I intend to create a performance based music video to the song: G4L by Rihanna
This will be designed and shot in the style of a typical genre r'n'b, fitting in with the forms and conventions as well as challenging stereotypes.
I will focus on a edgey style to the r'n'b genre that hits a niche audience of teenagers/young adults aged from around 13 - 22.
I intend to create a message that portrays the meaning of the lyrics with both; subtle underlying images as well as clear representations.
I will keep documents of the process stage from equipment check lists, to filming diaries and call sheets.
Thursday, 10 March 2011
Wednesday, 9 March 2011
Song Choice/Initial Plan
Rihanna - G4L
I decided on this song due to knowing the genre very well and the edgey and gritty feel to this song is unique and different from most songs and genres.
With the equipment and experience I have, I feel I can produce a better quality video to this song rather than Jack by Pixie Lott.
I feel my ideas were stronger for ‘Jack’ however with my budget experience, and equipment, I do not feel I can pull off my ideas to the way in which I would want to.
Initial Plan to develop my ideas;
- I intend to hold a focus group with my target audience
- Research in to the artist and other music videos of this style
- Research into locations to ensure my ideas can be achieved
I decided on this song due to knowing the genre very well and the edgey and gritty feel to this song is unique and different from most songs and genres.
With the equipment and experience I have, I feel I can produce a better quality video to this song rather than Jack by Pixie Lott.
I feel my ideas were stronger for ‘Jack’ however with my budget experience, and equipment, I do not feel I can pull off my ideas to the way in which I would want to.
Initial Plan to develop my ideas;
- I intend to hold a focus group with my target audience
- Research in to the artist and other music videos of this style
- Research into locations to ensure my ideas can be achieved
Possible Song Choices/Ideas
I decided to choose between a Pop song and an R’n’B influenced song. These are very mainstream and will be a challenge however these are the two genres I have the most knowledge on.
Pixie Lott – ‘Jack’
Initial Ideas;
- Narrative based
- 2 characters – male and female
- Cuts to performance – Female singer based in a white room with a band
- Predominantly outside locations - representing different seasons
The Pop genre allows for a wider range of ideas, either conforming to the music video or challenging the forms and conventions.
Problems;
- Quality of locations
- Lighting outside locations is hard on a small budget
- Having no budget means it is hard to get professional equipment, locations etc. in order to make the outside scenes look professional
- outside weather is unpredictable
- Mainstream genre will make it difficult to create a video that will stand out
Rihanna – ‘G4L’
Initial Ideas;
- Performance based
- Female
- Locations – Dark, ‘lower class areas’, ‘the streets’
- Main location – Prison Cell
- Cuts to shots of the same female outside of the cell – ‘Gangsta’ feel
This genre is a unique genre that is not widely known. It’s very close to R’n’B and mixed with influences of grime. The gritty sound to this song makes it different from many songs and allows the opportunity to create an edgey, dark and creative video.
Problems;
- Finding locations of such a specific idea/appearance
- Music artist is very mainstream
Pixie Lott – ‘Jack’
Initial Ideas;
- Narrative based
- 2 characters – male and female
- Cuts to performance – Female singer based in a white room with a band
- Predominantly outside locations - representing different seasons
The Pop genre allows for a wider range of ideas, either conforming to the music video or challenging the forms and conventions.
Problems;
- Quality of locations
- Lighting outside locations is hard on a small budget
- Having no budget means it is hard to get professional equipment, locations etc. in order to make the outside scenes look professional
- outside weather is unpredictable
- Mainstream genre will make it difficult to create a video that will stand out
Rihanna – ‘G4L’
Initial Ideas;
- Performance based
- Female
- Locations – Dark, ‘lower class areas’, ‘the streets’
- Main location – Prison Cell
- Cuts to shots of the same female outside of the cell – ‘Gangsta’ feel
This genre is a unique genre that is not widely known. It’s very close to R’n’B and mixed with influences of grime. The gritty sound to this song makes it different from many songs and allows the opportunity to create an edgey, dark and creative video.
Problems;
- Finding locations of such a specific idea/appearance
- Music artist is very mainstream
Forms + Conventions/Basic Theories
BASIC FORMS AND CONVENTIONS OF A MUSIC VIDEO
Lyrics: establish a general feeling/mood/sense of subject rather than a meaning
Music: tempo often drives the editing
Genre: might be reflected in types of mise-en-scene, themes, performance, camera and editing styles
Camerawork: has an impact on meaning. Movement, angle and shot distance all play a part in the representation of the artist/band (close-ups dominate)
Editing: the most common form is fast-cut montage, rendering many of the images impossible to grasp on first viewing, so ensuring multiple viewing. Often enhancing the editing are digital effects, which play with the original images to offer different kinds of pleasure for the audience.
Intertextuality: not all audiences will spot a reference, which would not significantly detract from their pleasure in the text itself, but greater pleasure might be derived by those who recognise the reference. It also increases the audience’s engagement with, and attentiveness to the product.
Exhibitionism: The apparently more powerful independent female artists of recent years have added to the complexity of the politics of looking and gender/cultural debates, by being at once sexually provocative and apparently in control of, and inviting, a sexualised gaze.
Theories
ANDREW GOODWIN’S THEORY
- Visuals either illustrate, amplify or contradict the lyrics and music
- Genres often have their own music style/iconography
- Close-ups should always be included
- The artist/band might want to develop their own star iconography, which becomes their star image
- Voyeurism is a common theme within music videos
- Intertextual references are also popular
Goodwin argues that the female performer is frequently objectified principally for display purposes, often through a combination of camerawork and editing with fragmented body shots emphasising a sexualised treatment of the star.
STEVE ARCHER’S THEORY
- There needs to be a strong and coherent relationship between narrative and performance in music promos.
- Music videos will cut between a narrative and a performance of the song by the band
- A carefully choreographed dance might be part of the artist’s performance or an extra aspect of the video designed to aid visualisation and the ‘repeatability’ factor.
JOHN STEWART’S THEORY
- The music video has the aesthetics of a TV commercial, with lots of close-ups and lighting being used to focus on the star’s face.
- He sees visual reference in music video as coming from a range of sources, although the three most frequent are perhaps cinema, fashion and art photography.
Stewart’s description of the music video as ‘incorporating, raiding and reconstructing’ is essentially the essence of Intertextuality, using something with which the audience may be familiar, to generate both nostalgic associations and new meanings.
The video allows more access to the performer than a stage performance can. The mise-en-scene, in particular, can be used to emphasise an aspirational lifestyle.
Lyrics: establish a general feeling/mood/sense of subject rather than a meaning
Music: tempo often drives the editing
Genre: might be reflected in types of mise-en-scene, themes, performance, camera and editing styles
Camerawork: has an impact on meaning. Movement, angle and shot distance all play a part in the representation of the artist/band (close-ups dominate)
Editing: the most common form is fast-cut montage, rendering many of the images impossible to grasp on first viewing, so ensuring multiple viewing. Often enhancing the editing are digital effects, which play with the original images to offer different kinds of pleasure for the audience.
Intertextuality: not all audiences will spot a reference, which would not significantly detract from their pleasure in the text itself, but greater pleasure might be derived by those who recognise the reference. It also increases the audience’s engagement with, and attentiveness to the product.
Exhibitionism: The apparently more powerful independent female artists of recent years have added to the complexity of the politics of looking and gender/cultural debates, by being at once sexually provocative and apparently in control of, and inviting, a sexualised gaze.
Theories
ANDREW GOODWIN’S THEORY
- Visuals either illustrate, amplify or contradict the lyrics and music
- Genres often have their own music style/iconography
- Close-ups should always be included
- The artist/band might want to develop their own star iconography, which becomes their star image
- Voyeurism is a common theme within music videos
- Intertextual references are also popular
Goodwin argues that the female performer is frequently objectified principally for display purposes, often through a combination of camerawork and editing with fragmented body shots emphasising a sexualised treatment of the star.
STEVE ARCHER’S THEORY
- There needs to be a strong and coherent relationship between narrative and performance in music promos.
- Music videos will cut between a narrative and a performance of the song by the band
- A carefully choreographed dance might be part of the artist’s performance or an extra aspect of the video designed to aid visualisation and the ‘repeatability’ factor.
JOHN STEWART’S THEORY
- The music video has the aesthetics of a TV commercial, with lots of close-ups and lighting being used to focus on the star’s face.
- He sees visual reference in music video as coming from a range of sources, although the three most frequent are perhaps cinema, fashion and art photography.
Stewart’s description of the music video as ‘incorporating, raiding and reconstructing’ is essentially the essence of Intertextuality, using something with which the audience may be familiar, to generate both nostalgic associations and new meanings.
The video allows more access to the performer than a stage performance can. The mise-en-scene, in particular, can be used to emphasise an aspirational lifestyle.
Friday, 4 March 2011
Mixed genres, Collaborations & Mash up’s
Mixed genres, Collaborations & Mash up’s
Collaborations
Today, there are not the traditional set genres, of pop, rock, country etc. We are introduced to many more sub-genres, and ‘mash ups’.
As the industry is growing and becoming more and more competitive, artists are pressured to find new and fresh sounds, often resulting in collaborations, remixes and the birth of a new sub-genre.
Big artists tend to get together and create new music to get themselves known to other audiences that may not have listened to their music on a solo basis.
Florence and the Machine (contemporary Indie Pop) teamed up with dizzee rascal (A former ‘Grime’ artist, who has recently been influence by more mainstream rap) to remake and release the song ‘You got the love’ renamed – ‘dirtee love’. Florence and the machine covered the classic song ‘You got the love’, gave it a fresh twist and made it one of the biggest selling singles of the year. When she came together with Dizzee Rascal to perform on the award show ‘the Brits’, it caused a massive storm within the music industry and the public showed a huge amount of support. With the popularity of the song being so huge, they decided to record and release it as a single, and it sold more records than the original cover by Florence herself.
Collaborations didn’t just stop at singles, many artists have come together to form full albums in order to attract different audiences and appeal to a wide range of people.
Jay Z and Linkin’ Park collaborated Rock and Rap to form the album: Collision Course
This was a massive success in both the USA and the UK, attracting Linkin’ Parks’ audience to Jay Z and vice versa. This was a well thought out move as they both have larger audiences. They are now generating even more money that they were originally. It has allowed them to reinvent themselves in order to stay fresh and current in the industry.
Nas and Damien Marely mixed rap with reggae and created the album: Distant Relatives
Again this was a success, and allowed two different audiences to mix. Reggae and Rap audiences tend to be very similar, so this wasn’t as hard as Jay Z and Linkin’ Park trying to mix some completely different genres, however the album Distant Relatives has given the influence for other artists to collaborate and give the birth to even more sub-genres.
David Guetta is known for collaborations with some of the biggest artists of today, from Rihanna and Kelly Rowland to Akon and Flo Rida.
He started with remixing songs of other artists and then began to work on collaborations and releasing singles with some of the most popular artists in the industry.
Mixed Genres
Many songs made today are not just one traditional genre they are either mixed with, or influenced by others. This allows the artist/s to appeal to a wide audience and become successful in the ever changing and competitive industry.
Plan B, an original Rap and Grime artist, didn’t have much success with his original sounds, so he changed his style to appeal to a wider audience and is now one of the most successful male artists of today.
He stays true to his rap routes but mixes this with a ‘blues’ sound, the fact he can also sing, allows him to mix these genres together. He states he wishes to explore each genre of music and release an album for each so he can reach out to as many people as possible.
‘The Roots’ had a very mixed genre from the start, they are predominantly Rap but with a mix of light rock. Having this unique spin on their music, allows them to stand out against other Rap artists.
These are just two examples of the many in the music industry today. It is becoming ever more popular for artists to mix up their original sounds to ‘reinvent themselves’ and stay current.
Mash ups
As well as collaborations and the mix of genres, the mix of two different songs is very popular too.
These are these in bars or nightclubs, and are often mixed to form a new ‘dance’ style track. In nightclubs, you either have an adapted version of one song, with an increased tempo or adapted into a dance track, or the mix of two completely different songs to have the same effect. This can help improve the sales of singles. People will hear a remix or a mash up in a nightclub or on the radio and this will attract people to either download the original song, or even the remix/mash up itself, and still in both cases, the artists name gets better known. It will also attract another type of audience, as the audience for dance music, will be introduced to new artists.
Illegal Mash ups
www.soundcloud.com is a website that allows you to search a song, and it will list all the remixes/mash ups of that particular song. It also allows you to upload a version you have created yourself, allowing the public to share music. This can bring up a lot of issues from copyright.
There are many problems like this on the internet that are causing problems to the music industry, from illegal downloading via Limewire and illegal mash up and remix of songs.
This causes a loss in revenue for an artist/s and the music industry itself. Youtube converter is not illegal, as you are simply converting a video file to an MP3 file, however the fact you can easily download songs off youtube.com for free, means that less people are buying the artist/s singles.
Collaborations
Today, there are not the traditional set genres, of pop, rock, country etc. We are introduced to many more sub-genres, and ‘mash ups’.
As the industry is growing and becoming more and more competitive, artists are pressured to find new and fresh sounds, often resulting in collaborations, remixes and the birth of a new sub-genre.
Big artists tend to get together and create new music to get themselves known to other audiences that may not have listened to their music on a solo basis.
Florence and the Machine (contemporary Indie Pop) teamed up with dizzee rascal (A former ‘Grime’ artist, who has recently been influence by more mainstream rap) to remake and release the song ‘You got the love’ renamed – ‘dirtee love’. Florence and the machine covered the classic song ‘You got the love’, gave it a fresh twist and made it one of the biggest selling singles of the year. When she came together with Dizzee Rascal to perform on the award show ‘the Brits’, it caused a massive storm within the music industry and the public showed a huge amount of support. With the popularity of the song being so huge, they decided to record and release it as a single, and it sold more records than the original cover by Florence herself.
Collaborations didn’t just stop at singles, many artists have come together to form full albums in order to attract different audiences and appeal to a wide range of people.
Jay Z and Linkin’ Park collaborated Rock and Rap to form the album: Collision Course
This was a massive success in both the USA and the UK, attracting Linkin’ Parks’ audience to Jay Z and vice versa. This was a well thought out move as they both have larger audiences. They are now generating even more money that they were originally. It has allowed them to reinvent themselves in order to stay fresh and current in the industry.
Nas and Damien Marely mixed rap with reggae and created the album: Distant Relatives
Again this was a success, and allowed two different audiences to mix. Reggae and Rap audiences tend to be very similar, so this wasn’t as hard as Jay Z and Linkin’ Park trying to mix some completely different genres, however the album Distant Relatives has given the influence for other artists to collaborate and give the birth to even more sub-genres.
David Guetta is known for collaborations with some of the biggest artists of today, from Rihanna and Kelly Rowland to Akon and Flo Rida.
He started with remixing songs of other artists and then began to work on collaborations and releasing singles with some of the most popular artists in the industry.
Mixed Genres
Many songs made today are not just one traditional genre they are either mixed with, or influenced by others. This allows the artist/s to appeal to a wide audience and become successful in the ever changing and competitive industry.
Plan B, an original Rap and Grime artist, didn’t have much success with his original sounds, so he changed his style to appeal to a wider audience and is now one of the most successful male artists of today.
He stays true to his rap routes but mixes this with a ‘blues’ sound, the fact he can also sing, allows him to mix these genres together. He states he wishes to explore each genre of music and release an album for each so he can reach out to as many people as possible.
‘The Roots’ had a very mixed genre from the start, they are predominantly Rap but with a mix of light rock. Having this unique spin on their music, allows them to stand out against other Rap artists.
These are just two examples of the many in the music industry today. It is becoming ever more popular for artists to mix up their original sounds to ‘reinvent themselves’ and stay current.
Mash ups
As well as collaborations and the mix of genres, the mix of two different songs is very popular too.
These are these in bars or nightclubs, and are often mixed to form a new ‘dance’ style track. In nightclubs, you either have an adapted version of one song, with an increased tempo or adapted into a dance track, or the mix of two completely different songs to have the same effect. This can help improve the sales of singles. People will hear a remix or a mash up in a nightclub or on the radio and this will attract people to either download the original song, or even the remix/mash up itself, and still in both cases, the artists name gets better known. It will also attract another type of audience, as the audience for dance music, will be introduced to new artists.
Illegal Mash ups
www.soundcloud.com is a website that allows you to search a song, and it will list all the remixes/mash ups of that particular song. It also allows you to upload a version you have created yourself, allowing the public to share music. This can bring up a lot of issues from copyright.
There are many problems like this on the internet that are causing problems to the music industry, from illegal downloading via Limewire and illegal mash up and remix of songs.
This causes a loss in revenue for an artist/s and the music industry itself. Youtube converter is not illegal, as you are simply converting a video file to an MP3 file, however the fact you can easily download songs off youtube.com for free, means that less people are buying the artist/s singles.
Genre Research + Forms and Conventions
Country Music
Country music is one of the oldest genres of music to date. It originated in the 1920s in Southern parts of the US, and it has slowly spread to all parts of the world. Country music is the most popular genre throughout the United States and often wins Grammy awards over the majority of other genres that we would consider 'mainstream'. The defining characteristic of country music is an acoustic guitar, with just the vocals of the singer to accompany it. Country music has changed over the years, adopting a more modern style, mixing with other genres in order to attract a larger and more diverse audience.
Forms and conventions of country music videos
- Tend to have a strong narrative aspect
- Set in very stereotypical locations, such as rural areas
- Mise-en-scen tends to be very traditional or set in an elder generation, e.g. Victorian
- The artist usually features within the video
Modern day country genres, like many other genres are mixing or being influenced by other genres, 'Pop' being a popular choice. The U.S.A seems to stay true the the original country roots, but other countries, such as the UK welcome many songs influenced by pop as well, such as Taylor Swift.
Taylor Swift has taken a modern day twist on her country style in order to keep it relevant and popular in the charts.
Hip Hop Music and Rap Music
The primary focus of Hip Hop is on beatboxing and DJ scratching. Rap music is another subset of this genre, and it revolves around the artist rapping to a fixed beat. Though this genre evolved in the ghettos of the United States, today it has spread to mainstream culture all around the world, and has become a multi million dollar industry. This genre of hip hop songs started involving more and more people during the 1970s.
Forms and conventions of rock music videos
You tend to find a mixture of narrative and performance based music videos for Hip Hop and Rap. The majority of music videos for this style tend to be set in a lower class area, on the streets. You find a wide range of different settings and styles for these genres however they are predominantly set in lower class areas.
Artists tend to feature within their own videos.
Rock and Alternative Rock
Rock music came around in the 1960’s, it evolved as a subset of rock and roll, rhythm and blues, classical and folk music, these have been around since the 1940’s. Primary focus in rock music is on the electric guitar and the many solos that can be created with it. Also the bass guitar and drums are highly in focus. The popularity of Rock music had led to combination of rock with various other genres.
Rock music is something that is omnipresent in all cultural references today, and it is no secret that we associate rock musicians with a rebellious lifestyle, substance abuse and huge fan bases all around the world.
Forms and conventions of rock music videos
Usually rock music videos do not have an narrative, they are predominantly performance based, and sometimes they form around a concept.
-display the bands performing on stage
- uneasy camera movements
-hand held shots to represent a frantic/manic atmosphere
( these camera shots and movements emphasise the roughness of the music, as you do not want clean smooth cuts and movements that you would use in perhaps pop music)
-no common to use special effects, for example, green screen or CGI
- usually deep dark colours are used to compliment the style of music
Pop Music
Pop is the largest selling genre today. It signifies any music that is commercially produced, with the sole intention of selling more records and reaching as larger audience as possible. It is also widely assumed that pop music is targeted at teenagers and the youth, though many people associate pop music with the genre of rock, this can be argued. The use of various electronic devices is also widespread in this genre, but this is a very different genre, vis-a-vis trance, which also heavily utilizes electronic sounds.
Forms and conventions of rock music videos
Pop videos tend to use special effects and bright colours, to give a feel good feel, but have the widest range of music video styles with in this genre and can vary between narrative, performance and mixed. This makes it hard to set a list of forms and conventions for this genre as a whole.
Reggae
You tend to find a mixture of narrative and performance based music videos for Hip Hop and Rap. The majority of music videos for this style tend to be set in a lower class area, on the streets. You find a wide range of different settings and styles for these genres however they are predominantly set in lower class areas.
Artists tend to feature within their own videos.
Rock and Alternative Rock
Rock music came around in the 1960’s, it evolved as a subset of rock and roll, rhythm and blues, classical and folk music, these have been around since the 1940’s. Primary focus in rock music is on the electric guitar and the many solos that can be created with it. Also the bass guitar and drums are highly in focus. The popularity of Rock music had led to combination of rock with various other genres.
Rock music is something that is omnipresent in all cultural references today, and it is no secret that we associate rock musicians with a rebellious lifestyle, substance abuse and huge fan bases all around the world.
Forms and conventions of rock music videos
Usually rock music videos do not have an narrative, they are predominantly performance based, and sometimes they form around a concept.
-display the bands performing on stage
- uneasy camera movements
-hand held shots to represent a frantic/manic atmosphere
( these camera shots and movements emphasise the roughness of the music, as you do not want clean smooth cuts and movements that you would use in perhaps pop music)
-no common to use special effects, for example, green screen or CGI
- usually deep dark colours are used to compliment the style of music
Pop Music
Pop is the largest selling genre today. It signifies any music that is commercially produced, with the sole intention of selling more records and reaching as larger audience as possible. It is also widely assumed that pop music is targeted at teenagers and the youth, though many people associate pop music with the genre of rock, this can be argued. The use of various electronic devices is also widespread in this genre, but this is a very different genre, vis-a-vis trance, which also heavily utilizes electronic sounds.
Forms and conventions of rock music videos
Pop videos tend to use special effects and bright colours, to give a feel good feel, but have the widest range of music video styles with in this genre and can vary between narrative, performance and mixed. This makes it hard to set a list of forms and conventions for this genre as a whole.
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.
Reggae is based on a rhythmic style characterized by accents on the off-beat, known as the 'skank'. Reggae is normally slower than both ska and rocksteady. Reggae usually accents the second and fourth beat in each bar, with the rhythm guitar also either emphasising the third beat or holding the chord on the second beat until the fourth is played. It is mainly this "third beat", its speed and the use of complex bass lines that differentiated reggae from rocksteady, although later styles incorporated these innovations separately.
Forms and conventions of Reggae music videos
It is unusual to find a reggae genre music video with a narrative, however it is becoming more common as pop is mixing with reggae, for example, Rihanna is known to cover various genres of music from R'n'b to pop, electric dance and her song 'man down' is influenced heavily by reggae and has a narrative storyline.
- Locations tend to be set in Jamaica or very similar style places.
- The majority of the videos for this genre are very similar, will feel good lyrics enhanced by a cheerful video with bright colours and basic, laid back lifestyle very stereotypical to countries like Jamaica.
Soul
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of funky, secular testifying. Soul music has its roots in gospel music and rhythm and blues. The hard gospel vocal quartets of the 1940s and 1950s were big influences on major soul singers of the 1960s. The term "soul music" itself, to describe gospel-style music with secular lyrics.
Forms and conventions of soul music videos
- The majority have a narrative – love/family etc
- mono-tone colour scheme is frequently used
- slow cuts and editing
- no special effects
Electric Dance
Electronic dance music (EDM) is electronic music that is produced primarily for the purposes of use within a nightclub setting, or in an environment that is centred upon dance-based entertainment. The music is largely created for use by disc jockeys and is produced with the intention of it being heard in the context of a continuous DJ set; wherein the DJ progresses from one record to the next via a synchronized segue or "mix".
Electronic dance music is a broad set of percussive music genres that largely inherit from the electronic music of Kraftwerk and 1970s disco music. Such music was originally born of and popularized via regional nightclub scenes in the 1980s. By the early 1990s, the presence of electronic dance music in contemporary culture was noted widely and its role in society began to be explored in published historical, cultural and social science academic studies. It is constructed by means of electronic instruments such as synthesizers, drum machines and sequencers, and generally emphasizes the unique sounds of those instruments, even when mimicking traditional acoustic instrumentation. It sometimes encompasses music not primarily meant for dancing, but derived from the dance-oriented styles.
Many pop and R'n'B songs are often mixed and changed to become dance tracks when used in a club or bar. More and more genres are being used to do this, from soul and reggae, to rock and occasionally country based tracks.
Forms and conventions of dance music videos
- Tend to be set in a club environment with dancing crowds
- flashing lights and features of DJs/music equipment
- prominently performance based, rarely follows a narrative
- fast pace cuts and editing
- special effects
Forms and conventions do not apply to every video within the genre, as some videos tend to challenge the forms and conventions in order to create a fresh and unique style.
Reggae is based on a rhythmic style characterized by accents on the off-beat, known as the 'skank'. Reggae is normally slower than both ska and rocksteady. Reggae usually accents the second and fourth beat in each bar, with the rhythm guitar also either emphasising the third beat or holding the chord on the second beat until the fourth is played. It is mainly this "third beat", its speed and the use of complex bass lines that differentiated reggae from rocksteady, although later styles incorporated these innovations separately.
Forms and conventions of Reggae music videos
It is unusual to find a reggae genre music video with a narrative, however it is becoming more common as pop is mixing with reggae, for example, Rihanna is known to cover various genres of music from R'n'b to pop, electric dance and her song 'man down' is influenced heavily by reggae and has a narrative storyline.
- Locations tend to be set in Jamaica or very similar style places.
- The majority of the videos for this genre are very similar, will feel good lyrics enhanced by a cheerful video with bright colours and basic, laid back lifestyle very stereotypical to countries like Jamaica.
Soul
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of funky, secular testifying. Soul music has its roots in gospel music and rhythm and blues. The hard gospel vocal quartets of the 1940s and 1950s were big influences on major soul singers of the 1960s. The term "soul music" itself, to describe gospel-style music with secular lyrics.
Forms and conventions of soul music videos
- The majority have a narrative – love/family etc
- mono-tone colour scheme is frequently used
- slow cuts and editing
- no special effects
Electric Dance
Electronic dance music (EDM) is electronic music that is produced primarily for the purposes of use within a nightclub setting, or in an environment that is centred upon dance-based entertainment. The music is largely created for use by disc jockeys and is produced with the intention of it being heard in the context of a continuous DJ set; wherein the DJ progresses from one record to the next via a synchronized segue or "mix".
Electronic dance music is a broad set of percussive music genres that largely inherit from the electronic music of Kraftwerk and 1970s disco music. Such music was originally born of and popularized via regional nightclub scenes in the 1980s. By the early 1990s, the presence of electronic dance music in contemporary culture was noted widely and its role in society began to be explored in published historical, cultural and social science academic studies. It is constructed by means of electronic instruments such as synthesizers, drum machines and sequencers, and generally emphasizes the unique sounds of those instruments, even when mimicking traditional acoustic instrumentation. It sometimes encompasses music not primarily meant for dancing, but derived from the dance-oriented styles.
Many pop and R'n'B songs are often mixed and changed to become dance tracks when used in a club or bar. More and more genres are being used to do this, from soul and reggae, to rock and occasionally country based tracks.
Forms and conventions of dance music videos
- Tend to be set in a club environment with dancing crowds
- flashing lights and features of DJs/music equipment
- prominently performance based, rarely follows a narrative
- fast pace cuts and editing
- special effects
Forms and conventions do not apply to every video within the genre, as some videos tend to challenge the forms and conventions in order to create a fresh and unique style.
Monday, 3 January 2011
History of the Music Video
History of the Music Video
A music video is a short video or film that accompanies a piece of music or a song. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings and to increase record sales. Although the origins of music videos date back much further, they came into prominence in the 1980s, when MTV based their format around the medium.
Prior to the 80s, these works were described by various terms including "illustrated song", "filmed insert", "promotional (promo) film", "promotional clip" or "film clip".
Music videos use a wide range of styles of film making techniques, including animation, live action filming, documentaries, and non-narrative approaches such as abstract film. Some music videos blend different styles, such as animation and live action. Many music videos do not interpret images from the song's lyrics, making it less literal than expected.
Modern day music videos tend to be broken into five types;
- Performance
- Narrative
- Mixture – both performance & narrative
- Cameo – Artist/band feature but do not perform (Foo fighters)
- Animation
Many musical artists made their careers a success by using music videos. As an important part of the music industry, music videos not only showcase an artist's singing talent, but also how they perform. The history of music videos shows how the use of the videos transformed the music industry.
1981–1991: Music Videos Go Mainstream
In 1981, the U.S. video channel MTV launched, airing "Video Killed the Radio Star" and beginning an era of 24-hour-a-day music on television.
With this new outlet for material, the music video would, by the mid-1980s, grow to play a central role in popular music marketing. Many important acts of this period, most notably Adam and the Ants, Duran Duran and Madonna, owed a great deal of their success to the skillful construction and seductive appeal of their videos.
Some of the first music videos broad casted on MTV's first day on August 1, 1981 also included;
- "You Better Run" by Pat Benatar - MTV Video
- "She Won't Dance with Me" by Rod Stewart - MTV Video
A Video of the launch of MTV was eventually uploaded onto YouTube in 2009.
Two key innovations in the development of the modern music video were the development of relatively inexpensive and easy-to-use video recording and editing equipment, and the development of visual effects created with techniques such as image composting. The advent of high-quality colour videotape recorders and portable video cameras coincided with the DIY ethos of the New Wave era, enabling many pop acts to produce promotional videos quickly and cheaply, in comparison to the relatively high costs of using film.
In this period, directors and the acts they worked with began to explore and expand the form and style of the genre, using more sophisticated effects in their videos, mixing film and video, and adding a storyline or plot to the music video. Occasionally videos were made in a non-representational form, in which the musical artist was not shown. Because music videos are mainly intended to promote the artist, such videos are comparatively rare; three early 1980s examples are Bruce Springsteen's "Atlantic City", directed by Arnold Levine, David Mallet's video for David Bowie and Queen's "Under Pressure", and Ian Emes' video for Duran Duran's "The Chauffeur".
Other notable later examples of the non-representational style include Bill Konersman's innovative 1987 video for Prince's "Sign o' the Times" – influenced by Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" clip, it featured only the text of the song's lyrics—the video for George Michael's "Freedom 90" (1990), in which Michael himself refused to appear, forcing director David Fincher to substitute top fashion models in his place.
In 1983, the most successful and influential music video of all time was released — the nearly 14-minute-long video for Michael Jackson's song "Thriller".
The video set new standards for production, having cost US$500,000 to film. That video, along with earlier videos by Jackson for his songs "Billie Jean" and "Beat It", also was instrumental in getting music videos by African American artists played on MTV. Earlier, such videos had been rare: according to MTV, this was because it initially conceived itself as a rock-music-oriented channel, although musician Rick James was outspoken in his criticism of the cable channel, claiming in 1983 that MTV's refusal to air the music video for his song "Super Freak" and clips by other African-American performers was "blatant racism".
The Canadian music channel Much Music was launched in 1984. In 1984, MTV also launched the MTV Video Music Awards (later to be known as the VMA's), an annual awards event that would come to underscore MTV's importance in the music industry.
In 1985, MTV launched the channel VH1, then known as "VH-1: Video Hits One", featuring softer music, and meant to cater to an older demographic than MTV.
MTV Europe was launched in 1987, and MTV Asia in 1991. Another important development in music videos was the launch of The Chart Show on the UK's Channel 4 in 1986. This was a program which consisted entirely of music videos, without presenters. Instead, the videos were linked by then state of the art computer graphics. The show moved to ITV in 1989.
The video for the 1985 Dire Straits song "Money for Nothing" made pioneering use of computer animation, and helped make the song an international hit. In 1986, Peter Gabriel's song "Sledgehammer" used special effects and animation techniques developed by British studio Aardman Animation. The video for "Sledgehammer" would go on to be a phenomenal success and win nine MTV Video Music Awards.
In 1988, the MTV show, Yo! MTV Raps was launched. The show helped to bring hip hop music to a nationwide audience. Today, Hip Hop, Rap and R’n’B tower over many other genres, increasingly becoming internationally popular.
The most expensive music video ever made is
Michael Jackson & Janet Jackson "Scream" – Directed by Mark Romanek in June 13, 1995, costing: $7,000,000
Censorship
As the concept and medium of a music video is a form of artistic expression, artists have been on many occasions censored if their content is deemed offensive. What may be considered offensive will differ in countries due to censorship laws and local customs and ethics. In most cases, the record label will provide and distribute videos edited or provide both censored and uncensored videos for an artist. In some cases, it has been known for music videos to be banned in their entirety as they have been deemed far too offensive to be broadcast.
1980s -
The first video to be banned by MTV was Queen's 1982 hit "Body Language". Due to thinly veiled homoerotic undertones plus lots of skin and lots of sweat (apparently not enough clothing, save that worn by the fully clothed members of Queen themselves), it was deemed unsuitable for a television audience at the time.
However, the channel did air Olivia Newton-John's 1981 video for the hit song "Physical", which lavished camera time on male models working out in string bikinis who spurn her advances, ultimately pairing off to walk to the men's locker rooms holding hands, though the network ended the clip before the overt homosexual "reveal" ending in some airings. The video for "Girls on Film" by Duran Duran, which featured topless women mud wrestling and other depictions of sexual fetishes, was banned by the BBC.
MTV did air the video, albeit in a heavily edited form. Laura Branigan initially protested an MTV request to edit her "Self Control" video in 1984, but relented when the network refused to air the William Friedkin-directed clip, featuring the singer lured through an increasingly debauched, if increasingly stylized, series of nightclubs by a masked man who ultimately takes her to bed. In 1989, Cher's "If I Could Turn Back Time" video (where the singer performs the song in an extremely revealing body suit surrounded by a ship full of cheering sailors) was restricted to late-night broadcasts on MTV. The Sex Pistols' video for "God Save the Queen" was banned by the BBC for calling the United Kingdom a fascist regime. Mötley Crüe's video for "Girls, Girls, Girls" was banned by MTV for having completely nude women dancing around the members of the band in a strip club.
In 1983, Entertainment Tonight ran a segment on censorship and "Rock Video Violence." The episode explored the impact of MTV rock video violence on the youth of the early 1980s. The episode's conclusion was that the controversy will continue to grow. Some artists have used censorship as a publicity tool. In the 1980s, the show Top of the Pops was censorious in its approach to video content, so some acts made videos that they knew would be censored, using the resulting public controversy to promote their release. Examples of this tactic were Duran Duran's aforementioned "Girls on Film" and Frankie Goes to Hollywood with "Relax".
1990s
In 1991, the dance segment of Michael Jackson's "Black or White" was cut because it showed Michael Jackson "inappropriately" touching himself in it. Michael Jackson's most controversial video, "They Don't Care About Us" was banned from MTV, VH1, and BBC because of the alleged anti-Semitic message in the song and the visuals in the background of the "Prison Version" of the video.
Madonna is the artist most associated with music video censorship. The controversy surrounding her marketing of sexuality began with the video for "Lucky Star", and amplified over time due to clips such as "Like a Virgin". Outcry occurred over the subject matter discussed in "Papa Don't Preach". "Like a Prayer" courted heavy criticism due to its religious, sexual, and racially-oriented imagery.
In 1990, Madonna's music video for the song "Justify My Love" was banned by MTV due to its depiction of sadomasochism, homosexuality, cross-dressing, and group sex which generated a media firestorm. The debate over the banning of "Justify My Love" by the Canadian music video network Much Music led to the launching in 1991 of Too Much 4 Much, a series of occasional, late-night specials (still being aired in the early 2000s) in which videos officially banned by Much Music were broadcast, followed by panel discussion regarding why they were removed.
Prodigy's 1997 video for "Smack My Bitch Up" was banned in some countries due to depictions of drug use and nudity. The Prodigy's video for "Firestarter" was banned by the BBC because of its references to arson.
2000s
In 2000, the music video for "Rock DJ" by Robbie Williams caused controversy due to the graphic nature of the video which featured Robbie Williams appearing naked and peeling off his skin to reveal flesh. The video was censored in the UK and was only once broadcast uncensored at 2:00 AM. More recently, Madonna's "What It Feels Like for a Girl" was banned in 2001 due to its graphic depiction of violence. She also pulled her "American Life" video because of its controversial military imagery that seemed inappropriate once the War in Iraq began; subsequently, a new video was made for the song.
In 2002, the video for "All The Things She Said" by Russian duo t.A.T.u. caused controversy as it featured the young girls, Lena Katina and Yulia Volkova, embracing and eventually kissing. UK TV presenters Richard and Judy campaigned to have the video banned claiming it pandered to paedophiles with the use of school uniforms and young girls kissing, although the campaign failed. Capitalizing on the controversy, the kiss was choreographed into their live performances. Top of the Pops aired the girls' performance with the kiss replaced by audience footage. NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno cut away from the girls' kiss to shots of the band. Throughout their promotional tour, t.A.T.u. protested by appearing in shirts reading "censored".
Today, censorship is not as strict, and many of the videos previously banned can now be found on music channels and on the internet.
2005–present: The Internet becomes video-friendly
The earliest purveyors of music videos on the internet were members of IRC-based groups, who recorded them as they appeared on television, then digitised them, exchanging the .mpg files via IRC channels. The website iFilm, which hosted short videos, including music videos, launched in 1997. Napster, a peer-to-peer file sharing service which ran between 1999 and 2001, enabled users to share video files, including those for music videos.
By the mid-2000s, MTV and many of its sister channels had largely abandoned showing music videos in favour of reality television shows, which were more popular with its audiences, and which MTV had itself helped to pioneer with the show The Real World, which premiered in 1992.
2005 saw the launch of the website YouTube, which made the viewing of online video faster and easier; Google Videos, Yahoo! Video, Facebook and MySpace's video functionality, which uses similar technology. Such websites had a profound effect on the viewing of music videos; some artists began to see success as a result of videos seen mostly or entirely online. The band OK Go may exemplify this trend, having achieved fame through the videos for two of their songs, "A Million Ways" in 2005 and "Here It Goes Again" in 2006, both of which first became well-known online. Artists like Soulja Boy Tell 'Em and Marié Digby also achieved some level of fame initially through videos released only online.
Now, international stars use social network sites, such as Myspace, in order to promote themselves. They can upload, photos, podcasts and videos. Some artists even offer free music downloads which again can promote their videos and increase revenue.
www.myspace.com/rihanna
In 2007, the RIAA issued cease-and-desist letters to YouTube users to prevent single users from sharing videos, which are the property of the music labels. After its merger with Google, YouTube assured the RIAA that they would find a way to pay royalties through a bulk agreement with the major record labels. This was complicated by the fact that not all labels share the same policy toward music videos: some welcome the development and upload music videos to various online outlets themselves, viewing music videos as free advertising for their artists, while other labels view music videos not as an advertisement, but as the product itself.
In 2010, Lady Gaga's music video "Bad Romance" made headlines by becoming the most-viewed video on YouTube, music-related or otherwise, with 1.3 billion views; it had over 3 billion views by the end of 2010. It in turn was beaten later in the year by the video for Justin Bieber's song "Baby", which had over 4 billion views by the end of 2010.
MTV itself now provides streams of artists' music videos, while AOL's recently launched AOL Music features a vast collection of advertising supported streaming videos. The Internet has become the primary growth income market for record company-produced music videos. At its launch, Apple's iTunes Store provided a section of free music videos in high quality compression to be watched via the iTunes application. More recently the iTunes Store has begun selling music videos for use on Apple's iPod with video playback capability.
To further signify the change in direction towards Music Video airplay, MTV officially dropped the Music Television tagline on February 8, 2010 from their logo in response to their increased commitment to non-scripted reality programming and other youth-oriented entertainment rising in prominence on their live broadcast.
VEVO is a music video website launched by several major music publishers in December 2009. The videos on VEVO are syndicated to YouTube, with Google and VEVO sharing the advertising revenue.
Example of VEVO on youtube;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g6g2mvItp4
A music video is a short video or film that accompanies a piece of music or a song. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings and to increase record sales. Although the origins of music videos date back much further, they came into prominence in the 1980s, when MTV based their format around the medium.
Prior to the 80s, these works were described by various terms including "illustrated song", "filmed insert", "promotional (promo) film", "promotional clip" or "film clip".
Music videos use a wide range of styles of film making techniques, including animation, live action filming, documentaries, and non-narrative approaches such as abstract film. Some music videos blend different styles, such as animation and live action. Many music videos do not interpret images from the song's lyrics, making it less literal than expected.
Modern day music videos tend to be broken into five types;
- Performance
- Narrative
- Mixture – both performance & narrative
- Cameo – Artist/band feature but do not perform (Foo fighters)
- Animation
Many musical artists made their careers a success by using music videos. As an important part of the music industry, music videos not only showcase an artist's singing talent, but also how they perform. The history of music videos shows how the use of the videos transformed the music industry.
1981–1991: Music Videos Go Mainstream
In 1981, the U.S. video channel MTV launched, airing "Video Killed the Radio Star" and beginning an era of 24-hour-a-day music on television.
With this new outlet for material, the music video would, by the mid-1980s, grow to play a central role in popular music marketing. Many important acts of this period, most notably Adam and the Ants, Duran Duran and Madonna, owed a great deal of their success to the skillful construction and seductive appeal of their videos.
Some of the first music videos broad casted on MTV's first day on August 1, 1981 also included;
- "You Better Run" by Pat Benatar - MTV Video
- "She Won't Dance with Me" by Rod Stewart - MTV Video
A Video of the launch of MTV was eventually uploaded onto YouTube in 2009.
Two key innovations in the development of the modern music video were the development of relatively inexpensive and easy-to-use video recording and editing equipment, and the development of visual effects created with techniques such as image composting. The advent of high-quality colour videotape recorders and portable video cameras coincided with the DIY ethos of the New Wave era, enabling many pop acts to produce promotional videos quickly and cheaply, in comparison to the relatively high costs of using film.
In this period, directors and the acts they worked with began to explore and expand the form and style of the genre, using more sophisticated effects in their videos, mixing film and video, and adding a storyline or plot to the music video. Occasionally videos were made in a non-representational form, in which the musical artist was not shown. Because music videos are mainly intended to promote the artist, such videos are comparatively rare; three early 1980s examples are Bruce Springsteen's "Atlantic City", directed by Arnold Levine, David Mallet's video for David Bowie and Queen's "Under Pressure", and Ian Emes' video for Duran Duran's "The Chauffeur".
Other notable later examples of the non-representational style include Bill Konersman's innovative 1987 video for Prince's "Sign o' the Times" – influenced by Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" clip, it featured only the text of the song's lyrics—the video for George Michael's "Freedom 90" (1990), in which Michael himself refused to appear, forcing director David Fincher to substitute top fashion models in his place.
In 1983, the most successful and influential music video of all time was released — the nearly 14-minute-long video for Michael Jackson's song "Thriller".
The video set new standards for production, having cost US$500,000 to film. That video, along with earlier videos by Jackson for his songs "Billie Jean" and "Beat It", also was instrumental in getting music videos by African American artists played on MTV. Earlier, such videos had been rare: according to MTV, this was because it initially conceived itself as a rock-music-oriented channel, although musician Rick James was outspoken in his criticism of the cable channel, claiming in 1983 that MTV's refusal to air the music video for his song "Super Freak" and clips by other African-American performers was "blatant racism".
The Canadian music channel Much Music was launched in 1984. In 1984, MTV also launched the MTV Video Music Awards (later to be known as the VMA's), an annual awards event that would come to underscore MTV's importance in the music industry.
In 1985, MTV launched the channel VH1, then known as "VH-1: Video Hits One", featuring softer music, and meant to cater to an older demographic than MTV.
MTV Europe was launched in 1987, and MTV Asia in 1991. Another important development in music videos was the launch of The Chart Show on the UK's Channel 4 in 1986. This was a program which consisted entirely of music videos, without presenters. Instead, the videos were linked by then state of the art computer graphics. The show moved to ITV in 1989.
The video for the 1985 Dire Straits song "Money for Nothing" made pioneering use of computer animation, and helped make the song an international hit. In 1986, Peter Gabriel's song "Sledgehammer" used special effects and animation techniques developed by British studio Aardman Animation. The video for "Sledgehammer" would go on to be a phenomenal success and win nine MTV Video Music Awards.
In 1988, the MTV show, Yo! MTV Raps was launched. The show helped to bring hip hop music to a nationwide audience. Today, Hip Hop, Rap and R’n’B tower over many other genres, increasingly becoming internationally popular.
The most expensive music video ever made is
Michael Jackson & Janet Jackson "Scream" – Directed by Mark Romanek in June 13, 1995, costing: $7,000,000
Censorship
As the concept and medium of a music video is a form of artistic expression, artists have been on many occasions censored if their content is deemed offensive. What may be considered offensive will differ in countries due to censorship laws and local customs and ethics. In most cases, the record label will provide and distribute videos edited or provide both censored and uncensored videos for an artist. In some cases, it has been known for music videos to be banned in their entirety as they have been deemed far too offensive to be broadcast.
1980s -
The first video to be banned by MTV was Queen's 1982 hit "Body Language". Due to thinly veiled homoerotic undertones plus lots of skin and lots of sweat (apparently not enough clothing, save that worn by the fully clothed members of Queen themselves), it was deemed unsuitable for a television audience at the time.
However, the channel did air Olivia Newton-John's 1981 video for the hit song "Physical", which lavished camera time on male models working out in string bikinis who spurn her advances, ultimately pairing off to walk to the men's locker rooms holding hands, though the network ended the clip before the overt homosexual "reveal" ending in some airings. The video for "Girls on Film" by Duran Duran, which featured topless women mud wrestling and other depictions of sexual fetishes, was banned by the BBC.
MTV did air the video, albeit in a heavily edited form. Laura Branigan initially protested an MTV request to edit her "Self Control" video in 1984, but relented when the network refused to air the William Friedkin-directed clip, featuring the singer lured through an increasingly debauched, if increasingly stylized, series of nightclubs by a masked man who ultimately takes her to bed. In 1989, Cher's "If I Could Turn Back Time" video (where the singer performs the song in an extremely revealing body suit surrounded by a ship full of cheering sailors) was restricted to late-night broadcasts on MTV. The Sex Pistols' video for "God Save the Queen" was banned by the BBC for calling the United Kingdom a fascist regime. Mötley Crüe's video for "Girls, Girls, Girls" was banned by MTV for having completely nude women dancing around the members of the band in a strip club.
In 1983, Entertainment Tonight ran a segment on censorship and "Rock Video Violence." The episode explored the impact of MTV rock video violence on the youth of the early 1980s. The episode's conclusion was that the controversy will continue to grow. Some artists have used censorship as a publicity tool. In the 1980s, the show Top of the Pops was censorious in its approach to video content, so some acts made videos that they knew would be censored, using the resulting public controversy to promote their release. Examples of this tactic were Duran Duran's aforementioned "Girls on Film" and Frankie Goes to Hollywood with "Relax".
1990s
In 1991, the dance segment of Michael Jackson's "Black or White" was cut because it showed Michael Jackson "inappropriately" touching himself in it. Michael Jackson's most controversial video, "They Don't Care About Us" was banned from MTV, VH1, and BBC because of the alleged anti-Semitic message in the song and the visuals in the background of the "Prison Version" of the video.
Madonna is the artist most associated with music video censorship. The controversy surrounding her marketing of sexuality began with the video for "Lucky Star", and amplified over time due to clips such as "Like a Virgin". Outcry occurred over the subject matter discussed in "Papa Don't Preach". "Like a Prayer" courted heavy criticism due to its religious, sexual, and racially-oriented imagery.
In 1990, Madonna's music video for the song "Justify My Love" was banned by MTV due to its depiction of sadomasochism, homosexuality, cross-dressing, and group sex which generated a media firestorm. The debate over the banning of "Justify My Love" by the Canadian music video network Much Music led to the launching in 1991 of Too Much 4 Much, a series of occasional, late-night specials (still being aired in the early 2000s) in which videos officially banned by Much Music were broadcast, followed by panel discussion regarding why they were removed.
Prodigy's 1997 video for "Smack My Bitch Up" was banned in some countries due to depictions of drug use and nudity. The Prodigy's video for "Firestarter" was banned by the BBC because of its references to arson.
2000s
In 2000, the music video for "Rock DJ" by Robbie Williams caused controversy due to the graphic nature of the video which featured Robbie Williams appearing naked and peeling off his skin to reveal flesh. The video was censored in the UK and was only once broadcast uncensored at 2:00 AM. More recently, Madonna's "What It Feels Like for a Girl" was banned in 2001 due to its graphic depiction of violence. She also pulled her "American Life" video because of its controversial military imagery that seemed inappropriate once the War in Iraq began; subsequently, a new video was made for the song.
In 2002, the video for "All The Things She Said" by Russian duo t.A.T.u. caused controversy as it featured the young girls, Lena Katina and Yulia Volkova, embracing and eventually kissing. UK TV presenters Richard and Judy campaigned to have the video banned claiming it pandered to paedophiles with the use of school uniforms and young girls kissing, although the campaign failed. Capitalizing on the controversy, the kiss was choreographed into their live performances. Top of the Pops aired the girls' performance with the kiss replaced by audience footage. NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno cut away from the girls' kiss to shots of the band. Throughout their promotional tour, t.A.T.u. protested by appearing in shirts reading "censored".
Today, censorship is not as strict, and many of the videos previously banned can now be found on music channels and on the internet.
2005–present: The Internet becomes video-friendly
The earliest purveyors of music videos on the internet were members of IRC-based groups, who recorded them as they appeared on television, then digitised them, exchanging the .mpg files via IRC channels. The website iFilm, which hosted short videos, including music videos, launched in 1997. Napster, a peer-to-peer file sharing service which ran between 1999 and 2001, enabled users to share video files, including those for music videos.
By the mid-2000s, MTV and many of its sister channels had largely abandoned showing music videos in favour of reality television shows, which were more popular with its audiences, and which MTV had itself helped to pioneer with the show The Real World, which premiered in 1992.
2005 saw the launch of the website YouTube,
Now, international stars use social network sites, such as Myspace, in order to promote themselves. They can upload, photos, podcasts and videos. Some artists even offer free music downloads which again can promote their videos and increase revenue.
www.myspace.com/rihanna
In 2007, the RIAA issued cease-and-desist letters to YouTube users to prevent single users from sharing videos, which are the property of the music labels. After its merger with Google, YouTube assured the RIAA that they would find a way to pay royalties through a bulk agreement with the major record labels. This was complicated by the fact that not all labels share the same policy toward music videos: some welcome the development and upload music videos to various online outlets themselves, viewing music videos as free advertising for their artists, while other labels view music videos not as an advertisement, but as the product itself.
In 2010, Lady Gaga's music video "Bad Romance" made headlines by becoming the most-viewed video on YouTube, music-related or otherwise, with 1.3 billion views; it had over 3 billion views by the end of 2010. It in turn was beaten later in the year by the video for Justin Bieber's song "Baby", which had over 4 billion views by the end of 2010.
MTV itself now provides streams of artists' music videos, while AOL's recently launched AOL Music features a vast collection of advertising supported streaming videos. The Internet has become the primary growth income market for record company-produced music videos. At its launch, Apple's iTunes Store provided a section of free music videos in high quality compression to be watched via the iTunes application. More recently the iTunes Store has begun selling music videos for use on Apple's iPod with video playback capability.
To further signify the change in direction towards Music Video airplay, MTV officially dropped the Music Television tagline on February 8, 2010 from their logo in response to their increased commitment to non-scripted reality programming and other youth-oriented entertainment rising in prominence on their live broadcast.
VEVO is a music video website launched by several major music publishers in December 2009. The videos on VEVO are syndicated to YouTube, with Google and VEVO sharing the advertising revenue.
Example of VEVO on youtube;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g6g2mvItp4
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