Ben Turner BTEC Media: Purpose of music videos essay

Intro:

Music videos were introduced in the 1940s, when an invention was introduced into bars in USA, it combined an early jukebox and a screen that showed a completely unrelated clip of people dancing. This was later refined which lead to a stream of music films featuring artists such as Elvis and The Beatles. The purpose of this essay is to explain how music videos have developed and become more popular over the years and are now a daily sight in most people’s everyday lives.

I believe that music videos are a good way to promote the artists as it gives the audience a better picture as to what to expect from the artist, it gives them the opportunity to express themselves in a way that might not be possible without them. It also allows the artist(s) to show off other skills that they might have, such as dancing, producing, acting or directing. Artists such as Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson show off these skills in the production of their music videos. Having a music video also keeps the viewer engaged, having something to watch as well as listen to allows you to concentrate on the music rather than focusing on something else.

The Public image that is shown by the artist is identifiable within genre, most of the artists in the charts at this time are heavily reliant on their image, how they are perceived by the public is very important to their career. A lot of the ‘mainstream’ artists use their aesthetic appeal to help them sell records, this is shown through their music videos. This technique is mostly used with the female artists, they are shown wearing little or no clothes to attract the attention of the audience, luring them in and in turn deceiving them into buying the song or album. However, this is not the case with all artists, some of them have a different type of image that portrays the style of music in a different way which appeals to a different audience, such as a classic heavy metal band will appeal to a different audience using their music and image.

Artists income comes from the royalties made by the amount of records they sell and the amount of air time they have, a cut of this goes to the record label and producers and directors of their music videos. the more they sell, the more money they will make. This is why new platforms for people to view and stream music were created. Before things like computers and television, the only means of listening to music were radio and if you had enough money, buying vinyl and later cassettes. Now having more platforms on which they can broadcast, such as music television channels like ‘MTV’ and ‘SCUZZ’ they can get across to a wider audience.

Music videos are used to promote the artists and any products that they might be using, companies pay to get their product featured in popular artists videos as there is such a wide audience and it almost convinces the viewer to go out and buy the product, such as using an energy drink or a speaker like 'Beats'. being paid to feature products is a good source of income, if the artist is more popular, they can charge the company more than a less popular artist because they will have a wider spread of audience.

In conclusion, I think that music videos have become so popular over the years, especially since the 70s/80s because of music television shows, these have opened up a gateway to a sea of different styles of music videos for different genres. Especially since the progression of genres, such as Heavy Metal, Rap and Pop music have developed over the last few years, the styles of the videos have changed to engage a different audience. referring back to the start of my essay, how a lot of the women in the pop music industry are exploited to use sex in order to enable them to sell more music, where as different genres use different techniques to sell their music, such as showing themselves actually playing their instruments and throwing in guitar solos to impress the viewer.
People enjoy seeing their favorite artists in various exotic locations because it gives them something to look for in their own lives, such as film being a form of escapism, music is another form and adding an almost cinematic element to the music allows music to have the same effect on people as film. as some artists team up with famous directors and producers, some of the work that is created is a higher standard in recent years, allowing the industry to take off.