Media Assignment - Purpose
By George Gillard
1.
People tend to watch/consume music videos via YouTube nowadays because its audience is so large from all of the different types of videos that it has to offer and this is very convenient for its target audience so it us used a lot and by many people, 1.5 billion people a month. This platform is the biggest for what it has to offer. It is made to make life for its audience easy when they are using it and they can find virtually any video they want from it. Before YouTube became what it is today, platforms such as MTV and music channels on TV would have been the most popular way to watch music videos. They were popular because you would have someone talking between tracks about music and the tracks that where coming up and there would be chart shows on to show the most popular videos and songs around.
2.
Music videos have increased the income for record labels because they attract an audience of those who see the video. The audience will know what label the video is from because there is sometimes a small logo/name of the label in the corner of the video and in the description of the video on platforms such as YouTube. An example of an artist who owns their own label is Martin Garrix and his label is called STMPD records. The record label has consists of artist that have worked with Martin and they are Justin Milo, Brooks, Mesto and many more. The benefits of this is that he has more freedom with who he signs and what he releases. If his label is successful then he could potentially make a lot of money from it too which is a very big benefit.
3.
a) Music videos are used to promote a particular song and they do this by using different styles of video that could work well with the genre of the actual music. Examples of the styles are animation, live performance/in concert,surrealist and narrative. Some popular music videos are promoted on platforms such as YouTube and MTV and will come up on your screen and the and the audience will click on it to see what it is and the track will play along with the video so this is an example of music videos promoting a particular song. Martin Garrix’s latest release ‘Dreamer’ with busker Mike Young is an example of a narrative music video.
b) Marshmello's music videos all promote his albums and we know this because he is featured in all of his music videos and we see his distinctive mask and the face on the mask is all over his album work on all of the music that he releases. So his masks features in his music videos promoting him as an artist because just by looking at the mask, you instantly know who it is. Other examples of artists who use the same technique are Deadmouse, Dangermouse, Daft Punk and SBTRKT. All of these artists have hidden identities while on stage but some of them use the mask to hide their identities even when they are off stage so they feel that they can live a bit more of a normal life without being recognised with their mask off. Marshmello is never seen without his mask on and only family, friends and people who work close with him know who he is and this really adds a sense of mystery to the artist and this can entice their audience.
c) Marshmello started his career making music for the pre teen/teen audience as his music was quite relevant to games and young gamers as it had a fun animated feel to the music. An example of this would be his track ‘Alone’ which he released in 2016. He then changes things up to produce more commercial tracks that would work well for radio around the world. His first big radio hit was 'Silence' that he released with new talent Khaled who has gone on to achieve great things because of this track. This track went to number 1 all around the world and could still be one of his most successful tracks to date. He then went on to release massive radio hits with artists such as Selena Gomez, Anne Marie and his latest partnership Bastille. As well as releasing radio tracks, Marshmello has been producing massive club tracks which reaches out to another genre of audience which shows he is artistic with his music and he has recently been named the 10th biggest DJ in the world which is a massive achievement for an artist who was properly recognised from his first radio hit 'Silence' which was release in August 2017.
d) An example of synergy with another media text is the music at the beginning of James Bond films. There is always an opening sequence to the James Bond films and the film provides the music video for the song. For example, Adele's Skyfall was the official song for the Bond film Skyfall and within that video you see all of the credits for the film and all the important names. Also in the background there is usually something going on with what happened in the clip of the film before, but it is all animated and animated guns and mysterious women are added to create the sense that he is a dangerous man yet he gets all the women telling us that he is also a ladies man.
