The structure of the music industry

The music industry dominates popular culture; music influences the way people behave and look. For example; the male in the left picture would steroetypically listen to hardcore metal, 'emo' music such as "Bring me the Horizon".

There are four trans-national corporations that are known as ‘The Majors’ that own the largest percentage of the music industry. These are, ‘Universal’, ‘Sony/BMG’, ‘Warner Bros’ and ‘EMI’. However, the structure of the music industry is not hierarchal as such with ‘The Majors’ at the top of the structure, as most majors also own, or license small companies in order to reach all audiences. For example, ‘Universal’ own ‘Verve Records’ an American Jazz record label. These companies are known as the ‘Major-independents’.

The music industry is structured as a ‘web’ of companies. These companies are made up of big companies such as ‘Majors’ and ‘major-independents’, the web of connections allow these to gain connections to new artists to move into popular music. Smaller companies are known as ‘independents’ that have little or no financial connection to the four major companies. The web of connections allows these smaller companies to gain access to bigger markets and popular music.

My pop video, is 'La la la' by the alternative band The Bird and the Bee. They are signed by independent jazz music corporation, 'Blue Note' records. These are not owned by one of the major trans-national corporations and have no financial connection with these also. This means that the video would not have much financial back up for the creation of the music video.
The music industry itself is linked to different media platforms such as radio, TV, Print media, Film, New Media. This created synergy and symbiosis between these media platforms. For instance, music is played on the radio, which can be listened to now online and on television. Music is also linked to film; in a way that soundtracks are an important part of feature films and can be bought on their own.

The Bird and the Bee were featured on the soundtrack for 'Sex and the City' with a cover of 'How deep is your love?' by the Beegees. This is how I found out about The Bird and the Bee, not due to a promotional music video.

All popular music when released must have a music video. A music video serves a number of different functions. They are important in the promotion process of an artist's single and normally their album. The content of the music video and how the artist is shown in the video creates or adapts their 'star image'. It entertains an audience on it's own. There are all different music video channels on television promoting different music genres. The can also be viewed o the internet on the artist's website or on websites such as 'youtube'.
My music video promotes my band, that is made up of two girls. They wear indie, bohemian style clothing, to represent them as quirky and individual characters.

There are four elements that make up a music video. These are, performance; this includes the singer lip syncing and the band playing their instruments. Narrative, this is a storyline element to a video that could be performed by the singer/band itself or other actors. Thematic, this is what the video is about and must follow the genre of the music. For example, a rock band would probably not feature a dance break with girls as maybe an club style song would. For example; Arctic Monkey's video here is just the rock band performing with their instruments. This is so the video appeals to the target market, who will buy the song. Symbolic is the last element that uses symbolism to put over a message to an audience or reinforce the meaning of the song.
I have these elements in my pop video. The band is featured in a performance element that is filmed in the television studio. This shows the synth player, playing her instrument and the singer lip syncing. There is also a narrative element, that features members of the elder generation in teenage situations.

The music video does have current threats facing it, and in some ways they are becoming defunct and irrelevant. The music industry has been facing threats from the internet for some time due to many available websites to download music for free. There are now so many easy ways to promote an artist through the intent, such as artist websites and interviews. This is mug cheaper promotion than a pop video, and with the threats from lack of finance through music, these ways of promotion can be more effective.