Why do we have music videos and what are they used

for?
Introduction
The first ever music video was in 1953, to the song Stranger in Paradise
by Tony Bennet. It was initially created to fill in a slot where the artist
could not go on a television programme for a live performance. The music
video just shows him walking through Hyde Park singing the song and
therefore is very basic and has very little purpose compared to the
purpose of them today.
Over time music videos have changed significantly. They have gone from
simple shots of the artist singing the song, to more artistic and narrative
videos. Music videos never used to be something that a record label would
spend lots of money on. For example, an early music video is Video Killed
the Radio Star by The Buggles. It was very low budget and poorly filmed.
It was just of the band performing the song on camera, showing no
narrative or band imagery. These
days, music videos have purposes
and have become an essential
part of the music industry. For
example, a modern music video
such as Blame It on Me by George
Ezra, this video features a large
location, crew, budget, as well as
showing the singers image and giving a narrative to the song. This builds
a relationship with the artists and their fans. It is clear that the video had
a large budget and more of a
purpose compared to older music
videos. Over time they have
become a lot more fashionable
and easy to access especially with
sites such as YouTube where you
can watch these videos for free,
as well as becoming important to artists as it is another way of making
money. Even though we can watch these videos for free on websites,
there is an advert put at the start of it and then depending on the number
of views, depends on how much money the artist gets. Therefore it is
important that there is a large budget so that high quality videos can be
produced.
Music videos are important because they are a way of building a
relationship with the artists fans. You can see who they are as a person
more, and the image they give themselves to make them unique and
different from other musicians. Music videos also give narratives to songs,
it becomes clearer what the song is about with these visual aids.

The purpose of a music video

To find out about the promotion of music videos, we decided to gather
data through a focus group. From this I learnt that overall music videos are
useful for the promotion of the artist. A way of promoting an artists video
is through the use of controversy, which encourages a video to go viral
and become noticed. An example given was the song Smack My Bitch Up
by The Prodigy. This was a good example because it shows A-class drug
use, extreme violence and a lot of sexual content. As a group, they agreed
that as well as putting offensive content into
music videos, the use of dance/fashion
statements can also send a video viral. An
example of this given was the music video
for the song Gangnam Style despite the
song wasnt in English, it created a dance
trench which went viral and lead to a
massive rise in profits of over a billion
dollars for the artist PSY.

I think that changing the image of an artist is important

because it can get an artist noticed more. For example
Lana Del Rey used to produce music under her real
name, Lizzy Grant. At the time she wasnt well known
and her image didnt match her style of music. So she
started to product music under the stage name Lana
Del Rey and then got noticed and became a much
bigger artist that
she used to be. This
attracted a new
audience from the
alternative
genre her music videos
from her debut
album Born to Die where
all original and
thats what made her
stand out.

Other artists such as Ellie Goulding choose to

create a second music video for one song if
they wanted to change the style of the video.
The song Starry Eyes wasnt expected to be
as successful as it was. So the artist decided
to produce another video with a higher
budget and new image so that she was more
appropriate for the pop genre.

There are many ways to watch a music video, for

example most videos are uploaded to major
outlets such as YouTube that allows the public to
view these videos for free. The artists make
money through short adverts that you have to
watch at the beginning of a video. People can find
out about these videos by sharing it on other social
media platforms such as Facebook as YouTube
videos are easy to find and access. Additionally,
music videos are also shown on TV channels such
as MTV, channels like this normally play music
videos that are in the charts and popular, this gets
people to watch the videos multiple times as the
same songs are repeated multiple times throughout the day. Finally, you
can also pay to download music videos from apps such as iTunes and
Google Music. This allows people to have a digital copy of the videos if
they wish.
Artists still decide to put their music on CDs to make
their music available to audiences who purchase
physically copies of their music. A way that artists try
to get the public to buy their CDs is by putting bonus
tracks that are only exclusive to the album. For
example Alt-Js album This is all Yours features a
bonus track at the end of the album that cannot be
found on places like YouTube. This encourages more
hard core fans to purchase a copy of their album so they can listen to
these exclusive songs that others may not have heard. Additionally, some
artists make music videos available to the public for free if they purchase
a full copy of their album. For example the band Kings of Leon released
their album Come around Sundown and when you purchased a copy of it
on iTunes you got their music video for the song Radioactive. This
persuades the public to purchase their album and makes these people
watch their music video.

In some music videos, especially ones from major record labels, the artists
tend to be showing off a brand. For example, in the music video for Ellie
Gouldings Starry Eyes, she is wearing Beats headphones and drives a
Mini. This would make her fans want to go out and buy these products
because someone they admire and what to be like is wearing or using
them. This is a source of income because the company would be given
money by the companies who own the brands for featuring their products
in the video. Research shows that people notice brands in music videos,
as well as them contributing to 8% of extra profits. Even in cases where
the brand product placements are not that noticeable, you are still more
likely to notice a popular brand. For example, in 2013 Miley Cyrus

released the music video for We cant stop which features EOS lip balm
and a Beats Pill, it was the sixth most streamed song that year with 151
million streams.
Michael Jackson produced a Hollywood
productions/film. He used a film director
and made a 15 minute movie with his
song Thriller incorporated in it. This was
done to promote his song in a different
and iconic way to other artists. The song
was falling in the charts at the time
when the movie was just released and got the song back to number one.
This was iconic because no other artist had done this before and there
hasnt been another music video since that has been as successful.
Madonnas went for the shock factor when it came to the music video for
the song Like a Prayer. It was arguably the most controversial song ever.
In the video there were clips of her burning crosses, wearing inappropriate
clothing in church which offended the public. Also, in the video there was
a God like figure who was black which offended the church and as a result
the video got banned in some countries. Also, at first Pepsi was associate
with the video and then withdrew themselves from it so that it didnt make
the company look bad. This was a turning point in her career because it
got her as an artist noticed and it isnt likely that she wouldnt have been
as successful as she had been without that song causing controversy.

Synergy is where two products or companies combine to make one

product/production. Musicians collaborate with different media platforms
such as film, an example of this is the
song Everybody Wants to Rule the
World by Lorde, which was used in
the film The Hunger Games Catching
Fire. This promoted the artist because
people would watch the film, hear the
song and because it is related to the
film they are likely to listen to it and
go and purchase it. Also, people who found the song before the film would
be more likely to watch it if they knew an artist they liked were featured in
it. The song peaked at 65 in the UK Single charts and 14 in New Zealand.
The song was then used in television shows such as Season four of
Homeland and the cinematic trailer for Assassins Creed Unity.

As well as synergy in films, it is also found in TV adverts. For example, the

song Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke was used to adverts Beats Pill
speakers. There was a separate video made for the advert in the same

style as the original music video, but

featuring the product. The original song
peaked to number one in 14 countries
including the UK and the US. It has sold
7,380,000 copies in the US in April 2015
alone. The advert cause controversy due
to it showing sexual or provocative
behaviour but still considered it to be
appropriate to air after 7:30pm. Although this meant that the advert could
not be shown on the TV as much, the outcome of the controversy it cause
publicized the product and made people want to buy it which lead to an
increase in sales.

Producer strategies
Major record labels are for mainstream artists. These are the artists that
generally make it high in the charts, sells lots of records which leads to
touring and merchandise. Musicians under these labels such as Sony BMG
and Warner Music Group have large budgets for music videos. One of the
advantages of being under a major record label is that they have the
money to produce high quality music videos by going to locations that
cost a lot to get to, as well as having the money to pay for high end
equipment and editing software. Artists under these labels generally come
under popular music genres such as Pop and R&B. The disadvantages are
that these artists will have to be 'mainstream', they cannot afford to try
alternative and independent styles because this can lead to people not
liking a song and could conclude in mass profit losses. The recording
industry had a total value on $15
billion in 2014. Universal Music
Group is an example of a major
record label that had 37.7%
percent of the US market share in
the first six months of 2013. An
example of an artist that belongs
to a major record label is Hozier.

Independent record labels are for smaller, independent artists who have
smaller budgets. Who fit into smaller genres of music such as indie and
folk. The target audience that these genres come under generally credit
music videos as an art form. This is an advantage because it can lead to
the artists being more experimental in terms of technique, equipment and
narrative. Although, the disadvantages of and independent label is that
they have narrow budgets and sometimes less experience and knowledge
when it comes to what is successful in a music video. Although directors
normally have more of a proven creative background. Independent labels
have become more popular and larger. In 2014, the revenue of

independent labels in the US reached 360 million US dollars. An example

of an artist from an independent record label is Catfish and the Bottlemen.
Some artists may decide to produce their own music videos. These are the
artists that are often unsigned and are trying to get them self's noticed
and build a connection with their fans/audience which is a promotional
tool which can lead to the artist being signed and becoming more
successful. Although, being a selfproduced label is normally due to major
budget limitations, therefore videos don't
look as high quality as some major or
independent labels. These videos show the
artists personality and style because they
have full creative control because they can
make them self be whoever they want to
be as they have no control from producers
and directors. This is very cost effective
for very small, artists who aren't noticed.

References
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stranger_in_Paradise_(song)
http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2014/behind-the-music-videohow-important-are-videos-to-both-artists-and-brands.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Everybody_Wants_to_Rule_the_World#Lorde_
version
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beats_Pill#Promotion
http://www.ifpi.org/facts-and-stats.php

http://www.statista.com/topics/2126/record-labels/
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?194966-What-was-the-firstmusic-video-ever-made
http://www.slideshare.net/pluto106/what-is-the-main-purpose-of-a-music
http://musicians.about.com/od/musicindustrybasics/g/BigFour.htm
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2010/07/michael-jackson-thriller-201007