Coursework use only.

1. Why Videos? The need for the music video
A music video is used to promote a single song. Music videos use a wide variety of styles some
including the artist and some not. In the video of Chris Parr
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3XEWnEgSv4 ) talking about the importance of music videos;
he talks about how by creating a music video you are visually attracting consumers. Chris Parr says
“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” By saying this
he is pointing out that by creating a music video not
only is it promoting the artist but the genre of the song;
for example you could ask someone if they listening to
a country music they may say no but if you asked them
if they liked listening to country artists like Carrie
Underwood they may say yes, they are most likely to
have learnt who the artist was through the promotion
of their music video.
The purpose of a music video is mainly to promote the artist and to extend their income. The video
would promote the artist as it will allow the consumer to learn about the artist and adapt to their
visual appearance as well as their music. The video will extend the artist income as consumers will
also buy the video as well as the song if they enjoy it. If the music video is popular then the audience
may be drawn more towards the song because they like the video. Some videos are used to promote
the artist; some videos are created by filming the artist this would
mainly be used if it is a new upcoming artist who the audience are trying
to get to know, for example in Cheryl Cole first solo single ‘fight for this
love’ the video focused on her throughout, however
if the artist is well known or has a more hidden
identity then the video may be based on a storyline
and may not feature the artist as much, for example in the video for Ed Sheerans
‘A Team’ he is not feature throughout however a story relatable to the song is
told. Video’s that contain the artist themselves can make the artist highly popular
due to what the video contains, how the artist acts or how they dress. In some
cases the video can be disliked by the fans of the artist and can bring down the
sales for the artist, for example in Britney Spears’ come back single ‘Gimme
More’ the reaction to the video was that the video ruined the song and the image
of the artist, it changed the fans perception of the artist and due to this she lost
fans and sales.
By the artist choosing to let MTV and other music channels play there music video they are
gaining income as the music channels are promoting the video and single which the fans will then
go out or online to buy. By having the video on the music channels it is also allows the audience to
view the charts such as the top 40, and see how high the video and single are on the charts.
Some singles have been created for the use in TV, Film or an advert, in cases where the song has
been created for TV or Film the music video is generated using clips from the relevant programme or
film, however when a song is created or used in an advert the music video may feature the product

2. but would not be used to create the video. For example, the
song ‘sky fall’ by Adele was created for the use in James Bond
Sky fall, therefore when the video was created it used clips
from the video this does not only promote the song but the
movie that the song has been created for. When a song is
used in advert the music video is rarely linked to the product
being advertised. However the use of a song in a well-known
advert can boost the sales of the single for the artist and the
role can be reversed if the song is highly popular then the use
of it on an advert can boost the sales of the advertising
product; for example for the I-Pod advert the song ‘Yeah Yeah’
by Willy Moon was used and within days the sales of the song
where boosted for willy moon, in the reversed role in the
advert for Dr Dre Beats the used the song ‘scream and shout’
by Will.i.am and Britney Spears which at the time was in the top 5 single charts, this helped boost
sales of both the song and the advertising product. An example of a TV show that made a single song
highly popular is ‘I’ll be there for you’ by The Rembrandts, when this single was released as the
theme song for the television show friends, it was written as a 1 minute theme tune however after
high popularity and demand the artists extended the song by adding more verses and re-released
the song, it became world famous and stayed at the position of 17 for 8weeks in the US billboard hot
100, and came 3rd in the UK top 40 charts, the song is still one of the most popular theme tune
worldwide. The music video for the song included the cast of ‘FRIENDS’ so that the song could be
linked to the programme and people would know where it had come from.