Research: What is a music video?

What is a music video and what is it's purpose?

A music video is a short film produced with or after the release of a song. Music videos are for promotional/ or personal reasons. The promotional factor of a music video is mainly used to increase the selling of the record/album or to promote films the song has featured in. For example Ed Sheeran - I See Fire was used in the Hobbit Movie soundtrack, therefore in the music video, scenes from the film were used in which this helps promote both the artist and film.

Music videos such as Rihanna - We Found Love is used to portray personal events. Rihanna produced this video portraying her past relationship with Chris Brown which ended in domestic abuse. The video to this song was released a month after the song release in September 2011. This video created more sense to the audience about the Rihanna and Brown relationship creating more hype towards the song creating more success for the artist.

 Other promotional methods used can be to advertise products or brands etc just by quickly showing the use of the product or by showing the name of a brand in the video. For example Chris Brown - New Flame advertises the Dr.Dre Beats pill and app.

Classic Conventions:

A music videos main purpose is to attract and sell therefore there are conventions used to help this purpose. The use of the male gaze is one of the most easiest to identify. This is when the use of one or many attractive young woman are put in the video to help create a seductive and fantasized atmosphere. The use of expensive products in the background such as cars, jewelry, mansions is also a classic convention that also takes the factor of a fantasy making viewers want the lifestyle portrayed. For example Meek Mill - B Boy music video does this;

Synergy:

The release of a music video is often a small boost to an artist music campaign. This can be done by producing a video after the release of a single to create hype on an upcoming album. Singles/soundtracks are sometimes featured in mainstream films which create huge hype and publicity towards the songs/artist. Scenes from the film would often be shown in the music video to help advertise the film. An artist has done this recently in the book to film production 'Fifty Shades of Grey' in which artist, 'The Weeknd' have several featured tracks in the movie soundtrack. The release of the more fan favored track 'Earned It' had sky rocketed in success after the music video release with 161 million views on YouTube alongside being played on the radio for months and the hype all over social media such as Instagram, twitter etc.

Audience Impact:

The audience have a huge impact on whether the music video is successful or not. This also adds on to the fans/viewers opinions posted on social media which can also either help increase or decrease the success and hype of the music video.

Technological Advancements:

Current Threats..

• The majority of people use portable devices such is phones and iPod's therefore they have the availability to use music apps such as iTunes and Spotify to download favored songs. This would sometimes destroy the purpose of watching music videos.

• Some non mainstream apps are also available for easy downloadable music on portable devices. This may be easier for the fans/viewers but for the artist, this reduces the success of the song on mainstream media.

• People may produce remixes in which this version may be favored by some audiences.

Conclusion:

The music industry will remain the same as far as music videos go because of the small purpose it has to the artist and the impact it has on the audience. Music videos may have gradual success throughout the years if and when explicit videos are available to all audiences as the viewers are sometimes blocked from watching explicit videos due to age restrictions. This makes a small affect on those viewers as the internet is easily accessible and easy to find and view restricted imagery.