The Purpose Of Music Videos

Music videos first emerged during 1941 when the introduction of the jukebox combined short videos with the music playing. This will later evolve into a mainstream entertainment method that will bring millions of views thanks to the internet and certain music television shows such as MTV. This essay will go into the purpose of music videos, what makes them popular and the main reason for making them in the first place. I will also be going into the business behind music videos such as the promotion of artists, songs E.T.C and go through the extending artists and record company’s income.  

Some bands will promote themselves in their songs. This can be done a number of ways but a common one is to have the name of their band placed somewhere bold and viable within the video the catch the eye of viewers. The Hives "Hate To Say I Told You So" had their band name placed on the  drummers bass drum and can be seen throughout the video as the band plays. Weezer also use the same method but instead of using their name they use the bands logo. The directors can also be promoted through music videos. Michel Gondry was promoted in The White Stripe's "Fell In Love With A Girl" as the video was created using stop-motion Lego animation which is style of animation that Gondry uses a lot.   

Producers will have different methods for promoting their artist differently. Very popular and influential artists such as Kanye West or Ed Sheeran have lots of publicity behind them and will be made to look good all the time with a clean and well managed image that will be reflected in their music videos. Katy Perry's Swish Swish is a good example as she is known very well and has extremely strong publicity due to her work in charity. In the music video she is the main focus throughout overcoming the challenge she faces in the video which makes her look strong and confident to viewers. People like Katy Perry, Kanye West E.T.C will be found on mainstream websites and television such as MTV, BBC Radio E.T.C. Interdependent bands or artists might not have the finance to back a large production so they will have their music videos paid by their interdependent record labels. Dance Gavin Dance is a band which goes through their record label. One of their songs "We Own The Night" has no special effects or expensive locations and only consists of the band playing and a car inside a warehouse style building. Interdependent bands or artists can be found of their record labels websites and IndiMusicTV.

Bands/Artists and record companies gain their income form royalties or payment in exchange for the use of their product. How this is achieved is by having the record companies create an estimate based upon how popular the track is or or how well the single is selling. This means like someone like Ed Sheeran With his new song  "Shape Of You" which has over 1.5 billion listeners on Spotify his overall payment will be extremely high. This works well with radio and television also as knowing how many people listen to his song will allow them to know that he is very popular and in turn they will begin to play his song more frequently. This means that mainstream artists will gain large amounts of royalties due to this which can drown out more interdependent artists as they are obviously less known due to companies wanted more mainstream music to attract more people.