Unit 29: L01- Part B

The Purpose of a Music Video

From the research, the first ever music video made was Stranger of
Paradise by Tony Bennett In 1956 Tony Bennett was filmed walking
along The Serpentine in Hyde Park, London as his recording of
"Stranger in Paradise" played; this film was distributed to and played
by UK and US television stations, leading Bennett to later claim he
made the first music video 1
Music videos are used to give the audience what the artist wants to tell
them what the song is about by the narrative of the music video that
the audience can follow along to. The purpose of a music video is to
sell the song and to let you remember it. Also it gives the listener a
better understanding of the song if the video is narrative. 2
By creating a music video, artists can find out what makes them different to any other
artist by writing a song and translating that to a mini-movie can make you very creative it
what you choose. It can also be as popular as the song itself, the song Gangnam style
for example. It can also promote the record label by showing them in the video and can
also generate money to the record label by the amount of you tube views the music
video gets.
There are many music videos that make a song sell, like Gangnam style It is also the
most liked video, has won best music video at the MTV music awards, inspired
thousands to attend dancing flashmobs in cities around the world and has been the
source of countless parodies. 3 This shows that music videos dont have to be emotional
and have a good narrative, if the music video can make people laugh and is so
ridiculous, it can make people watch it because its unique and because of the comedic
value it can make people come back to the music video over and over again.
The most expensive video ever made is Scream by Michael Jackson the
song was a duet with his younger sister Janet Jackson, the single was released on May
31, 1995. It went on to be nominated for a Grammy Award and an American Music
Award. The corresponding music video remains one of his most critically acclaimed
pieces; it won numerous MTV Video Music Awards and a Grammy. At a cost of $7
million, it was listed in the Guinness World Records as the most expensive music video
ever made.4

1 https://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?
qid=20061016044944AAUB8Ob
2 https://prezi.com/h4-7dmomc2-h/what-is-the-purpose-of-musicvideos/
3 Media Magazine, Issue 45, September 2013, Page 50
4 www.theguardian.com/music/2013/nov/21/michael-jackson-thrillerchanged-music-videos

Where they are used and why?

We did some research what types of devices people watch music videos on and we
found this:

From the research gathered, we found out that

most people watch music videos on their phones
in high numbers, rather than on the TV or a laptop. This is because
nearly every person in the world has a mobile phone and is easier and
quicker just to load up you tube and watch it and phones are more
accessible these days and more cheaper than buying a laptop or a TV
as well. It also shows the decline of viewers on the TV because of this
new technology because loads of people used to watch MTV back in
the 80s and 90s, and provided the only place to watch music videos,
but because you can view music videos on you tube more quicker,
there has been a decline in viewers, because you dont want to have to
wait by adverts to watch your music video, you just type it in and listen
to it on your phone.
All these media platforms are used because now with the new
technology, people dont have to watch it on their TV like they use to
do, they can watch it on the internet or on their phones and it can
encourage people to watch these music videos because its more easier
to watch them now, and with a variety of technology available, it can
become more accessible to people now, so theres a different variety
with technology.
Music videos are being used in this way because when you put a music
video on the Internet, it becomes more well known and gains more
views rather than showing you music video on the TV which many
people wont see because people cant be bothered for waiting for a
music video which loads of adverts in the middle, so when you put it on
a social media site for example, it can generate more people to share
you video around the world and for you to gain more views in the
process, also if you put a music video on the internet early before the
artists main album comes out it can create a buzz for the upcoming
album, because people have seen the music video and are interested
in your music.

Viewing Figures

This is a website called Vidstatsx that show the top trending video channels/ videos on
you tube, according to this table, these music channels that just post music to their channel have
loads of views and is in the top ten of the most viewed videos ever which shows you how people
decide to watch music video these days which is primarily on you tube. The 1 st channel on the
table is emimusic, which is a record label that have popular artists, like David Bowie for example.
All the other channels deal with one specific artist like Rihanna, Taylor Swift or Katy Perry and it
shows you how popular the artist is by the amount of views it gets and how people listen to
music.
6

Viewing Figures for MTV in January 2016 (11th-17th)

Viewing Figures for MTV in January 2004 (12th- 18th)

5 http://vidstatsx.com/youtube-top-100-most-viewed-music
6 http://www.barb.co.uk/whats-new/weekly-viewing-summary

These MTV figures are from a website called BARB that show all
television channel viewing figures and this shows that MTVs viewing
figures have decreased over the years because in 2004, MTV had 30%
audience share, now in 2016 the audience share has dropped by half
with a 15% audience share. This means that people are not really
bothered about the programs that MTV put on anymore and focus on
You Tube and what they have to offer. Also, From 1995 to 2000, MTV
played 36.5% fewer music videos. MTV president Van Toeffler
explained: Clearly, the novelty of just showing music videos has worn
off. It's required us to reinvent ourselves to a contemporary audience."
8

It shows on You Tube each week on the most viewed channel for music
gets 88,750,086 a week. Now thats a lot of people listening to music
each week. However, for MTV in January 2016, they got 2,540. Thats
nothing compared to You Tube and MTV is trying to get back viewers by
putting on cheap reality shows, but it still isnt getting the viewers back
and the audiences are getting bored.
MTV had lost viewing figures over the years since the popularity of you
tube took over were you can listen to music instantly without going on
to a TV channel and waiting for the specific music you want. It still
does music award shows which still get some popularity and reality
shows, but the viewing figures are still decreasing each year. It was
popular back in the 80s and 90s before this kind of technology was
introduced By 1991 MTV had 28 million subscribers, and was adding
between one and three million new subscribers every year. MTVs
success spawned a host of imitators in the United States, and a
number of national franchises and imitations around the globe. 9
For an artist to make it good in the music industry, you have to be
honest with them and say what the artist can improve on, but if your
just saying their good because you want to please them, then they
wont make it big in the industry. People also watch bad singers
because its quite comedic and that gains fake views, like Rebecca
Blacks Friday which became a you tube success because she was a
bad singer and people could laugh at her when she sings. It makes the
record company want more from that artist, not because there good,
just because there bad and people can be entertained.

7 http://www.barb.co.uk/resources/tv-facts/total-weekly-multi-channelsummary-9209?
period_year[]=2004&period_month[]=1&period_week[]=18&button_su
bmit=View+figures&period[]=200401060118
8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTV
9 Popular Music The Key Concepts, Roy Shuker, Page 201

If you get loads of subscribers on you tube and loads of views at the
same time, then you tube can pay you for getting you tube popularity,
this is a great thing for a artist or a band because you tube is one of
the most popular music streaming services and loads of people use it,
which means you gain loads of popularity from it and also earning
loads of money from the views and the subscribers, so I think its a
very viable source for a artist or a band to kick-start their career and
also earn money at the same time.
You tube views have more of an impact rather than itunes download
service because on youtube you can listen to the music free of charge
without paying, but itunes is a pay and download service and is not as
popular as you tube is because you can watch you tube music without
paying. Music sales at Apples iTunes Store have fallen 13% to 14%
world-wide since the start of the year, according to people familiar with
the matter. The decline is stark compared with a much shallower dip
last year. Global revenue from downloads fell 2.1% in 2013, according
to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.10
According to the research gathered, people rather watch you tube to
watch a music video because like most people, its much quicker and
easier to use. The disadvantage of using you tube is that when you
watch a violent, raunchy video on you tube you can watch it without
typing in your age or blocking it because of the adult themes in the
video, and if a child stumbles on this kind of music video, it can
influence them and affect them in a negative way and it goes against
the regulations of Ofcom, which makes watching music videos on TV
safer because they view these types of music videos after the
watershed which follows the regulations of Ofcom. The advantages of
using you tube is that its free to watch and listen to music videos and
that everybody can access it from the Internet. They also use it
because its one of the only video streaming service on the computer
you can watch a music video and people have no option in going on
you tube.
How are bands promoted?
Major labels are large corporations often owned by a parent company,
like Sony.11 Major record labels promote the artist more and make sure
that the artist has a high popularity with people and make sure the artist
is at the top of the charts, so the major record label can earn loads of
money as well as the artist. Major record labels have the best music
equipment that an artist can use to make their music sound so much
better. For example, the artist David Bowie has sold millions of records
and the record label advertises and promotes his work by adverts, social
10 http://www.wsj.com/articles/itunes-music-sales-down-more-than-13this-year-1414166672
11 http://musicians.about.com/od/ip/g/recordlabel.htm

media etc. Independent record labels mainly deal with not well-known
artists and upcoming talents and dont have enough funding to promote
their artists and just release the album, hoping people will discover it.
They also let the artist discover their creativity and discover who they are
as an artist and the kind of songs they want to perform as an audience.
An example of an impendent record label artist is Bryan Adams, still
popular to not major like todays standards.
The difference between a major record label and a impendent record label is that a
major record label has more money and has many artists and people know its status
and were it stands in the music industry, but independent record labels have less
money to promote artists and is not well known as other record companies and often
signs artist with some sort of fame. Major record labels advertise quite a lot by
adverts on the telly, posters, social media, you tube etc, while independent record
labels dont real promote at all and cant afford to promote on the telly, so they rather
use social media to promote the artist. A self promoted artist means releasing music
by yourself, which means you will need to sign a contract with the aggregator, which
will then pass your music on to the bigger companies and take either an upfront fee
or take a percentage of the income derived from your music. 12 To set up a CD by
yourself, this is little more challenging, as most distribution companies will only deal
with labels as opposed to individual artists, which means you will need to set up your
own label. 13 By promoting yourself, record label companies might like your music
and decide to sign you up for one, but this takes a lot of work by playing gigs and
releasing album after album to make yourself known. A self promoted artist is way
much harder than setting up a record label because it takes so much effect to
promote yourself, but getting a record label they will promote you and your music for
you.
Synergy
Synergy is when the increased effectiveness that results when two or more people
or businesses work together 14 It makes the band more popular by bringing two
bands or record labels that are very popular and bringing them together which
makes fans like the other band because they are formed together now, an example
of this is Mcbusted, when Mcfly merged with the band Busted. Another example of
Synergy, is when films and music merge like the James Bond films, when the
popular artist Sam Smith created and wrote the song Writings on the Wall for the
James Bond film Spectre this promoted the song by the song being in the film, but
also promoting the film by using clips from the film in the music video and the song
lyrics about the film to promote the film, and they share the songs profits with one
another because they promoted the song equally which gains more profit to the
major record label.

12 http://www.soundandmusic.org/create/toolkit/self-release
13 http://www.soundandmusic.org/create/toolkit/self-release
14 http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/synergy