Research into television music channels

Music television channels are useful to artists because it helps to promote their songs and share their music around the globe. Channels such as MTV, have a purpose of entertaining the audience and helping them to view favourite songs and link a narrative to the songs. The visual element of the video engages the audience and helps to maintain attention from viewers. It allows the music videos to be available to viewers 24/7.


MTV

 MTV has a target audience of 13 to 21 year olds, the reason for this is because they play current and up to date music. Looking at today schedule  it highlights the target audience age group by playing '2015 hottest dance hits! Top 10',  'hot, fresh & new' and 'Jess Glynnes party tunes' This will include the latest music that is popular within the 13 to 21 age group. The words like "hot" and "new" will encourage the audience to watch the programs as this is the music that they will enjoy and want to listen to. The new releases will appeal to them due to the style and genre of the music. These programs will include the pop and dance music that is extremely popular with todays 13 to 21 year olds.

MTV plays any popular chart music, including pop. Some of the regular artists that would be expected to be seen on MTV include Ed Sheeran, Jess Glynne, Chris Brown, Carley Ray Jepson and Taylor Swift. These are some of the most current and popular artists at the present time, therefore would be artists that the target audience would be frequently listening to, meaning they will be able to recognise their music and listen to the program. Also if they are playing the most current artists this will help to build up trust between the audience as they are playing good music that the audience enjoy. Which could help the music channel to introduce new artists and encourage the audience to listen to them as they trust their opinion on the music they listen to.
MTV is owned by Viacom music and entertainment group, alongside MTV the company also owns Nickelodeon, VH1 and Comedy central. Being part of such a large company is beneficial to MTV into becoming more successful and popular because if people enjoy other channels that Viacom have then they will be more likely to watch MTV and have high standards. Also being part of such a big company will mean MTV will have more money to keep up to change will changing treads. And they will be able to spend more money on advertising and trying to engage people with the channel, this leads to helping the channel to become more global.
The logo uses a graphite style typography when saying "TV" to appeal to the 13 to 21 year old target audience because graphite has connotations of youth, which is similar to the target audience, therefore making the logo relatable to them. And the basic black and white colours show exactly what the channel and is nothing to complicated which will appeal to the targeted audience and they would use the music as a way to relax and chill out therefore a simple logo is appropriate. Also it doesn't take attention away from what they are watching on the actual channel. This makes the music watching experience simple and easy for the audience to do which would appeal to them as at their age music is used to relax or play when hanging out with friends.


Vintage TV
Vintage TV had a target audience of men and women 25 plus, however a core of the viewership is men 30 plus. The most popular viewing times are early morning, late evening and weekends, this highlights the target audience age because they would be working weekdays during the day therefore would not be listening to music then. They play classical and contemporary music, as this is the type of music that this target audience would have grown up with and enjoyed as children.  Looking at todays schedule it is playing 'lose yourself in the 70s', 'defining decades: The 1980s' and 'wake up in the 90s'.  This music will appeal to men and women 25 plus because it will include the music that the grew up with and are familiar with, and it shows that they are offering them an escape through the music that they play. Unlike the pop and dane music that kids today are growing up listening to.
Vintage TV will play music history and legendary artist that everybody knows still performing today and associated culture. Some of the artists that we could expect to see on Vintage TV include Queen, Rolling Stones, U2 and Elvis Presley.
The channel is owned by Vintage Entertainment LTD, this is a small company and channels owned by it are mostly aimed at older 25 plus viewers. However, I could not find any additional channels that they own. Which would be beneficial to Vintage TV because sit means that all profits can be used to improve the channel and more time can also be spent on this.
The logo used by Vintage TV include an old TV in the middle of it, this mirrors the fact the the channel plays more classical and contemporary music from the last 5 decades. People who watch the channel will most likely remember having to use these old style TV boxes. Also the colours used are quite dull as it matches the era that most of the music played is from. Coloured TV's were still relatively knew therefore, the colours were not as bright as todays vibrant colours commonly seen on TV.

Kerrang!
Kerrang music channel has a target audience of adult rock enthusiasts, it includes the more classical rock and also the heavy metal rock appealing to all rock fans. The schedule from today includes 'Green Day's 20 most awesome videos', 'The 10 most offensive music videos ever' and '21 artists shaping the further of rock', all of these programs heavily follow the theme of rock, appealing to the audience who enjoy this music.
Some of the artists the would be expected to commonly be played on the station include AC/DC, Aerosmith, Guns N' Roses, Metallica and Good Charlotte. These artists are some of the most famous in the rock genre from past generations.
The channel is jointly owned by Channel 4 and Bauer media group, having this join ownership would be beneficial to Kerrang because it means that there are more people to help make the channel better and keep up with demands from target audience.
The font used is untidy and broken looking almost, this mirrors the conventions of rock as it has connotations of smashing things up and breaking things. It is also rather aggressive looking, another convention linked in with rock music that artists are portrayed as aggressive in their music. Also the simple black and white means that the audience won't be distracted when the logo is on the screen and can concentrate on watching the videos.

Clubland 
Clubland tv music channel is aimed at 18 to 25 year olds, mainly who enjoy going out and dancing, this is because the channel plays music mainly found in clubs and raves. The schedule shows programs such as 'AM2PM', 'Clubland' 'Classix' '100% club hits' and 'top 30 dance hits'. The program names i mentioned link back to my earlier point that the channel is aimed at people who link to go out and party and dance. Such as 'AM2PM' which suggests the music will be playing morning to night, and people should party that long.
Some of the artists that would commonly be played on this channel include Basshunter, Ultrabeat, Pixie Lott, Cascada, and N-Dubz.  Between these artists they have realised some of the biggest dance/club tracks.
The channel is owned All around the world and universal music TV, it is beneficial to be jointly owned as it means there will be more ideas stimulated to keep the channel up to date and it means there will be more money to invest in the channel to make improvements.
The dotted font used in the logo mirrors the beats produced by and on speakers, the black colour used in the logo means that it will not distract the viewers when watching videos.

AKA

AKA music channel has a target audience of 16-25 year olds, and focus on playing upcoming uk urban, grime and hip-hop music to appeal to this audience. This type of music will appeal to this audience because it is the type of music that the age group have grown up with and there tastes have developed into this genre style.  Looking at todays schedule it shows the channel has shows such as 'sickest new sounds' , 'the friday heat up' and getting later into the day around 8pm when most of the 16-25 year olds will be at home or getting ready to go out for the night they play 'sickest US club bangers top 50' therefore there will most likely by more viewers at this time of the day so they music channel will play their best selection.
A big focus of the channel is to give raw and unsigned talent a platform to which they can perform and make themselves known. Some regular artists that are highly expected to be seen on the channel are Wiley, Kendrick Lamar, Jess Gylnne and Ciara. These are some of the most current artists that are highly popular at this point in time.
AKA is owned by All around the world productions, the company specialises in dance music which is incredibly helpful for the genres and type of music played on AKA. All around the world productions is a subsidiary company of universal. Being a subsidiary of such a large company is very helpful to AKA because it means the will have quite a bit of funding to help them and they will be able to get new/fresh ideas from a  variety of people. Therefore enabling them to stand a better chance of keeping up with the forever changing fashion and trends. The company also has some other channels, including clubland and WTF, these channels play similar music to AKA. So if these channels are popular it will increase awareness and popularity of AKA.
The logo for the channel is quite plain and uses a black and white colouring so the it doesn't detract concentration for the music videos that are being played on screen. Also instead of a line between the k and a the figure of a dance standing is there. The gives viewers an idea of what sort of music is going to be played on the channel without even hearing any songs. Because the silhouette shows the person wearing a snapback and trainers.


MTV channels
MTV splits its music channels into six different channels. These are base, dance, music, hits, classic and rock. I think they do this because the audience can choose what genre of music they want to listen to and then select an appropriate channel. This makes it easier for the audience. It also widens the range of people that will watch the MTV channels as there is something for everyone. If they only had one channel, people would not want to listen to music they don't enjoy or like so they would lost viewers.

I believe that it is important to music channels appeal to their target audience because they are quite specific. Most of the channels play a specific genre and style of music so if they don't successfully appeal to this target audience they will have now viewers. Which would mean they will lose ratings and profits.

Through this research i have learnt that once i have chosen what song i want to use in my music video i have to carefully select what channel i want it to play on because they all have specific genres that they play. Therefore the channel must be appropriate, and my target audience must link in with the target audience of the channel. Furthermore, I will need to look at the censor regulations of the channel that i choose to preview my music video on, as if the song includes crude language then it won't be allowed to be played all the time so will not get maximum viewers. This has also made me consider the genre that i have considered for my music video, this is a song from the pop genre. I am highly considering this for my music video genre because this is a very popular music genre and i know more about this genre then most others. Also i am a frequent watcher on MTV and they play a lot of pop music, therefore know the style of music videos they play on there and what would appeal to there audience.

History of music videos - Miss Georgiou

Music videos have changed and evolved depending on the social trends at the time 

Over the decades, all aspects of media have changed and evolved depending on current trends, interests and what’s popular and enticing for the audience.                                                             

Earliest music- 1950's- Tony benet - Strangers in paradise

This video is a mixture of still images with the song playing over them. There is no use of high technological editing joining the images together. Or any moving images. Also the song is a classical contemporary piece. The colours used are quite dull and not very vibrant. This would of matched the interests of people at the time because they was not use to the highly animated videos that we see now days and therefore would have been very impressed with the video. 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            1964- The Beatles - A hard days night                                                           This video had an effect on how many contemporary artists film today. Its a black and white video, using the performance style of music videos. This allowed the Beatles to tell a story with their video.The audience could really focus on the performance of the video, which would help to engage them. The old fashioned iconography and actors costumes shows the era that the video was released, therefore the audience at the time would find the video highly relatable because they also have similar clothing and experiences that are happening to the characters in the video. 

The innovation of music video was of course the editing and filming process. High quality coloured video recorders and portable recorders, made filming the videos relatively easy and cheap compared to using film.

The modern ear of music videos 1970's  - Top of the pops

In the UK top of the pops was highly important as it helped to promote artists and a brand. It also stimulated competition between bands and record labels as the show would only show a strict number of videos meaning, a good video would increase a songs sales as viewers would want to see them again. However, after 42 years the BBC decided to call it quits on the show because the weekly show could no longer keep up with the 24 hour music channels. The show was just not as popular as it use to be, and lost many viewers to other channels. 

Early 1980's Artists started to use more sophisticated effects in their videos and added a storyline to their videos, this made the videos more interesting and engaging for the audience because it made the videos more interesting for them to watch. 

Michael Jackson was the first artist to create the concept of the music video being a short film, meaning the video would have a beginning, middle and end. Starting this on a small scale at first he done this with 'Billy jean' then he went on to do this with West side story. However, it wasn't until 'Thriller' that was released in 1984 that he took music videos to another level, due to the engaging storyline and story like intensity of the song.

1981 - MTV began 

The first video to be aired on the channel was Video killed the radio star. MTV, grew by mid 80's to play a major role in the marketing of music videos. Many saw the beginning of MTV as the start of a 'golden era' for music videos. The purpose of the channel was to air music videos in order to promote artists and bands. But throughout the years it has expanded into more than that. It now also runs music based shows and music awards. This is beneficial to the audience as they are able to satisfy all of the music needs with one single channel. And that benefits MTV because it means that they are more likely to retain viewers and not lose any to other channels as viewers will be able to find everything they need on the single channel. 

2005 - youtube

Youtube as created by three men who had difficulties finding and sharing videos online. It was many different ideas that then came together to form the idea of a video sharing site, which is currently broadcasting 100 million shorts videos daily. $8.5 million funding from Sequoia capital allowed them to develop this even further and allowed users to share videos individually and this is the Youtube that we now know today. It made viewing videos easier as you no longer had to download any software or register, also it was both easy and edgy which people enjoyed. The most popular and most viewed video on youtube is Gangnam Style by Psy. Overall the video has had 2,390,795,838 views, this is over double the amount of views of it closest rival. Youtube, is constantly developing to keep up with the trends, the site is now moulding into more of a social media site as people are able to comment and like other videos. You are also to subscribe to peoples music channels and share their videos with friends. By enabling users to do this youtube has kept up with the demands by social media users and remained a highly popular site. 

Most expensive music video

The most expensive music video ever made was created by Michael and Janet Jackson, it is called Scream. The song has a space themed music video, costing roughly $7 million. To date this is still the most expensive music video ever made, this is because although producers offered to make Michael a set for the space themed video, Michael insisted of them creating an actual real life rocket ship for the video to be performed in. 

Present

Nowadays, music video are used to help promote an artists but similarly audiences watch them for entertainment as many use the narrative style of videos. The different genres of music videos use either one or a combination of the three different styles (narrative, performance and concept). Also higher quality cameras and editing technique's, which produces and higher quality video. Additionally, artists are becoming more involved with the creation of their videos giving them a more personal feel. For example Justin Bieber who in one of his videos gave the effect that he had filmed the video himself on a personal camera. This is appealing to the current social trends of the audiences and it makes the video feel more personal and like they can connect with the artists more.

This post has shown me how music videos have developed over the years, as it has followed the changing trends in how people want to view, download and listen to their music. Videos today in comparison to what they use to be like are completely different, now a lot more advanced editing and concepts are used to engage the audience. It has also shown me that youtube is highly useful when producing my music video as it will allow me to post the video live worldwide and collect feedback on the video in the comments section. 

What is a music video? Miss Miller

A music video is a short film including imagery and a song. It is used for various reasons to assist a song and the artist. Some of these include helping the audience to understand the song better. Also it is a promotional tool, which tells a story and helps to attract a particular target audience. Furthermore,  it offers a insight into the artist and the audience but into the artists lifestyle, enable the audience to build a relationship with them. The video helps the audience to remember the song and often a video is actually requested by the audience.

There are three different styles of music videos, which are performance (singing/dancing), narrative (telling a story) and concept (selling the audience a theme/idea). Different styles are used for different genres of music videos. the artist/producers will decide what they think will be most effective and use this style.

This music video is All of me by John Legend, it belongs to the R&B music genre. The target audience for this song is quite a general one, however it will most likely be 15-40 year olds and due to the emotional/relationship based theme of the song the audience could be predominately women. Throughout the song I can see the codes and conventions of the R&B genre used. John Legend created a music video to go alongside 'All of me' as it helps the audience to understand the song better and build a story to go along with the song,  which helps them to build a relationship with John due to the intimacy and personal feeling to the song. As the song is based on the personal subject of love, the video reveals more of an insight into John's life.

The first style I can see in the music video is performance. John uses Mes-en-scene, specifically the iconography of a piano at the start of the video to open the song. In this high angled shot i can see John playing the piano in a basic large room. Which helps to give an intimate feel and engages the audience straight away, as they will try to imagine that John is singing the song directly to them. The performance style of John at the piano is referred back to through out the song, keeping it intimate, matching the theme of the song. He is appearing as an ideal man to the female audience as him playing the piano in the intimate setting displays him to be quite sensitive. Furthermore, the piano shows that John has actual talent and can play an instrument and sing, this is appealing to the audience as it makes him more respectable as an artist. This is highly conventional of the R&B music genre, as normally the artist will play an instrument or dance to show they are multi-talented.

Along side the performance style, there is a narrative, used to tell a story to match the lyrics. The two male and female characters are shown to have a intimate relationship, supported by the editing of the video. Editing, in particular the black and white filter layered over the video, helps to create a romantic sense mirroring the theme of love in the video. This engages the audience as it make it feel like real life as they can follow the narrative, like it is a story out of a book and engage with the characters better. This benefits John as, if the audience really engage with him in the video they are likely to watch his other videos and go to his concerts to try to connect with him again through his music. This is highly conventional to the r&b genre as male r&b artists commonly are singing about a relationship with a girl, either breaking up or just about the relationship in general. 

One convention of R&B music videos is for the men and women to wear minimal clothing in order to make them more appealing for the target audience. This high angled shot shows John laying in bed asleep, bare chested with the women next to him without a top on. This gives the narrative a sense of realism and intimacy, as it shows the two characters are comfortable with each other and that the have an intimate relationship, therefore benefitting the audiences it helps to keep them engaged with the video as they follow the narrative with the song. From this shot, the female audience could try to imagine themselves in the situation that the women is in and this helps them to relate to the songs and more of a feel for the lyrics. John is appealing more to the women as they can admire him and the female character is more appealing to the male audience as she is desirable to them, however as i said before the women could also find her appealing as they could imagine themselves in her situation.

Another convention that i can see in the video is the representation of John, this can be seen through an over the shoulder shot, this shows John singing and looking out the window at the women who is looking lustfully towards him. This represents him as being desirable and sensitive, which is stereotypical with slow r&b songs. By him being represented as this is shows him to be a real person and have real emotions and not just be a famous singer. This also helps to create intensity within the audience while listening and watching the video as it implies his real emotions and this is enjoyable to see for the audience as they can relate to this, as they are most likely to have similar relationship situations. This benefits John, as when artists have slow songs especially in r&b they are trying to let the audience feel connected to them as an artist and want them to relate to the lyrics.

As mentioned before the video appeals to the wide 15-40 year old audience because  of the characters used in the video. John is used to appeal more to the female audience, the songs video shows him to be a desirable and sensitive character. This mid shot shows John playing the piano and it shows how into his music he gets and how much passion he feels for the lyrics his singing. This appeals to the audience as it makes him appear as an ideal man for many of the women, as his talented and sensitive. Appealing to the female audience is important to John as if they connect to him through his music video then they are likely to go and see him in concert or follow his other music to try to get this connection again. Whereas the female, character is used to appeal more to the male audience. The lack of clothing she is wearing and slow body movements make her appear desirable to the males. 

From analysing this music video i have learnt about the different styles that a music videos can adopt when creating their video, these include performance, narrative and concept, different genres of music use different styles in their music videos. The R&B music video that i analysed used mainly performance and narrative styles in the video. Also i have learnt that it is important to follow the generic conventions of a music genre as it helps to appeal to the target audience, this then engages the audience throughout the whole video. If the audience are engaged throughout the whole video then they're likely to follow the artists music and then maybe go and see their concerts and tours. The research has also shown me how effective music videos are, they help the audience to put a story to the song lyrics and therefore they are then able to get a better understanding of the lyrics and therefore feel like they can relate better to the artist and the song itself. From this i am now considering to use primarily a narrative based music video as i think this is the best way that i can engage my target audience as it will give the song that i choose a story to go along with the lyrics.