Research for music video

Summarise what you have learnt about the state of the music industry in 2012;

Music videos are visuals to go along with a audio. Key elements such as lighting, mise en scenen and editing have to be taken into consideration in order to create a good music video which ill keep the viewer interested an may even have them coming back for more! The music video also sometimes acts like a trial of the song; viewers watch the video for free, and if they like what they are hearing, they may purchase the audio from stores such as HMV or online sites such as iTunes. These music videos are now able to reach the masses due to technological convergences and advanced developments in technology such as the creation of Web 3.0. Once a person has viewed the video, they are able to share it through social networking sites such as Facebook or through micro blogging sites such as Twitter, this means that the video may become a viral and will spread through the internet like wildfire! For example the Crazy Frog which became a big hit in 2005 because it was shared by a huge amount of Frog loving fans

The music industry has 2 main structures which artists are resigned to:

Mainstream Labels: Large companies that have a lot of money to support the artist and help them market, produce and distribute.

Independent Labels: Smaller companies that have limited amount of funds.

Artists usually try to get signed to a record label so that they are able to produce CD’s and Albums, and get paid for them. Each record label has their type of music they specialize in. However, each record label actually takes in a mind-blowing amount of the profit made from the songs.

The music industry has changed however. Sales are decreasing due to things such as illegal downloads and piracy. People are finding more a more convenient to simply download a song of the internet for free, rather than having to pay and to sign up billing information such as credit card information. Here are the figures which show the steady decrease in sales…

2008 - 428 million sales were made

2009 - 366 million sales were made

2010 - 319 million sales were made

Due to the fact that consumers are losing interest in downloading music online, artists are having to resort to other methods of gaining an income, for example, going on tours and advertisements.