Music Video Purposes - Assignment

Single

Music videos are made with many different intention, sometimes to promote an album, other times to advertise another product. However, most commonly music videos have the purpose to promote a new single. Music videos promote singles once a song off an album becomes very popular, and then a music video is released a few months after to gain interest of the song again. For example, the recently popular song by Katy Perry called 'Dark Horse' had a music video released approximately three months after the single itself was released. By doing this the audience will either then remember that they liked the song and be interested in the music video. Or, for people who have heard to song sometimes play on the radio (for example) they would then have a visual to go along with it, therefore allowing them to recognise who it's by and what it is called. 

Another way in which music videos promote singles is seen in the music video by the Arctic Monkeys for 'Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High'. In this music video, before the actual song is played, there is a somewhat storyline at the start. The main singer of the band is seen walking around a bar, whilst another one of their recent singles (Do I Wanna Know)plays in the background. By doing this it makes the audience aware of another song before even listening to the song they even hear the song they were intending to hear. 

New Artist

Another common purpose of music videos are to promote new artists; this can be done in a few ways. Firstly, an already popular artist collaborates with a new artist, the song will then become popular from the recognition of the already known artist. From that, the new artist who features on the single will become recognised, so in some ways, you could say they gain popularity from someone else's fame. An example of this happening was the song 'Fancy' by Iggy Azalea, featuring (the new artist) Charlie XCX. As Iggy was already quite popular, the music video gained huge amounts of views, therefore people saw Charlie, liked her part of the song, and probably looked at more of her songs, or remembered her name. This is a successful example, as after the popularity of 'Fancy' Charlie XCX gained enough recognition to be able to write a single (called Boom Clap)for the extremely popular novel to film, 'The Fault In Our Stars', which also helped her gain even more popularity. 

Another example of when music videos have been used to help promote a new artist, is the recently new artist Sam Smith. The popular song 'Money on my Mind' that he sang, was played a lot on the radio; people from then see the music video and put a face to the voice, which in turn increases profile for him as a new artist. 

Change of Directions

Additionally, music videos can be used to help promote and artists change in direction; the most obvious example for this is with Miley Cyrus. Originally Miley Cyrus was known as a disney star, that all little girls looked up to - she constantly released new songs (usually with a country vibe). However, once her show 'Hannah Montana' stopped airing, Miley Cyrus hype died down. In 2013, she came back with a bang when she released her new music video to 'We Can't Stop', which gained a lot of criticism and hate because of its crudeness. This new style seen in her music video of getting high, drinking and partying all night, extremely contrasted with what she previously was known as. So, by releasing a music video, this was the best way to show the world her change in direction, as if she was to just release a song, yes it would sound different to her new style, however a music video gives a visual presentation to the audience that says "look at the new me".

Media Product

A different purpose for a music video is to promote another media product such a film, tv show, mobile phones (etc). A music  video which has done this is 'Decode' by Paramore. The single was made to promote the upcoming film 'Twilight'. Throughout the music video shots vary from showing Paramore singing the song, and clips from the film itself. This is a successful way of promoting another product because as Paramore are already popular, their fan base would see the music video, and either see the film clips, find them interesting and watch the film, or they will see the film and a band they're in fan of promotes it so they may feel obligated and persuaded to see it. 

Another music video which has promoted a different media product was 'Anaconda' by Nicki Minaj, which shows a shot of the speaker 'Beats Pill'. This song went viral and gained millions of views, so that meant millions of people saw the product placement. Just like with Paramores brand deal, the audience would see the 'Pill' and either buy it because they are a fan of Nicki Minaj, or because they had never heard about it and this was advertising it.

Album

Another purpose of a music video is to help promote a band or artists album, this is usually done when a music video for a single off the album is released which then becomes popular, from that the artist will release the album and people who found the single good will listen to the rest of the album. An example of this is the band Bastille, their single called 'Pompeii' became a single, and the music video had over 100 million views, so once the band released their album 'All This Bad Blood' everyone who liked their single went on to listen and/or buy the album. 

A different way in which a music video can help promote an album is seen demonstrated by the band Fall Out Boy. Each music video for their songs from their album 'Save Rock and Roll' told a story, which was continued through to the next song, so in turn their whole album became a story. For example. their first song off the album 'My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark' says "Part 1 of 11" which then says "to be continued" at the end of the music video, so this means that the audience know that there is more to come and will stay interested until the whole album is released.

Increase Income

Music videos can also be helpful to increase income for a record company, an example of this is seen by Jay-Z's song 'Holy Grail'. Jay-Z owns the record label Roc Nation, which he released the album 'Magna Carter Holy Grail' so once the music video for the single was released, it received millions of views which in turn directly benefits Jay-Z since it is his record company.

Social Media

Many music artists use other media formats to promote themselves, such as social networking sites. Popular websites such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Instagram, can help by promoting them and their music because many people use those sites, and it allows them to reach a wider audience. For example, Twitter has over 232 million users so, by having a verified Twitter account, music artists gain thousands (if not millions) of followers, which they can then directly promote their music videos to. An example, of an artist that does this is Beyonce, having over 13 million followers, when she released her new album before it went anywhere in the media she instantly 'tweeted' about it which helped her directly promote her album.

Another example of this is demonstrated by a band called Bastille, who on their verified YouTube account constantly upload their new music videos, which directly goes to their followers so they get millions of views. Furthermore, they even help promote other artists by 'liking' less known artists' songs, which then their followers see and listen to, which helps the new artist gain a following.