RB: Can Music Videos Be Seen As Art Form?

Can Music Videos Be Seen As Art Form?

• Generally music videos are seen as promotion for the band and track which can be played on music channels, band websites or as a bonus track on a single. However, as more innovative directors have begun creating more artistic and stylistic videos, they can often now be considered more than just a piece of promotion. 
• Originally, a music video would show the band performing the song, often intercut with a narrative with some relation to the music and lyrics. More artistic videos are made entirely of narrative, described as ‘marrying moving image and music’, although artistic videos can often have a disjunctive relationship between the music or lyrics and video.

• Many recent music video directors have previously been artists or film directors, meaning their outlook on music videos could be different to other directors. For example, Anton Corbijn was a photographer before becoming a director of films and music videos and has recently directed videos for bands such as Coldplay, U2 and The Killers, all of which use black and white or colour filters; something Corbijn was known for when he was a photographer. This is similar to Peter McCaughan’s view that music videos can be seen as ‘part art house ‘vision’, part promotional vehicle’.

Coldplay - Talk (2005)

                                                                 U2 - Electrical Storm (2002)

The Killers - All These Things That I've Done (2005)

• The type of music video can depend on the genre of the artist. For example, indie rock bands such as Spector or Ra Ra Riot use similar techniques in their videos. They both often use long static shots of the band’s performance as well as a disjunctive relationship with the narrative. 
• Similarly to this, certain genres will often have videos which can be seen as art rather than simply promotion. Matt Hanson suggested that directors such as Spike Jonze and Chris Cunningham ‘redefined the genre’ of music videos they worked on creating a distinct style which other directors would often follow. 
• Another example of this would be Take Me Out by Franz Ferdinand, directed by Jonas Odell. This video uses live action footage over an animated background, similar to many of his other videos for artists such as Ida Maria and I’m From Barcelona. 
• This technique has been repeated in music videos since then, more often in    the pop genre, similar to Ida Maria.

• However, even with creative directors and ideas more original than simple performance based videos can still be considered as ‘just promotion.’ With social networks such as facebook and youtube, artists are more able to spread music videos to a wide audience. 

• Steve Archer stated that a ‘star image created by CD covers, live performances and music videos’ can create more hype for a song or artist, and therefore influence people to buy the song or album. 
• For this reason, music videos can still be considered just another form of promotion alongside press releases and other advertisements instead of art form. 
• Similarly to this, a rise in piracy has created a need for artists to find new ways to make people want to buy a single rather than downloading it illegally. This is often done by adding the music video as a bonus track to either the physical copy or digital download of a single. This could reinforce the belief that music videos are exclusively created to act as a promotional tool for the artist to create more awareness of their music and to persuade people to purchase it.

Steve Archer's idea of a 'Star Image' including album covers, music videos and live performances

• Overall I think that certain music videos can be seen as art form. Some artists and directors choose to make their videos using interesting visual techniques which can be seen as art rather than just promotion. 
• Although all videos could be considered promotion for the artist as they are ultimately created to raise awareness for the song, they could be considered art to an extent depending on the style of video and the techniques used. This proves that despite a large number of simple, non-artistic videos being created for the promotion of a song or artist, many videos could also be created for artistic purposes, even if the promotion of the music is in mind as well.