Research Into The Music Video Industry

Production Process

The production process of music videos works differently for different artists, particularly if they are independent and produce their own videos.

With mainstream artists, there are usually a group of world class producers who have been in this industry for a long time. Once the song is chosen, this is followed by the treatment and then the concept for the video. After this comes things like locations and shoot scheduling.

For artists or bands that produce their own videos, the process is more often shorter due to ease and easy timings.

Purpose of Music Videos for the Artist

-Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device to promote the sale of music recordings.

-For the artist, this is good as they can generate money both for themselves and also to feed back to the company who produced their video.

-Some artists take the “Do it yourself approach’’ to recording and publishing, which means their videos may not be as extravagant as the more mainstream artist’s videos, they are cheaper to produce and keep costs down.

This is arguably the primary purpose of music videos, especially with regards to the artist, as it allows recognition and promotion of their music, generating fans and people who want to purchase their music.

Other Purposes

• Evoke a reaction• To entertain• Create a memorable visual for the song• To give the listener a better idea of the

song/meaning behind it

Music DirectorsColin Tilley

The music directors are a huge part in the creation of music videos, as usually without them an effective, engaging video cannot be created. They also help the artists get recognition through their already established reputation.

Hype Williams

As well as being a film director, Hype Williams has created and directed a number of successful, grossing music videos such as ‘All of the Lights’- Kanye West, ‘Viva La Vida’- Coldplay and ‘Va Va Voom’- Nicki Minaj. He has received a number of awards for his work in music videos, for example the Billboard Music Video award for Best Director. His success is arguably down to reputation and working alongside big artists, however also the quality of the work he produces.

Being another successful music video director, creating videos for artists like Justin Bieber, Justin Timberlake, Lil Wayne, Jason Derulo, Plan B and Usher. His most noticeable collaboration is with Chris Brown, with whom he has produced 19 video projects.

Music video directors are important to the artist and video, as they instruct the musical act, technical crew, actors, models and dancers.

Money Money and budget is a huge factor when discussing the music video industry, as a lot of the production and sales are based around these. The average spending on a music video is between £60,000 and £150,000 for an average video, and slightly less if the video is simpler. Many would say that with developing technologies it is now possible to create a music video quickly in under £10,000.

Usually, the most memorable music videos are the most expensive. An example of a very expensive music video is Thirty Seconds To Mars’ ‘From Yesterday’ which was around £13 million. It was shot in China and features more than 300 extras.

A lot of the time, performance based music videos are the most cost efficient as they can be as simple as shots of the band/artist the whole way through. In contrast to this, concept/narrative based videos can be the opposite, as more money is required to deliver a stronger message/story to the audience.

An example of a music video that has been cheap to make is Colplay’s ‘Yellow’ which features the lead singer walking across a beach singing to the camera through the whole song. Whilst simple, many believe this video to be very successful

Audience

Thanks to the ever changing nature of technology, there are now plenty of different ways that music can be accessed and enjoyed by an audience.

-ITunes-Music sites such as YouTube-DVDs-TV (Music channels)-Internet-Websites of the artist/band-Radio sites

Due to the diversity of these options, music videos are becoming more and more accessible to anybody of any age.

The purpose of a music for an audience is mainly enjoyment and entertainment, especially if the video is original/interesting/different to others that are around at the moment.However even if the video is not interesting or to an individuals taste, many use music videos as a way to show loyalty or ‘sticking by’ their favourite artist.

On sites such as YouTube, the audience is able to ‘like’ or ‘dislike’ a video, which is a way of showing either appreciation or dislike to a video, which again can show their opinions. It also shows the number of views the video has had, which can be a symbol of its popularity.