The Purpose of Music Videos

This essay is to provide information on the purpose of music videos, from when they first appeared, what they were used for, when they became popular and what they are used for now. The first few videos appeared at the beginning of the early nineteen forties with a at the time ground breaking new invention called the “Panoram Soundie” which essentially is a jukebox which played short video clips to go with the music. It developed in the mid-fifties with musically films during the boom of the Rock’n’Roll trend, especially with the Elvis Presley movies like the “Jailhouse Rock” (1957).

The almost sole purpose of music videos now is the promotion of the music artists, there songs and sometimes the directors of the music videos themselves. Depending on what type of band or singer they are is how they are going promote themselves; if it is an indie bands like “The Black Keys” with the music video to “Gold on the Ceiling” then you can see that they’re promoting themselves. If it is a bigger group or singer like “Taylor Swift” then their music videos can show off their budget; but both are just a big advert for the song. You also have the directors of the music who can put their own creative and filmmaking stamp on the video; a lot of music video directors have transitioned to film; Oscar winner Spike Jonze (the director of “Her” (2013)), directed one of the best of all time “Weapon of Choice”.

The producers of the music video, weather that is a record label or self-produced, they will all have a strategy for selling the music video. If it’s a mainstream band then or singer, they will try and make the music video flashy, throwing special effects, sex appeal, cool and exotic locations and the talent; an example that features nearly all of these items is “LMFAO’S” “I’m Sexy and I Know It”. Producers try and get a wide audience for these videos by showing them on television and websites; artists will usually have their own official website and it will also most likely be on YouTube and will also have a slot of channels like “MTV” and “VIVA”. If it’s an independent or indie band, then their music video will likely be independent or indie with a smaller budget which does create more create more artistic freedom, using experimental film making, and visual styles (The Prodigy – Firestarter . They will have lots of shots of the singer or band (trying to sell themselves). They will try to get on the late night slots of shows like “MTV” and magazines like “Kerrang”. You have self-produced artist discovered through YouTube like “Justin Bieber”.

One of the biggest reasons for producers always trying to stick to mainstream artist is because they have the biggest chance of making money. This type of mainstream music like “Bruno Mars” dominates the music channels and magazines; this will of course give them a wide audience who want to listen to them. This in turn brings into account the idea of royalty payments which has the theory attached that every time an artist’s song is played, they will receive a payment and if they have a music video attached, they will receive a payment whenever the video gets played (in theory). Whenever the artist is paid, the producers and distributes will get a cut; so in a competitive music industry it is very hard for new musicians to get discovered, this where YouTube comes in handy for free exhibition and distribution, raising the chance of being discovered by people.

There are many different platforms to getting music listened to and music videos watched; a big one is the internet, enabling you to advertise your music and music videos; you can also use YouTube and even have your own official website to advertise yourself on. Television is a big platform to be on, as some television channels specialise in specific music videos like “VIVA”, “MTV” and “4music”. CD’s are going to be one of the biggest platforms to get you music heard, with worldwide release of singles and albums. You have the ability to download music from some places like ITunes which have taken over the majority of music buying; magazines like “Vibe” are also a big influence if you go for the one that advertises your genre of music. Many different platforms gives you more places for your product but it also opens you up to competition and piracy.

The power of synergy is used a lot by producers in any industry and it is when a product of name is used to be sold for the use of licensing deals and promotions. If an album cover or maybe a picture of an artist is used on a t-shirt, a licencing deal will be struck to get permission to use that image (or whatever) for that product, so whoever wants to use the image or product has to pay for them. This helps both parties involved because the use of the image, music or whatever in relation to the product is being promoted and the product using it will sell better because it has a popular selling point; music videos themselves are just one big advertisement for the song itself. The idea of synergy actually came from Walt Disney in the 1930s after selling the image of Mickey Mouse.

Music videos are very popular at the moment with the public because they are a way to see a visual aid to the song, and in an era where a screen is more popular than a page, it is a great way to promote a song, an artist and a creator. Music videos themselves I think will one day develop into something else and may even possibly enter into the recently made interactive music videos which was used for the song “Coming to Get Me” by “Professor Green” which allows you a full interactive experience while the video is playing.