Purpose of Music Videos (Individual)

To Sell the Song

The purpose of music videos is to sell the track entertain the audience using hyper-reality or through storytelling in order to make the music video memorable to the audience and promote the artists and their brands. The main method used to promote a music video nowadays is viral videos. Viral videos are videos used to grab everyone's attention while the music is just a meagre soundtrack. Example of a viral video would be Mr C The Slide Man's Cha Cha Slide.

Promotional for the artist

Promotion of the artist is key in a music video for the future success of both record label and the artist who will gain fame and create an image for the artist. Artist can be promoted through YouTube, twitter, and other social media for the purpose of free advertising. Given the proliferation of hardware, majors could use 360 degree marketing which involves the use of ALL marketing techniques to cater to the biggest audience possible and make a huge amount of income. In this music video record labels promote the artist by using a huge amount of close-ups




Exposure of the Artist

Exposure for artists is vital in music videos because the audience likes seeing the performing artists. The image of the artist however is hidden in the hyper reality of the music video to make the audience think that the artist is who he or she is portrayed to be in the music video for the purpose of increasing revenue.



To invoke a reaction from the audience

Music videos were produced to get reactions from their audience. If the visuals aren't as good as the track, then it will not sell to the targeted audience. Some artists such as Beyoncé, Lady gaga, and Rihanna are under the impression that sex sells, therefore they use voyeurism in their music videos to cater to the male audience for the purpose of male gaze.

To give the audience a better understanding of the song

Most music videos are thematic or conceptual and some have a narrative which gives the audience an understanding of what is going on in the hyper reality. For these kind of videos to sell, it has to make sense and the visuals have to appeal more to the audience. An example music video would be Kavinsky's Odd Look because it has a simple narrative that the audience can easily follow e.g. girl gets harassed by a bunch of men which are the antagonists, the protagonist  comes in and confronts the villain, the hero saves the girl and takes her for a ride in his car.

This video uses both synergy and product placement.

Synergy

Synergy involves the use of different product and different platforms in order to sell the music video to the audience, thus increasing revenue for both the record label and the company. Like product placement, it is designed to sell the products of the individual companies as well as promote them. Promotion of an artists music or album is hugely important for the success of that product so the music video becomes memorable and sells to the audience.

Product Placement

Product Placement is used in almost all entertainment outlets as a way to increase revenue. Product placement involves the product produced from an individual company being used by the artist to promote the brand as well as the artist. Utilising product placement with extremely popular artists will make the brand more known to the targeted audience. Product placement is seen in music videos, films, magazines, and on television but predominantly music videos.

Promotion of Music and Album

In this example, this is a performance based music video from the album called Toxicity. The purpose of a performance based music video is to give the impression that this is a live performance and they are selling tickets to go see them perform live. These music videos act as an advert for the live show because people stopped paying for music therefore music is devalued.



Promotion of film

Artists will often write songs specifically for a film. The music videos for these songs often feature a narrative set like a short film or use backdrops which set the theme of the film. For instance, a song called 'Rule the world' by the band Take That was used in a film called Stardust. Therefore, this music video will make the audience remember this film and they will eventually watch the film.







Promote Festivals

Music videos are often used to promote other music related products. In the last decade, festivals and tours have become more important because the artist can go on tours and people would pay to see them perform and to get their name across to the market. Social media can be used to share upcoming events to friends and families and widen the audience. For example, The gig for the band Black Sabbath was advertised by social media and in public so that it gets the public eye of their fans so that they can buy tickets to see them perform live.

Generate new market for record company

Record companies such as Sony music group and Warner Bros will use music videos as an extension of income for the song. They do this by making the music video accessible to many different outlets as possible in order to sell the artist's image through videos and increase revenue through monetisation. Outlets such as YouTube, spotify, and tidal. are what majors use to increase their income. However, music is devalued because people stopped paying for music and started downloading songs from YouTube. This only has a minor effect on majors but a huge effect  on indies because the audience wouldn't pay for music when they get it for free. Like this music which is part of the soundtrack for the movie Iron man.

Image

An artist will often sell an image or look to the audience. A false image of the artist which portrays an abstract lifestyle and inspires the audience by giving them a role model. As a result of this, her sales increased and the song became hugely successful. For example in this music video, Eminem's has a godlike image the record label is trying to sell to the audience so that the targeted audience looks up to him as a role model.