Purposes of Music Videos

History

Music videos started with, and there is some debate about this, the 1964 hit track "House of the rising sun" by "The Animals". The promo was recorded in high quality colour in a studio built set with the band performing and lip syncing the song.



It was very simplistic, with the band just wandering around the set in chorographed moves with mostly longshots of the band and close ups of the singer.

However, the ones who actually started the music video revolution were The Beatles who produced many promos in the 60's to promote themselves over in America. When they released the colour promo for "Strawberry Fields Forever" it took promotional film to a whole new level and sky rocket'd them to fame in the US too.

From 1967 onwards the importance of Music videos grew, drawing more and more bands into the process of making and airing their own music videos. The main reason for this was that the only real platform on the TV which aired music was Top of the Pops which required bands to either perform live or lip sync in front of the audience. The pop promos enabled the band to produce just one video and have it aired numorous times anywhere in the world without the need for them to perform live.

Between the years of 1960 and 1980 music videos grew in popularity, being shown on TV channels across the world, with Top of the Pops leading the way in 70s with Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" being one of the first to be shown on the show. However, it wasn't until 1981 that they actually got a full channel all to themselves which would specialise in the showing of Music videos. And so MTV was born, creating a new platform for artists to play their music videos from. Although MTV only shows a limited selection of videos it is usually keeping in time with the bands that are popular at that time.

In recent years music videos have become the norm within the music industry with almost every band producing at least one in their lifetime. There are now many channels where music videos can be seen and with the recent invention of the internet and youtube it is now easier than ever to view music videos. Youtube has even become of base for artists to host their music videos before releasing them anywhere else. This is usually because of the unique way that Youtube can track views as well as allow the public to post comments and feedback on the videos.

Purpose

Music videos are a conceptual, narrative or performance based videos produced by a band for the main purpose of promoting the band and their image. They provide a base for the band and their talent to be shown to their fans without the need to arrange gigs/performances.

While the videos are primarily made for fans of the artist there are many videos that have been made with the intention of drawing more fans to the band, for example, Micheal Jackson's "Thriller" video, which became and overnight sensation and provided a medium to promote the track and the album which would then sell over 110,000,000 copies worldwide, making it the best selling album of all time.

Thriller Music Video

Using "Thriller" as an example we can see just how successful music videos can be in promoting the track as well as the artist in general. From just one run through of showing the video on MTV sales were boosted almost instantly. On a budget of $500,000 they were able to produce what is said to be one greatest music videos ever produced which turned over a $1,050,000 profit from selling rights alone and succeeded in boosting the track to the top of the charts in both the US and UK as well as bringing in unimaginable revenue from not only the track but subsequent songs and albums released afterwards.

Through the "Thriller" music video Micheal Jackson helped establish his image as well as display his phenomenal dancing talent. The music video was used to provide those who may not be able to see him at gigs or concerts with the ability to view his dancing and music talents as well as provide an overall entertaining narrative video which would be otherwise impossible to perform well on stage.

So as shown by looking at the "Thriller" sensation, music videos are a valuable medium for artists, well known or just starting out, to promote not only their music but also their own image and style. With the modern marvel that is the internet artists can now have their video displayed and made available to anyone with an internet connection thus providing an even wider audience which can subsequently be used to spread the video even further by word of mouth and so on.