Music Video: Introduction

Music Video introduction blog task

This week's work requires Media Factsheet #69: Music Video. You'll need to log in to Google using your Greenford Google account to access this. Read the factsheet and answer the following 10 questions:

1) What is the purpose of a music video?

The purpose of a music video is to sell products, the most obvious of which is the song featured in the video. However, other connected products are also marketed by a music video. e.g clothing.


2) How has the digital age changed the production and distribution of music videos?

Prior to the digital age, allowing the audience full access to the product in the marketing was not too problematic. The development of new media technologies meant that music videos, and the songs along with them, were more widely available at any time. Videos could be uploaded to video hosting sites like YouTube and viewed using portable media devices such as mobile phones and iTouch devices, allowing audiences to see the video and hear the song whenever and wherever they liked.


3) Which three major record labels are behind VEVO? What is VEVO and why was it created?

The three major record labels behind Vevo is Sony Music
Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Abu Dhabi Media. Vevo is a video hosting site specifically music videos. The content of Vevo is shared to YouTube in the UK with YouTube and Google receiving a share of advertising revenue for directing users to the official versions of music videos rather than those uploaded by third party. 

4) What are the key conventions of a music video?

Key conventions of a music video include 

5) How can narrative be used in music video? Give an example of a music video that uses a narrative.

The storyline may relate to the song’s lyrics and illustrate what is being said or be independent from the song and tell a different story. For example, I Was a Teenage

Anarchist by Against Me! features a loose narrative which links to the song’s lyrics. The video features a young man running along Venice Beach trying to avoid the police who are chasing him, showing that he is a rebel.


6) What examples are provided in the factsheet for intertextuality in music videos?

7) Why do audiences enjoy intertextual references in media products?

References can be esoteric and hidden, allowing

the audience to feel pleasure when they recognise the reference and makes them more interested in the media product.


8) Read the music video example analysis on page 3 of the factsheet. Select a music video of your own choice for each of the following headings and explain how each one links to the heading:
  • Conventions (movement/narrative/artist) 
  • Intertextuality
  • Representation
  • Audience
9) Watch the video for Ice Cube's It Was A Good Day (1993). How did this video set the conventions for later hip-hop music videos?


10) How important do you think music videos are in the marketing and promotion of music artists today? Are music videos still essential to a band or artist's success? You need to form your own opinion here.

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