The purpose of a music videoQueen's Bohemian Rhapsody (1975) is generally regarded as the first music video.There are older films of groups/people performing, but they were not made for the same purpose. When the song was released in the UK in 1975 the band were on tour and couldn't make it to Top of The Pops each week when it reached No.1. No one imagined the record would be so successful at nearly 9 minutes long it was considered un-radio-friendly, and they recorded the video to be played in their absence. At the time it was revolutionary and people couldn't get enough of it.

A music video combines audio with visuals. Videos are produced for promotional and artistic purposes. Music videos are generally used as a marketing method in order to boost sales of a song. The four main types of music video are: Performance, Narrative, Homage and Surrealism. Performance entails the artist / band performing the song within the music video. Music videos that follow a narrative are usually most popular as the visuals and audio interlink in order to portray a story. A homage uses similar codes, conventions and techniques in order to respectfully copy a popular song in honour of the artist / creator of the media text. A surrealist music video contains elements of Performance, Narrative and Homage; these music videos use a wide variety of effects in order to make the music video memorable.

A music video is used to promote an artists and a record label. The music video will be used to help gain exposure for both the song and the recording artist themselves. When a video is published onto YouTube is becomes monetised. “Monetisation means that you authorize the presence of advertisements on their video, and YouTube charges advertisers for these and shares the fees with you, allowing you to make some money from people viewing their music video”1. This will then allow both the artist and the record label to get a percentage of the money. A music video will also increase the sales of the song therefore this will gain exposure for the artist and make more money for the record label.

One music video that has increased the sales of a particular song is Gagman Style. “Gangman Style is now the most watched video on YouTube with over a billion and a half views. Proving a silly dance, a catchy song and a great sense of humour are perhaps all it takes to become a global sensation”.2 This proves that a songs music video can be very influence when it comes to the popularity song. “ The song itself topped the charts in over 30 countries with political leaders and celebrities around the world have attempted to copy the iconic dance moves”.3

The most expensive music video made to date is the lead single from Michael Jackson's ninth album scream. The song was a duet with his sister Janet Jackson. The song was released on May 31,1995. The music video remains one of his most critically acclaimed as it went on to win a Grammy Award and numerous American Music Awards. At a cost of $7 million, it was listed in the Guinness World Records as the most expensive music video ever made.

1 https://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/monetization-on-youtube/4RYbt1sqKY4 2

Media Magazine, Issue 45, Page 50 3

Media Magazine, Issue 45, Page 50

Where they are used and why?

As part of our primary research we wanted to find out what is the most used technological device to watch music videos on. The question we asked was “what devices do you use to watch music videos?”. As our results show a mobile phone is the most used piece of technology in order to access music videos. This result didn’t really come as a surprise to us as nowadays everyone has a smart phone either android or apple where you can install the YouTube app and access music videos easily. The mobile phone was followed by the TV option which surprised us the most as before obtaining our primary research we believed that the TV option wouldn’t have been as popular as it was. We felt like with all the technology around at the moment it is more convenient to use our other options rather than having to sit through all the unnecessary adverts in order to watch a specific music video. A computer was the third most common method of watching music videos which we knew it would be a popular chose due to the convenience of YouTube and Apple music both easily accessible online. A result which we thought would have done better than it actually did was a tablet. We believed that a tablet would be easier to access music videos on rather than a TV or computer as people carry them around all the time, but then after we sat down and spoke about our results we thought that people wouldn’t want to use a tablet in public like they do a mobile phone due to the inconvenience of carrying it about.

I believe all of these platforms are used in order to watch music videos due to the convenience that each of them present, some being more convenient than others as they are portable devices which can easily accessible on the go. Some individuals still enjoy putting the music channel on while they complete either chores or work around the home.Music videos are being used in this way due to the internet connecting an individual and their favourite artists. Social media can now be accessed on TV’s, computers, mobile phones and tablets. This means that if an artist publishes a new music video they will post a link on either their Facebook or Twitter making the music video easily accessible to their millions of followers on social media.

Viewing figures

Image taken from Wikipedia4

The current most popular music video on YouTube is Gangnam Style by Psy. The video has been watched over 2.5 billion times. The video became so popular around the world due to the dance that is associated with it. The dance was copied by mainly celebrities and political leaders and posted onto social media sites which helped gain awareness for the song.

Viewing Figures from MTV in January 2004 (12th-18th)

Viewing Figures for MTV in January 2016 (11th-17th)

In January 2004 MTV had an average daily reach of 2.80% compared to January 2016 the average daily reach is 0.87%. This shows us that the average daily reach has dropped 1.93%. In January 2004 MTV had a weekly reach of 11.60% compared to the weekly reach in January 2016 where the weekly reach is 4.30%. This shows us that the weekly reach has dropped 7.30% in the past 12 years. I believe the main reason for the drop is views over the past 12 years is YouTube. Individuals want to access their favourite artist’s music videos quickly and easily using their mobile phones where the YouTube app can be downloaded. MTV doesn’t provide this anymore as continuous ad breaks and changing their focus to reality shows has seen a huge dip in their viewings over the past 12 years.

4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_viewed_YouTube_videos

Using BARB, I have looked at 4Music’s top 10 most viewed shows (form the week commencing 17th Jan 2016). This shows me that only two shows from the top 10 feature music videos, these two shows are ‘The UK music video chart’ and ’11 vids we’re loving right now’. All of the other shows are reality shows. The UK music video chart received 68,000 views over a seven-day period whereas 11 vids we’re loving right now only received 64,000 views of the seven-day period.

Using Vidstatsx, I looked at the most views music video channels of a seven-day period. This time six out of the ten channels were music video channels. When I compared these viewing figures with 4Music you can see that YouTube is a leading platform accessing music videos. The six channels viewing figures ranged from Spinnin’ Records (which had the lowest viewing figures of the seven-day period) with 53,286,208 views to Justin Bieber’s VEVO channel which received 162,242,873 (which had the highest viewing figures of the seven-day period) views over the time period. This reiterates the fact that YouTube is the leading platform for watching music videos due to the easily accessibility of the website. Individuals don’t want to sit through ad breaks in order to watch music videos they want to be able to find their favourite artists channels and watch them quickly and easily.

I believe that MTV as a channel isn’t relevant within the present day. Since changing its focus from providing new music to reality shows it has seen a huge decline within its viewing over the past 12 years. Platforms such as YouTube, Apple Music and SoundCloud allows consumers to search their favourites artists / bands and listen to their songs or watch the music videos for these songs. The accessibility of the internet has taken a huge toll on the viewing figures of MTV as everyone can stay connected much easier through social media making it a lot easier to share links to new music videos / tracks.

Fake YouTube views are views that the owner of the video can buy to add more publicity to their video and make it more popular. Buying fakes views can impact a record label, an artist and the public. If a record label buys fake views for an artist’s video in order to gain more fans and more money from the video being monetised and they get caught it will have a damaging effect on both parties. For one the video will lose all the bought views on the music video and be forced to buy back the money they have earned from those views. Both the record label and the artists will lose reputation and creditability as they will be seen an untrustworthy. Not only that but the artist will lose fans / public support which in a worst case scenario have a knock on effect on tours and other live events.

YouTube is a viable way for bands / artists to earn money but it is dependent on two factors how many views the video receives and “what type of advertisement is shown on/before the video. For banner ads that run during the video, you make on average $0.80 per 1000 views ($0.0008 per view). For video advertisements played before the video, you make on average $5-$8 per 1000 views ($0.005-$0.008 per view)”.5 If an artist is receiving over a million views on each video which is published to their channel then it is a viable way in order to earn money.

YouTube per view / per song provides the artist with a greater income than them selling an individual song on a digital download service such as iTunes. “In the popular digital realm, a $9.99 album download (consisting of 10 songs) on a platform like iTunes nets artists a modest 94 cents - less than a 10% cut. The record company takes $5.35 and Apple keeps the remaining $3.70. Artists get nine cents for each individual song downloaded on iTunes”6. This shows us that from an individual song download on iTunes an artist would receive $0.09 compared to $0.80 from each YouTube view.

5 https://www.quora.com/How-much-does-YouTube-pay-partners-for-their-content 6 http://www.investinganswers.com/personal-finance/rich-famous/who-really-profits-your-itunes-downloads-3818

Our primary research has reiterated the fact that YouTube is the leading platform for accessing music videos. 12 out of the 20 people we asked during our research said that they used YouTube to watch music videos. As the table above shows YouTube leads the way over our other four options by some distance. When we asked our why they preferred YouTube over anything else their responses were; “smaller adverts compared to TV” and “quick and easy access”. These responses provide us with evidence that YouTube provides consumers with a way in which they can access their favourite artist’s music video quickly without the hassle of advertisements that TV and other platforms present making it the best way to access music videos.

How are bands promoted?“A major label is a label that commands a high percentage of the annual sales of records, and has their own distribution system”7. The four biggest main record labels are considered Warner Music, Sony/BMG, Universal, and EMI. A major record label can really benefit an artist when it comes promotion of their music. A major label will have the money to provide huge promotional campaigns for the artist’s music in order to gain more awareness therefore making them more money.

“An independent record label or indie record label is a record label that operates without the funding of or outside major record labels. Many bands and musical acts begin their careers on independent labels”.8 An independent record label is usually set up as an imprint of a major label. These smaller ‘independent’ labels are usually owned by international artists that want to help find and nurture new up and coming musical talent.

A major record label will have significantly more income than an independent label as it will benefit from album sales of the artists on its roster. The major record label will also be able to provide a substantially bigger promotional campaign for the artist’s new music as they will want to gain as much awareness as possible in order to generate more sales revenue. Whereas the independent label will usually rely on word of mouth promotion and an online hype in order to gain awareness for their artist’s new music.

A self promoted artist is when an artist has no kind of record label in order to support them or fund promotional campaigns. They find themselves performing many gigs in all types of venues. This will help the artist gain more awareness and recognition for their work which could gain them a record label to sign onto.

SynergySynergy is the mutual benefit of two media products, so the people working on either side benefit from the overall product. One example would be “Skyfall” by Adele, which was the soundtrack for the James bond film. The film promotes the video, and the video promotes the film.9

7 http://www.musicbizacademy.com/knab/articles/recorddeal.htm 8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_record_label 9 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synergy