex effects that would not be able to be performed live with ease. This is when the production company decided to create a music video for the band which would be played on Top of the Pops because they would not be able to perform the song each week for months on end. Before these promotional videos were created, if the artist could not appear on the show then whilst the song is being played there would be a group of dancers, one of which were called Pans People, that would perform on stage. These dancers would not get very long to choreograph or practice the dance so the dance would not promote the song and artist in the way that they wanted it to be whereas showing a music video created by the artist would.

 

 

Some people would say that the music video is very important to the music industry. Although this may have been the case 40 years ago since then there has been a decline in the effectiveness of the music video. One reason for this is that the increased ways of people to listen to music has caused a shift in the amount of people that watch music videos as they are more likely to know the song from the radio or from the internet. However in recent years the music can be seen to have increased in popularity and effectiveness due to sites such as youtube. In the height of its use the music video would typically get hundreds of thousands or in some cases millions such as Michael Jackson's Scream.




The music video has had a massive effect on how songs and artists are promoted in this industry with large amounts of money being spent on them in order to create the best video. There have been many songs which are likely to not have been as popular if not for the creation of a music video. If a video creates a stir or gets lots of publicity then this means that the artist and song are also getting advertised alongside that, so getting promoted. To get this advertisement to work the music video has to be able to successfully appeal to the audience. Sometimes if this is not achieved then it could meant the song may not be as successful as a result.   Another purpose of a music video is to appeal visually to the audience alongside just being listened to. The effect of this is that it can take the affect which it has on the audience and multiply it because they are not only being stimulated by hearing the music but also seeing the video which goes alongside it and therefore will get more emotions from it when viewing it. 

Music videos are a key way to advertise the artists or band by creating a brand/image for them. Different artists create their own brand through the music video such as either making it simple, such as Adele in "Someone Like You" which simply shows her walking in london in black and white. On the opposite side is Lady GaGa who is famous for her eccentric style of clothing that she wears in her music videos.  For Lady GaGa she would be seen as having a style over substance ideology with her music videos because she has many interesting and complex video s which lots of content rather than simple and keeping the audiences attention on the lyrics and song, this is her brand.  

The extension of income means how the the Music video is going to increase the amount of money that the song, album and artist will make. A successful music video will result in the artist making more money due to increased audience and therefore plays/sales. The video acts as a promotional tool for the artist and label. It is also able to raise the audiences awareness and profile in order for the artist to be able to play at festivals and do tours which will also cause a raise in awareness and so on. Another way for increased income is to use product placement in which a company will pay the artist to insert one of their products into the music video. In the case of product placement it is usually the more coverage and popular the artist is then the more money that wold be made from product placement. In We Cant Stop by Miley Cyrus right at the start there is product placement of Beats Pill.

Extension of outlets means all of the different ways in which the artist's music video and song will be able to be played on. One of these is playing it through music channels such as 4Music or Kerrang! Where this extension may have been popular in the past, now days this is not so much the most popular choice but can still get the song out there and be shown. The reason for music channels not being as popular is because of the next extension with is through the internet. This method has grown dramatically over the past few years due to the fact of internet becoming much more popular and easier to et access to. Through the internet there are a variety of ways to view the artists music videos, one of which is streaming. The main website which will be used to stream music videos is Youtube, with millions of videos where anyone can upload to. The affect of this is that if the artist does not have the mine or is not well known enough o have their video/ song played/shown they would be able to upload to youtube where people will be able to view it. An example of this is Justin Bieber who first sung on youtube and his 'talent' was discovered where he is now famous. Another method of getting people to view the music video on the internet is through downloading it from a variety of sites, one of which is iTunes, where the person will most likely have to pay to download it and then be able to view it but this is not as popular with the ability to download and stream video from youtube for free almost anywhere. CDs are still a popular extension with many people buying the CDs of the artist whether it is a single or an album. On the CD/DVD the band or artist could included some special features such as live footage of them or bonus tracks. However it has been said that this  extension has begun to be overtaken by people downloading the music. 

Synergy is when the creation of the music is done by two products/companies work together to make a music video which can be effective because it can create a link between the two things. One example of this is Adele and James Bond, this is an example because it is two different people/companies working together. Adele was chosen to sing Skyfall and the music video for this song was a trailer for the film which shows that they incorporated he singing and therefore her image and both were used to promote each other. Synergy also spreads along to television programmes and is when a song is played on a certain show then this will mean that the band is getting promoted and is reaching an audience which may not have been reached before.

Without producers it is difficult for an artist to be able to make it big or to even get their songs played to people and with the different producers there are different strategies and types that they will use. One type of producer are the Major Labels and these are the main ones that control the music industry, often hiring many bands at a time which would be able to be done by the smaller producers. Some of these producers are Universal, Sony Music and Warner Brothers and these producers would have lots of money that they would be able t spend on the bands and artists that they want to promote the most and create high budget music videos. The Major producers will be involved in many other industries most of the time such as film and television which could mean they another way to promote the artist. 
The next producers are the Major independents and there are many more of these compared to the Major Labels. These producers would most likely only be a part of the one industry but still have the money to be able to promote the artist. Examples of these are Columbia, Island and Syco. these labels would still have very well known artists and be able to make high budget music videos but won't have the access to their own extensions of outcomes. 
The Final type are the self promoted artists and it is this type of producer that is there is the most of in the industry, often only gavin a few artists that they promote. The cost of music videos from these producers can vary depending on how many and how well the artists are doing. These producers usually only specialise in one style of music such as Indie rock or Rap. One of these producers are called Warp records.

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