AS: Task 1: Purpose of a Music Video

Availability of the Artist:
In 1964, The Beatles starred in A Hard Day's Night, a feature film about the band, directed by Richard Lester.

A year later in 1965, the band started creating promotional clips for broadcasting and distribution in other countries around the world.

This was a good thing for the band as it meant that they could spend more time writing and producing more songs, which meant that they could earn more money, and also meant that they didn't have to make in person performances in order to promote their most recent songs. However, before this, musicians would have their songs featured in films, or they would perform them live on TV shows.

Music videos were never really general practice for musicians until 1975, when Queen released Bohemian Rhapsody, a song which solidified use of music videos as general practice. These music videos would then be used on programmes such as Top Of The Pops, which held the band in the number 1 spot of the charts for 9 week, this helps he artist as it means they do not need to appear in person for a performance, this particularly helped Queen, as they were touring at the time. 

Bohemian Rhapsody was also considered a breakthrough for it's time, as it was the first music video to use effects in it's creation, which is much different in comparison to the original Beatles videos released about 10 years prior.

Before promo video's become popular, and the artist or musician was not available for a performance, Top of the Pops would play the song, and feature groups of women known as Pans People, who would dance to the song for it's duration. 

They were not the first group of dancers to appear for Top of the Pops, they replaced The Go-Jo's in 1968.

Brian May (guitar player in Queen), says that the video for Bohemian Rhapsody was created for two main reasons, so that the band could avoid miming such a complex song on Top of the Pops, and because they would have been on tour when it was in the charts, where it sat at number 1 for 9 weeks. It is also said that the band created the song, to avoid being on TOTP altogether, as the band said the experience was boring.

Promotional Purposes:
Music videos soon became a way of promotion for artists, and for quite a while, this was their main function, some people consider music videos as nothing more than an advertisement. Others say that it is meant to draw attention to the music, and illustrate the song, a good example of a music video in this format would be the music video for the song Take On Me by 80's New Wave group, A-Ha.

Music videos are a good way of appealing to a visual audience, who are those who view the video, and as television became more popular, it meant that a band could become more easily known through music videos being aired on TV.

Creating a Brand

A music group can be sold off as a certain brand, and their music videos will often be a product of said brand, in hope that the audience would be inspired by the group and buy into the look. This is often done through the mise-en-scene and extend the look of the video into the rest of their lives, turning them into their characters. These characters will often have to keep consistent with their image, even off camera. A good example of this would be pop group, the Spice Girls. Each Spice Girl had her own identity, and character, and would dress and act according to their character.

In other instances, it is the song and the meaning of the song being sold, rather than the artists image, such is the case with Ed Sheeran, with songs such as Take It Back, which he mentions in the lyrics to the song.

Marketing an Image
An image is always something an artist creates with their music and style, normally, their style will reflect their music or vice versa. For example, Lady GaGa creates upbeat pop music, and her image and the way she dresses is very unique, with outfits made of unique materials such as meats.

What makes it memorable?

A good example of a promo video would be Here It Goes Again by the band OK Go, who created a video of the band members all walking and dancing in a very choreographed way over 8 treadmills. The video is very memorable due to how unique it is, and it makes the band memorable because of this. It is also good as a way of promoting the band, because if the audience enjoyed the video or the song, it may encourage them to buy their music, and the band would make more money.

Extension of Income

Creating a music video opens several opportunities for extension of income for the musician(s). Watching the video may encourage the audience to go out and buy merchandise for that artist/band, including t-shirts, albums, and tickets to see the musician in concert.  A good example of this would be the music video for Thriller by Michael Jackson, which was a 13 minute long video on a VHS tape, it also came with extras, and behind-the-scene footage, which was sold to the general populous, which sold over 9 million copies in the mid 1980's. 

It also creates a chance for an artist to promote something else they might have been working on on the side, such as perfume ranges etc. A good example of this would be Christina Aguilera and her perfume, which she featured in her music video for Not Myself Tonight.

Extension of Outlets

Once a music video has been created, and the artist has amassed somewhat of a following, it then allows themselves to be more accessible through the internet, with media services such as their own website, YouTube and Spotify, which can be used anywhere around the world, which also increases the chance of an audience member becoming a fan themselves. 

Synergy

Another purpose for creating a music video, would be to create synergy. Synergy is when two organisations coincide, and work together on a project, to benefit both parties. A good example of synergy in the last few years would be "Skyfall", both Adele and the producers of Skyfall benefit from the agreement. The song promotes the film, and the song is played in the film, which promotes Adele as an artist, so both are better off because of the success of the project.

Producer's Strategies

There are a few different types of artists, and they are usually categorised into:

• Major labels
• Independent 
• Artist self produced

Major Labels

The four main major multinational record labels that dominate are Universal, Sony Music, Warner Brothers, & EMI, and are referred to simply as "The Majors". The majority of these are backed by conglomerates that hold stakes in other large industries, such as film, and television. 

Most of these larger labels own smaller companies that open up more variety for genre. These labels are called "Major Independents", and these labels are Columbia, Island, Syco, RCA, & Virgin.

Independent Labels

There are a plethora of independent labels, usually focusing on a specific genre of music, such as Hip Hop or Dance. A highly successful independent label is Warp Records. Indie labels often see their music videos as art, rather than just an advertisement for a big corporation.