- Music videos are primarily a way of promoting the band and track through music channels and social networking websites, although the content of many music videos could raise a debate as to whether this is their main purpose.
- For example, music videos with an amplified or disjunctive relationship between the video and song can often be considered art. Similarly, videos presenting women in a fetishistic way can be considered porn.
- It has become a popular opinion that music videos are now created more for the purpose of art or porn than for the traditional reason of promoting the artist and track, however as this remains the sole purpose; the extent to which music videos can be considered anything else is debatable.
Steve Archer describes music videos as part of the ‘star image’ created by an artist along with the album cover and live performances designed to inspire the consumer to buy the song. - This supports the view that all music videos can be considered an advert for the artist as they are made in an attempt to gain popularity for the song. This is similar to the band’s meta-narrative which is further reinforced by the music video as well as other aspects of the band’s promotion.
- As well as this, music videos use techniques similar to advertisements, for example CUs of the band members and their instruments and meat shots.
- The performance section of a music video presents a sense of authenticity about the band, again advertising their talent to the audience. This is especially common in rock and indie music videos which often have a conventional performance in the video to show the band performing the song.
- This is further reinforced by the prevalence the band members receive, often in the narrative section of the video as well as the performance.
As most music videos are made up of a performance section as well as narrative, this can create narrative fuzz. This is when the story told in the narrative is unclear, but the audience are given a vague idea of what is going on. Narrative fuzz can increase repeatability and therefore works as a commercial in a similar way to the techniques used. An example of narrative fuzz is Hurricane by 30 Seconds to Mars, in which each band member has a separate narrative, none of which tell a clear story throughout the video.
- Music videos can also be seen as commercials for a specific genre as well as the artist. This is because genre stereotypes are often used in music videos to fulfil the audience’s expectations of that genre, in a similar way that the video reinforces the meta-narrative of the band. An example that proves this is Miley Cyrus. In her early music videos, Miley Cyrus was presented more innocently as she was young and appealed mainly to young children. However, in more recent videos such as Can’t Be Tamed the voyeuristic techniques used make it evident that the video is aimed at an older audience. This meta-narrative further advertises the artist as well as showing a range of generic conventions for pop music.
- However, the other main way music videos are viewed is through social networks such as facebook, youtube, and the artist's website. This means that anyone watching a video through one of these websites is likely to know the song already, meaning that through these means, music videos cannot be considered commercials.
- Finally, the different ways music videos can be viewed also have an effect on whether they can be considered commercials. For example, if they are viewed on a music channel, they could be considered a form of push media as the consumer cannot choose which videos to watch. They are also integrated with adverts and could therefore be viewed in a similar way. Music channels are the main way an artist can present themselves to a wider audience so this strongly supports the view that music videos can be considered commercials.
- Overall, I think that the main purpose of music videos is to promote the song so they can be considered commercials. However, as one of the main ways of viewing them is on the internet, the extent to which they are being shown to a wider audience is debateable.
Videos for certain genres of music often have women presented as inferior to men or sexualises them. This is often done through voyeuristic or fetishistic treatment of the female body and through techniques such as dismemberment achieved through the use of CUs on body parts such as women’s legs, lips and face.
- This is mainly used by young, female artists and characters in music videos that also often conform to the ‘artificial look’ in music videos. An example of this includes S&M by Rihanna which uses techniques such dismemberment throughout the video. She conforms to the ‘artificial look,’ described as ‘slim, tall, long legged, narrow hipped.’ For parts of the video, Rihanna is presented as inferior to the male characters.
- Also, Britney Spears uses similar techniques in the video of If U Seek Amy such as voyeuristic treatment of her body through dismemberment. Her status in the video is similar to Rihanna's as commodification is used for parts of both videos. In a similar way, many music
videos conform to Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze as the techniques used position the audience as a heterosexual male. Videos like these are often viewed as porn because of the way women are presented by the use of camera angles and shots. As well as this, the view can be reinforced by the way women are presented in contrast to men.
- For example, in videos by artists such as Usher or Snoop Dog, females are only used as a decorative role, described by Goffman et al as ‘function ranking.’ An example of this includes the video of Sweat by Snoop Dog in which women are shown surrounding the singer whilst dancing provocatively. Shots in the video of Snoop Dogg watching the women shower also reinforces Goffman’s theory of commodification where women are displayed as an object for male pleasure.
- Finally, many music videos use metaphors which have different connotations for older and younger viewers. For example in Telephone by Lady Gaga and Beyonce, the language in between the verses could have sexual connotations for older viewers.
- However, younger viewers may not understand these or have an alternative reading to them. This means that less explicit videos can still be enjoyed by younger viewers without them understanding the original meaning or how it is viewed by older people.
- Overall, certain techniques used in music videos, predominantly those of an R&B or urban genre, can be viewed as porn by certain audiences. This can depend on the content of the video and how the audience reads it, however the main purpose of the video will usually still be considered to advertise the song however explicit the content of the video is.
- Instead of making a standard video with separate performance and narrative sections, many directors and artists make videos with little or no relevance to the song. Although many videos maintain the performance section in the video, this is less common and the narrative will usually have a disjunctive relationship between the music and lyrics and the video.
- An example of this is I’m Not Alone by Calvin Harris. Similarly to many artistic videos, this is mainly a narrative video, with the singer only occasionally singing individual line throughout the narrative instead of a proper performance section.
- As wells as this, the narrative has no relevance to the song as no themes heard in the lyrics are similar to the actions in the video. However, the music and video do not have a disjunctive relationship as the cutting rate often fits with the song.
- The relationship between music and visuals was mentioned by Goodwin as a key feature of music videos. As the video does not have a typical music video concept, it could be considered a form of art.
- Another way this is considered is through the visual techniques used in the video, for example, monochrome or coloured filters, special effects and interesting camera angles and movement. An example of this would be Love Today by Mika. This uses a mixture of a live action performance in front of an animated background.
- The lighting used in parts of the video also creates an interesting effect in the shots with the dancers. As most of the video is the performance and is relevant to the song, the techniques used make it visually interesting.
- Another example is Boy by Ra Ra Riot. As well as the narrative having a disjunctive relationship with the song, the performance uses interesting visual techniques, for example, the use of lighting is interesting as it changes from behind and surrounding the band in between shots.
- Although this video has typical shots for an indie video such as conventional static shots of the performance often used in this genre, these videos are usually more likely to challenge social and generic norms than conform to them like more conventional videos.
- This contrasts to videos which can be viewed as porn as they usually present women as a lower social status to men. Similarly, typical videos showing the artist performing the song are less common in artistic videos for the same reason.
- As there are different ways a music video can be considered art, many videos could be viewed differently depending on the content and techniques used. Similarly to the view of some music videos being seen as porn, the content of videos could be considered art by some people. However, as not all videos could be viewed in this way, it proves that whether or not the video can be seen as art, it is still a form of advertising for the artist as it promotes them and the track.
Overall I think that as the main purpose of music videos is to advertise a track and artist through music channels and social networks. Although a music video without the band appearing can often be considered to promote the artist to a lesser extent, the song will still be presented to an audience whatever the content is.
Depending on the content of the video, it is debatable as to what can be considered porn or art. However, any music video will still be used to promote the track, meaning that whatever the content of the video is, the main purpose of a music video is a commercial.
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