History of a music promo

The Beatles - A hard days night 1964

This was one of the first music promos released through the media. The video did not have any story line and was mainly used to advertise the band as a whole. The video was a montage of the different Beatles songs and was used in a similar way to movie trailers.

Bob Dylan - Subterranean Homesick Blues

This music video was different as it only contained one continuous shot. The video showed Bob Dylan holding placards that contained the words from the song. This video involved no narrative ore movement.

Top of the pops 1964-2006

Top of the pops was a music programme that was highly popular. The programme showed the performances from famous band at different times and was used to advertise their new songs.

The Beatles - Strawberry Fields Forever 1967

This video is unusual as it has no certain story-line. The video does not advertise the band or a product and no band performance is shown throughout.

The Monkees - A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You 1967

In this music video, the band have mainly concentrated on the comedic element within the music at the time and their bands attitude. This video adds the sense of humour to those watching and therefore entertains the audience.

Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody 1975

This was a video mainly used to promote the talent of the band. The promo was given out to music channels and stations that played it across the country. This was a strategy of increasing popularity.

David Bowie - Ashes to Ashes 1980

This is a highly conventional music promo. The video focuses on a strong narrative and has a clear chronological story-line. The video also shares the performance of the singer David Bowie.

Devo - Whip It 1980

This video was unusual in its use of mise-en-scene. The band are shown to be wearing abstract costume that contrast with the nature of the song.

MTV - 1981-present

MTV is one of the most popular music channels in then world. MTV shows the music promos of many different bands and shows the top charts at the given time. This is a great way to increase a bands popularity.

Duran Duran - Rio 1983

At the = time, this was the most expensive music video ever made at the price of £1 million. The video emphasises the wide use of cross cuts and multiscreen editing.

Michael Jackson - thriller 1983

This was one of the main early music promos that was based on a strong narrative. The video also contains the main two talents of singing and dancing.

Aerosmith/Run DMC - Walk This Way 1986

This video was popular in its used of showing different styles of music. The use of a rap group and a rock band showed that the two genres can create an effective piece of music.

Madonna - Like a Prayer 1989

In this vide, new elements become popular in the videos narrative. The audience start to get the idea of Love and Religion within the songs narrative.

The music video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yvGCAvOAfM

30 seconds to mars – The kill

 

Throughout this music video, a large amount of conventions are used to send a message to the audience. The conventions are used to give the audience ideas about the videos narrative and the point of the videos story. These conventions include mise-en-scene, cinematography, editing and the narrative of the music video.

 

The main convention used in the video is its use of a narrative. The narrative is used as a small story line that creates some kind of short story for the audience to follow. It could be argued that this particular video is some kind of short film. Before the music starts, the audience can see two male characters pulling up to a large house in the back of a car. Once reaching the house, they stop and exchange speech with one another. This is the bands way of starting the narrative that runs alongside the song. Introducing the story using speech also makes the point of the song more obvious for the audience. This could add to the entertainment element of e music as a large amount of concentration is not needed.

 

Another main feature used throughout this music video is the use of costume. The costume is used as a tool that tells the audience who each character is and gives them an idea of their regional identity. In this particular video, each character is wearing black clothing that covers most of their body with black hair and eye make-up. The use of dark clothing is used in this video to add a gothic nature to the narrative. The audience get the impression that each character may come from a dark background but they are not sure what. This is the bans way of adding a dark presence to the narrative of their song.

 

The use of editing in the video is a successful convention that makes the narrative clearer for the audience. Like many other music videos shown throughout various forms of media, this video uses the idea of a band performance. Throughout the music video, the focus switches between the story of the song and the band performing. Through the use of this style of editing, the audience become aware of the men who are performing the song and allow them to make the connection between the band members and the characters in its opposing narrative. This is the bands way of using editing to make the narrative more obvious for their specific target audience.

 

The cinematography used in this music video is an important feature in the way the band can send a message or present a narrative. The various types of shots used help to present the characters involved in the narrative and the performance of the band. When the audience first see the performance side of the video, a close up shows the main singers face. This forces the audience to focus on the black hair and black eye make-up. Therefore, the audience are given further clues towards the gothic nature of the bands narrative.

 

These conventions give the audience multiple ideas about the bands intentions for the video and the message they are trying to put across. The band relies on a strong narrative for this music video and uses it to represent the band and its members.

John Stuart:"Incorporates raids and reconstructs"

Julia Kristeva: "any text is the absorption and transformation of another"

The concept of borrowing from, modifying and recycling other media texts to create a new text is known as intertextuality.

http://prezi.com/hkgvwd3prhbu/edit/#22_13696309

What is a music promo?

A music promo is used by music artist as a form of advertising. They use them to increase the popularity of their band and message through the use of recent technology. A band creates a music video for various reasons. These reasons may include:
Music videos can be used as a form of art and expression. They are used by artists to share views or opinions with the public. This may be a message about politics or recent events that the band may get involved with during their music video.

What is the purpose/function of a music promo?

The main purpose of a music video promo is to advertise a band or a product through the use of advertising and promotional ideas. The band creating the promo understands that an audience are more likely to watch the music video of it is entertaining and interesting to watch. A band will make the video interesting through the use of typical music promo conventions such as lighting, narrative, mise-en-scene and editing. Each of these makes a music video more appealing for a bands chosen audience. 
As well as a form of entertainment, music promos can be used to inform an audience on a particular topic. This could mean a video based on a particular news event or am issue raised at a certain time. A band will most commonly use these kinds of ,music videos to create awareness within an audience towards the event. this could sometimes shock the audience into understanding issues in certain global topics. 

Examples from music artists:

- Michael Jackson's Black or White - raises the issues of racism and equality - Creating a message

- Feed the world - Raises the issue of hunger in Africa - creating a message

Where can music videos are viewed?

Due to the modern age of technology, music videos can be viewed by more people on a larger range of devices. More and more people have access to the latest technology and therefore gives a band a bigger basis to advertise their music promo video. The most common way of viewing a music video is through the internet and sites such as YouTube and Vimeo. These different sites allow the audience to search any song and watch the music video. This easily accessible way of watching then video makes it easier for the band to advertise themselves and helps to make the band more popular. Furthermore, people can not only visit these sites on a computer but on other devices such as phones and tablets. This allows an audience to watch a music video wherever they are. 
Another popular way of viewing a bands music video is through a music channel on the television. These channels constantly air promo's and allows anyone with a TV to watch them and become aware of a bands work. 

How has digital technology impacted on the exhibition / consumption of music promos?

The increased consumption of music videos and the increase in a bands popularity is due mainly to the development of digital technology. The new age of technology has allowed thousands more people around the world to view a video using the internet. The invention of 3g and 4g, means that people can watch a video/music video anywhere they are. This means that the bands videos are watched more often and therefore become more popular. 
As well as this, another factor is the increasing amount of video games consoles. More and more teenagers now have access to a console. This means that they can access the internet through their console and watch a music promo video. This is another way in which a band can increase their popularity.