Unit 29 Music Video 29.1 MARINA

THE PURPOSE OF MUSIC VIDEOS AND WHY THEY ARE STILL RELEVANT AND IMPORTANT IN THIS GENERATION.

This is my research on the purpose of music videos.
Music videos started to become a thing in the 1980s as a short film, it eventually developed into something more, it became a form of art, a way for an Artist to express their ideas and creativity and bring out an imagery that further explains their idea and passion behind their songs, this became a very fun and great thing for the audience as a music video can change their whole perception of what a song is about.
Music videos really started to become grow bigger when MTV(Music Television) American TV channel started to based the channel around music videos, from then on music videos took of and became a must have for all artists.
 Music videos started to fade out in the industry when MTV moved on to broaden the contents on their channel, as a results music there were less music videos, because MTV had other programs, and also because its expensive to shoot a music video and labels saw no reason to spend money on them except for promotional purposes. And music videos were proven to be  sometimes more successful than the original song itself.
As a result labels and the the music industry as a whole  found a way to gain some type of profit from music videos, they found different purposes for music videos.
The most commonly known purpose  being that music videos are for promotional purposes, but that is not the only purpose as  majority of the general public may think.
Music videos  actually serve multiple purposes.

For Starters music Videos are used for the obvious reason Promotional Purposes. Music Videos in this new age is very easy to make, with the advanced technology we have. Music videos can easily be made from a digital camera to  our everyday digital phone. Which means anyone can make a music video these days, which means its labels have to pay less for them,  with the only difference between all music videos being the quality and content.
NOW promotional purposes comes in play with Social Media and how we consume media. With the internet being at the centre of everything that goes on in the world, social Platforms are the best way for promotion, Which is why YOUTUBE is a big platform for promoting music videos and also because its the largest music videos streaming platforms, with the variety of different audience it has and the easy accessibility it has anyone at anytime from from anywhere around the world can easily see the music video of an artist, therefore  the video is used to promote the artist and his or her music, the label, brands and companies like an artist can were nike clothes in their music videos, drive a Toyota, or show a certain cereal brand or alcohol.                    
  Music videos is used for promotional purposes in a way songs or audio can't and it can be explained as  simply as "Actions speak louder than words".
An example of music videos being used for promotional purposes is the 2009 Bed Rock music video released by Young money.     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ha80ZaecGkQ 

Bed Rock was the second single on the group Young Money Entertainment (YME), which features the top artist 

in the record label Young Money Entertainment. At the time the label was not that big but  a couple of their

Artist such as Lil, Wayne, Drake Nicki Minaj and Tyga were big  in America. The music video had all the 

Artist on Young money entertainment in the music video, with everything young money, from the lyrics, to 

the image in the video, this was the labels way to promote the artist and the label, which successful as the

video reached a worldwide audience, viewed over 100 million times, and exposed the YME label and all 

Artist in to the mainstream and international audience.

Another purpose of music Videos  is  Extension income. A common misconception is that artist get paid for their music videos but that is not the case. This is because the label pays for the videos and its free to put the video on platforms  like Youtube. But music videos do increase or extend income.
This is because music videos makes the audience want to be like or relate to the artist, this encourages them to purchase a number of items created or related to the artist, this can be their merchandise(t-shirts, hoodies etc.), Albums, Singles and clothing lines, alcohol drinks and many other items. Music Videos makes the audience feel engaged and want to be a part of it, they want to see the artist, this also encourages them to buy tickets to go see the artist on their Tour, Shows and Festivals.
They also encourage the audience to stream the audio version of the song on music platforms like Spotify, iTunes, SoundCloud and Tidal.
An example of  this is the 2018 music video for
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ONRf7h3Mdk
Along with Extension of Income is another purpose of Music Videos which is Extension Outlets.
Music videos gives songs more or even doubles the way it can be accessed. This is because a music video can be seen many different ways and platforms. They can be seen on TV, Social media (Facebook, Instagram), they can also be accessed on CDs and DVDs, this gives it many different outlets and an exposure or potential to reach a wider audience.
A music can even attracts a whole new audience, as some people may not music very much or haven't heard of an artist before, but with a music video even if they don't like the song, they can be attracted to the visuals and the contents of the video, as a result they become interested and in the artist and his work, as the music video can connect to audience on a different level than songs can.
For example blue face who is a new Hip Pop artist recently released a new video on Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5_FzJJj7ZI for his song Thotiana, the music video became a huge success and a dance in the video went viral all over the internet and everyone on social media started doing this dance, the video was also played on bet and was also featured on XXL website. As a result of the music video Blueface had and extension of outlets that put his music on the mainstream and attracted a whole new audience.
Another Purpose of music videos is Synergy.
Synergy is when two or more media text combine to work together on a single product. Therefore a Synergy in music video is when two or more forms of media combine together to work produce a music video.  This can be Movies and Tv shows  working with an artist on to be featured on their music video or  a music video created specifically for a Film its like a collaboration.
Films being featured in music videos are very common these days, as most movie studios use it as a way to promote their films further and have a commercial success, and artist also want the exposure to a new audience. Also TV commercials and Brand deals also use music videos as  a way  to attract a bigger audience.
An example of this is the song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgKAFK5djSk    
 See you again by whiz khalifa and Charlie puth, which was a song of the movie Fast and Furious 7 Album
The music video was a huge commercial success, as it topped the number 1 charts in the UK and US
and the movie went on to one of the franchises biggest box office.

Producers Strategies is the final purpose of music videos. 
The major label, Self producer and Independent labels are the 3 types of producers in the Music Industry. All 3 producers have different approaches when promoting an Artist, as there are different types of artist therefore they have different procedures when promoting an artist, depending on the type of artist. 
Major label Producers focus or work more with already established/mainstream Artist, where they already have hit songs, on charts, and they offer big budgets for music videos, promotion, tour and others.
An example of a major label producer is Drake who is signed by the major label "Young Money", as popular, and mainstream as drake its only right that he's signed  to a major label, as he gets bigger budgets for his tours, which are in big arenas, therefore he needs big budgets, and also big budgets for music videos as the budget for Drakes Gods plan music video was over 1million dollars, which easily shows what major labels are about.
Independent Label Producers are the opposite of major labels, they work with smaller labels and artist, who are not popular, all have any mainstream appearance. Therefore they have smaller budgets, for promoting, tour, music videos and others.
An example on Independent label Producer is WHY DON'T WE an American boy band who came in the industry in 2016, they have a few following but not in the mainstream as a result they use the independent Label as a way to get out their music to bigger platforms, get budgets for their small tours and eventually break into mainstream music.
Self Producers are simply Artist who are also their own producers. This strategy allows the artist full creative control, on their music videos, songs, tour and others, generally most Self producers aim to sign with a label, after a certain point when they have enough fans and popularity. They usually don't have high budgets, for tour and music videos, but since they control these things they don't need as much money.
An example of a self producer. is is the Artis called RUSS who is a Self producer, he makes his own beats, direct his own music videos, organise his own tour and he recently made a marketing and publishing deal with a label, as he grew bigger and famous enough.