For this task, I am going to explain the five main purposes of why a music video is produced. These are...
- To promote a new music release
- To create a visual representation of an artist
- To extend the play-ability of and provide additional income from a song
- To create synergy with other media sector
- To be art in their own right
Releasing a music video is a way of artists promoting themselves. They could be raising awareness of a new album/single that is being released, a new product being released, the video can be an event in itself, and or it could be that a new artist is being welcomed in to the music industry. The benefit of releasing the video before the single will allow the artist to put their message across better because when the single comes out, the viewers will have a more knowledgeable understanding of the song. The more a music video is being promoted, the more likely that the artist and song is being promoted, serving them a more known label and gaining help in popularity of their music being spread all over the world. It's important for artists to make a music video that's fun, creative, very moving etc. depending on the type of story line to the song there is, to encourage people that are not fans of that artist, to become interested and intrigued by their actions. A great way of promoting a music video is through using unconventional styles, the video becomes humorous and surreal which appeals to the audience because it creates a great and exhilarating atmosphere. An example of this is PSY's Gangnam Style music video. PSY was an unknown K-Pop (Korean Pop) group that all over the world people didn't know they existed, until releasing a music video with the song called Gangnam Style. On the 21st of December 2012, "Gangnam Style" became the first YouTube video to reach a billion views. As of October 27, 2013, the music video has been viewed over 1.8 billion times on YouTube, and it is the sites most watched video. As K-pop is not a popular genre worldwide, PSY created an original and unique music video that they wanted to go viral around the world because of it's different and funny technique. Social networking sites such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook help the artist promote their newest music video. This benefits the artist and the record label because it allows the song/video to become more populated which will gain them money. In this case, people wanted to share the music video on social networks for everyone to join in on a humorous reaction of the video, in which PSY was aiming for that to happen. In the video, PSY created a dance which also was another way of drawing in peoples attention as it was the next new thing to do at parties and celebrations. Whenever Gangnam Style came on at parties, everyone would do the dance as it was a viral thing to do when it came on. This means, for people to learn the dance, they would of had to watch the video a few times, gaining more views on the video. News all over the world broadcasted about Gangnam style reaching a billion views, and because the news is highly watched, many people would be curious as to why the music video has a billion views and would watch it to find out.
To create a visual representation of an artist
The visual representation is where an artist has a unique and distinctive appearance, to convey a sense of standing out from other artists and to reflect the type of music they produce and sell. This helps the audience to have an idea of what kind of artist they are. An example of an artist that communicates the energy values and style of their life and appearance is Biggie Smalls in the music video 'Juicy'. The music video also communicates the artist reinventing themselves through the years of struggle to get to where he was then.
The content of the song details his early years in poverty, his initial dreams of becoming a rap artist and early influences, his time in drugs and crime, and his eventual success in the music business and current lavish lifestyle. The video starts off with Biggie wearing casual every-day clothes to symbolise his non wealthy status. The camera angle is high to represent his low status. This is followed by scenes of where he got to in life, with the camera angle being a cross between mid and low, wearing a clean, white shirt with sunglasses, with the setting placed in a mansion, exposing his wealthy lifestyle. A woman reporter is recording him, telling her about his previous life of being in prison because of selling drugs to make money to feed his daughter. The video gave fans and the audience an insight into how Biggie managed to cope with the stress of living in poverty and the transformation he experienced to living the dream of being a rapper and overcoming the struggles he had in life. This gave people a chance at that time to reevaluate their life and strive for their dreams, which may of what Biggie wanted to spread to the world. Social networks such as YouTube and Twitter were not around in the 90's, and all they really had was TV's and radios. As people had limited amount of channels in the 90's, there would of been more chance of people seeing Biggie's music video, and being able to connect with and accomplish things in life. Nowadays, people still watch the video because they just like the song and the style of what the artist produced. Because Biggie created music videos that had deep meanings behind them, he was a very populated and inspiring artist that will always remain in the music industry.
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| Low status... |
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| High status... |
To extend the play-ability of and provide additional income from a song
The extended play ability of a song is another purpose of a music video. This means a song is played for a long period of time on websites such as YouTube and also music channels. The artist is then benefited as their frequent plays on their music channels keeps them in the public eye, becoming known to a larger audience. The music channels get paid for showing the artists music video which goes towards them and the record label. There are many music channels that play particular music genres that benefits audiences as viewers may only like one specific taste of music genre, e.g. 'Kerrang' presents heavy metal/metal/rock music and 'Magic!' plays soft adult contemporary hits. Some music channels are shown on the radio and the internet, although artists prefer their music being shown on TV to attract large viewers. An example of this purpose is Justin Bieber's song 'As Long As You Love Me'.
Justin's first single, 'Boyfriend' came out on the 26th March 2012 of his third album 'Believe', the song was very different to his previous songs on his albums 'My World' and 'My World 2.0' as he changed in maturity and wanted to step away from the typical 'cute boy' image. So to do this he made a second single called As Long As You Love Me. Lyrically, it tells viewers that true love can defy all circumstances and the obstacles that it can overcome. The song is described to be 'heavy dub-step' but works better as a pop song with dub-step tinges, rather than as a dub-step song with Bieber providing vocals. It features hard-hitting beat, synth and hand claps with vocal loops complemented by a booming beat. As the song continues, it build and builds to a rave-ready drop. This is a big contrast to his previous music as the songs were calm and sweet as he had the cute boy image. Now that he's older, he wanted to transform that appearance to an older image instead of being labelled the sweet boy image all his life. The music video had a intriguing story behind it and because the song itself was a big contrast to his old music and representing the 'older' boy image, girls would love him and his music, and therefore would support him by gaining him views on YouTube and requests for the song to be played on music channels. The creativity of the video is very mysterious and contains action such as fighting, that would interest the viewers, not only just girls, but males. Males and females who like rap would also like the song too as the rapper Big Sean features in it, which may of what Justin Bieber wanted to make a major audience. Overall, this helped the song and music video become widely known as it was played for a long period of time as music channels and the radio repeatedly played it as he was releasing a new image that he wanted the viewers to see and what he was going to produce within the music and the music videos.
To create synergy with other media sector
Because of the success she had in 2011, the producer of the 'Skyfall' song used that advantage in hopes to create a thrilling and exhilarating song that would accomplish in the charts and awards. In 2012 on the 14th of October, "Skyfall" rose to number 2 on the UK Singles Chart with sales of 92,000 copies bringing its overall sales to 176,000, and "Skyfall" entered the Billboard Hot 100 at number 8, Adele's first song to debut in the Top 10, selling 261,000 copies in the United States in its first three days. "Skyfall" has sold more than two million copies worldwide. On 13 January 2013, Adele won the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for "Skyfall", and on 24 February, Adele performed the song at the 85th Academy Awards and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
To create synergy with other media sector
Synergy is where two different media industries fuse together to help each other promote e.g. the music industry and the film industry. It helps increase awareness of both media industries. An example of this is Adele's song 'Skyfall' because it was the promotional single featured in the film 'Skyfall' which is the twenty-third James Bond film. This received a big amount of help towards Adele as she was awarded with more recognition and it helped her become increasingly publicly known because the soundtrack is used on every advertisement to promote the film, which also promotes the song, increasing her popularity and fan base. Synergy helped Adele's sell rates of singles and albums expand as her song was participated on a well known, popular film, which transfers to her record label. Adele has been active since 2006. An emotional performance of "Someone Like You" at the 2011 BRIT Awards on the 15th of February propelled the song to number one in the UK. Her performance was uploaded to YouTube where people all over the world watched, gaining her 150 million views...
The music video doesn't show Adele in it as there are only clips of the Skyfall film making it seem like a trailer, although the only time we see her face is at the start at 0:25 seconds, blended within the 007 trademark logo, representing her as the woman in power. The fact that they had her face within the trademark logo, the audience becomes aware of who the artist is and what she's all about which also helps promote the film to get a bigger audience. Having a trailer-like music video helped advertise the film as the video was played on many music channels, drawing in viewers attentions in wanting to see the film in cinemas as it's making an awareness of the film. Her soulful and deep voice helps the music video seem more dramatic making it link perfectly to the scenario of the film as there are build ups and climaxes. Agreeing to be apart of the synergy allowed Adele to enter new sectors of media industries.
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| Adele within the 007 trademark logo |
To be art in their own right
Art is a way of artists expressing themselves in their music videos and what they want to portray to the viewers. Art creates enigma and narratives across multiple videos to make the video more memorable, even more so than the song itself. An example of an artist who created an enigma and a narrative for their music video is Jessie J's 'Nobody's
Perfect' song.
Perfect' song.
Jessie J produced a wild and magical music video involving intertextuality, inspired by Lewis Carroll's classic tale 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'. The music video premiered on the 14th of April, 2011 in the UK through Jessie's VEVO channel on YouTube. Jessie J is shown in a hall of doors that gives a resemblance to the curious hall in the first chapter of Alice in Wonderland. At 0:22 seconds, Jessie J sits in a banquet table similar to the Mad Hatters' tea party. She is sat in the main chair to symbolise she is the important person on the table and that it's her tea party. At 0:59 seconds, she starts to walk across the table as an outburst to relate to her song, which also exemplify's the Mad Hatter e.g. the scene where he first sees Alice with excitement and goes to greet her by walking across the table...
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| Mad Hatter walking across the table |
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| Jessie J walking across the table |
This is then followed by Jessie walking into a room full of clocks at 1:33 and a change of clothing as she wears a gold jacket full of clocks, a necklace with a clock and gold nails with mechanic figures that belong to a clock. The sound of the ticking of the clocks corrupts Jessie as she can't deal with the repetitive noise as she wishes she could go back in time to re-do something she wishes she never done. The scene matches with the rabbit as he carries a massive watch around with him to help him so he's on time. She's then in a dark room full of colourful lips at 2:50 that are talking at her, she holds her head to signify she hates what she's hearing which relates to the song. The scene connects with when Alice falls down into the hole where it is dark and she can't control herself. Jessie J rolls in tar at 2:14 and appears dressed as the Roman goddess, Libertas, at 3:01 who is better known as the robbed female figure of the Statue of Liberty, what could be interpreted as Black-and-White dualism. Jessie J expresses herself through her exciting and distinctive clothes and her 'weird' and experimental videos to represent herself to the viewers and how she wants people to view her as. The artistic music video 'Nobody's Perfect' creates enigma and a narrative for the viewers to watch and to be intrigued by because it was inspired by 'Alice in Wonderland' which everyone knows about it. Creating an artistic music video also makes it become popular and helps increase sales as it's a twisted fairy-tale story that all age viewers would be interested in to watch. The song can relate to many people, which is another benefit as viewers can connect to a song that relates to their issue. The film-like intro of a girl speaking from 0:00 to 0:17 with the background containing a scary 'haunted' house with lightning, thunder, a crow and dark skies are portraying a horror mood as they all symbolise a threat, reflecting the subject of the song. This then sets a thrilling and an exhilarating feel for the viewers, making them want to watch the video. Her crazy, funky and colourful clothes reflect her personality as being confident and out there as she was a new and upcoming artist in 2011. By wearing the sort of clothes she wore in Nobody's Perfect and the way she produced her music video, this was a great way for her to represent what she was releasing and what she was about as a person after her successful second single, 'Price Tag', having 288 million views and the song debuting at number one on the UK Singles Chart.
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| Intro |
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| Clocks scene |
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| Lips scene |
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| Roman Goddess scene |
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