The Purpose of

Music Videos

What is a Music Video?• A Music Video is a video recorded performance that is made to

accompany a song. This usually entails a theme or some kind of storyline in which the main artists/singers/bands pretend to be characters to create the sense of a narrative. Here are some popular music Videos (Click the images!):

Primary Purpose• The initial and primary purpose of a Music Video was to promote the tracks

sales and also the artist. Long ago, it was an inventive way to advertise a song in order to make it more popular.

• Music videos do also allow fans to feel closer to a artist/band and gives listeners/viewers a better understanding of their song.

• It is a great marketing technique, especially when the artist is endorsing a product, or have some of there fellow celebrity contacts join them in the video.

• They were originally known as Promos. • Nowadays they are commonly used to allow singers to boast about what

they have (money clothes and wealth), and start feuds with other artists. • However a lot of music videos have deeper meaning, an example being

Stan By Eminem, and narrative in order to teach people lessons and morals. • At this present time being offensive, provocative and intoxicated seem to be

a reoccurring factor in Music Videos and is a becoming a huge trend in the music industry.

• Currently, any song that makes it into a chart will have an accompanying music video, even if it is just a lyrical video or in concert footage.

Promotional Aspects• Music videos are used to advertise and promote the artists/band music. They are a

good way to bring in a larger audience as not everyone listens to the radio. The videos are aired on television, as well as the internet (YouTube, Vevo) and mobile devices. Using videos allows the song to be played on a multitude of platforms with out it getting tedious. Having an interesting, entertaining video will get people talking about it which will increase sales of the song. If the artist wants to promote a song released a while ago, they may create a video with a bigger budget in order to catch mainstream platforms like MTV’s attention. Artists such as Sia have done this. She released the song Elastic Heart in late 2013, with the sole purpose of promoting the film The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. She later, on 7 January 2015, released the music video for the song. She released the music video over 1 year later, this could be due to the fact the song did not perform well on the charts, peaking at number 79 on the UK singles charts. Later in 2015, the song peaked at number 11. That is a huge increase in sales, and that is solely down to the video. She used a young famous dancer and actor Shia LaBeouf which no doubt helped with the increase. You can see, as the purpose of the song and video changed, so did the final outcome of sales, when used to advertise something else, it did not do well, when advertised for it self, it clearly did.

• If it doesn’t sell the song, it is unlikely to be a good video which causes the audience to remember the song. The memorable visuals should entertain the audience whilst giving the song exposure.

StrategiesMusic videos are useful for a band or performer because it allows the to target

a specific audience and also helps them to become more well known and popular – hopefully increasing there record sales.

• The overall purpose of making a music video is to increase the sales which will benefit the record company. The record company will make sure their artists are funded greatly in order to make them more attractive to the public. Also, that their music videos are as appealing as possible; voyeurism is used globally to promote artists, usually female, in order to maximise interest in the video.

• For a creative director it allows them to have creative control over a large production, which they can be noted for; if the video becomes popular other artists and production teams may approach them. And a big pay Cheque…

• To make a film more popular, a film company may have part of their movie featured in a popular artist or bands music video in order to make the film more popular.

• A Music Television Channel may use a certain band or artist and regularly play their music videos in order to increase the record sells of that artist. They will receive more money doing so.

Television Broadcasting Companies

Film Producers/Execs

Creative Directors

Record Labels

Extension of outcomeHaving music videos can help promote a band or artist a long time after their albums and singles have been released.

On music channels for example, the may play their version of the ‘Top 50 greatest love songs of the decade’. They are likely to play old songs form Artists like Whitney Houston, who is now deceased. Doing this will increase sales of her records, even if they only play one song. The fact the audience is reminded of her will cause a wave of sales growth. Her record label will continue to make money even though she is not alive.

Extensions of OutletsRecord labels work with TV music companies like MTV. They work with them to make sure their artists get enough airtime with their videos. This means that more the popular and wealthy artists will have more airtime, no matter how good the song is or performed. This eventually leads to overall increased sales of certain artists and genres.

The First Music Video• Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen is believed to be the first ever

music video. The song was released in the England in 1975. The band was on tour abroad and could not make it to Top Of The Pops.

• They recorded the video in order to aid their sales due to their absence. It’s almost 9 minutes long and was considered un-radio friendly. Their record company didn’t think any radio station would play it.

• Michael Jackson was the first person to ever create a Music Video in the style of a film, it has a start, middle and end. It was innovative and the starting point of storylines in Music Videos. His first actual video was “Don’t stop til’ you get enough”.

• The first Music video ever played on MTV was Video Killed The Radio Star by The Buggles.

Have you ever noticed…Music videos usually have 1, 3, or 5 (5 or more) main people in the videos and then some extras whom the focus is diverted from. The person in the middle is usually the main figure in the song. This is to make them look more powerful. E.G

Three

Five or more

Same pose!

One