The Purpose Of The Music Video

THE PURPOSE OF MUSIC VIDEOS

Music videos have embedded themselves into our modern day society comfortably over the last decade. But where did they start?

• The first idea of music videos came in around in 1941 when an invention in America called the Panoram Soundie was created.  The Panoram Soundie is essentially a jukebox that plays a video alongside music. This invention spurred the idea of music video for years to come.
• The real blow up of the music videos was in 1975 when ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ was released along with a music video. It was received royally and was a technical masterpiece of its time.
• From there on out music videos have been made in all shapes and sizes and for all purposes.

PROMOTING THE ARTISTS

• Music videos can be made for many different reasons.  Some artists use music videos to promote the band itself, giving themselves an image. The image will attract fans and generate a fan base in the long run. For example if your band is aimed at a more mature audience; your video should reflect that. Nirvana was a success rock band in the 90's. There song Smells Like Teen Spirit really give the band an image.

• Whilst some artists make videos to promote a single song or album launch. A band may write a song that they truely believe could be a hit and want to promote it as much as possible.  So they choose to accompanied the song with a clever or memorable music video.  PSY is a South Korean singer and his song Gangnam Style is a perfect example of how a video can promote a song through a music video because the video have achieved over 1,900,000,000  hits on YouTube.

• Music videos have also kick-started a fair few film makers careers over the years giving talented people a chance to show off their creative skills that they might not get show elsewhere in the industry. People see the creative force behind the videos and this can kick start a career and has over the years. Meat Loafs - I'd Do Anything For Love music video for example was directed by Micheal Bay, now by this point he was an established filmmaker but it shows how us how music videos are a creative escape for directors to let themselves go.

PRODUCER STRATEGIES

• Producers use many different strategies to market and produce videos for many different purposes.  Main stream artists will make music videos to give themselves a designer or glossy image, by glossy image I mean that they portrait this perfect look with the perfect life to give an artist a godlike sense and they will attempt to reflect this image through the music video.
• Independent bands or artists will create music videos that aren't narrative based and are more performance based. Showing the skills of the band to hopefully generate fans and give appeal, with that same reason in mind; independent music videos will be more experimental and different to create a buzz about the band.  A downside to this is that independent music videos do not have the budget to do spectacular music videos with high amount of effects.

A good example of an independent music video to show band promotion is The Modern Age - The Strokes

EXTENDING ARTIST/RECORD LABEL INCOME 

Music videos can extend an artist’s popularity and sense of style. A stylized video or simply clever one can completely change an artist’s image. This can boost sales and fans which can further the artist. Record labels essentially do the promotion for the band itself. The perk is that the record label has a lot of contacts and a bigger budget but they come at a higher cost and can take away the magic of music. While being independent gives you a lot less contacts but gives you complete control on how you market your music and produce your videos and these videos turn out being the most memorable and best music videos.

THE EXTENSION OF VARIOUS MEDIA OUTLETS

Music videos can be watched widely than fifty years ago. We have the ability to see new music videos via our television on specific channels and also; more recently, via the Internet. This gives the masses the ability to find or advertise within seconds. Some examples of online outlets to find and watch music videos.

• Youtube
• Vimeo
• Daily Motion

 In todays modern world web2 age we can use these online tools with high efficiency to market our own work independently. This has positive and negative repercussions throughout the industry, spiking some sections and killing off others. For example the marketers responsible for marketing music videos via television becomes less popular because people are not prepared to pay money for something they could do for free.             

SYNERGISTIC MARKETING - LINKS TO PROMOTION AND INCOME

• Synergistic marketing or synergy is where you gives permission for your character to be used in other forms of media. For example the Spiderman franchise in 2008 let the band Nickleback make a music video featuring clips from the film. This gives both the film and the band recognition 

WHYS ARE MUSIC VIDEOS SO POPULAR?



Music videos are as popular are they are today because of the joy and emotion they bring the viewer. Music videos give us the visual medium to express music, music alone can bring us joy and sadness and giving a visual aid to help bring the song to life is why videos are as popular as they are today.

Looking at it finically, music videos provide the artist with another and more creative way to sell you their music. A good music video can completely give an artist a new image.