Harry's HWK

Assignment 1:Understanding The Purpose of Music Videos

Introduction:

In this assignment, I am going to be exploring the different purposes of music videos. looking at music videos from past to present. I will also be discussing about the different ways people watch music videos and how the producers gain income from them.

Purpose of music videos:

 One purpose of music videos is, to engage audiences of all ages into the artists music. Another purpose to music videos is to help promote the artist and their music/                                                     record label as it will help them gain more income but also, gain a much wider audience.  . An example of this is Queen “Bohemian Rhapsody” which was released in 1975. Another purpose is also the genre of the music that the artist makes. Music videos, can also promote different life styles weather it is a direct or indirect way of living but can also promote a way of living (ideology).  For example, Kanye West promotes a rich lifestyle in all his videos giving, the message that, we all need to be rich.           

                                                                                                                                                                            

Ways in which people watch music videos over time:

 These days more and more people are starting to watch music videos via mobile phones as, they have more access to different websites such as YouTube which allow them to stream different songs and watch the latest music videos. This has changed over the years as technology has changed because if you wanted to watch a music video back in the 1980s, you would have to wait for it to appear on TV on a channel for example MTV music where music videos where shown and then record it. If people didn’t want to watch music videos on TV channels then they could go out and rent or buy VHS tapes. The way people would get access to buying these tapes is by going to a store such as Blockbuster Video or HMV in the 80s where they could buy or rent the video.  Queen are an example, of a band that released music videos on VHS. The first music video to be played on TV was in 1981 ‘’Video Killed the Radio Star’’ by The Buggles. Through the time of technology changing CDs were being released and the music video would be added onto that which means you can play it in a DVD player and watch the video. When the internet became big and companies like YouTube became big it has meant more people can watch new music videos at any time anywhere. The reason why music videos are put onto the internet on different websites is because most young people have phones and use websites e.g. YouTube to watch entertainment on which, is why music videos is added on there for them to watch. Young people do still tend to watch music videos via music channels on TV as, we now have 18 music channels in the UK. Some of them are UKTV, Channel Four Television corporation, and Fox Networks Group.  

 

Ways in which music videos have increased income for record companies:

In this section, I am going to be talking about how record companies, income has increased over the years. In the 70s to 90s the majority record companies got their income from the amount of times their music was played on the TV music channels, such as MTV music. Other artists decide to own their own record labels for example, The Rolling Stones with their record label Rolling Stone Records. Them owning their own record label means that they gain all the income every time their song was played and also means that they don’t share the income with a label company. The rolling stones have made around $1.5 billion (around £1.4 billion) this is due to the amount of money their albums/ songs make and their live tours. A quote to support this is from Sony music to prove they are a popular well known record label (Record company) is...   

“Widely popular by the name “Sony Music”, this American music company was founded in 1929 by the name American Record Corporation.”

 Bibliography;

Medium. (2018). Top 10 major Record Labels – GiGlue – Medium. [online] Available at: https://medium.com/giglue/top-10-major-record-labels-d776d158a463 [Accessed 8 Nov. 2018].

 

Another example of this would be the artist Prince with NPG Records.  Where as other artists might have belong to a record label for example Ed Sheeran and the record company Gingerbread. 

How Music Videos Are Used To Promote:

A particular song: Music videos are used to promote particular songs by explain and giving audiences a visual understanding of the lyrics, an example would be The Killers ‘’RUT’’ as the music video shows you the meaning and the message that if you are feeling down or depressed just don’t give up and keep going forwards in life.This helps to promote the song because, it people might find it inspiring. Another example of a video would be Imagine Dragons ‘’Believer’’ as it helps people to get a visual understanding but also would make more people want to watch it and gain a bigger audience. 

The Artists Album: Artist create music videos to help promote their album. What the usually do is create a video to the most listened to song on the album or, create a video to the main song of a new album to get people wanting to by the song or album. An example of someone who does this is Ed Sheeran as, he has recently created videos to his four most listened to songs on his album, ‘’Divide’’ and they are ‘’Happier’’, ‘’Castle on the hill’’, ‘’perfect’’, and ‘’Shape of you’’. The reason why he does this is to, promote his album, to his fans and, a new wider range of people. Ed Sheeran album titles usually appear at some point throughout the his videos as its to promote the album.

A new artist’s album or promotion of an artist’s change in musical direction or music: Different artists over time decide to change their view of how they approach their music for example, how they would probably start off with a calm style of music the, change to an upbeat happier tune. There are multiple artists such as Coldplay and how they started off with homemade low budget music videos such as ‘’yellow’’ and now they join up with artists such as The Chain-smokers and create songs such as “Something just like this”.  Sometimes members of bands leave to go their own way in the music industry for example, One direction all split up and have started making their own, music and explore the different types of music there is. We ca see all the changes from watching the videos. 

Synergy with another media sector: Music artists music tends to be used in lots of adverts these days. An example of a famous song being used in advertisement is The Rolling Stones “Brown sugar” in a Pepsi advert or This is because the music can be related to the type of brand or if it’s a film it can be related to the genre of film. One example you could have is Marvels Black Panther and the song “Pray For Me” by The Weekend, Kendrick Lamar as the music video has scenes from the film in the

music video.