CONVENTIONS OF A MUSIC VIDEONishat Hossain

Andrew Goodwin’s Theory• 1. Music videos tend to include a demonstration of

typical genre characteristics.

For example: a video of a stage performance is typical for a metal video, a dance routine typical for a boy/girl band and woman dressed revealingly and expensive looking cars in a rap video. Music videos can also link to film genres, this is know as intertextuality. e.g. Many heavy rock songs are influenced by horror films.

2. There are frequent references to the notion of looking and the voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

Notions of looking includes men or women being represented as seductively or if there is eye contact with the camera. The notion of looking can also be referenced by the use of props. e.g. Mirrors, television screens, cameras, telescopes, binoculars and magnifying glasses are all references to, these are commonly used. Voyeurism is widely used to sell the artist's music through sex appeal, a recent example being Miley Cyrus. Voyeurism today is most likely only shown at one angle. You do not see a male doing that, only women.

3. There is a succinct relationship between music and visuals.

There are three ways visuals are used to promote a song : Illustrate, music videos use certain images & shots to illustrate/explain the meaning of lyrics to their song and the genre. Disjuncture. Is this situation , the meaning of the song is completely ignored in the music video. Amplify repeatability- This is when the images and camera shots are manipulated and shown repeatedly through out the music video and is drummed into our vision. Relation between the music and visuals.

For example: when the song lyrics are jump! Jump! Jump! And on the music video there are characters/actors actually jumping.

4. The record label which the artist is assigned to tends to have certain demands. They often include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist will have a visual style which recurs across their work.

e.g. An example of a visual style could be Lady Gaga as she is always wearing quirky clothes.

• 5.There is often intertextual references (to films, TV programmes, other music videos etc.)

• e.g. Destiny's Child doing Independent Women referencing Charlie's Angels. Will Smith doing Men in Black for the film Men in Black Intertextuality. The Wombats video for My Circuit board City referencing a video game.

The Music Industry• The music industry is dominated by the ‘big three which are

Sony, Warner and Universal.• The major labels own, and are made up by, many

subsidiary labels that you may have thought were independent labels.• For example Def Jam Recordings is owned by the Universal Music Group (UMG)

• According to a Music & Copyright report published in 2012 the majors accounted for 74% of physical and digital music sales globally. This means that they operate in an oligopoly where a few companies dominate and control the market.

• Independent music companies like Domino Records operate separately from the majors and often specialise in music genres and may cater for niche audiences.