Purpose of Music Videos

Origins of music videos

The very beginning of the music video rise began in the 1940's USA, where clubs would have a jukebox called the 'Panoram Soundie' which would play short songs that would be accompanied by a short video.

Jump forward to the 1950's where the genre of 'Music Films' where made popular by the iconic films from Elvis Presley, such as 'Jailhouse Rock' and 'Love Me Tender'.

   

The 1960's introduced the rise of British Television music shows including 'Top of the Pops' on BBC and 'Ready Steady Go!' on ITV.

And in the late 60's, the Jack Nicholson film 'Easy Rider' became one of the first films to feature Rock Music in the dramatic sequences of the film.

   




The 1970's was the release of Queen's song 'Bohemian Rhapsody', which became tone of the first music videos to feature a heavy amount of special visual effects, which became a stepping stone for many future music videos to come.

The first form of music video was introduced in the year 1941 with The Panoram Soundie, a jukebox that played music along with a short clip that compliments the music. 15 years later, Hollywood has the revolutionary idea of music-centered films, leading to the releases of iconic rock 'n' roll films such as Rock Around the Clock, Don't Knock the Rock and Elvis Presley's famous movies like Blue Hawaii. People saw this as a way to incorporate narrative driven story telling whit music. Over the years this rise in music videos lead to British television inventing shows like Top Of The Pops and Ready!Steady!Go, new forms of music television. The U.S later adapts the format. In 1975, Queen releases the video for their song "Bohemian Rhapsody", which marked the beginning of the era of music videos as it was one of the first music videos to use advanced visual effects.



Promotion of Artists

Skip forward to 1970, the record industry realizes these TV-Shows can be used as a great way to promote the artists at the time. They decided to focus on the production of short "promos", early music videos that began to replace the live performance of artist on the TV stage. Nowadays, songs and artists are promoted entirely though the internet such as YouTube and Spotify, which release short promos for an upcoming song or even just release the debut song for a band. Some songs can be attached to both film trailers and film soundtracks to give the band recognition. Some examples of this was Easy Rider using rock songs and the new film Logan using Kaleo's "Way Down We Go" to fit the tone of the film in marketing.


'Kaleo' song used in the 2017 'Logan' trailer

Artists would be promoted and marketed in different ways due to the wide variety of genres in music. They would have to be promoted in ways that fit their genre and that would conform to their fan bases. For example, the band Kaleo, an Icelandic blues/folk band, would be promoted differently to the christian rock band Skillet. They would typically highlight different events or festivals. For example, Kaleo wouldn't be expected to highlight at Pink-Pop festival but Skillet had performed there before.


Band 'Kaleo' performing live on the Fjallsárlón Glacier in their home country of Iceland


Christian Rock band 'Skillet', performing their song 'Feel Invincible'

Marketing

They have to be marketed with their genre to find and expand their fan bases to other fans of the genre. Since the music videos are part of the marketing for a band or artist, the video would also have to conform to the genre of the band. Different forms of media would use the bands genre or image in order to promote their product such as films or TV. For example, the film Suicide Squad created a soundtrack using all popular bands and artists that target the same kind of audience. They used such artists as Skrillex, Panic! At the Disco and Imagine Dragons that fit with the tone of the film as a punk rock style targeted towards teenagers.

    

Artist Labels and Incomes

Extension of income, in regards to the music industry, is when the amount of money that is or can be made from music videos is expanded due to the creation of the video. For example, a music video isn't the only medium for songs be listened through. When a song is first released, they would typically be released as just audio. They would be distributed to digital download sites or apps like Apple Music or Spotify or they would be distributed along with a collection of songs from an artist on a CD. After the song has gotten more popular and the artist has expanded their following, they may want to make and release a music video for a popular song. This allows them to receive more money via more downloads and even being distributed to music channels, which leads to fame and more money. Label companies would look to sign these artists after viewing all of the fame they had gotten from all of the publicity and if the label company is able to snatch them up then they would make a ton of money from the artist's already huge fan base. Some very popular record labels include Fueled By Ramen (Panic! At the Disco, TwentyOnePilots) and Red Bull Records (Beartooth).

       

Various Media Outlets

In the music industry, there are many ways to access the incredibly huge world of different artists, genres and songs. These include Spotify, YouTube, Soundcloud, Apple Music and many more. Amongst the many different ways to access these platforms, some are free to access or free to upload to whereas some require you to pay for member ships or a one time pay for the song or album. For example, YouTube allows for unlimited viewing and free uploading so that the distributors don't need to pay to upload but can in return make money from viewership. But, most companies would make money by distributing the songs and albums to things like Itunes and Apple Music, in which you have to pay for either a monthly subscription or one of payments for either the album or the individual song.

    





Synergistic Marketing

Synergistic marketing within the media industry, more importantly regarding TV and films in particular, is when in marketing, the film would branch out into smaller mediums (linked to music) in order to further market their film. This is used in many ways and is mostly used for films that target a younger audience between 12-17 years old. A few examples would be Suicide Squad and Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping. Suicide Squad used a soundtrack of pop-punk/rock songs to target a teenage audience. They made music videos involving Jared Leto's joker character and it was made to fit with the tone and genre of the film. With the "Popstar" film, it was written and produced by real life, SNL born, music comedy trio band called The Lonely Island, composed of Andy Samburg, Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer. The film was a mockumentary about a band starring the lonely island members. Prior to the films initial release, they released several music videos for songs feature in the film in order to boost the hype for the film as the film was marketed as a comedy and so was the music videos.



-Suicide Squad, Synergy


-Popstar Never Stop Never Stopping,synergy

Music Video popularity 

Music videos are important, not only to the fan base but to the artist or band. Music videos are crucial when it comes to reaching out to the target audience and building a fan base in order to make more and more money. Music videos are also one of the best ways to create an image for the artist or lead singer of the band and try and create an iconic look for them. An example is the iconic red jacket from Michael Jackson's Thriller music video or the well known (in the punk genre) Brendon Urie red, black and white suit, top hat and cane outfit from Panic! At the Disco's "I Write Sins not Tragedies" music video. I personally feel that music videos are so popular and have become such a large part of an artists image, because of two main parts. One part is because of the societal construct and the sense of individuality that comes with liking a particular band or genre. Fans would take on the image or style of an artist whether it be gothic, emo (hugely influenced by My Chemical Romance), hipster or just general sense of rock fashion. For example, liking a certain band, artist or genre would make the fans feel like they are a part of a community or a social group of others who are interested in the same type of music or artist, a basic human need. The music videos would allow the band to convey their image onto more people who would then essentially be promoting the band or artist if they were to take up the style.  The second part is the wide range of styles that can be experimented with in music videos. Many songs have took on a unique visual style in music videos, and have gone through a transition of audio to visual style, which also easily allows for the interpretation of the lyrics or style of the song. Also the music videos may allow the artist to literally change their image. An example of this is the transition that pop-punk band 'Paramore' went through recently. They went from being a teen pop-punk band and through the use of a music video, changed up their image to an Indie-rock and 80's style of music and visual influences.