The Purpose of a Music Video

Katy Marwood

What do you think are the main elements of an album marketing campaign?

The main elements of an album marketing campaign include but are not limited too – Distribution of the album through physical release.

Physical release of an album could see the artist collaborating with music stores like HMV to create exclusive deals with purchase of the album that sees the buyer receiving extra content that they would not receive if they buy the album digitally or from another store. This increases sales because fans of the artist will want to buy a version of the album that has exclusive content and freebies. Another method of releasing an album is artists holding in-store signing and concert events around the United Kingdom that fans need to purchase an album to attend.

Radio playRadio play is crucial for artists wanting to break out into the mainstream media and have their songs and album chart as a lot of the general public listen to stations like “Radio 1” and “Capital FM”. Many artists do radio tours when their album is about to be released and this sees them going from station to station to promote themselves through interviews.

Distribution of the album through digital releaseMost albums are released digitally alongside physical release and this is because the internet allows people from anywhere in the world to discover music through social media and websites like “Spotify” and “Apple Music. Artists allowing their album to be streamed through websites like Spotify, benefits the release as users can discover the artist through the artists that they already listen to as advertisements and recommendations frequently appear on the website/app. Also, if a user is listening to their own playlist Spotify automatically causes “similar tracks” to appear which increases the artists streams of a particular song from the album. Spotify also helps out smaller artists get their music heard as they feature many free playlists for users to listen to and two of the most popular ones are “New Music Friday’’ and also ‘’Future Hits’’. However, music streaming services are controversial in the media right now and the uproar occurred when Taylor Swift removed all of her music’s back catalogue from Spotify even though she was one of the websites most streamed artists with 25% of users listening to her music. Taylor Swift criticized the website for not giving artists enough payment and stated that “music should not be free.” Therefore if an artist is a small and upcoming artist and would rather have recognition and not gain a lot of money from streaming then I think it would be a good idea to allow Spotify to stream their album and big artists should do it anyway as they already have a large audience and would then generate a big income from the songs streams.

Social Media advertisements Advertisement is the most important factor of an album marketing campaign. Social media is a crucial element of advertisement as artists have the ability to reach out directly to their fan base and notify them of the release dates and other elements of the album and this generates hype and social media also lets the general public be notified of an album release as websites like Facebook and Twitter have “Trending” topics which are generated when a large amount of users are sharing news. Advertising the album on the sides of buses, billboards and posters around towns and cities and TV spots also allows the general public to be aware of the release.

Have you encountered these techniques in your daily life?

I have encountered these techniques in my daily life through artists advertisements on websites like YouTube and also Spotify which have allowed me to discover some of my favourite bands. Popular artists like One Direction who have a big budget to promote their music frequently have TV and billboard advertisements so it would be impossible not to see these advertisements as the band are a household name and even if you don’t listen to their music you are still aware that they are in the charts and have released a new single/album. Also, as a regular user of social media, you can't ignore when a popular artist has a new single/album coming out as it's usually trending on websites like Twitter.

An example of a YouTube advertisement I found whilst waiting for a music video on YouTube to load

for Wolf Alice's debut album ''My Love Is Cool"

What factors make you 'like' a band and therefore download their music, buy their albums and attend their concert?

I think that image is an important factor when it comes to starting to like a band/artist especially for teenagers as for most young mainstream artists it’s their selling point. For example, One Direction became millionaires through the sale of not just their music but also their merchandise with high sales of items like books. However, this is not common for indie bands and older bands as they generally have a much older audience and fanbase and to some artists selling merchandise turns them into a brand and makes them a ‘’sell-out’’. Most music is better heard live, so if a band or an artist has a really good album and is known for having a good live set with an then I would want to see them live. I think that relatable music also is an important factor when liking a bands music as you can relate too it in your everyday life. Examples for relatable music include Catfish and the Bottlemen, Jamie T, Wolf Alice, Rat Boy and PEACE.

What makes the music video unique?

Music videos can be unique in many ways. For example, narrative is key to creating a unique music video as you can let the video show a different or a more personal side to the song. I think that music videos that go against the genre conventions are also unique. An example of a music video going against genre conventions is "Girls" by The 1975 as they're not a pop band but the music video is a typical pop video which mocks the media.