INDUSTRY research : contemporary context of music videos

   CONTEMPORARY CONTEXT  

Who are the major players in this industry?  

Major record labels are usually owned by Multinational media conglomerates (MNC; these are large and powerful businesses that sell products or services in different countries). The major labels are known as the ‘Big Four’: 

• EMI 

• Sony BMG  

• Universal Music Group 

• Warner Music Group 

Other labels are called independents. Sometimes large conglomerates create subsidiary which are smaller companies that will be considered as ‘independent’.  

 

 

How do companies finance, distribute and exchange their products? 

FINANCE – Companies first starting can get financing from start-up loans, art grants, sponsorships or crowd funding. Once established, record labels would usually make money from artists’ release cycle where they gain profit from sales or marketing (EG merchandise). 

• Artists who are signed to a record label will have their music video financed by them. Major record labels usually invest 20% of the total amount into promotion whilst independent labels may only invest 10%.  

DISTRIBUTION – Music videos can be distributed easily through different social platforms such as YouTube or can be distributed by an official company such as Vevo, Apple music of Tidal. Music in general can be distributed by the record label and a distributor agreeing to a contract which allows the distributor to have rights to the products. However, the music industry has been ehavily impacted with the introduction of downloading and easily accessible platforms which differ from the before-used cassettes, CDs and physical albums. Platforms such as Spotify and iTunes have warped the structure of music distribution and revenue.  

 

How do audiences access these products? 

Audiences can access music videos from many sites such as YouTube and Vimeo. Successful music videos, however, also incorporate other mediums to increase the exposure and engagements audiences have with the music video release. This can take the form of social media (Instagram, Twitter etc) promotion, countdowns to the release, pre-release pictures/teasers etc. Music videos are easily accessible and usually free viewing as well as having features that allow audiences to directly interact with the content: such as likes, comments and sharing.