The purpose of music videos

The purpose of music videos

There are five main purposes for music videos and each of them help music videos in there own way.

One reason for a music video is to promote a new music release such as new singles or albums. Social networking sites such as YouTube and Facebook usually help the artist promote there newest single/album. Also another way to promote an artist new single is to make it go viral all around the world, bringing in a bigger audience for the band and also introducing different genres of music across the globe.  An example of this would be Coldplay with their single Paradise and there new album Mylo Xyloto. Coldplay is a very famous band who has won many music awards such as the Brit awards. Coldplay s album before Mylo Xyloto was released in 2008 ( Viva La Viva or Death and All His friends) so you could say that their new album was a comeback. The first single Coldplay released from their album was every tear drop is a waterfall and their second release was paradise. On YouTube Coldplay had a lot of advertisement for the new album and every time they were going to release a another single they would also be advertising that also. The music video of Paradise is indeed something unique and memorable. Also the video is something that the band hasn't done before  as they haven't done anything involving unicycles and elephant costumes such as at 2:00. Coldplay s newest videos have a more colourful and energetic mood to them while as there past ones focused around the slow pace and calm. This shows that an artist can return to the music industry with the same genre of music but with a slight twist to the music and their music videos. At 3:48 we see the band doing a live performance, which can make the audience watching the music video want to go and see them perform live, and also helps the audience know what there concerts are like promoting the band.


 

Another purpose for a music video is synergy which is where two different media industries combine together and help each other promote one another e.g. the music industry and the film industry. Synergy helps increase awareness of both media industry's -An example of this would be Taylor Swift single safe and sound which is the promotional single featured in the film The Hunger Games. This helps the artist get more recognition and more well known as its a main soundtrack from the film and helps increase her audience more as people  might have not known about Taylor Swift before the film was released, increasing her popularity.The synergy also helps the artist become more noticeable and helps her albums sell rate increase, as her song is featured on a very popular film, which is then going towards her record label. The song itself doesn't really show any resemblance to what it happening in the music video but, her music video creates questions such as why is she walking through a forest which then creates suspicion and mystery which then makes the audience become more interested in the video and the artist. etc. The artists music video helps her audience become more aware of what she is doing now with her music and also helps promote the film at the same time and helps the film get a bigger audience as well. Also being part of a synergy can help the artist go down the road of different media institutions. Throughout the video the scenery that the artist is walking around in has a relation to what the films scenery is which is forest.

Art is something that some artists take a great consideration in when it comes to their music videos as they want to portray themselves how they want to and also want to have control over what they want to show. Art music videos usually have a meaning that the artist wants to put across to their audience or society in general so they try and make their video as memorable as possible. When it comes to art its likely that the artist had complete control over what they wanted to show in the video be it good or bad and usually raises mystery or questions for the audience, which then increases the amount of views for the video as everyone wants to know why people are talking about the music video. Depending on the sort of artist e.g and independent or mainstream, the record company could have control over what the artist shows in their video, which takes away the artists right to express the opinions/views.Artists sometimes start a story in one music video and then continue it in another one and example of this would be Lady Gaga. Lady Gaga is a very flamboyant person and loves to express herself through her clothing choice and her music videos as through the whole video we see her in different clothes such as at 3:20 and 2:09. Lady Gagas music videos usually come across as short films and that each music video shows a different side to her as a person and her music. At 3:15 we see Lady gaga at the centre of a crowd, which can make her seem like an important person and also shows what type of audience that she has as there are people seated around her which could connote that she has quite a big audience. The art that lady gaga includes in her music videos seem to be a way for her to express herself to society or how society represents her as at 2:03 we see her being being ripped of some clothing, which could connote that the people around her are society and that their ripping her identity away from her.






Visual representation is another way for artists to promote themselves, which is when artists want to represent themselves in a certain way through the lyrics of the song or the music video. Also music videos on streaming websites such as YouTube help the artist to be seen globally, rather than having to wait months to see them do a live performance. As the video is likely to be global it attracts a bigger audience and also helps the artist brand and gets it more well known. Plus, the audience is able to understand through the artists music video what's important to them and gives a slight inside viewing of the artists lifestyle and personality. An example of the would be the RnB artist Rihanna. In her earliest music videos she presents her self as a innocent young woman, but as the years have gone past her image has changed greatly and is now at the stage where she is getting judge quite frequently on her fashion,her life and her music career. This shows that music videos can also have a massive effect on how the artist is presented to their audience and this usually comes down to the artists record company, as long as it doesn't make them look bad and they gain money from it they don't really care what gets shown in their artists music videos. Rihanna is a good example of this as her past videos are like small story's with meaningful lyrics while now her music videos just include special effects and lyrics that don't really make sense. In her music video Rude boy she is presented as quite a loose woman as and a sexual object as at 0:16 we see her showing a fair amount of her body, which could represent her badly to her audience and give them the wrong impression on her. Also with all the specials effects such as at 0:23 it makes her look processional, but at the same time it comes across as only being used to expose her body a multiple of times.






Another purpose of music videos is extended playability of a song. This is where a certain song is played for a long period of time on music channels or websites such as YouTube. This helps the artist reach out for a larger audience and that they stay in the public eye for a while increasing their publicity and known rate. Music channels usually get paid for playing a song from an artist which will go towards them but also go the artists record label. An example of this would be Bruno Mars- The lazy song. This was his third single from his album "doo wops and hooligans", and was played repetitively for a couple of months. The reason for this might be because Bruno Mars at the time was a new artist to the world and he had already released two other singles from his album and they turned out to be a massive hits. The two singles beforehand had different music videos compared to The lazy song as they focused more around more meaningful love related videos while this one is has more creativity such as at  right at the start of the video 0:04 we are introduced to five men wearing monkey masks which straight away makes the audience more keen on watching it as the want to know what's going to happen and it also makes it more memorable. The reason why this song was played over and over was because Mars was a new upcoming artist and the repeat of his song was giving him more publicity and, also the song had catchy melody and that this music video is something you haven't really seen before, which makes it unique and different which results in more people watching it. When watching the song on YouTube it showed that the layout had been changed to advertisement of his album including details such as release dates. Also at 3:22 we see the album being advertised, which can promote the artist more as the video would have been shown on music channels, which then creates the audience wanting to purchase the album and then making it a more played song.