What is the purpose of a music video, and how do the artists, audience, and record labels contribute to its success?

1. Purpose of a Music Video
DANIEL FINLAY

2. The Multiple Reasons For Making A
Music Video
 Money from Sales
 Producer promotion
 Record Label promotion
 Availability on TV, Social Media
 Gain audience
 Representation
 Synergy
All these reasons help the company, artists, or record label in multiple ways, and is
the reason that they continue to make music videos.

3. Representation
 Representation is how the artist or band is shown within the music video. This can be
portrayed in a good or bad way, depending on how other people like their portrayal. For
instance, R.Kelly’s song “If I could turn back the hands of time” talks about how much he
loved his old girlfriend and would do anything for her, which shows he’s a caring man,
which isn’t bad representation. However, on the other hand, Eminem’s “Kim” isn’t exactly
good representation for the rapper, as he talks about kidnapping his ex-wife, and killing
her and her new lover. This song also caused outcry’s to stop Eminem, so probably wasn’t
very good representation for him.
 R.Kelly’s song “If I could turn back the hands of time” :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsOPVCK745I
 Eminem’s “Kim” : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_6lgDFX6y0

4. Synergy
 Synergy is the releaser of a brand across multiple different media platforms to
gain more audience, a better image for the brand, and more income from the
brand.
 For example, Ed Sheeran goes across multiple platforms to get himself
recognised, as he makes music as an artist, has written his own book, features in
film {Bridget Jones’ Baby}, songs for soundtracks, and more.

5. Promotion of the Artists
 Music videos also help other artists who are lesser known get bigger, especially if
another artist who is much bigger is also in the music video, as that will allow
the other artist to get recognised much quicker than they normally would. For
instance, Lil Dicky made a song with Snoop Dogg and it helped him gain more
popularity, as they both made the song “Professional Rapper”
{https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlU4FuIJT2k}.

6. Promotion of Record Label
 When big artists collaborate together, this allows not only the artists to gain
popularity and an audience, but the record label to gain exactly that, too. As
people watch a music video, they may like an artist that they’ve never heard
before, and proceed to check where this artist is from, what he’s done, who he
works with, etc. The record label may then get noticed, and gain popularity. For
instance, Busta Rhymes works with Chris Brown in “Why Stop Now”
{https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_sdL-SCJWI}, and Busta Rhymes worked
for Conglomerate while Chris Brown worked for RCA Records.

7. Album Sales
 Music videos also help the growth of album sales, as it increases the chance that,
when you see it, and if you like it, you may also buy the album which the song is
featured in. For example, Eminem’s single “Not Afraid” [within the first week] sold
380,000 copies, and ended up helping sell 5 million copies overall for his album
“Recovery” which the song featured on. This shows how music videos can help
the growth of an artist and an album.

8. ‘Male Gaze’ Theory
 The ‘Male Gaze’ Theory was a theory presented by Laura Mulvey in 1975, and
essentially states that if (mainly) women wear less clothing, their music video is
bound to get more views, and it’s true. Songs such as Blurred Lines
{https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qODrhss9ALc}, Anaconda
{https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDZX4ooRsWs}, and many more, also have
millions upon millions of views, and it’s simply, due to the fact, that sex sells.