Record labels

Within the music industry; most recording artists have become increasingly reliant upon record labels to broaden their consumer base, market their albums, and be both promoted and heard on mp3, radio, etc. and of course television also, with publicists that assist performers in positive media reports to market their merchandise, and make it available via stores and other media outlets. The Internet has increasingly been a way that some artists avoid costs and gain new audiences, as well as the use of videos in some cases, to sell their products.

A record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion, and enforcement of copyright protection of sound recordings and music videos; conducts talent scouting and development of new artists ("artists and repertoire" or "A&R"); and maintains contracts with recording artists and their managers. The term "record label" derives from the circular label in the center of a vinyl record which prominently displays the manufacturer's name, along with other information.

EMI

The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a British multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and was one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major publishing arm, EMI Music Publishing – also based in London with offices globally. The company was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but since February 2011 it has been wholly owned by Citigroup (which took the then financially troubled company over because of more than $4 billion in debt it held).

Warner music group

Warner Music Group (WMG) is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies. For three decades the conglomerate was known as WEA, which stood for Warner Bros.-Elektra-Atlantic Records; three major record companies that signed and developed musical acts and, in turn, distributed product for subsidiaries and other record labels.

Sony music entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment (SME or Sony Music) is the second-largest global recorded music company of the "big four" record companies and is controlled by Sony Corporation of America, the United States subsidiary of Japan's Sony Corporation. The company, which evolved into Sony Music, was founded in 1929 as the American Record Corporation (ARC) through the merger of several smaller record companies.

History and Development of the music video

1929 - Blues singer Bessie smith appeared in a 2 reel short film "Saint louis blues". It was shown in theaters untill 1932.

1940  - Walt disney released Fantasia, an animated film based around famous classical music.

1956 - Tony bennet was filmed walking along the serpentine in hyde park, london as his recording of "Stranger in paradise" played. This film was distirbuted and played by UK and US tv stations, Leading him to claim he had made the worlds first music video.

1967 - The beatles took the music video to new heights when they released music videos for Penny lane and Strawberry fields forever. These videos used techniques from films such as dramatic lighting, unusal camera angles and rhythmic editing. These two videos were the first of concept videos to try and illustrate the song and its lyrics in an artful manner.

1970 - Around this time Top of the pops helped music videos to progress rapidly. It created a lot of competition between bands and artists as the limited space on the show meant it could only showcase as number of videos per show. This encouraged bands/ artists to make the best videos possible.

1981 - MTV (The worlds first music channel) was launched. It was devoted to showing bands/artists videos. This also encouraged people in the industry to make the best possible videos. At this time videos were more focused on narative than just the artist performing.

Modern day - Today music videos are even more important to artists. The budget for videos has increased, along with the technology available to artists to make videos. Nowadays music videos are heavily featured on narative.

Bring me the horizon - It never ends.

Movement

In music videos movement often goes with the video, the video will match the pace or beat of the music. In It never ends Bring me the horizon do this very well.  The ambulance in the video moves quickly and matches the guitar riffs and drum beat. Oli sykes (the lead singer) flies behind the ambulance again very fast, and to the general pace of the song. The typical convention for a metal-core song is to be fast paced and heavy, and often movement in the videos matches this convention. Even when Oli is taken out of the ambulance and wheeled to the operating room the fast pace of the video is still kept going. The doctors run with him on the bed and keep the fast paced urgency flowing throughout.

Narrative 

The video has a lose narrative that does match the lyrics although it isn't totally direct. The song title (and main lyric) It never ends, is shown throughout the video. Oli is clearly injured, hence the ambulance, but still people are chasing him and wont leave him alone. The lyric "every second, every hour, every minute, every day. it never ends, it never ends" is illustrated well in this video. The video is set partly at day, and partly at night, showing it doesn't matter what time it is but everyone is still after him. The narrative in this video is apparent as a theme, but not as a direct visual of all the lyrics in the song.


Band/Artist

There is a constant focus on Oli in the video. None of the other band are pictured or seen at all. As he is seen as the "main" member of the band, the focus is almost definatly on him throughout. Since he is not actually perfroming in the track he is acting in it instead. It makes sense for Oli to be the most featured as he is the frontman of the band and also owns clothing lines, he is classed as the most famous. The record label use him to promote the band and give the band good image.

Typical conventions of a music video - prezzi

Typical conventions of a music video on Prezi

Conventions of a music video

Movement

This is essential to music veidos and usually complements the rhythem of the song. Movement can be achieved by moving the camera, or having people moving and dancing on screen, or even with the speed of editing. Some videos rely on movement to excite the viewer, such as in many pop songs like "rock your body" by justin timberlake. Rapid editing with shots less than a second long, complements the dancing in the vdeio.

Narrative

 Music videos may also have a narrative or "story". The story being told in the video may relate to the songs lyrics and illustrate what is being said or be independant and tell a different story altogether. For example "Abigail" by motionless in white features a narraitve, which links into the songs lyrics. The video shows a young girl (presumably abigail) in a police interigation room, and then being released and having a sexual relationship with a priest. The song features lines such as "Oh abigail how could you do this to us?" and the viedo showcases her betrayals in life.

Performing/appearing

In music videos it isnt uncommon for bands or artists to lip sync or pretend to play instruments with the studio track put behind them. The artist or band may also be featured in the video acting or appearing rather than performing. In some cases bands will do both act and perform in the videos. Asking alexandria did this in several music videos, they both acted and performed in them. They put 3 music videos together the make a narrative labeled "Through sin and self destruction" of which the band all acted in.

Intertextuality

Sometimes bands and producers may play with conventions by  making references to a genre as a whole, or to other music videos. This is intertexuality. This can be shown by Capture the crown, and in their video "You call that a knife? This is a knife!" The present metalcore as a whole genre with the clothes they wear, and the movements they make. But the band  also make referneces to other bands in metalcore such as Asking Alexandria. They copy particular scenes and use the same gimmics, such as the singer with water pouring over them.

The purpose of a music video.

The purpose of a music video is to sell products, the main ove being the song featured in the video. Other products to do with a band or artist are also marketed by music videos. For example, the album the song is featured on, the film the song is part of a soundtrack for, or an upcoming tour. Music viedos are a strange way to market, as they allow the audience full access to the product they are selling. When you watch a music video you get the song or "product" being promoted, for free. before the digital age, music marketing was too problematic. Whereas today, with new technology music videos can be seen basically anywhere and at any time. Sites like youtube, facebook and myspace are all popular for displaying music videos by bands or artists. With the internet so accessable on so many devices (smartphones, tablets and laptops) music videos and band advertisment can be seen anywhere in the world.

Goodwins theory of a music video - analysis

1) Music videos demostrate genre characterisitcs.

In motionless in white's video for Immaculate Misconception the genre characteristics are shown throughout. As  a genre it is classed as "metalcore" which is a branch off from heavy metal. As a genre it is considered dark and often angry and hateful, which the video shows at the start with chris tackling the protestor. The band perfrom on stage infront of a live crowd, typical for metal videos. It shows the band performing, and playing their instruments, as opposed to in pop videos where the person may dance. The theme of anger in metalcore music is shown as Chris (vocals) screams and sings at the man he tackles at the start, and directs his anger at him. The club they are perfroming in is dark, fitting in with sterotypical views on "Heavy" music. All of this fits in with goodwins theory, as the video matches the genre characteristics.














2) There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals.

There is a very strong relationship between lyrics and visuals in this song. The song is about being different, and standing up to people who lie and pretend , as shown at the beggining with Chris tackling the protestor. There are also many lines such as " I dont care if this offends you, and your worthless god" which is shown on screen as Chris recreating the scene of the crucifiction from the bible. When the man from the start enters the club and chris screams "So come and F***ing get us!" and walks towards the man to confront him, followed by his loyal crowd (Again to show him as a jesus like figure). Another line "I am who I am, This is what we are" is reflected throughout the entire video. The makeup the band wears, the clothes, the style, the music is all different to what people may consider normal or even acceptable. Its showing the band (and in turn the fans) dont care about being different. Once again this meets goodwins theory as the lyrics and visuals match very well on screen.








3) There is a relationship between Audio and visuals.

The music and visuals work well together, they are quite illasturtive and create a dark and eery tone to the whole video. The whole video is dark, with hardly any lighting to fit the music. The only light is the orange flashing strobe when the band are on stage, allowing a view of the crowd for spilt seconds at a time. The band headbang, and move to the beat of the music at the same time whilst on stage. Contrasting to pop videos with dancing, this headbanging and crabbing is the metal equivelant. When the music is faster paced, there is generally more movment on screen, but with it still being kept dark.
The audio, the visuals and the lyrics all fit in together to match and create a good video. It sticks to the metalcore "sterotypes" or formula for the videos the bands produce, again meeting goodwins theory.

4) The record labels demands will be met with lots of close ups of the artist and they may develop motifs across their videos.

Motionless in white are no different from any other band that make music videos on the basis that there are a lot of close up on the band, inparticular chris. As chris is the singer/screamer and the frontman of the band, he is the one who can move the most and have the most focus set on them. Chris doesnt devlop any particular moves that he uses in every video, but the makeup however is used in every video.  To fit in with the metal theme (and the theme of being different) the band uses a lot of heavy make up on stage. Chris does however lean over into the crowd quite a lot, but this isnt special to motionless in white, as frontmen of most bands tend to do this when performing live. This still meets goodwins theory, although it isnt as strong as genre characteristics, or the relationship between lyrics and visuals.

5) There is frequent reference to the notion of looking.

This is one area where metal videos differ widley from others, The fouse is more on the actual music than on the visuals of a person. There are no mirrors used, and no screens within screens at all. The only thing that is used is a stage, for the band to perform on. The only focus of looking (more so for people who are newly exposed to the genre) is the shock factor of the makeup, the piercings and the stretched ears. There are only a few women in the video, but these are just members of the crowd, and are not used to attract attention with skimpy outfits or any sexual referneces. The notion of looking in metalcore videos as a whole is focused on the lead singer/screamer of the band, as these are often the most popular members. Immaculate misconception doesnt really meet this critera very well, and metal as a genre doesnt focus on looking as much as pop videos would.

6) There is often intertextual reference.

There isnt much reference to other forms of media (eg tv, film or other videos) in Immaculate misconception. It can be seen in some music videos for there to be the bands name, or the record labels name in film style at the start of the video, but not here. The only slight reference to TV is at the start with the protestors, as it appears to be a modern day protest that would be seen on the news, and in the past there have been many protests outside venues against metal bands. In this particular video there are hardly any references at all, but most other music videos do use referneces. This video doesnt fit in with goodwins theory.