LEARNING OUTCOME ONE

WHY VIDEOS?

THE NEED FOR A MUSIC

VIDEO

Professionals discussing the importance of music videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3XEWnEgSv4

According to Chris Parr ( former VP of Music Programming and Talent Relations for CMT in Nashville),music videos educate and introduce music and artists to consumers as without the visual aspect of music, a lot of people would be oblivious to the artist and music that they watch and listen to (especially the younger and modern demographic).

For example, to quote Chris Parr ‘a lot of people who may not have grown up listening to country music or find themselves searching it out, music videos are an entry point’.

Professionals discussing the importance of music videos.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIiSn0Z3Zpk

in this video, the presenter/executive producer (Renata Ulman) states that according to Kayla Dingwell (vice president of sound stream multimedia studios specializing in new artist development) she says, having music is never enough, you need to be out there booking gigs, special performances to show what you’ve got, when expending and analysing this sentence you realise that promotion is key to success and music videos are one of the best forms of artist promotion especially in the new millennium.

Purposes Of Music VideoThere are several different reasons why artists create music videos, these include:

• For entertainment purposes and to showcase the artist talents (such as dancing, acting and even on-stage performing), as the visual aspect of music videos give artist a chance to do more than sing, for example Justin Timberlake’s ‘What Goes Around’ music video was like a short film, which gave him the opportunity to showcase his acting skills, as he was trying to transition into an actor during that time.

• For selling purposes (such as CD’s and Digital Download), because music videos are accessible on all kinds of different websites and devices such as TV, YouTube and Daily mail, it broadens the opportunities for the artist to be seen and heard, which is why music videos are a great promotional strategy that boots the artists sales incredibly.

• For artistry reasons, as music videos give the artists an opportunity to really be creative and give the fans and consumers a better understanding to the song, for example in 2011 Gotye released a music video for ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’, and rather than promote the band itself(as they were relatively new in the charts) they decided to make an artistic and unique music video that works well with the song.

• Although all the above reason for music videos are valid, the most important and arguably the most common purpose for music videos is, promotion. Music videos are a promotional tool, no other promotional strategy in the industry can expand the exposure of an artist like music videos, as music videos are a lot more accessible internationally as more people these days have access and interest to the internet and TV, than radio.

Music videos also have the power to do more than promote an artist and boots their sales, music videos also have the power to change the world (something the audio of a song couldn’t pull-off as efficiently) for e.g. Michael Jackson’s ‘We Are The World’ made such a major charitable impact because the music video featured so many legendary and current influential artist, which made the video viral and the star power within the music video promoted the organization ‘USA for Africa’ very well. This is a trend that has been carried out in other music videos such as The Collective ‘Teardrop’ (for children in need).

Nicki Minaj is the one of the latest prime examples, of how music videos can influence your success as an artist. Nicki Minaj is currently the most successful female rapper of all time (this title would have never been earned by her without music videos), as music videos allow Nicki Minaj to endorse and trend her ‘Black Barbie’ gimmick that has made her fame and success so explosive.

Artists Popularity Ratings Due To Music Videos

It’s safe to say the Beyoncé is one of the most influential female artists of the modern era, but Beyoncé's success wouldn’t be so extensive without her music videos, as her upbeat, sexy and empowering music wouldn’t make the same impact without the listeners, watching her famous booty-shaking dance moves and hairography. This is evident in such videos as ‘Crazy In Love’ and ‘Single Ladies’, as both songs made such a massive impact because of their iconic music videos, that became so iconic because of Beyonce’s trademark dancing and fierce attitude.

BEYONCE ‘I AM SASHA FIERCE’ MUSIC VIDEOS

Beyoncé- If I Were A Boy Beyoncé- Single Ladies

Beyoncé- Diva Beyoncé- Ego

Music Videos have also allowed Beyoncé to showcase her alter ego ‘Sasha Fierce’, who has been such a massive influence to the commercial success of Beyoncé's music, as Sasha Fierce is a what she refers to as a crowd pleaser. In 2008 Beyoncé released her third solo studio album titled ‘I Am Sasha Fierce’, were she released a series of music videos to match the black and white , Beyoncé vs. Sasha Fierce theme of the album (examples on the previous slide), this clever concept impacted the success of the album, as it allowed her fans to futher understand and recognise the story and concept of this album and Sasha Fierce in a way that wouldn’t be possible without the visuals.

Nicki Minaj’s music video ‘Stupid Hoe’ was released as a promotional music video, which meant that the song was not being released as an official single. The impact of this ‘Promotional’ music video boosted the albums sales so far it made ‘Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded’ her most successful album to date. And the reason the music video promoted the album so well is because of the contreversy of it being banned from television, due to the extreme flashy and disturbing images, this made people want to watch it even more, thus making it one of the most watched music videos on YouTube, therefore broadening her commercial success.

M83’s single ‘Midnight City’ is rapidly claiming the charts. The single has received a lot of airplay, especially in adverts, Big TV shows such as ‘X Factor’ and ‘Gossip Girl’ and promotional videos online. It’s safe to say that if you heard the song ‘Midnight City’ you would recognise the song, but the music video of the song might take a lot more thinking, in fact, the music video has had very little play on TV and the views online are fail to succeed the airplay of the song, this has effected the sales of the single as people might regonize or like the song, don't know enough about the artist to look them up or buy their music.

‘No Doubt’ has sold over 33 million albums world wide and won two gammy awards, and after nearly a decade after their previous album, the world was excited to find out that ‘No Doupt’ would release their 6th studio album titled ‘Push and Shove’ in 2012, the album was a great commercial and critical success and their first single entered the hot 100 official music charts around the world, but a song that left a sour taste in No Doubts success is their second single ‘Looking Hot’ in which they created a music video that caused a negative controversy that eventually lead the music video to being banned from numerous websites and television, because this music video was inaccessible to listeners, the promotion of the single was so deeply effected that the ‘single is yet in debate of whether it should be released or have the music video completely re-filmed with a new concept.

The importance of music channels, DVD’s/ downloads and sales.

When it comes to the financial aspect of music videos, its seems to be a game of give and take. The Record label of the artist would use or pay such promotional companies and organizations as MTV and Vevo, in exchange for the exposure they will provide the music video.

Channels and DVD’s

Television is probably the most common and popular device of promotion within the media industry, as television is the first-hand source of the average person’s entertainment and news update. So it comes to know surprise that channels such as MTV and Viva are extremely important to artist as they can provide artists with the most publicity thus gaining them more popularity and income. As I previously mentioned, it’s a games of give and take, as these channels require good music and music videos for success. Due to the fact that these channels are made to promote music videos, they must make sure that they are providing their audience with the latest and best quality music videos, as the channel that give the audience the best and latest music videos, get the most viewers.

DVD’s are an extension of the promotional success of an artist and music videos. (As shown on the right ) most DVD’s sold these days from an artist are DVD’s of live performances and a majority of these feature related music videos. Adding the music videos to DVD’s further advertises the song and the video, which again provides more popularity to the video and most importantly the song (further increasing the artists income). This can be proven by a DVD released by Beyoncé in 2012 titled ‘Live In Roseland Ballroom, Elements of 4’, this DVD featured a full concert of Beyoncé at the Roseland ballroom, special bonus footage and all the music videos from Beyoncé's related album ‘4’. This DVD was one of the highest selling Live convert DVD’s of 2012 and because the music videos are featured within the DVD, the consumers gain yet another device to access and play the music videos (which they paid for).

Having two separate charts for music videos and music (audio), is a perfect money making scheme, as it allows money for the company’s such as iTunes and MTV to make money on both ends. For example, pop artist Rihanna makes a lot of money by topping the official download charts, but by being featured (highly) on the music video charts she then gains even more publicity and revenue . Companies such as iTunes also benefit from this as they can sell audio and music video separately to make more money.

Use Of Synergy

Music video’s don’t only work as a promotional benefit for artists, but they can also work as a way to promote other media projects like, Products and films, because music videos are so viral, they can became on of the most effective ways to advertise a product, which is why some company’s sponsor the production of a music video project in order to get their product in the music video. Some films will use music videos to promote the film (usually, the song will be contained in the films soundtrack).

Titanic is one of the highest grossing, films of all time, but what makes the success of titanic even more outstanding is the success of the theme song, that was recorded by Celine Dion titles ‘My Heart Will Go On’, this music video is a superb example of how music videos can act as a great technique of film promotion, because ‘my heart will go on’, was such a big single and after the music video was released, the single became so massive, it became one of the highest selling singles of all time, and boosted the success and sales of the titanic tremendously. This strategy worked because the music video consisted of clips of the film and featured Celine Dion on the titanic itself, thus promoting the movie through the music video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=zmbw8OycJrE

These are other examples of Music Videos increasing the success of films.

Whitney Houston- I Will Always Love YouFilm: The Bodyguard

Elton John- Circle Of LifeFilm: The Lion King

Eminem- Loose YourselfFilm: 8 Mile

Coolio- Gangsta’s Paradise Film: Dangerous Minds

Peabo Bryson and Regina Belle-A Whole New World Film: Aladdin

The same tactic used for films can work exactly the same for TV programmes, for example, the Rembrandts’s single, ‘I’ll be there for you’ gained it’s success as being the theme song of the largely famous sitcom ‘Friends’, and although people were familiar with the song they didn’t know much about the Rembrandts until they shot a music video featuring the cast, which then gave the song its own distinction and fame, thus benefiting and promoting the artists as well as the TV show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzQWmAwNNCw

Adverts are another great way for artist to promote themselves and increase their income, for instance, DJ Fresh is an artist who has been releasing music since 2003, but his ultimate commercial success didn’t come unit 2011 with the single louder, which made it so big in the charts (compared to his previous songs) because the music video was featured in a Lucozade advert. This amount of promotion provided the music video a lot of publicity and hype.

Although product placement arguably benefits the products company’s more the actual artist, artists still thrive on the support and benefits of product placement.

Product placement can work well to an artist’s favour (although it benefits the company’s product well), because when an artist features a certain product within their music video, that product get a lot of recognition and advertisement. This is great for the product itself, but its great for the artist because the companies would increase the financial budget of the music video they are placing their product in, this benefits the artist as they can therefore increase the quality of the music video.

A good example of an artist who uses product placement quite frequently in their music videos for their own benefit is ‘Britney Spears’. Britney spears released a perfume titled circus around the same time she released a music video of a song with the same title. She then decided to feature this product within the music video, thus promoting the product, and the music video at the same time, this is a strategy used by Britney Spears quite frequently.