What is a music video?

A music video short film that plays at the same time as a song. A music 'promo' is a short, moving image product. Shot for the purpose of accompanying a pre-existing music track in order to boost sales of the music in another format. 

Musical shorts films made an appearance around 1920. From then music videos have became a lot bigger. In the 1980's, a channel called MTV appeared on TV and became best known for "Music Television". Nowadays since social media and many other platforms have became a lot bigger, we have our mobile phones to access music and music videos. Apps such as Spotify, Youtube and Soundcloud give access to music from artists all around the world. Spotify charges a fee if music is to be played with no ads, however Youtube and Soundcloud and many other apps are free. Their 3 main purposes are to promote their sales and album, entertaining their audience of who enjoys the genre. 

Producer Strategy

Controversy

By creating a more controversial music video. It will catch the audiences attention. This is because people will have opinions and thoughts based on the music video. By the music video having lots of opinions and thoughts, this gains attention to the video and begins to rise in fame as the views will begin to grow. An example of controversy is if the music video shows gun violence, racism or even a human being sexualised. 

Entertaining

An example of the entertaining strategy is that the video will gain views as the audience will enjoy the video so much, they will want to re-watch. This will explain why most music videos on YouTube have many views. An example is 'Despactio', this music video has over 7 billion views. 

Thought provoking

By creating a thought provoking music video will share awareness and gain support. An example of a thought provoking music video is Logic "1-800-273-8255". This song became very popular in a short amount of time due to what the music video was based on. The name of the song is a helpline for people who are in danger at home. The story is based on a young teenage boy who realises he is gay and his father kicks him out because of his sexuality.

Demographic

Finally, the last strategy would be to target their demographic audience. This gains the attention of their fans as it is very common. The music video 'Happy' shows a range of people dancing and spreading positivity. This video is best for showing their demographic audience. 

Independent- Independent labels get less revenue and a smaller budget so often, videos have to be more creative than flashy. The producer might only specialise in a certain genre. An example is the 'Artic Monkeys', their song 'I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor' is a low budget music video. 

Major- The best known major labels are Sony Records and Universal Music. These major labels earn the most revenue as their budget is so big. Because these labels are so big and worldwide, most popular artists such as Harry Styles have signed with them. Harry Styles' 'Golden' music video that has just been premiered less than 2 week ago on YouTube has become very successful reaching 44 million views. According to "Bad Blood Bank", the music video would have earned Harry well over £50,000.

Self Artist Centred- Self artist centred labels don't earn much revenue therefore the music videos are on a cheap budget as the artists cant afford a fancy set up. The artists are not well known so they wont be that bothered of their reputation. 

Extension of Income- User generated content is how money is made through music videos. YouTube is one of the biggest platforms for artists/bands to make money as there music videos get viewed thousands of times everyday. Another way money is made through product placement. Adverts will be made on a certain brand and will use an artist or a bands music. This promotes the brand item and the artists music.