Purposes of Music Videos - Conveying Emotion and Generating Revenue

Purposes of Music Videos – Adam Paterson
Music is always seen as a way of conveying emotion, a feeling, a point of view or
a message. Audio is the main way that music is communicated, but they also use
video together with the music. These can be for many different purposes. That
are split up into an Extension of Income, Entertainment, Longevity, Synergy,
Convergence, and Different ways of Access.
An extension of income means that they are generating money from creating a
music video. The original song is obviously the main part as to why the video
would be made, and it is right in saying that there could be more focus on the
song than the video, although in some cases this theory isn’t true. By creating a
video, they’re opening more doors to more money, this is because it means that
they can use two different media forms to generate revenue.
A way a recording artist will extend their income is by promoting a tour through
a music video. By doing this not only are they selling their song/album. But they
are also communicating with the fans through their video about an upcoming
tour. A band will do this because this personal connection is inviting you to come
and see them live at a concert, which results in maximum enjoyment for a fan
who pays their money to go and see them, and the band are able to generate
revenue from it. An example of this is in Coldplay’s A Head Full of Dreams. In
which the name of the song is also the name of their tour. They promote their
tour in their video as the last half of the video shows them performing in front of
a large crowd as part of the head full of dreams tour. This visual representation
of what to expect is used in the video because it is showing the audience what
they will be experiencing if they come to the tour.
Music videos can also be used to promote albums. Usually as music videos are
only about one song and not a variety of others, it can sometimes be hard to sell
a full album track through a video. The reason why some artists use videos to
promote their albums is so that they can get more exposure to the other songs
that maybe they didn’t have enough budget to film a video for, other songs that
may be swept under the carpet and obviously to make a wider range of potential
buyers for the album. In Morrissey’s Everyday is like Sunday this technique is
very loosely used in the opening start of the video, although subtle. The
beginning of the video shows the protagonist voyeur in through a shop window,
in which long lines of Morrissey fans are queuing up to buy a Morrissey Album.
This shot was included to show the audience about their fan base buying the
album, putting pressure onto an audience to feel that they have to buy this
album, which is a subtle, almost sly way of making fans buy his product.
Singles are also a really important area in music, and having a video to match
along with it is also a key area in which recording artists will feel they have to do
really well in to sell a successful video that succeeds in both audio and visual
aspects. This is used a lot by up and coming bands, bands with low budgets, or
bands who just want to promote a single. In terms of small bands with low
budgets, they use a video to promote their single as it would be much more cost
efficient for the band to put all of their budget into one video, rather than spread
it over a number of different songs and get average, production grade quality
videos. They are able to make a really good single video, which could spiral them

into the limelight, exactly what Queen did. Queen at one point, its hard to
imagine now, but were like any other band. Small and wanting that big break of
theirs to put themselves up on the national stage. With a small production
budget of £3500, they were able to film in 4 hours a Top of the Pops video for
Bohemian Rhapsody. In the hope that the video will propel them up the charts
and make them well known. Although this video exceeded everyone’s
expectations. With the opening shot being an iconic image in the history of
music. And also at the time, due to that video. Bohemian Rhapsody was the UK’s
number one song in the Pop Charts for 9 weeks.
Promotion of a record label is also used a lot in music videos. As record labels are
often so used to distributing music and selling the work of their clients, it
sometimes can work in reverse with the band referencing or in some cases
promoting their record label. This could be used by artist in many different ways,
such as the record label themselves request to be part of a song, usually a big
collaboration with clients all on the same record label. Or sometimes where an
artist voluntarily mentions them. An example of this is in 6 figures and up by
THE B.U.M.S. who were signed to the priority record label, and in the song they
say the lines “Priorities the label, that keeps my pockets stable” They use this as a
way of Homage towards the record label, as an appreciation message to the label
for the financial gain the label helps get them.
Awareness of other merchandise
Music videos can also be used as a way of awaring an audience of other merchandise.
It is used as a way of self-promotion. It is a free way of selling merchandise to fans
without using money to give to a bigger stage for seconds of promotion. These
promotions can range from anything that they will promote. The most used is apparel
with the names of the band/singer on. This way of self-promotion is used so that they
can spread their name across a lager stage, and can effectively get a fan to advertise
them by wearing a shirt with their name on. The Smiths use this in their music video
Stop me if you think that you heard this one before. As they are riding around on the
bikes, featuring the cutaways where they’re stood outside Salford Lads club, and a
part where Morrissey reveals his shirt form his jacket at 1:06 to reveal he’s wearing a
Smiths shirt. And seconds before this, we are shown a denim jacket that says “The
Smiths” Even if this wasn’t official apparel. By people wearing jackets and shirts
embezzled with their name on it, fans are effectively free advertising the artist band
for them
Music videos are also used to raise an audience awareness of an artist. This is used
frequently with more older artists who may have had a music video produced years
ago but not digitally stored it anywhere for public use. This use of re-distributing a
song onto the digital stage is a key way in which an artist or band can re-introduce
themselves to a modern era of music, with their old songs and potential attract a
whole new fan base. For example, Bruce Springsteen’s Dancing In the Dark was
originally produced in 1984, yet the video was uploaded to YouTube via Sony-Owned
VEVO, in which they distributed the song online and used advertisements to generate
revenue for Springsteen himself and VEVO aswell. However, the domino effect that
this had was that it invited a whole new generation of music fans. The video itself was
a performance video at a concert. His charismatic personality and emotional
performances were perfect for a music video, and this likeability factor appeals to

todays generation, not just in the USA, but worldwide. The redistribution of this song
raised awareness of Bruce to people who may have not heard of him previously. And
with 68 Million on YouTube views since 2009, this video worked exactly as intended.
Videos can also be used as a visual reminder to buy the track or album. With videos
constantly put on loops on music channels with either chart lists or playlists. Videos
are cycled through the channel with advert breaks. In Some cases, the same song may
be played over and over again. The reason that this is done is so that the Video is
always on and acts as a reminder to people who haven’t bought the song yet to do so.
Or otherwise it wouldn’t be playing in a loop throughout the day for 24 hours for
months to come. By infiltrating the visual media sector, they are able to increase the
range of their audience and peck at the minds of people who listen to music channels
to spend their money on their albums or singles.
Payment through sponsors is a way in which many businesses operate, by giving the
opportunity for companies to advertise their product, or brand through a larger
company that appeal to a larger audience. Music videos are no different. With online
statistic of current pop songs getting at the very least under 10 million views per
music video, companies find it appealing to pay to put their products in the video of
the artist to advertise their products. They do this because it increases their exposure
to a target audience that is synonymous with their brand. For example a Rap artist
may use a headphone sponsor, and Gibson may sponsor an Indie band video for shots
of the guitar. Miley Cyrus uses product placement throughout her controversial video
We Can’t Stop in which she uses Beats Pills (Technology), audio technology
specifically. And various Beauty products throughout the video with shots of her
applying it or just being in shot. There are very obvious shots of the product and they
are not subtle. This is because the company will not want to pay a large amount to put
their product in the video and it is a subtle reference. They will want a full frame and
some seconds of airtime of their product.
Moving on from Extension of Income now and onto the Entertainment factor.
Entertainment is a huge part of the appeal of music videos to an audience. Everyone
has different tastes, interests and lifestyles. That usually can be tied up into different
Music Genres. For example in Rap music, the tone of their video entertainment is
more about the rappers. They are perceived as Celebrities and their videos reflect this.
Huge budget videos where in some cases a group of them will feature in a song, on a
high budget set, wearing really expensive clothing. Where as in more Indie and Rock
videos there is much more of a focus on the music, and in doing this, the
entertainment factor comes from performance videos of the band, or showing the
talents of the band. The appreciation of the music vs. the celebrity lifestyle of rich
rappers is a really large difference in terms of entertainment.
One way of entertainment that we get from music videos is controversy. As people,
we are drawn to unusual, disgusting, controversial videos. We love to hate. And this
mind-set is no different in music videos, with masses flocking to see what the fuss is
about surrounding a video that may be talked about negatively on social media or on
official news channels. The reason why a band may flirt with the prospect of having a
video banned and make it controversial is due to the pulling power and attractive
nature of having a video that is so politically incorrect and talked about to the point
where it is the word on everyone’s lips and isn’t just your average music video. For

better or for worse, by having more people watch the music video, for example on
YouTube will yield more views, and in turn more money through advert revenue.
Using Miley Cyrus’ we can’t stop again, it clocked in at 762 million views after its
release 3 years ago. The amount of views wouldn’t be so high had she had not
drastically changed form the cute, small time southern Disney channel folk singer and
actress as Hannah Montana to the polar opposite of everything she used to represent
on screen. From turning to a role model for children and already having a fan base, to
turning into a Sex, Drugs an alcohol advocate. With this song being her first one since
that change and with it brought a ton of criticism and controversy. Especially from
concerned parents who were scared their daughters would want to change into what
she had become aswell.
Music Videos can also be successful entertaining fro all the right reasons however,
such as creating a Visual experience for the audience to feel closer to the artist. An
artist will do this by making a video that encaptures the words that come out of the
mouth of the artist. By driving home the lyrics, it makes the song much more deeper
towards the audience and makes a connection between artist and audience. An artist
will do this because it makes a strong bond between artist and audience, and makes it
look that the artist is talking to the person on the other side of the screen. Coldplay
and Radiohead both use this to great effect. Initially with Coldplay’s The Scientist. A
song about regret and tragedy. The music video reflective of this, with such emotional
and deep lyrics that some people could relate to, the Music Video creates a visual
experience by having Chris Martin do a performance in a reversed, slow motion.
Where he looks into the camera and almost tells us a story. The way he says the
words are really flat and easy to hear, and by having shots where he talks to us, it
makes the narrative and emotion much more emphasised and attractive to viewers.
Radiohead in No Surprises also uses a unique visual experience. The song is about
being fed up with life, ready to end it all. And by shooting the video in a water tank,
it’s as if the words are drowning him. He’s waiting for death, without explicitly
talking about it. And the one shot close up, along with melancholy lyrics and tone,
with a gritty look makes a visual experience as we sympathise with him. And the
close up of emotion, frustration and wanting to end it all could be a connection
between audience and artist that people can relate with.
Recording artists can use videos to show their talents aswell. Mainly used by Bands, it
shows the different talents of everyone in the band. The performance can either be a
full performance, like This Charming Man. Where the whole video is a performance
in a room. Or a video where there is a small narrative or cutaway shots; like Grounds
for Divorce by Elbow. The reason why artists do this is because they want to show the
audience their talents and by telling the story of how the song is played with the team
effort of the band, and this intimate experience where you feel you’re inside the song
makes the viewing experience much more rich towards a viewing audience. In This
Charming Man, The full video is shot in one room, with Focus on Morrissey as he
delivers the words across, but also focuses on the Guitar, Bass and Drums throughout.
These types of videos are really important, because in a world of today where most
music is Synthesised on a computer, it is really important to sometimes remember real
talent and music. And this is what these videos offer us, a break from the Synthetic
feel of music and down to the talent of a band. Grounds for Divorce by Elbow is an
example of a band talent video that uses a small narrative and cutaways along with the
band playing. The narrative here is playing in a pub, with the starting shot showing

this. This then changes the narrative to show that this band is a pub-playing band. But
it is still a performance video, as a majority of it features the full band, with Guitar,
Bass, Drums and vocals all having screen time.
Making a memorable music video linked to the song is also a key part at making a
successful entertaining music video. By linking the lyrics to the words, we are able to
understand the song much more easily. Recording artists do this so that the cross
media convergence of the audio and visuals are linked, so that the video seems to be a
really important part of the video so that they can be understood first time, with no
subtle undertones or loose ends. Nikelback did this with their Savin’ Me song. In
which they created a video that was so unique in its narrative and visuals it stands
alone in terms of its idea. The whole concept is that everyone has a timer above their
heads, which counts down to their death. And once you save someone, who’s timer is
nearly coming to an end, you pass that ability onto them, paying it forward. This is
effective because it almost creates a mini film within the song, which is easy to follow
and works with the genre, pace and meaning of the song. This also creates a different
style in which people will start to talk about and that word of mouth distribution is
important in creating a buzz for a video.
Chasing Pavements is also unique in its cinematography. Shooting down onto
people lying down, gives the illusion they’re stood up and floating in a way. Then
the dancing that goes on in the video is all while they’re lay on the floor. This
makes the video rememberable because it’s not just your standard. Average
dancing video, but rather a whole different creative way of matching the song
with the visuals.
Using a Music Video to give the audience a better understanding of a song is a
great way to utilize the effect of having access to make a music video, its that
when you add a video to it adds more emotion, more emphasis on what they are
trying to say. This creates a whole new dimension to media within a song. This is
effective because it drives home the words in which the singer is trying to tell
you and is important for the delivery of the song so that the true meaning is
justified and not up for debate. There are many ways this can be done, the two I
selected do this by either Using close ups of the emotion of the face of the singer,
or a narrative. Keane’s somewhere only we know use this for their video. The
song itself is about that place where nobody knows about but only us. A secret
area that you have unofficially claimed as yours. This song is about sharing that
with someone else; in the case of this video it’s the band, as they trek through a
woods to a shallow river in which the back end of the performance takes place.
This video is important because it helps us understand that the song isn’t a
metaphor, and this travelling to this place is almost sacred to him. Coldplay’s
yellow takes a different way of understanding a song. Instead of a narrative,
although there are some slight references at the start, the songs way of giving
understanding is by using a single camera track to sing the songs on. Our eyes
the whole song are on Chris Martin, and what he’s telling us. Putting a huge
emphasis on the vocals, as they’re the main part in this video, Unlike Somewhere
only we know which focuses on the travelling to the place, Yellows way of
understanding the song is encouraging us to listen to it.

Music videos larger exposure to a wider range of people and expand the profile
of the artist is the final purpose behind the entertainment factor of music videos.
This is used a lot more frequently with Smaller and indie bands with small
followings. By creating Audio a band is half way there, by creating a Music Video,
there is bigger chance of being spotted. Arctic Monkeys did this as their first
every song video. A simple performance video of the whole band singing I bet
you look good on the dance floor in 2005. Singing to an audience they couldn’t
see in the hope that they would be spotted. And currently they are one of the
biggest current rock bands from the UK. As serious as that last example was,
some bands or artist use video exposure in a way to create a viral buzz about
their song. Either for better or for worse. In the current environment we are in,
there is almost a blurring of lines between audience and industry. In that anyone
can make a music video now, and not have the struggles Queen had, or Arctic
monkeys have. Literally anybody can make a video to maximize their exposure.
Gangnam Style, PPAP and what does the fox say all do this. We don’t listen to
them songs for the actual song themselves. We watch the music video because
they’re just so strange. They’re totally weird to the point where we want more,
we tell people about it. It gets more clicks and generates more money. Viral
marketing wins every time.
Longevity is key to the success of an artist or band, which may be out of its time
and is releasing new music in the modern day era. And a huge area of current
music is that a music video is needed to boost the availability of their product
with both Audio and Video creations of the song. They do this to prove that they
can have the power to either have a music video that lives on through the ages,
such as Thriller by Michael Jackson, an iconic video that is still played today and
is usually used as a theme for Halloween due to its meaning and tone of the
video. The reason why this lives on in the history of music is because it’s so
iconic. At the time, and even now. Nobody has attempted anything like it, and
even if they did. The nostalgic factor would downplay any remakes or copies of
it.
Also David Bowie very effectively in Lazarus used longevity. The haunting video,
where his buttons are eyes and he slowly ascended up to heaven is already a
daunting watch, but what adds to this is the fact that Bowie wrote this knowing it
would be released after his death. This creates the Longevity meaning because it
was a video that is way out of time to when Bowie used to Dominate in the 90’s.
This video in a way makes him go with the norm, and enter himself into modern
music. And by creating this video, mixed with the lyrics. The video would live
long in the memory of music fans as the last beautiful creation of David Bowie.
Music Channels such as MTV Rocks, Kerrang and other rock/retro music
channels constantly have old songs on countdowns and loops cycling through
different eras, genres and bands as they use their channels to keep old music
videos current. So that anyone in the public with access to these channels, can re-
watch old videos and this repeatability of the songs is what keeps them current,
and the interest in music from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s very high amongst the
general public. With such old shows like Top of the Pops, in which bands
performed in front of a live audience.

Synergy means when different companies work together to promote a range of
products that are related. Busted did this when they released their song
Thunderbirds are go, which ended up being the theme for the film. The
conglomerate Universal and its subsidiaries were behind this song, and to no
surprise was also the distributor of the film too. They did this because they
wanted to have a current band, be their flagship for the film to create a buzz
about it. It would be a way of promoting the film by just playing the song
considering the main chorus is literally Thunderbirds are go. But also so
maximize exposure for Universal. By advertising their film using their other
clients in Busted, they are able to use the music video genre to promote their
product and thus increase the films sales. This synergy also helps cement brand
identity. With universal being the common party between both Busted and the
film.
There are more recent and conventional ways in which a Music video is used to
promote a film. The James Bond films historically have always used a song to
introduce the film after usually an action scene. Adele did it with Skyfall, where
her Music Video opens with the classic James bond transition cut, where the
camera shot is a barrel, and Bond shoots down it, with the blood dripping down
the screen. The way in which synergy is used here is how they got a large
mainstream singer who just released a large album to promote the brand new
James Bond film. By having two very successful franchises, in James Bond and
Adele they are able to work together to make a successful product. This was also
Used with Sam Smith in his song Writing on the wall for Spectre.
The impact of access is important to artist because it impacts how their
audiences are able to listen to or see their music videos. Access nowadays, with
access to the Internet is heavily important; this is evident with the way that we
now have Download charts aswell as official charts.
YouTube is a large way of which people access music. Nearly every big music star
has VEVO after their username. This is because VEVO have a partnership with
Sony Records. This monopoly allows Sony to have control over the distributions
of these videos on the Internet, and generates lots of revenue through
advertising. These videos are free to the public, but for the companies running
these operations, it means millions.
YouTube has a trending feature now, which means promoted videos, videos with
a high like to view ratio and videos with lots of views, are pushed forward on a
page so that the public can see what’s trending. Rather than pay for promotion to
YouTube to put their videos on the front page, they can just have a video get
enough viral buzz to be at the front of the trending tab. This can be seen as a free
way of getting yourself to the front of the worlds largest video sharing website.
You can also pay for this feature, which means there is a theory that there are
views that can be manufactured and in turn get essentially free money.
Because these videos are on YouTube. To access their other videos you click onto
their account and everything they have released comes up, with adverts of
course. This creates an interest in the artist rather than the song, and puts an
emphasis on creates good music videos, as someone who would be watching
through them listening to their songs would find much more enjoyment and

willingness to continue giving money to VEVO and be a potential purchaser of
their music.
Convergence is also massively important with every music video. In the
production and distribution stages.
Proliferation of technology means music videos have gone from old Film
recorded videos, to some that are nearly all graphics. In technology, along with
the lowering cost of equipment. It means that smaller independent bands are
able to record their videos, and put them online on free websites such as Vimeo
and YouTube. This allows for much smaller bands to distribute on a smaller
scale. Technology has almost advanced the way that videos are shot, this is
important because we like seeing really visually good looking videos now, and in
the 2000’s green screen and animations were used a lot too. This is because
when we are able to get this technology it is used so much that the market
becomes saturated with videos that almost look the same or used the same
techniques
Media companies recognise that audiences also enjoy using a variety of different
technologies. With most gadgets having access to the Internet and iTunes aswell.
It is important for companies to make cross media platforms for their music
videos. Services such as YouTube, which money is made from ad revenue, are
free to the public to watch. And there are paid services such as iTunes, where
people can buy music videos for a cost. These are important because they are
two ways in which they get revenue. As compared to previously, where they
would for example appear on TV, they can now have revenue like they would
have audio purchases.

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