What I Have Learnt From My Research

I have learnt many things from my research, such as the codes and conventions of a music video, which help to create an effective music promo.

- There are different 'codes and conventions' that need to be followed depending on what type of music promo is being made; concept//performance//narrative.

- Many of the music promos made for the genre, alternative rock//pop-punk//pop-rock//rock are concept videos, allowing a creative video to come from certain lyrics within the track instead of following a narrative.

- Mise en Scene plays a big part for making music promos as costume, make up and props//lighting//location all help to create a music video and to tell a story to the audience.

YouTube is 'not paying enough' to British musicians

A Newsbeat music reporter has written an article about how YouTube has not being paying British musicians enough.
This has shown how music videos are not just promotional videos but also a product in themselves as so much revenue is made from these videos than before.

The music industry is changing and evolving with the new media, such as YouTube and the way that young people watch and receive music. Music is most widely seen and heard via the internet, YouTube being the biggest supplier as artists release their music on the streaming website either as just audio tracks, lyric videos or music promos. 
However with the evolution of how we access music, music videos are no longer just promotional videos they bring in huge amounts of revenue for artists, as their videos get more views the more money an artist is payed.

YouTube is such an accessible platform that it is not only already established artists using the site to share their music but up and coming unsigned artists.


BBC Newsbeat Article

Synaesthesia

Synaesthesia

The production of a sense impression relating to one sense or part of the body by stimulation of another sense or part of the body.

Synaesthesia within music is understanding the pace and beat of a song, to help understand this a synaesthesia graph can be made. It shows how the beat, pace and music in general affect the body and how it can make you feel.

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Website Homepage Anaylsis

Most band website homepage all follow a similar layout, which promotes the band. This is done by having various links to social media and where to follow them at the top of a page so a viewer can instantly follow the band. There are also links to their stores, tours and sign up pages so that a viewer can get alerts of anything new happening with the band.
As a viewer scrolls down there will often be their latest music video available to watch and other related news about the band and what they have been up to.

By using this type of layout, it grants easy access to everything for the viewer which in turn keeps the viewer interested as they are not struggling around the page to find what they are looking for. The band is also being heavily promoted in several ways along with also promoting the record label, which can lead to a viewer discovering other bands under the same record label.

Narrative/Concept/Performance

There are three main types of music videos; Concept, Narrative and Performance. Each type creates a different feel to a music promo, but they can be mixed together to create a more diverse music promo.

Narrative videos often follow a storyline that has been suggested in or by certain lyrics of the song. The story can be told in different ways, such as a link to the story or like a short film with a beginning, middle and end.
If a song is promoting a film clips from that film may be used to create a story.
An example of a narrative music promo could be, Glass Animals - Life Itself

Concept videos are generally based around an idea/concept which may be obscure and unusual to the audience. Audiences can be attracted to a concept video due to its unusual nature, and audiences are given more freedom in determining what the video means to them, making the video more personal.
If a concept video is successful it will keep an audience looking out for new things that they had previously missed.
There are different ways a concept video can be created, it can have a theme or have symbolism. A concept video needs something to build on so a theme or symbolism that can be recreated throughout the video is used, for example a thematic video for a rap song may have reoccurring shots of streets.
An example of a concept music video is, OK Go - Upside Down & Inside Out

Performance videos are made up of clips of the band or artist performing the song, from the clips of the perforce a music video can be put together and created.
Performance videos tend to include lots of close ups of either the artist or a band (the lead vocalist more commonly). The performances by the artists can be set almost anywhere, making the videos more intriguing for an audience. There may be particular motifs such as an artist or bands style which will be followed, this may depend on a record label, the genre of music or on other previous performance videos.
Performance videos are almost always lip-synced, showing good editing skills.
An example of a performance music promo may be, Panic! At The Disco - Death Of A Bachelor

However these different types of videos can be mixed together, most commonly is performance and narrative. This would show the artist performing the song whilst have snippets of a narrative story played in-between the performance clips. This can make a music promo more interesting as there are more elements in one video, meaning an audience member may go back and watch the video again.
Shane Harte's music promo for Left Standing is an example of the mix of performance and narrative.

Andrew Goodwin's Theory

After researching I have looked at Andrew Goodwin's theory from Andrew Goodwin, Dancing In The Distraction Factory 1992, in relation to music videos. There a key conventions that music promos follow to be successful and Goodwin's theory explains these codes and conventions clearly.

Andrew Goodwin's theory has six different conventions:

- There is a relationship between the music and visuals; either amplifies, illustrates or contradicts.
- There is a relationship between the lyrics and visuals; either amplifies, illustrates or contradicts.
- Specifically in performance videos there are many close ups of a band or artist, this may be due to the record label and promoting the band itself or may be used to develop motifs used in other work.
- Voyeurism often plays a major part in videos. The notion of looking at something which commonly is at the female body.
- Genre characteristics are presented in music videos, a pop music video may feature dance routines and a rock may feature the artist performing on stage. These tend to be very stereotypical.
- Intertextual reference to other media may occur, such as songs from film soundtracks will feature clips of that film within the video.


Andrew Goodwin's theory can be seen in most music videos. For example, in the Arctic Monkeys music promo for 'Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High' shows about 5 of the 6 conventions from Goodwin's theory. This illustrates how it is key to have these 6 conventions in a music promo to make it successful.

There are certain characteristics that are in music promos due to the genre of the music. For example many alternative rock || pop rock || pop punk music proms may have similar features which come from the genre. 
There tends to be at least some performance elements within the videos showing the whole band, with close ups of each member but it may focus on the lead singer. 
Narratives may be more movie like, for example in Against The Currents video for 'Running With The Wild Things' the band goes on a mission, this looks like it may have been inspired by films.
There are not many videos which are concept but if they are the idea may come from a certain lyric and relate to the song, like Panic! At The Disco's 'This Is Gospel' where the video idea may have come from the lyrics 'The fear of falling apart' and 'If you love me let me go'

Genre

Genre
noun

A style or category of art, music, or literature.
"the spy thriller is a very masculine genre"

In today's music industry there are a vast number of different genres and new genres of music being created. These different genres tend to all have different styles of music promos to suit the style/genre of music; a dark music promo would suit a song from a punk genre more than pop.

The most common genres are: Indie, Pop, Rock, Rap. Each of these genres have very different music promos, for example Eminem's music promo for 'Lose Yourself' is contrasty different to David Bowie's 'Let's Dance'.

Many genres have stereotypical feature/elements in their videos which make the genre more identifiable to an audience. Stereotypically most pop music promos will feature a dance routine in the video, an example of this would be Ariana Grande's music promo for 'Focus'

Contrasty this would not happen in a rock genre music video as pop dance routines would be very unusual with the genre. An example could be Green Day's 'American Idiot', this music video is performance based and the style of dance (seen above) would not fit with the punk genre.

Lyrics and Music Vs Visuals

Lyrics and Visuals
- a lyric poem or verse.
- the words of a popular song.

The lyrics of a song work injunction with the music, they help to establish the general mood and feeling of a song.
Key lines may play a part in the visuals but rarely will a music promo simply illustrate the lyrics wholesale. For example in the Arctic Monkeys song Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High the key word is 'High' and the theme of being high/drunk is played through the video.
The lyrics can be the start of a narrative video, as there may be a stray within the lyrics or a narrative can be adapted from certain lyrics.

Music promos may also contradict what the lyrics are saying, making a narrative which is either opposite or nothing like the story told in a song. They may also be contradicting if the narrative idea is taken from a certain lyric in the track.

Music
Music links to visuals of a music promo in a different way compared to lyrics, for example a storyline can not be made from the music solely, but can add emotion and set the feel of a narrative video. A slower song may influence a sadder music promo.
The tempo of a track can drive the editing, a fast paced song will have more quick cuts compared to a slow track.
Many promos emphasise particular sounds from the track by foregrounding instruments such as a guitar, keyboard or drum solo.
Genre can also influence the type of music promo created, a pop song will be far more up beat with bright colours and dance numbers, compared to a rock video; which may be more performance based than concept.

Codes and Conventions of Music Videos

There are codes and conventions that every music video follows.
The three main types of music videos are; Narrative based, Performance based and Concept based. However they can be mixed together to create a more diverse promo.

Music promos demonstrate genre characteristics, they do this through different mediums. Pop genre music videos will follow different characteristics to a punk genre video, for example a pop song such as Katy Perry's Roar is very upbeat and playful compared to Green Day's Basket Case video.

The song itself has to fit with the promo, this is done through looking at lyrics and visuals, music and visuals. Certain lyrics in a song can be used as a focus point to which a music promo can be made around, for example going back to Katy Perry's Roar music promo is jungle themed which is where the lyrics and visuals created have tied together. The music must also match the visuals; an upbeat song needs to have an upbeat promo for it to work.

Demands of record labels can also influence the music promo made, this means that the video may be required to have multiple close ups of the artist/band and artists may develop motifs that reoccur within each promo. This gives a music promo individuality as it is specifically tailored to a particular artist or band.