Push - Pull Promotional Marketing Technique

After the research into the music industry which broke down the different departments that deal with different aspects I felt that I had a lack of knowledge in how the company promotes artists to boost sales,through research I found the pull and push technique.

The push and pull are described as promotional strategies. 

Push

A “push” promotional strategy makes use of a company's sales force and trade promotion activities to create consumer demand for a product, it tries to sell directly to the consumer, bypassing other distribution channels. With this type of strategy, consumer promotions and advertising are the most likely promotional tools.

A good example of "push" selling is mobile phones, where the major handset manufacturers such as Nokia promote their products via retailers such as Carphone Warehouse. Personal selling and trade promotions are often the most effective promotional tools for companies such as Nokia - for example offering subsidies on the handsets to encourage retailers to sell higher volumes.

Pull

A “pull” selling strategy is one that requires high spending on advertising and consumer promotion to build up consumer demand for a product.If the strategy is successful, consumers will ask their retailers for the product, the retailers will ask the wholesalers, and the wholesalers will ask the producers.

A good example of a pull is the heavy advertising and promotion of children's’ toys.




The larger companies who are trying to revive a once famous star or have faith that the artist they have signed is going to be a hit would probably use the Pull technique as it brings in consumers to them. However the pull technique is more cost effective and does have success so with less main stream acts this technique would be used to insure that there is only profit not loss. 

Record label research

Record Labels.


After the research into the music industry went into such detail into the processes of big corporations I decided to look at the labels that command the high percentage of the market. 

Sony Music Entertainment.

-          11 subtypes of labels, specialising in different genres. From Christian music, country to hard rock.

-          Also a wide range of independent labels which Sony music entertainment distributes.

-          SME distribute to 10 different countries.

EMI group.

-          6 subtypes of labels, specialising in different genres. From classical and jazz to pop and r’n’b.

-          Wide range of international labels.

Warner Music Group.

-          More than 20,000 record label subtypes under the Warner Music Group.

-          Extensive record labels mean wide range of genres.

-          Wide range of independent record labels.

Universal Music Group.

-          Owns or has joint share in thousands of record labels, including independent records.

-          Wide range of genres covered, in UGM.

Scala's UK record label is PIAS which I found out when I emailed the band. 


PIAS. 


It was established over 15 years ago but when it first emerged it was called VITAL. It describes it's self as a marketing, sales, distribution and licensing solution offering a highly professional and flexible service for music, film, comedy and sport repertoire on an international basis.
PIAS UK is the sales and distribution arm of the PIAS Entertainment Group, and represents the very best in the world independent labels. They have offices in London and Dublin with over 70 staff who are committed to the highest standards of sales and marketing. 
PIAS have played a part in the success of the world renowned artists such as ;
Oasis, Arctic Monkeys, Franz Ferdinand, White Stripes, Prodigy, The Strokes and Dizzee Rascal. 
As a company they're satisfied with the success they've made in England and Ireland but they voice openly that they're always trying to achieve more and push the boundaries. They're constantly on the search for new UK talent which will add even more diversity to the current industry within the UK.


The labels unique selling point seems to be the flexibility they allow within their strategies because they recognize that the music and media market is fast changing. 


They also have impressive media and marketing partnerships with BBC, Box TV, Bauer and IPC.


This shows that Scala is part of a big corporation rather than an independent one and the connections the record label have has already been shown through two of their songs being soundtracks to a film and a ITV drama. 

Music Industry Research

To create products that would be sold in the music industry I wanted to find out how the music industry works. I did this by searching the web for sites that explain the industry in detail so in further analysis's and planning of my pieces i'd be able the products to the real industry forms and conventions allowing me to see whether they'd be able to compete with the products that are created by professionals. 

This is a screen shot of the free encyclopedia online which gave me a basic over view of what the music industry is about. It explained it as a industry which sells music through recordings of it and compositions. 

It was explained by this sources as a number of levels or steps within the industry which in the end resulted in a music video or a concert, or a band having a large fan base. 

1) Musicians who perform the music

2) Companies that sell and record the music.

3) Those who present live music performances

4) Professionals who assist the Musicians in their career

5) Those who broadcast the music created. 

I felt this was a low level of knowledge I was collecting so I decided to research further to find real life examples of these steps which I can relate to and research in a lot more detail. 

I found a site in which aspects of the Industry was shown in detail, there was lots of information to go through and discard to find the information that would help me understand the different aspects of the industry. heres the hyper link to the site http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/music-industry-channel.htm - the site is to help people who are trying to get into the industry and be successful. 

The ways in which record label's work is explained in a comprehensive way, here's a summary of what I understand record labels to be after this research.

A musician has to have recorded a few songs before confronting a record label, without a record label it's is seen as near impossible to be a successful musician as their knowledge and connections within the industry is how the music gets out there. 

Once signed to a record label all albums that are recorded will have the record labels name or logo on it to associate the band with them. 

Before this even happen's the band must ; 

1) Sign themselves to the company

2) Develop themselves as a musician ( through image change, or adjustments to sound)

3) They then have to record the album or single in one of the labels studio's.

4) The record label will carry out many promotion techniques that will get the band into a good position to release the album

5) Next is publicizing the act.

6) Finally is the release and selling of the music which has been recorded. 

With all these different jobs to carry out I looked at the structure of a record label to help me understand how these processes go through departments. 

The record labels that dominate the music market are usually from a huge corporation that has many record labels within it, to cover different genres of music so they have a full overview of the music market. An example of a company like this is Warner Brothers Records which is described as a parent company which owns many more record labels such as Respire and Maverick records. 

So having identified an example of one of these parent companies within the industry I looked at the way in which they work to produce album and promote new stars. 

Its best to look at this in steps starting with who is highest up and what here role is going through the company until the album is sold. 

1) At the top is the CEO who is in charge of the whole business ( the parent label)

2) Each label within the corporation will have a president.

3) The president will higher several vice presidents who overlook each department. 

The departments are;

1) A&R - in charge of discovering new talent, they're hands on with those they soon and are there through all the stages to make sure the artist is happy and that the image they had of the artist is maintained.

2) Art Department - In charge of Cd covers, advertisements and displays at music store promoting the band. 

3) Artistic Development - is responsible for planning the artists career.

4) Business Affairs- deal with the business side of the label. 

5) Label Liaison - serve as a liaison between the record company and there distribution company, which maybe part of the corporation or a completely different company. 

6) Legal Department - responsible for all contracts between the artist and company. 

7) Marketing Department - creates a marketing plan using techniques for album promotion. Push and Pull technique is the one I looked into in detail. 

8) New Media- In charge of creating presence for the band on the internet and promoting music video's. Also in charge of promoting and producing a music video. 

9) Promotion Department- Getting the music heard through radio and music channels as much as possible. 

10) Publicity - Getting the press excited about the new or established artist by arranging articles to be written on them or have them do appearances on radio and TV. 

11) Sales- Oversees the retail aspects of the business, by making sure the album is on the shelves, they collaborate with the publicity and promotion departments to ensure maximum sales. 

The further detail has allowed me to see where my tasks for this coursework would fit into the record label in terms of departments. 

After this research I wondered if the music market was overruled by big corporations or if there were in fact smaller record labels that are still successful. I found that there were labels that were run by a handful of people rather than lots of departments, but it seems as if they're becoming more rare within this giant dominated market. 

The big corporation record labels seem to cover all the aspects of the artists development from being signed to there album being released.

Goodwin's Music Video Theory

Andrew Goodwin's a theorist who created an ideology which he applied to music video's, he applied six generic rules which can be tested against all music video's across a range if genre's. 


1) The music video with demonstrate genre characteristics.


2)There will be a relationship between lyrics and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting)


3) There will be a relationship between music and visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting)


4) Demands of the record label will include the needs for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style) 


5) There is frequently reference to the notion of looking and particularly the voyeuristic treatment of the female body.


6) There is often inter textual references.


Here I'll apply Goodwin's theory to a range of music video's from different genre's, including one of Scala's music video's. 




Application Of Theory 1





The original of "Friday i'm in love" is by The Cure who are an alternative rock band, but the cover changes the rock aesthetic to a classical/ choir type. 


1) The genre characteristics of Choir's and therefore classical is performance and the people within the video are usually standing all together singing in plain outfits. This video breaks the first rule of Goodwin's theory because if the audience didn't have previous knowledge of who Scala were or that the song is a cover the genre would be very hard to distinguish. 


2)Rule two is shown in a somewhat contradicting way with the girls being at a party so they could have been waiting for the Friday for the party but from the way in which it is shot and from the way in which the girls who are singing perform it it seems as if they're longing for a someone, perhaps a partner.At the end the two men enter which could be who they were longing for. 


3) The music and visual link is illustrative , but this would have been achieved post filming in the editing suite, with the use of sweeping shot and slow motion the music video goes at the same pace and the music making it flow. 


4) The girls that are singing are shown in more detail with up close shots, all the women are good looking and look glamorous giving the choir a more mainstream and glamorous appeal. 


5)Within the first 20 seconds of the video rule five was reinforced with the objectification of womens body, with the Mis en Scene that has been chose with the girls featured wearing short and revealing clothes. 


6) I'm unaware of any inter textual references within the video.  




Application of Theory 2







Arctic Monkey's are a mainstream indie rock band, its a subtype of alternative rock. 


1) The genre characteristics of indie rock is that lack of classic theme's such as love songs and a non-standard beat. 


2)When I looked at the lyric's I felt like it was about a relationship (a sexual one) getting old and the woman in the relationship is going to or has cheated on the man she's with. But in analysis of the video with the sound of i saw conflict between the gangsters and clowns, but then it flashed back to the two leaders as children and it's clearly a broken down friendship. This means the lyrics and visual are contradicting, both about a relationship but the type is unknown. 


3) The non-beat music fits the editing of the video, this would have been done in editing. The video is clearly a narrative one but because if the contradiction with the lyrics and visual there's hints of concept. 


4) There is no representation of the band within this video, this may have been done by the record label because there music video is so distinctive and they already have such a secure fan base they're able to recognize that it's the band music video without having to see them within the video. 


5) There is no female objectification within this video, this is probably due to the genre because it is more common of R&B and Hip Hop video's to have women within there video as property. 


6) There is no inter textual reference that i can identify within the video. 




Application of theory 3





Beyonce is a well known diverse artist who began in a girl group called destiny's child but is now a solo artist. Her main genre is r&b, but i picked this song because her now husband Jay Z features in to rapping. 


1) The genre of r&b has changed a huge amount the original sound from the 70's was more soulful and seductive compared with the hip hop r&b edgy street sound of today that this song is based upon. The classic characteristics of the contemporary r&b genre is a hard repetitive and distinctive beat. 


2) The lyrics seemed to based on her being infatuated with a man and because of the rapper starring in it is her husband we assume it to be him. In terms of a link between the visual being portrayed and the lyrics I believe there is but only in that she is trying to get his attention when he seems disinterested whilst rapping, personally I see the constant dancing and rush as fitting with the infatuation the lyrics and the beat. 


3) There is a prominent link between both visual and the music with her dance moves and the beat being both at the same pace and the use of different locations and the cutting makes it an interesting watch and linked together perfectly with the lyrics. 


4) The mis en scene shows off Beyonce's body which is iconic with her curves which the record label would have requested she be shown this way. With the use of Jay Z brings in an even bigger fan base, and the video is so iconic and was even criticized by some for being to racy and inappropriate to show before the watershed. This may have affected sales, but most likely not with the ability to view video's online the use of water shedding on music channels is becoming less and less necessary. 


5) Even the main singer who shows power, is shown in a objective sort of way because of the way she is dressed and the way she dances throughout the video. This type of image of women is used consistently throughout the r&b / hip hop / rap genre to the point of which if the use of women in this way is missing from this type of genre's video's it would be a contradiction of the convention. 


6) The inter textual reference is from a previous video featuring these two artists called Crazy In Love that seemed to be the beginning of their relationship and it has progressed to her being infatuated with him. 

Genre

To help me pick which genre and song i want to do i decided to research in to a few main genre's and the conventions they have that make them unique.

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.

Queen are an iconic rock band of the 70's and 80's this particular song was released in 1979 and it's called "Don't stop me now" its was written by Freddie Mercury. The song's message is "live in the moment" it's a feel good song. The basis of the song is around Mercury on piano singing, with Taylor and Deacon on the backing track playing bass guitar and drums. 


Rather than talk about this video in general i researched the forms and conventions that most rock video's follow. This song shows the band performing on stage which is classic of a rock video, but most of the time there is an audience present, which there isn't here. The lack of special effects is another convention rock video's tend to have. Usually just the band and their instruments also there is no narrative story to follow. 


The video is filmed in a dark and empty room, with lights above the band who are on a platform which brings them off the ground. Mercury is at ground level with his piano and microphone. The camera movements and atmosphere of the video don't follow the conventions as the video isn't eerie and the camera movements are steady. 

Country Music.

Out of the different types of music genres that exist, country music is certainly one of the oldest. It originated in the 1920s in Southern parts of the United States, and it has slowly spread to all parts of the world. Country music, was the genre of choice of Elvis Presley and this was the genre of music he specialized in, though he slowly embraced the more popular rock and roll genre as well. The defining characteristic of country music is an acoustic guitar, with just the vocals of the singer to accompany it.

Shania Twain is the most popular and successful country singer of my generation. Her music could be possibly be catergorised as a hybrid pop/ country genre. The song above "Your still the one" is still the most successful country single. It was released in 1998 and won her two Grammy awards. 


The video was directed by David Hogan and the video is shot in Malibu, California on the Beach in black and white. The song is a love song about a couple who are still together even when everyone around them said it would never last. 


It is a performance video on Twain's part as the higher proportion of the clips are her singing into the camera on the beautiful back drops, their are smooth cuts which introduce the viewer to the man she is singing about. The video shows off his body, he is good looking in a physical way and Twain is shown to be in love with him. There are interior and exterior shots, the majority of the song is exterior in the Malibu moonlight. 


The mood is a relaxed one, the viewer (if in a relationship) will come away thinking of the person they love. It is an incredible love song very empowering and many couples ( women in particular) will relate to the song. The connection between video and lyrics is a simple and effective one. 

Hip Hop Music and Rap Music.

 The primary focus here 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.






Nicki Minaj's latest single "Moment for Life" which was Drake- assisted and from Minaj's debut album "Pink Friday". The music video was produced by T-Minus and Directed by Chris Robinson. The full version of the music video begins with a 1 minute 32 second introduction in which Minaj plays her own fairy godmother ( her British alter ego Martha) talking to the other character she plays which is a "Cinderella" type character. In this introduction they make specific inter-textual references to the Disney film "Cinderella" and once the music begins Minaj is given a pair of shoes by the fairy godmother. The music video is the story of Nicki Minaj and Drakes character meeting at a ball and finishing with then romantically kissing at the stroke of midnight. It is a narrative music video but also a performance one because the video features the story of Cinderella but also clips of them rapping together. 


The connection between the lyrics and the music video is established in the introduction of the music video them continued throughout. It's a simple concept if the audience is familiar with Cinderella. Minaj wants this moment to last forever and not finish at 12 like it did for the original character she is portraying. 


The video is diverse compared to the normal video's which usually include a more classic hip hop/ rap mis en scene. But this video is clearly inspired by both the cartoon and the regal, romantic attire of Shakespeare's era, but important to note that there is definitely a classic hip hop twist with the clothes. The set cannot be faulted it's a mansion that looks like a castle, their is interior and exterior shots. The camera editing creates the story and with the high budget video and top of the range editing systems it would be difficult for the video not to be a success.


The video is a particular success i feel because it shows a different side to both Drake and Nicki Minaj not just the classic hip hop or rap video. Younger girls will relate to this video and with Minaj now and Drake is a "heart throb" of the music industry at the moment so even if the girls don't like Minaj, they'll watch the video for Drakes appearance. The video I don't see as appealing as much to the boy's of Minaj usual audiences, because she is such a different artist to anyone female in the industry because she can rap, and usually stars in edgier videos. This video may just turn her abit generic for them. 

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 many people as it can. It is also widely assumed that pop music is targeted at teenagers and the youth in particular. Though many people associate pop music with the genre of rock, this is an inaccurate assessment. 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.

The video is performance and narrative, it is set at a party which is ideal as the song is a classic "party song" on the 90's. The band are having a party and the beginning is setting up this very modern open spaced house for the night ahead. Once people start to arrive it is cutting from the party in full swing and the lead singer performing the song on the piano.

As is says in my knowledge of the pop genre above, teenagers are the target audience and the video in this song does everything to attract the teenagers to watch this song and inevitably buy it. The party scene is an attractive one to have for this audience as they're just beginning to embody the party scene themselves. 

The song is a feel good one and the lyrics are about a couple who are happy and in love and like to have a good time together at party's on so forth. The atmosphere makes the viewer want to go to that party and have fun with the same group of people the band is. 

Jazz Music

This is a genre that evolved in the early 20th century, and its early artists were all African Americans. It has also led to the birth of many different types of music genres in its time, but jazz music is primarily associated with the use of blues music notes, the saxophone and the massive double bass guitar instrument. The boundaries and the scope of jazz is something that has led to various debates in the music community, and the fact is that no one has yet settled for an accurate description of this genre.

Led to the following genre's;

Latin music

Classical music/ Choir Music

Instrumental music

Opera music

Reggae music

Whilst doing genre work I came across Scala and The Kolancy Brothers who do covers of other artists songs as well as write their own. 

This song is a cover of The Cure's "Friday I'm in love" , the reason I picked this song is because from a choir this isn't the type of music video you expect them to do. It is a performance and narrative hybrid. The story to me seems to be the choir girls work in some kind of brothel ( or it could just be a party) , they're getting ready and having a good time it's a glamorous time. At the end the conductors the Kolancy Brothers arrive at the party.

The girls a provocatively dressed and it sent the message to me that they may have voices of angels but they're not innocents. 


The lyrics are about the joy of being in love but then the longing heart wrenching bits of love too. There isn't a strong link between the narrative part of the video and the lyrics. So it is also a concept video. I think this video was the shock audiences and become noticed. Since there success with social network and Downton abbey they're probably trying to stay in the spot light and known. 


The general atmosphere is a group of girls getting ready and having a good time, but when they're singing they're thinking about the person they love and therefore longing for them.


After looking further into this band i've decided i'm going to use Scala and the Kolancy Brothers and create a music video, digi- pack and website for them.

Each genre inadvertently leads to the birth of many more sub-genres, and these affect people and culture in many different ways. The economic and social circumstances of a particular era, heavily affect the nature of music that is popular at the time

Music Video Presentation

As a starting point for my research, planning and eventually filming of a music video i went back to basics and tried to find through different sources what a music video was, how many types they were and how they differed.


I did this in a powerpoint presentation which i've screenshot each clip to show what i found.

The first slide talks about the fundamental reasons for a music video, and that they're a marketing campaign so people buy the song, which makes the artist a profit.  

Second slide is making distintiction that there is more than one type of video and giving well known examples of Performance Based Video's.

Third slide shows popular Narrative Music Video's, i chose Beyonce because of her success with the song "If I were a Boy" and felt it was a very good example of a narrative video.

The final slide described concept video's which for me were the most interesting and seemed to involve intertextual references that allowed them to make some sense, the example i used was Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy".

History of the music video

A music video is a short film or video that accompanies a complete piece of music/song. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. Although the origins of music videos go back much further, they came into their own in the 1980s, when MTV based their format around the medium, and later with the launch of VH1. The term "music video" first came into popular usage in the early 1980s. Prior to that time, these works were described by various terms including "filmed insert", "promotional (promo) film", "promotional (promo) clip" or "film clip". In Chinese entertainment, music videos are simply known as MTV’S because the network was responsible for bringing music videos to its popularity.

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.

The long-running British TV show Top of the Pops began playing music videos in the late 1970s, although the BBC placed strict limits on the number of 'outsourced' videos TOTP could use. Therefore a good video would increase a song's sales as viewers hoped to see it again the following week. In 1980, David Bowie scored his first UK number one in nearly a decade thanks to director David Mallet's eye catching promo for "Ashes to Ashes".

This video directed by David Mallet and David Bowie himself, it's described as one of the most iconic music video's of the 1980's, it was also the most expensive music video made at its release with the overall cost of £250,000.


Earlier in 1975, the band Queen ordered Bruce Gowers to make a promo video for their new single "Bohemian Rhapsody" to show it in Top Of The Pops; this is also notable for being entirely shot and edited on videotape.

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, Madonna and Mylène Farmer, owed a great deal of their success to the skillful construction and seductive appeal of their videos. Some academics have compared music video to silent film, and it is suggested that stars like Madonna have (often quite deliberately) constructed an image that in many ways echoes the image of the great stars of the silent era such as Greta Garbo.



This video was directed by David Fincher and filmed in 1989, it was based on the Fritz Lang classic film Metropolis. On later tours she based choreography from the 1989 musical adaptation of Lang's 1927 silent movie Metropolis.

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 a number of related effects such as chroma-key. The advent of high-quality color 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. However, as the genre developed, music video directors increasingly turned to 35 mm film as the preferred medium, while others mixed film and video.

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; two early 1980s examples are Bruce Springsteen's Atlantic City, directed by Arnold Levine, and David Mallet's video for David Bowie and Queen's "Under Pressure". Other notable later examples of the non-representational style include Bill Konersman's innovative 1987 video for Prince's "Sign of the Times" influenced by Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" clip, it featured only the text of the song's lyrics.


Also 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 were rare because MTV initially conceived itself as a rock-music-oriented channel.

The Canadian music channel Much Music was launched in 1984.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 (the only outlet many videos had on British TV at the time, without presenters. Instead, the videos were linked by then state of the art computer graphics. The show moved to ITV in 1989.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 You! MTV Raps debuted; the show helped to bring hip hop music to a mass audience for the first time.

2005- Internet becomes video friendly.

2005 saw the release of the website YouTube, which made the viewing of online video faster and easier; MySpace's video functionality, which uses similar technology, launched in 2007. 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.
The 2008 video for Weezer's "Pork and Beans" also captured this trend, by including at least 20 YouTube celebrities; the single became the most successful of Weezer's career, in chart performance.
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.
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.

My AS media blog

http://ablewhitecwalton.blogspot.com/


Above is the link to my AS media blog. In a group we created a trailer to a thriller, we got an A for our coursework and was generally pleased with the outcome.


For A2 i've decided to work alone and produce a music video, a website and a digi pack CD. The band I've chosen is Scala and the Kolacny Brothers.