Initial Pitch

 

Industrial Context - Sony Music + Generic Research

 Sony Music Entertainment is the second largest of the big three record companies, as of 2020, falling short of Universal and following Warner music. Its music publishing division Sony/ATV which is now known as Sony Music Publishing and is the largest music publisher in the world. In 2019 the merger of Sony Music Entertainment and Sony/ATV was completed to form Sony Music Group.

Sony Music Group represent a wide variety of different artists: Harry Styles, ASAP Rocky, Calvin Harris, Wu-Tang Clan, 50 Cent, Billy Joel, Beyonce, Shakira etc. These are only a few examples of some of the most famous artists that are signed to their label but they show the diverse range of music that comes out of the Sony Music Group.

Case Studies: This Is America (Childish Gambino)

This Is America is a performance based narrative music video which is rich with intertextuality (used to convey meaning in this video) and for the most part is filmed in one singular shot. It follows the main character Childish Gambino walking through what looks like an abandoned factory with background dancers and characters, with Gambino being the main focus and dancing. The narrative is created through the actions of Gambino and also the background, having actors fighting and being violent in the distance which get closer and larger in number as the video progresses, with the controversial topics of race and shootings being addressed in this narrative. In addition to this is provides a visual representations of some parts of the song where it talks about violence and also the tone of the video changes with the tone of the song. This video links quite well to Andrew Goodwin's Theory.

Calvin Harris - Feel So Close

This music video has a naturalistic mis-en-scene which combines montage elements which represent different cultures, with some being the teenage lifestyle, and a narrative. This combination is what i wish to include in my music video, and the whole video itself feels very anthemic. The fast movement and freeflowing cinematography adds to the mis en scene. The montage scenes show teenagers dancing in suburban areas and socialising having fun, these add a sense of realsim to the video and reflect the same feelings that i want from my music video. 

Secondary Focus Group

 

Primary Focus Group

Primary Focus Group

Industrial Context and Purpose of Music Videos

Purpose Of Music Videos

An artist creating a music video to go along with their music helps to boost the artist’s visibility and exposure. From a marketing perspective they are used to promote and increase the sales of an artist’s work. Due to most videos telling a story it engages the audience and draws their attention which in turn makes them more likely to purchase. In addition to this there have been some examples in which a song has become popular due to its video, if it contains cameos from big name celebrities, if it creates a trend or a famous dance. It can also allow the artist to create a more personal feel to their message, opens up the opportunity to connect to the audience on a more emotional level. Furthermore it allows the music to come alive in a visual way and artists can express their own creativity. 

The first ever music video as we know it today was Tony Bennett’s “Stranger in Paradise” made in 1953. Although just being created as small promotional films designed to highlight the new talking pictures, they do follow the typical form of a music video, they are formed around the performance of a single song.  
Between 1960-1970 music videos were often just promotional videos it wasn’t until the mid 70s that music television came to fruition eventually leading to the creation of MTV. 
MTV is an American cable channel that debuted just after midnight on August 1, 1981, with the first ever broadcast on the channel being a broadcast of “Video Killed the Radio Star” by the Buggles. It followed the format of top 40 radio and presenters would talk about the music videos in between clips, but the channel struggled in its first few years. 

Shortly after one of the most iconic music videos ever was created in 1983 when Michael Jackson released ‘Thriller’, which quickly became extremely popular and is now a pop culture classic, despite being very out of character for Jackson at the time. This sparked the flames of the music video trend and almost all artists began to make videos and express their creativity.

This was when music videos went mainstream, people wanted to see a music video from their favourite artists and they almost became a necessity. 

Between 1992-2004 was known as the ‘rise of the directors’ and the quality of videos grew and grew 

This is also due to the improvement and development of technology, the development of video quality was rapidly increasing and in turn so were the music videos.  

Also things such as CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) brought a whole new possibility to music videos, allowing creative expression to be on a more abstract and unrealistic level. 

Recently the creation of Youtube has increased the availability of music videos to sky rocket, people from all around the world were now able to access their favourite artist’s music videos. 

Now a music video is almost necessary with any big artist’s new song release and in some cases are more looked forward to than the song itself.                                                                      

According to Music & Copyright, the three largest record labels - Universal Music Group (32% market share), Sony Music Entertainment (20%), and Warner Music Group (16%) - hold a 68% share of the music recording market.

The Majority of music videos are accessed on Youtube, and they are actually the most popular type of video on the site.

With the videos being on Youtube, they are able to be monetized and then can make money through adverts playing before the music video. Some videos also advertise merchandise at the end which helps them make money.

Audience Research

Audience Research

The audience is 16-25 year old middle market aspirers. This group of people are typically materialistic, have big aspirations for life and also are up to date with the most recent trends. They are often quite culturally aware in terms of pop culture, with their accessibility to social media and the internet greatly increases their awareness of these. The culture of this age is social media reliant and normally pop culture from these sites affect the behaviour of these young people, affecting their dress style, the way they conduct themselves and also how they interact with each other. The most common forms of popular culture are film, music videos, TV and video games. For music videos, this demographic will like a fun and naturalistic mis-en-scene. A lot of the media created for this demographic heavily relies on intertextuality as they have quite a good cultural competency, these intertextual links are used to borrow meaning and also to provoke nostalgia.

Their aspirational outlook on life would mean they have very big dreams and are very optimistic about their future, and also embrace their youthful nature and energy. 

Audience Moodboard

 

Possible options for song

 Possible songs

When I was a Youngster (Rizzle Kicks) - This song is about following your dreams and a celebration of youth in that you need to hang on to parts of childhood, and remember that you need to be a child every once in a while, the ambition, fun and infinite possibilities of the young creative mind that is so vital for aspirations. I think there are lots of possibilities for scenes in the song. The repeated chorus also makes it quite anthemic.

A Teen (V.I.C) - This song is about someone following their dreams and a good representation of young people who have high aspirations, this song actually originated on TikTok when the artist wanted to popularise his song so that it would be included on Fifa 22 and it actually went on to feature on the game's soundtrack. This is the reason it could appeal to aspirers as the song itself is an example of someone following their dreams and making it a reality.

On Top Of The World (Imagine Dragons) - This song is a fun and upbeat soundtrack for those who want to have big parts in the world, and also referencing childhood and can be seen as an anthem for young dreamers.