Promotion
One of the biggest purposes for a music video is to promote the image of an artist or band. Promotion in this case refers to almost selling an image and getting people to buy into it. The idea that if the images and narrative of a music video relate to the audience or appeal to their own understanding of the world, then they are more likely to be interested in said artist. Take Hip Hop artists as an example. Much of their videos will contain scenes taken from parties with lots of girls and fast cars. This shows the artist in superior fashion and for those viewing it they become someone to aspire to be. Another frequent narrative associated with the Hip Hop genre is that of a normal often poverty stricken rapper making it big. Take Big Sean's My Last video. Within the video we see he wears several branded products such as the TISA denim jacket seen in the thumbnail. The audience will see these brands and associate them with their favorite artists and want to buy the products they see them wear. A more obvious example of how this works is when an artist actually creates their own brand and it sells well. The reason people buy branded clothes is because of the status it represents and its reputation as a solidified symbol. However when you take a new brand with no history it will obviously not sell as well because there is no reputation or status associated with it. However when Drake a rapper started up his OVO design brand sales instantly came in as the brand is associated with him.
However a music video doesn't only just promote the artist and their image. The producers and directors of a video also get a chance to show off their work and add it to their portfolios. An example of this is with Director Hype Williams. Williams has worked with many artists and has been active for over twenty years. However he is perhaps most renowned for his work with rapper Kanye West having produced and directed over twenty music videos with the artist, including Gold Digger (2006), All of The Lights (2011) and Diamonds from Sierra Leone. In doing so Williams has defined his style over the years as seen with the Gold Digger music video.
Producer strategies
Producer strategies refer to the different methods of marketing artist. Often a collection of methods are used for example radio and TV interviews to gain publicity. However when it comes to music videos, methods will differ.
Mainstream-
Artists are marketed in different ways depending of their labels. Major label companies like Capital Records will spend lots of money to make sure their artists gain lots of publicity and that a shiny perfect image is maintained, and this image will be carried over into the artists music videos. For example you will often see mainstream artists such as Ariana Grande have their videos on channels such as billboard, and the videos will always depict a certain version of perfection. We can see this glossy/perfect image in one of her videos here. In turn the effect this has on the audience is that they strive to be alike the artist (in Ariana Grande's case most of her fans are female, however her attractiveness will also pull in male fans). The fact mainstream artists also have huge financial backing and thus we see there music on large radio stations and TV channels also increases their audience base and exposure. The music they create also tends to be in the style of whatever the fashionable mode of music at the time, for example pop and EDM as this too appeals to the widest range of people and will be played more in the charts.
Independent
However when it comes to smaller acts that are represented by independent labels who don't have the money to produce a large budget video. Artists such as J Cole, when he first started out produced his own videos with private money. An example can be seen below.
Obviously with a lower budget the videos don't contain any special effects or rented out locations. Instead they have relied on real life shots and pieced them together to make a narrative. The effect this has is that it makes them seem more professional an polished from the audiences point of view. If an artist has a good looking music video it makes them appear more established and so the expect a higher level of production and are more likely to listen to the upcoming artists video. In Jcole's case he went on to sign with Jayz's Rockafella record label and now has a successful career.
Self produced artists
With the new internet age artists who aren't signed are finding new ways to expose their talent to the public. YouTube videos are the main way in which unsigned talent does this. For example it was a video of Justin Bieber busking that sent him on his way to becoming signed and eventually one of the biggest artists in the world. Another British Artist who started out this way was Conor Maynard. Using YouTube is a great way to gain audience exposure as the site has millions of users every day. Self produced artists will often make covers of popular songs in the charts as it is likely many people will be talking about it already. They use the exposure and popularity of an already existing song and sort of piggy back off of it. As seen this often brings in fans of the existing song and thus brings more attention to the artist. We can see his first ever video here, a cover of Drake's Marvin's room.
Art Statement
However there aren't always financial and marketing reasons behind videos. Some Artists will make videos to make an artistic statement, in fact there are usually in every video some sort of underlying meaning. These videos will often conform much of the audience's ideology or opinion on the statement in question. Many statements are left wing and anti establishment, and it is likely the fans and artist already have a shared ideology, and so artists may capitalise on this by inserting images that adhere to the shared ideology of there audience.Take Eminem's Mosh video for example. This was a protest against Bush administration and the Iraq war and a plea to the majority that their voices can be heard.
Extension of income
Extension of income refers to the royalties artists receive every time their song is played on the radio or music video watched on YouTube or the TV. However it is impossible to actually count how many times this happens so instead an estimate is made in relation to how popular the single or album is.
This often results in mainstream artists remaining in the charts as their songs are played on the radio all the time. Again people like Rihanna, Drake and Ariana Grande are examples. So the more independent or alternative artists rely more on other media outlets to gain exposure.
This is made even harder when the same mainstream artists with huge financial backing continue to dominate an already saturated market.
The best way for an independent artist to make money is probably to perform live around the circuit and make a name for them selves. Take Ed Sheeran for example, he played over one thousand shows before attaining a record deal. There is also often a certain stigma attributed to artist's that are carried through the industry by a huge record company from the start, that perhaps they are not succesful for there musical talent but just because they are easy to market. However with acts like Ed Sheeran who come from more self made origins a certain level of authenticity and respect stays with them throughout their careers. It also allows the audience to relate more to them and thus gain more fans.
Extension of Outlets and Platforms
When referring to music videos an extension outlet or platform refers to any source which allows access to the media. Examples will include YouTube which often gives access to artists music videos through VEVO accounts as seen. Other channels may also offer access t music videos on YouTube however VEVO channels represent the biggest source. As mentioned before YouTube is a great way for artists to show off there videos as people from all over the world can view them, and it probably has the biggest audience base compared to any other media outlet.
We can also see music videos on countless TV channels. MTV for example was one of the first to do so launching in 1981. Since then the channel has adapted and now mostly shows reality TV, however many music channels have since then adopted the format and show music videos throughout the day.
With this growing number of media outlets there are of course consequences. A disadvantage for outlets is that there is a lot of competition, and therefore it is harder to make money with a smaller market share. However for artists the wider distribution is obviously an advantage as there content will reach more people.
Synergy
This refers to the sale of a product subsidiary to the main product through licensing deals. An example would be Beats by Dre headphones featuring in many music videos. Those owning Beats by Dre will pay record companies money to feature their products in music videos by popular artists. An example can be seen here from the music video for 23, in which the Beat pill was advertised through product placement.
The reason synergistic marketing is popular is because everyone involved benefits. Those getting paid to feature the product benefit financially while those who own the product get advertising and association with a popular artist, in this case Miley Cyrus, and thus the product gains popularity from her fans. This will lead to many fans buying the product in question as they strive to assimilate them selves with their favourite artists.
Conclusion
I believe Music videos offer fans and insight to what is supposedly the life of their favorite artists. It also depicts what perhaps the song means to the artist.
With media outlets such as YouTube it has become increasingly easier to view music videos, and with societies obsession with everything social media these videos are now seen and watched more than ever. Because of this trend artists and record companies have taken advantage of this attempting to make videos go viral and creating more videos in general. This has become even more evident with the recent release of Beyonce's Lemonade album, which was released with a movie made up of music videos for each track. This was a revolutionary way of releasing an album and perhaps will become the dominant way of releasing albums in the future.
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