Functions of music videos

Today we started looking at the functions of music videos, of which the major overarching function is to promote artists. 

The main functions of a music video include:

• To promote the artist
• To raise the artist's profile
• To create a fanbase
• To increase sales
• To clarify the meaning of a song, or to add alternative meaning
• To create an image and persona for the artist
• To strengthen the connection with existing fans
• To expand the artist's media platforms
• To create a platform for synergy
• To confirm the genre (or create a new type of genre)

Music videos can promote artists by creating hype. Many artists vastly increase their fan base through music videos going viral. Many of OK Go's original music videos have gone viral on YouTube, with their 2012 video for 'Needing/Getting' racking up over 25 million views on YouTube. Recently the mass international success of PSY's song 'Gangnam Style' was driven by the incredibly popular music video which led to the Gangnam Style dance move craze. 

OK Go- Here It Goes Again

OK Go - Needing/Getting

PSY - Gangnam Style

Music videos can also serve to clarify the meaning of the song, or even develop the meaning of the song, sometimes in what seem to be the unlikeliest of videos. Even 'Gangnam Style', a comical viral music video, has a deeper meaning. The music video may be fun but it is also a satirical comment on the Gangnam area, and how people outside of the neighbourhood want to belong to it. The lyrics, although meaningless to the English-speaking population among which the song has become so popular, represent a 'subversive message about class and wealth in contemporary South Korean society'. The deeper meaning behind the lyrics of PSY's gangnam style is addressed in this article, and the message is reflected through the music video. PSY plays a 'clownish caricature of a Gangnam man', and in many of the scenes he appears to be a rich man in a posh area, when the reality is far from it. For example, at the beginning viewers might presume from the sand and the props closest to him that he is on the beach, but really he is in a children's playground. 

Some more obvious examples of videos that clarify the meaning of a song include many of Ed Sheeran's videos such as for 'The A Team'. His video for 'Give Me Love' fits the theme of the lyrics but creates a story beyond this, with the main character appearing to take on the mythical role of cupid. This makes the video more interesting than the lyrics alone. The music video for 'Time' by Chase and Status featuring Delilah depicts a story and theme that is not really contained in the lyrics, so adds a whole new dimension to the song. They have also linked the music video, which centres around domestic abuse, to the charity Refuge which is an anti-domestic violence charity for women and children. Videos like this can serve a bigger purpose, to educate or make a moral point. Another example of a music video that does this is the video for 'Same Love' by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, which fights for marriage equality. 

Ed Sheeran - The A Team

Ed Sheeran - Give Me Love

Chase and Status - Time

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis ft. Mary Lambert - Same Love

Music videos also provide us with messages about the artist, creating their persona through the music video. This will in turn help to promote the artist. Lady Gaga's performance videos such as 'Poker Face' represent her edgy side, with her wearing very memorable and dramatic clothing. Artists are also often filmed in exotic or expensive locations, such as the massive mansion and pool setting in 'Poker Face'. This represents them as having a very glamorous lifestyle, leading the audience to admire them and be interested in this glamorous, rich image. Some narrative videos may place the artist in positive roles to send a certain message to the audience. In the video for 'The A Team', Ed Sheeran only appears briefly but it is as the only person who stops and talks to our protagonist, who the audience sympathise with. This clearly paints him in a positive light and helps form his persona, even without him being a major character in the narrative or there being lots of performance shots of him.

Lady Gaga - Poker Face

Ed Sheeran - The A Team

By appearing in their music videos, artists also strengthen their connection with existing fans. For example, Ed Sheeran's fans might be excited to spot his appearances as an extra-style character in 'The A Team'. One Direction's music videos such as 'What Makes You Beautiful' keep their younger fans interested and excited by including plenty of shots of the band members laughing, having fun, frolicking on the beach, and employing plenty of close up shots so the young fans can admire their faces obsessively. Almost all fans want this sense of interaction with their favourite artists, they enjoy seeing these artists performing and showing off their personality through music videos. So music videos also serve a purpose for the existing fans, strengthening that bond between artist and audience so that the fanbase is regularly reminded about the artist and feels they can consume the artist's products both visually as well as aurally.

One Direction - What Makes You Beautiful

Uses of synergy are frequent in music videos, especially in music videos of songs which have been used in films such as Paramore's 'Decode' from the film 'Twilight'. Product placement can also be useful to music video producers as it can generate quite a lot of money for little trouble. I will be exploring the use of synergy in music videos further later on, as it is a large and important topic.

Paramore - Decode

The style of music videos tends to vary between genres because they are trying to appeal to different audiences. So music videos can confirm the genre, or even create a new genre, as with RUN-DMC's cover of Aerosmith's Walk This Way, which introduced the new sub-genre of rap rock. This was a groundbreaking song and the music video expresses the idea of their genres mixing. Therefore music videos can confirm the genre of a song, or help to introduce a new genre.

RUN-DMC ft. Aerosmith - Walk This Way