Music Video Platforms

Below are some of the most popular TV channels and websites that broadcast music videos to the public. I have researched them in order to gain insight into how I would broadcast my music video.

MTV

MTV (an initialism of music television) is an American basic cable and satellite television channel owned by the Viacom Media Networks Music & Logo Group, a unit of the Viacom Media Networks division of Viacom. The channel itself is headquartered in New York City, and is a subsidiary of Viacom Inc. Launched on August 1, 1981 (33 years ago), the original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by television personalities known as "video jockeys," or VJs. In its early years, MTV's main target demographic were young adults, but today, MTV's programming is primarily targeted at adolescents and teenagers. As of August 2013, approximately 97,654,000 American households (85.51% of households with television) received MTV. Source

VH1

VH1 (stylized as VI+1 and originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American cable television network based in New York City. It launched on January 1, 1985 (30 years ago), in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel. The original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly older demographic than its sister channel, focusing on the lighter, softer side of popular music.

The channel was originally created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Communications and owner of MTV. Both VH1 and its sister channel MTV are part of the MTV Networks division of corporate parent Viacom Media Networks. While VH1 occasionally plays music videos and the Top 20 Video Countdown, its recent claim to fame has been in the area of music-related reality programming, such as Behind the Music, the I Love… series, the Celebreality block of programming, and the channel's overall focus on popular culture.
As of August 2012, approximately 96,786,703 American households (95.75% of households with television) receive VH1. Source

4Music 

 

4Music is a music and entertainment channel in the United Kingdom and available on some digital television providers in the Republic of Ireland. The channel launched on 15 August 2008 (7 years ago), replacing The Hits. It is the only Channel 4-branded channel within the Box Television network. It is available on Freeview, Virgin Media, Sky and Smallworld Cable. On 2 April 2013, all Box Television channels went free-to-air on satellite, apart from 4Music which went free-to-view. Source

Kerrang!

Kerrang! TV is a digital television station owned by Box Television, which is loosely connected to the magazine, Kerrang!. As of 2005 all of its programme content is music videos, the majority of which is open-schedule so as to permit text requests from their playlist.

The TV station's playlist is mainly nu metal and pop punk/skate punk, although with some unusual exceptions. Certain acts such as Tenacious D and Limp Bizkit get higher-than-average play rates, due to higher rates of text requests. Themed 30-minute segments often cover artists who are on the playlist, with large numbers of videos, most noticeably Green Day, Panic! at the Disco, Paramore and You Me at Six.
The station unusually guarantees to play a requested video, unlike others where a voting system is in place. However, it may take some time for the video to be played. The channel is available on many platforms including Sky, Smallworld Cable and Virgin Media. It is part of a network of channels owned by Box Television, which include 4Music, Smash Hits, Kiss, Heat, The Box and Magic. Source

The Box 

 

The Box is a television channel in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The channel is one of many within the Box Television network, a joint venture between Channel Four Television Corporation and Bauer Media Group. The channel mainly broadcasts music videos, although it also features other music-related programming from 4Music. The channel broadcasts from 07:00 to 03:00 (or 20 hours) every day, with teleshopping being shown during the channel's downtime. The channel was brought to the United Kingdom by Vincent Monsey (of Radio Caroline fame) and his partner Liz Laskowski, who discovered the channel in Miami in 1991 as The Jukebox Network. Source

YouTube

YouTube is a video-sharing website headquartered in San Bruno, California. The service was created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005 (10 years ago). In November 2006, it was bought by Google for US$1.65 billion. YouTube now operates as one of Google's subsidiaries. The site allows users to upload, view, and share videos, and it makes use of Adobe Flash Video and HTML5 technology to display a wide variety of user-generated and corporate media video. Available content includes video clips, TV clips, music videos, and other content such as video blogging, short original videos, and educational videos.
Most of the content on YouTube has been uploaded by individuals, but media corporations including CBS, the BBC, Vevo, Hulu, and other organizations offer some of their material via YouTube, as part of the YouTube partnership program. Unregistered users can watch videos, and registered users can upload videos to their channels. Videos considered to contain potentially offensive content are available only to registered users affirming themselves to be at least 18 years old. Source

Vevo

Vevo (stylized vevo) is a video hosting service owned and operated by a joint venture of Universal Music Group (UMG), Google, Sony Music Entertainment (SME) and Abu Dhabi Media. It launched on December 8, 2009 (6 years ago). The videos on Vevo are syndicated across the web, with Google and Vevo sharing the advertising revenue.
Vevo offers music videos from two of the "big three" major record labels, UMG and SME. EMI also licensed its library for Vevo shortly before launch; it was subsequently acquired by UMG in 2012. Warner Music Group was initially reported to be considering hosting its content on the service, but formed an alliance with rival MTV Networks (now Viacom Media Networks). The concept for Vevo was described as being a Hulu for music videos, with the goal being to attract more high-end advertisers. The site's other revenue sources include a merchandise store and referral links to purchase viewed songs on Amazon MP3 and iTunes. UMG acquired the domain name vevo.com on 20 November 2008. SME reached a deal to add its content to the site in June 2009. The site went live on December 8, 2009, and that same month became the number one most visited music site in the US, overtaking MySpace Music. In June 2012, Vevo launched its Certified awards, which honors artists with at least 100 million views on Vevo and its partners (including YouTube) through special features on the Vevo website. On March 12, 2013, Vevo launched Vevo TV, an advertising-supported internet television channel running 24 hours a day, featuring blocks of music videos and specials. The channel is only available to viewers in North America, with IP address blocking being used to enforce the restriction. Vevo is, however, planning launches in other countries. Source

Electro/Dance/House Music Video Conventions

Electro music aka Dance or House music is electronic dance music that originated in the American state of Chicago in the early 1980s.

Due to the instruments used to make electro music, videos will very rarely show these instruments or even the artist in many cases. They will instead usually have a narrative base or sometimes be concept. Electro music is drifting more and more into current trends and is fast becoming the new pop genre so the videos reflect this.

 
Electro music videos are often produced very well and have a large budget depending on the artist and record label. The videos will often feature actors who help narrate the songs lyrics into visual stories. Songs in this genre are often about love, relationships, sex, dance, drugs etc. so these will often be included in the video.

A popular convention seen in electro music videos is that of scantily clad women dancing seductively in the video. They are dressed to expose their bodies and this will also attract a male audience to watch the videos.

Another convention is to locate the video in party places such as clubs, discos, parties and exotic places such as Ibiza. This is because this genre of music is often played here, and featuring it in the video will help the audience relate their experiences their to the song. This if any is where the artist will usually make their appearance playing the music in the club.

Dancing in the video will usually make an appearance as this is what the music is used for. Groups of people dancing to the music especially girls is often popular. If there are lyrics in the electro music than the artist who sang these lyrics will sometimes perform in the video.

Indie Music Video Conventions

Indie is short for Independent Music, this also defines the premise of Indie which is music that is written, recorded, produced and marketed by the artist themselves and not a major commercial record label that controls the artist under contract.

A large part of Indie culture is the choice of not following mainstream conformity and this is shown in their music videos. Indie videos are often performance and narrative based, however the genre is most popular for its concept and unusual style to its videos often being able to make their own music videos without the constraints and boundaries enforced by a major record label.



The usual iconography of an Indie video is the plain casual clothing, urban locations such as public transport and inexpensive props. The production of the video is usually low budget but this only adds to the feel of Independence to the video.

Conventions often seen in Indie videos include the songs lyrics being represented in the video to help the audience realise the meaning of the song. The artist or band is often shown performing. Their instruments are often used as props within the video and the artists are seen playing them.

Allot of indie videos are done in black and white but this if any is the only special effects. Extreme close ups and close ups are well known within indie videos to help portray the artists emotion from the song.

Country Music Video Conventions

Country music originated from the Southern United States in the 1920's, it is a genre of American folk music.

Modern day country is now often mixed with more mainstream pop, in order to keep it relevant and popular in the charts. Country videos usually have a very strong narrative aspect. This is evident in Taylor Swift's "Mean" video where she performs a bit in the video but it is mostly a story of how bullies have influenced her life.

Country videos are almost always set in rural and country areas such as farms and ranches and the mise-en-scene reflects this with props being farming equipment, hay bales, animals etc. and costumes representing Victorian and country styles. The artist will almost always feature within the video and camera shots are similar to that of pop videos.

Rap Music Video Conventions

Rap music or hip hop started during the hip hop culture development in the 1970s. It came from DJ's extending the music they played with their own rhyming lyrics.

Rap videos are usually set in urban areas such as streets, cities and night clubs where the audience listening to this type of music usually hang out, this helps relate the video to the audience increasing the fan base.

The mise-en-scene of a rap video is possibly one of the most important aspects of it. Graffiti and large buildings are often shown to create the atmosphere of an urban environment. However rather contrastingly the artists are often in very expensive clothing, and have expensive jewellery and props such as cars that show off their wealth. Hooddies and caps are used to create a mysterious aura as well as drugs, smoking, weapons and alcohol often making an appearance in the videos which represents the fast pace and dangerous lifestyle the artists show they have.

Low angle shots are the main camera angles used in rap videos, to show the artist as strong and powerful. Dark scenes and low key lighting is often used as a way to create tension and danger in the video.

Although portrayals of women showing sexual poses and outfits are often featured in hip hop videos. Contrary to belief the biggest audience of these videos are woman. Possibly because most rappers are men and are shown sexually themselves as icons.

Rock Music Video Conventions

Rock music started in the USA during the 1950's emerging as an alternative to the usual Jazz and classical music, it was known as Rock and Roll.

Music videos are usually performance based as rock artists tend to want the audience to focus on the music rather than a story or commercial product. It may also be because rock bands will often want to advertise themselves and help sell live shows. Rock videos will almost always have a narrative and performance base to it. They will incorporate props, makeup and lighting into the video but only to help portray the songs emotion to the audience, it will often be dark and low key.

Extreme close ups are often used to help illustrate the artists emotion through facial expressions. As well as a wide use of establishing shots to show the band (which usually consists of multiple members). And a usual convention will be members with guitars playing with lots of enthusiasm and energy to show their passion for the music.

Mise-en-scene of a rock video will highly relate to the premise of the song so dark, Gothic and edgy. The clothing will be black, leather and be higlighted with metal and bones/skulls. This is useful iconography which helps relate the band to the genre.

Pop Music Video Conventions

Pop music is short for Popular music which essentially describes exactly what it is. Its a genre of music that derived from 1950s rock and roll rebellion scene which was the most popular audience.

In pop videos the main feature of the video is almost always to do with the artist themselves. This is due to the heavy marketing of the artist by the record label in order to increase the appeal of the artist creating more fans and in turn creating more music sales. Examples of this include Meghan Trainor's "Lips are Movin" video, and as you can see Meghan is the focus throughout the video doing a live performance of her song. And her upbeat, colourful and over the top fashion helps her establish a recognisable style with her audience.

 

Pop videos are often bright, vibrant and colourful, with fast editing techniques, expensive locations and props, use of bright makeup and big graphics all used to keep the audiences attention. The lyrics are catchy and easy to remember. And the videos are often lavishly produced at high expense and aggressively marketed as the labels have the budget to.

Close ups of the artists face is used the most, but long shots of background dancers and parties will also be used. Tints and filters can be used on pop videos in order to boost the colour as well as a photo shopped artist.

A pop music video will usually have a happy emotion to it and will usually feature some sort of dancing and movement. The artist will also usually be marketed in a sex symbol way. examples being One Direction, Beyonce, Katy Perry and Justin Timberlake.

Justin Timberlake as a sex symbol

Results of the Questionnaire

After a few weeks of asking as many different people as possible to answer my questionnaire, I have finally gathered all the answers and represented them in graphs.

Hopefully these results will inspire my video.