Task One - Understand the purpose of a music video

What is the purpose of a music video?

There are many different purposes to a music video and music video promo opportunities. One of these are promotional aspects. There are many different meanings to promotional and in music videos they will have clips that are advertised in the channel ident's, channels such as MTV will use music video clips in there ident's that also help to promote the music video itself. In music videos they are used to mainly promote the artist and try and get them more well known. Another reason that a music video can be promotional is to draw attention to the music and the different themes of music that there are. We use music videos as a way to keep audiences interested as, if there is something on the screen that may be boring to a viewer then this will not make them want to watch the video. Some people will tend to listen to songs without actually knowing what they are about and mdic videos define what the song itself is trying to tell the audience. A music video will appeal to the visual eye and is a music video is abstract it will draw more attention to the artist and the video itself. It is important to make the video appealing and promote the video well as this will attract more attention to the video and will also create more of an audience building up the audience number. Artist such as lady gaga and adele have completely different images that are set throughout the production of their music videos. Lady gaga has an abstract and confusing way of promoting her music through the videos, where as, in adele's videos she has a more meaningful and as she has a well developed voice she does not need the dramatic video.

The availability of an artist is important in the making of a music video. In 1964 the Beatles stared in there first feature film (Hard Day's Night), then later on in 1965 they began to promote the distribution of the film in other countries. They did this to promote there new record release without having to make an in person appearance. They also made this video so that they were about to have more time on their tours and concerts rather than having to travel and do a large range of different interviews. After 'Queens' hit song 'Bohemian Rhapsody' it became common for record companies to make videos for promotional videos of single releases. These videos can also be shown on television shows like thins such as top of the pops and this would be done without the need for the artists to appear on the show itself. Before promo videos began to be produced, popular artists would have the music broadcasted and then would have other people be the dancers for the video. This was also used so that  band could avoid having to mime hard songs on shows where they would make appearances. They would also do this if an artist was scheduled to appear on a show but could not because they were on tour.

In music videos they will have an extended income to help promote the artist and there single or even their album. This is a easy way for the artists to make more money. The video may also be used to persuade the audience to purchase the album and even purchase the songs off of the internet. Product placement is a good way of making money if a performer has any concerts of tours that are upcoming, this is when the performer can advertise products such as perfume and albums. An example of this is Taylor Swift's wonderstruck perfume and in the background she is playing one of her own songs.



Music videos are used to allow extension of outlets and means that the video can be used anyway e.g. on websites, television and download sites. This means that the video is able to be viewed anywhere because it allows the video to be played anywhere, in a variety of different places, at any time. As websites are becoming more competitive when trying to develop the largest audience, television channels that are made entirely for music are becoming more commonly unused. In a large amount of ways the music channels may be on the verge of becoming un useful for audience. As there are a large variety of websites and downloads available websites are being used less as they are not needed as much as when there were not any of these resources available. Music channels are also on the verge of being taken off as this is the same things that happened when the channels first appeared and shows such as top of the pops were cancelled because there audience amount decreased.


Synergy is when two things are linked together to promote one product as a whole, for example; when Adele performed the song 'Sky fall', this then helped to develop the audience response for the film as the song was distinctly focused on the specific film. This video also became a teaser for the audience as there were clips in the video that allowed the audience with the chance to view what they were going to be expecting in the film. The filmed also allowed the artist to be advertised and become more popular with a new audience as the song would have been played in the actual film. If the song is shown in a film or advertisement this will make people want to purchase the song or make the song more popular as more people are watching it due to it being played in the film, and the film will become more popular because the song is another form of advertisement.

There are three main strategies that producers' use these are major label, independent and artist self-producer. The music industry is run by four major multi national industries these are Universal, Warner brothers, Sony music and EMI. These are known as 'the major' and the majority of these companies are backed up by conglomerates that have stakes in companies that associate with other forms of entertainment such as film, Tv and electronics. The majority of these 'majors' own or license other organisations in order to target other kinds of audiences in different genre. Some of these associated companies are Columbia, Island, Syco, RCA, and Virgin, these companies are known as the 'major-independents'. Vevo is a music video website owned and run by Universal music group, Google, Sony music entertainment and Abu Dhabi media. This website was launched in the on December 8th 2009. The videos that are shown on Vevo are syndicated across the websites with Google and Vevo sharing the advertising spaces. Vevo also offers for three of the four major labels in the industry these are, Universal, Sony music entertainment and EMI records. Warner brothers was going to consider showing the content on there channels, but then formed an alliance with MTV networks.


The are a large number of small companies that have little or even no financial connection to the 'majors'. These are know as independents and these companies often focus more on a smaller number of acts within the smaller industries of Hip Hop/ Rap/ Electronic and Dance. An example of a very successful independent is 'Warp Records'. It is very common that record labels start off as 'independents' and are then brought by the 'Majors' and then become 'Major-independents'. Independents are often 'Indie' labels and the producers see there work as a piece of art and not only an advertisement for the music industry. These producers often become well sort after by mainstream artists. Chris Cunninham made a debut in 1997 with the music video for the song 'Come to daddy' by Aphex Twin and his work was praised but also frowned upon by many other people in the business.

Finally, artist self-produced are artist that have the smallest budget and create there own videos, these artists are usually unknown. By making there own videos and utilising websites such as Youtube some artists can become very successful. One of the most commonly known artist that were found this way was teen sensation 'Justin Bieber' who was discovered in 2008 by an american talent manager Scooter Braun. He came across the teenagers videos on Youtube and then became his manager. This artist is now one of the most well known teenage artist in the world and had one of the largest fan groups in the world.