The purpose of music videos

1. The Purpose of Music Videos
The initial emergence of musicvideos began in the early 1940’s USA where the Mills Novelty Company
of Chicagodesignedandproducedthe Panoram Jukebox that projected reversed 16mm film onto a 27”
etched screen that was in sync with the music it was playing. These jukeboxes’ however never fully
recoveredafterWWIIas the televisioncame toreplace it.FollowingonfromthisHollywood had a surge
of musiccentricfilmsthat integrate musicwithinthe scenes.Variousmusicchannels were created such
as MTV (launchedin1981). MTV alsocreated award shows specific for music videos (1985). Before and
after this various music videos gained instant fame. These includes Michael Jackson’s Thriller, Peter
Gabriel’s Sledgehammer as well as a-ha’s Take on Me.
Promotion of songs, artists and directors.
The music video for Some Nights (by Fun) is accompanied by a beyond the video. In this behind the
scenesvideotheyhave the Some Nightssong playing in the background with diegetic audio. There are
small informal interviews with the band, director as well as some of the cast for the music video. The
band talk about how great
AnthonyMandlerhas been
to work with This behind
the scenes video is linked
in the description of the
music video. In addition to
credit to Anthony as the
director. The music video
itself containsscenesatthe
beginning and the end
without any music which
gives the music video a
short filmelement. The band are seen performing in the midst of the battle between the Republicans
and the Confederates in the American civil war themed music video.
In addition to this music video the music video for Charlie Brown by Coldplay directly promotes the
record lable as well as
the director of the
music video. The music
video also features
information to simpply
state the rights as seen
below.

2. The music within the video is already playing when all of the credits appear which will almost ensure
that they are seen by anyone watching the music video.

3. Synergistic Marketing
In the second installment “The
Desolation of Smaug” of The
Hobbit Trilogy by Peter Jackson,
the end credit was side kicked by
Ed Sheeran’s“Isee fire”.Whilstin
the final installment “The Battle
of the Five Armies” Billy Boyd on
of the actors from a trilogy set in
the same cinematic universe
performed the song for the end
creditsscene. Bothof these songs
have clips/scenes from the
corresponding films included in
the official music videos, which
immediatelytells the viewer that
the movie franchise/trilogy are
linked with the songs.
Extension of Income for Artists and Record Labels
The extension of income for both the record label
and the artist come from a great range of sources.
The most well-known sources are the purchases of
the albums/songsondigital platformssuchas ITunes
and physical purchasesof CD’sandthe growingVinyl
industry.Whendigital copiesof musicare purchased
the money goes to 3 different sources (In the
majorityof casesdependinginthe outlet) the artist,
RecordLabel and the Outletitself.Whereas physical
copies have the same 3 sources of the money
purchased other people get some money as well
includingthe retailer,the distributerandthe production company of the physical item. The production
company and the distributer get their money before the item even sells. This is the same case for
everyone who worked on producing, recording and editing the song. As well as those who worked on
the music video for promotion purposes.

4. Extension of Various Media Outlets
There are loads of ways that music is promoted and listened to by the end consumer/listener. Social
mediapagesallowpeopletoshare, like andfollowprettymuchanything.Thiscaninclude bands, record
labels as well as unofficial fandom groups. On these social media
outlets the music videos can be shared and watched by everyone.
Thisis complementedbythe autoplayfeature onsome social media
sites that will play the video (muted) which can grab the user’s
attention. On video outlet sites such as YouTube and Vimeo the
channel that uploads the official music (Usually a Vevo channel for
the artist) the channel owner will gain money based on the number of minutes the video has been
watched(the total sumof everyone viewswatchtime)aswell as the number of advert hyperlinks used
that are linked to the video.
Producer Strategies
There are few producer strategies in the music video
industrythat are well known. A few of them can included
using the cast or animations from a film in a music video
made for the filmsuchas IridescentbyLinkinPark(Usedin
the 3rd
Transformers Film). Sometimes they may have
siblings or friends of the artist featured in the video for
self-promotion purposes. Some producers however will
use the same cast repeatedly to establish an expected
style or look-out-for sign within their music videos. An
example of an actress who has stared in multiple music
videos is Camren Bicondova. Camren has starred in
multiple music videos as well as stand-alone dance
orientated videos. Her athleticism from her dancing has
complementedherrole asYoung Selina Kyle (Cat woman)
in the TV series Gotham.
Conclusion
In my opinion music videos have become more popular as the number of sources where they can be
watched has grown. (E.g. Facebook, Twitter etc) As well as the growing Film and Television industry
more opportunitieshave risenforcollaborative piecesor work between the artist and the producers of
the film. These collaborations allows complementary advertisement which increases the sales and
revenue of bothsources.The use of well-known songs in trailers can help boost the viewing figures as
well asthe use of more indie/lessknownsongsusedwell intrailersallow the songartistandrecordlabel
to grow due to the new viewers/listeners.