Producers Strategies

Producers had many strategies to promoting an artist's or band music. In the 70's there was Top of the Pops which saw many artists singing live to and audience and allowed people at home to hear the new song. However if bands or artists were away on tour then their music video would replace the band singing live, still allowing the record company to promote the new single to a wide audience.

In the 1980's there was the launch of MTV and the different individual music channels which focused on different genres of music. These allowed bands and artists to promote their new single with a new music video and also allowed them to get their music out to a wide audience.

In the 1990's and 2000's the internet was being used more and more to help promote music videos. Bands would upload their videos to social networking sites such as Myspace and Facebook and would also upload them onto YouTube where they know a large amount of their fan base checks and updates regularly. Interactive music videos are also being used more and more as the bands and artists can get closer to their fans and the fans feel more included in the music, making them want to continue to listen and buy the albums. You can also now buy tracks and watch videos online by just clicking a link. Websites such as YouTube can now connect with music distributors such as iTunes and Amazon to allow consumers to buy the music quickly and easily.

Extension of income/power

There are different categories that this subject comes under. The first one is:

Economic Power - This is the earning generated by the artists material such as CD's, downloads and merchandise.

Artist Power - This is how the artist has control over their image. A prime example of this is Lady Gaga who has complete control over what she looks like and how she dresses, no matter how controversial it might seem. Another example of this is the Arctic Monkeys who manage themselves and so can establish whatever look they want.

Ideologic Power - This is how the artist influences the audience. This includes fashion and political images. Lady Gaga is another example of this, wearing what's known as the 'meat dress' to an awards ceremony. Another example is Bono from U2. He is known for have an influence on political and religious issues across the world.

Promotion

Record companies have many ways to promote a new album or single. Artists such as Lady Gaga and Beyonce gave whats known as a star vehicle, where they've managed to make themselves a brand, for example Beyonce has appeared in films which Lady Gaga has launched her own brand of headphones.

Another way that record companies promote their new material is through the internet. Unsigned bands rely on this especially because they know that theres a huge amount of people that use the internet and that they can get their music across to a lot more people than just playing some local gigs. They use websites such as Myspace and YouTube and also use social networking sites such as Facebook to keep in contact with fans. You can also buy a band or artist's song or album by just clicking a link on a website now, which makes access to music much easier and quicker.

More mainstream bands also have Television, Radio and Magazines to help promote their new material. A band or artist could go on a popular chat show and play a new single at the end. They can appear in a magazine and have a feature interview in that particular issue and they can also do a radio interview at some of the busiest times when people are listening, for example, during the morning rush hour.

Extension of Outlets

In the early days of music video, many were seen to be experimental and were a series of images which went along with the music. Music video was also shown through The Soundies during the 1940's which were an early version of a jukebox displaying music videos. These were usually found around the places where young people hang out such as cafes. They displayed 3 minute films which covered music from all genres. There was also a more modern version of The Soundies called the Scopitone. These started to appear in the 1960's and played 16mm film. It was here when the first recognisable music video was made by The Beatles.

During the 1970's record companies started to use television to help promote bands singles and albums. It was shows such as Top of the Pops which pioneered the way music videos are viewed today. In the 1980's there were also whole television channels being devoted to showing music videos. MTV was the first example of this and this triggered a completely different way of releasing new singles and albums for artists. Artists and bands started to take promotion of there material seriously and used MTV as a way to promote their videos. It also became cheaper to produce music videos as they were recorded on videos rather than film.

The 1990's had the most amount of money ploughed into music videos. However this also saw the start of unprofessional music videos which were being uploaded onto websites such as Myspace and YouTube.

Closer To The Edge - 30 Seconds To Mars

Music Video Questions

1. What similarities do you observe in the videos you have looked at?

Both the videos do have some similarities between each other. One being that both videos relate back to the band. They also both follow some sort of narrative, McFly's being that they want to find a girl and 30 Seconds To Mars being about global warming, showing images of Greenland and the band playing on top of an iceberg.

2. How is your chosen genre different from one another?

McFly is a pop band whereas 30 Seconds To Mars are a rock band. Even though McFly have a pop-rock feel about them 30 Seconds To Mars are a lot heavier. I would say that McFly's music video comes under the Illustration genre. It follows a story and the lyrics relate to the images being shown. 30 Seconds To Mars would come under the Amplification genre. Angakok Panipaq is one of the names Jared Leto (lead singer of the band) uses while directing his music videos, the most of which are short films or documentaries. This particular video is a short documentary, the extended version can be found on youtube. A Beautiful Lie is about Global warming however there are a number of hidden messages throughout the video supporting a website called www.abeautifullie.org.

3. Can you define in your own words the audience type for this genre?

The audience for McFly's video would be young teenage girls. This is because this is who the pop rock music genre is centred around. 30 Seconds To Mars would be aimed at the older teenagers right up into middle-aged adults.

A Beautiful Lie - 30 Seconds to Mars