Questions

Why do audiences access music videos?


According to the survey I conducted, most people watch music videos as its entertaining. The other reason that I collected was as it helps them understand the lyrics and musicians trail of thought through the visuals.



How has the music industry changed in the past 10-15 years?



One way it has changed is money isn't made predominantly through cd sales anymore as less CD's are bought due to recent technology. Now most of the money is generated through tours. Also a growing number of artists now don't sign for record labels as they can be financially better by going independent. 10-15 years ago every band and artist wanted to be signed by a label, nowadays artists like Macklemore and Token are independent. Token for example is a 18 year old artist that's used YouTube as a platform to gain a wide audience range and he's now on his first tour that's across America and Europe.




How do audiences access music videos?



The main way music is now accessed is via YouTube, iTunes, Spotify or Vevo. Spotify on its own has 140 million active users. Also Business Insider reported in 2016 just over 200,000 people used YouTube music weekly.




How do artists and companies generate income?



The main way that the majority of artists and companies make money since the rise of digital technology is via concerts and touring. Big artists can make a bit of money through Spotify but its hard for smaller artists to generate income through it as they only get paid $0.003 per listen/play. For example 'Thinking out loud' by Ed Sheeran, this has just over 355,000,000 plays. This would roughly pay out $1,065,000 to the artist. However a artist thats smaller like Token has a most viewed song called Patty Cake with 1,375,537 views which sounds like a lot but that will still roughly only pay out $4,126.611. So for most artists they rely on tours and concerts to generate income.



How does Spotify work?
















Spotify is a streaming service that had roughly 100 million users back in 2016. 70 million used a standard free account where they can listen to any music they like while using internet or mobile data, however they can't skip songs they can only shuffle their playlist. The other 30 million however were paid subscribers which allows them to skip songs and also play music while offline.


Why were music videos produced?
















Music videos are made/used as a marketing device to promote the sale of music. There are also situations where songs are used in synergies campaigns that allow them to become more than just a song.


Why are music videos still produced?












They are both still used to give a story to the viewers but also sometimes as a way to advertise other brands. Recently Vevo did a advert series where artists would talk about why they like producing videos. One artist mentioned that 'you could here someone 100 times on the radio and not know the artist but you could see them once in a quality video and you'll recognise their face for life.' I think this gives off the main reason why they're still produced.


How do artists promote music?














Nowadays they use social media like Twitter or YouTube with teaser trailers. Also sometimes if its a major artist they may also have a advert on TV.
What is a synergy? Give examples.














Synergies are the combined working of two or more media texts/extracts. A example of this is Pharrell Williams 'Happy'."Happy" is a single that was used in the film 'Despicable Me 2'. There are many references to the film included in the music video including a dancing minion.
What is a 360 degree deal?
360 deals are contracts that allow a record label to receive a percentage of the earnings from all of a band's activities instead of just from record sales or money-making activities that the record label had a hand in.