Diversity Of Music Videos

All music videos have meanings and a purpose, however, some break the boundaries and even create controversy, possible containing hidden messages.  These are considered "diverse" music videos, they stray away from genre, doing this contains adavantages and disadvantages from the artist.  The audience may see a different side to the artist, they may find them interesting and like the fact they aren't "boring" and original which could lead them to selling more records, however, some viewers could also find it disturbing, weird and also be put off from listening to the artist if their first impression of them is that the artist seems odd, which could lose the artist fans and money.

The artist may also be limiting themselves and their song/music to a niche target audience as the unusual content may only appeal to a small group of people. In an extreme case, if fans do not like the change in music video style it may lead to an artist receiving hate campaigns wanting them to go back to their conventional style of music videos, leading to a mass loss of fans, and money and bad publicity. It is very risky for an artist to stray from the norm of their music genre and create a diverse music video, as simply, fans make not like it, which could therefore lead to an artist losing their fan loyalty. Also, the artist may struggle to compete if there are more and more new artists entering the same genre of music, who could be newer and better. Furthermore, there is the risk that an artist may achieve a bad reputation in the music industry if their diverse music video is too weird or unpopular, which could result in record labels not wanting to work with them. If an artist loses respect and their following, it could also lead to them losing money as they will not be able to sell their music and therefore they would turn to a failure.

Analysis of Madonna's "frozen" (pop)

Chris Cunningham was the music video director for the song. Madonna is well known for her songs chart topping songs in the pop genre and has sold millions, her best hits include Vogue, Papa don't preach and Material Girl. The music that Madonna produces shows and includes characteristics that fit into the pop genre. The pop genre when performed by females usually features a song about love or materialistic items, and videos are usually fun, girly and light-hearted and not taken too seriously. Pop girl bands wear revealing outfits and usually have dance routines.

In this music video, the audience can see Madonna standing in the middle of no where, seemingly in a desert, with her body completely covered in black clothing, her hair dyed black, and crows are seen flying around her, which are obviously all black animals. Her appearance is almost witch like, which the audience will not expect as they know her as a pop artist and comparing to her other music videos, the audience expect to see her wearing revealing, bright coloured clothing, like a "normal" pop artist. In this music video the audience will see Madonna in a different, scary kind of way. It could be perceived that the concept behind the music video for "Frozen" is that relationships can be consuming, manipulative, and dark. It could show Madonna's emotions, that everything in her life is black and miserable. The idea of relationships and a boy girl love story, suggested by the lyrics "we'd never be apart" and "give yourself to me", is conventional to the pop genre as a cheesy love story with catchy lyrics are often more engaging for the audience to watch. The audience will find it easier to relate to love based narratives/songs as they have often experienced these situations in real life. The music video for 'Frozen' is more likely to stand out and the audience are more likely to remember this video, as well as the song due to it being so different and extreme when compared to all of her other music videos. However, there is the risk that some of her fans may not like the change in style, and although they will still see her differently, it will be in a bad way which will make them less inclined to watch any of her future music videos.

As mentioned, the director responsible for this video was Chris Cunningham who has been responsible for two other "strange" music videos that I have analysed, both coming from the artist Aphex Twin, the songs being "Come to daddy" and "Windowlicker". These two music videos are very controversial, but they have also been watched nearly four million times combined on YouTube. The reason behind the success of these two videos was down to the fact that people are attracted to and buy into controversy, some like those who think outside of the box. Audiences want to see how far an artist is willing to go to push their creative boundaries.

The music video for the song 'Windowlicker' is very diverse and can be considered strange or odd by many. The video includes some of the seven elements from Goodwin's theory, even though it is unconventional. For example, there is a relationship between the music and the visuals which can be seen during the umbrella sequence, when each time the beat changes, the artist moves the umbrella. The umbrella segment also shows us that the music video incorporates performance as the artist is seen dancing by the side of the road with the umbrella. There is also a narrative within the story - which can be seen when the two guys talking in the car at the very beginning of the video.

The concept behind the music video for "Windowlicker" is the idea that women look for and are attracted to men with money. This can be seen in the video when the two women dismiss and argue with the men in the smaller car, and then when the richer man in the bigger car comes along, they happily get into the car with him. This conforms to the idea that music artist are rich and have expensive lifestyles, drive expensive cars and that lots of women are attracted to them. The audience may find it difficult to relate to this music video - they may live more of a simplistic lifestyle.

In the video there are also visuals of the artist. When the bigger car crashes into the smaller car, the artist is seen sitting in the back seat, on the faces of the girls too when they are in the car, which some may find disturbing and weird. It could connote that the artist is indeed obsessed with himself as he is attracted to women with his face on them, showing he is asexual.

The music video for the song Come To Daddy is very similar to Windowlicker in the way that it is diverse and can be seen by many as odd. The elements of Goodwin's theory that appear in this music video include intertextual references, such as the the TV. The audience can see an old woman silently screaming and petrified at the television sets which could imply that she is scared by the development of technology and modern society and what it beholds as it would not have been as popular or advanced when she was younger. This links in with the concept behind the music video for "Come to Daddy" which is the idea that media has a major influence on the youth and times have changed greatly. There are also visuals of the artist, as his face can be seen on the faces of the young kids in the video, possibly connoting that he is influencing the youth. Some may find this disturbing and odd, but it also entices the audience and makes them want to watch the rest of the video, as they are not used to seeing something so peculiar. This suggests that artists have a major influence on the media, and that young, impressionable children look up to and want to be like them and have the life and the money that they have.

Both of the Aphex Twin music videos that were directed by Chris Cunningham and appeared odd, dark and somewhat disturbing, but they also had strong concepts. This may benefit the artist as the audience may appreciate the artist's intellect and respect that the song has a deeper meaning and they aren't just trying to be "weird" on purpose.

Analysis of Michael Gondry videos:

Like Cunningham, Gondry has made some different and peculiar music videos, however they aren't considered to be as disturbing. He is responsible for directing the music video to the white stripes "hardest button to button" and also Kylie Minogue's "Come into my world".

The White Stripes are a duo band from the Rock genre, who also have a diverse music video called 'The hardest button to button' directed by Michael Gondry. Within this music video you would expect the artists to be playing instruments as it is the rock genre, a key component for rock artists as instruments such as drums and electric guitars are featured prominently in their songs, this is used in this example and therefore then making the music video conventional to the rock genre. There is constant repetition of the instruments to emphasize their use within the rock genre, the use of these instruments may be appealing for their target audience, as fans of this genre may like these instruments. There is also repetition of the white stripes themselves throughout the music video which, much like Kylie Minogue's video, is seen self promotion and also shows the music video as being primarily performance based. They are represented as stereotypical rock artists through black leather costumes, commonly seen worn by rock artists and the iconography of rock instruments such as a bass drum and electric guitar. The setting is constantly changing due to the constant continuous movements of the artists which would put different images in the audiences mind, making it more entertaining and memorable for them, the more memorable and interesting they find it, the more likely they are to tell friends and family about the video, therefore increasing the music videos popularity and therefore its' success. The constant repetition of the artists running throughout an average urban city could be seen to be comical and this is very unconventional to the rock genre, videos within this genre are often seen as being deep and serious with explicit language and containing references to drugs or alcohol and possibly footage of the artists doing this. The artists may have done this in order to again appeal to a wider audience, young and old who can relate to repetitive urban settings. It's unusual nature may attract new fans outside of the rock genre, however it's loyal fans may be disappointed, and the constant repetition seen in this video may be seen as some as quite boring. A peculiar unconventional video will stick in a viewers mind, the white stripes did not create any controversy with this and the video became very popular, meaning Gondry's work here was a success.


Another example of Gondry's work, is Kylie Minogue's music video "Come into my world" which from the pop genre. The genres videos are commonly associated with showvanistic iconography such as materialistic items, bright setting and co-ordinated dance routines which the audience would expect from an artist such as Kylie Minogue. However, in contrast, for her music video 'Come into my world' the artist is the only sole focus, meaning this video is also primarily performance based like my last example. It features bland, less extravagant and flashy setting and iconography she is repetitively shown throughout. The repetition of the artist is unconventional for the pop genre as this often consists of videos with a lot happening consisting of dancing and partying and the appearance of materialistic items, however the effect of this viewer/artist connection could consist of the audience becoming more engaged, being enticed by this peculiar video making them want to watch further and it also becoming more memorable for them. Another factor that makes the music video diverse is the fact that Kylie Minogue is wearing normal smart clothing, not materialistic or high fashion brands like most pop artists, she presents herself in this video as a "normal" girl which again subverts to the typical pop genre, the video itself also has a normal everyday setting to go with her clothing. In addition to this, the videos style is performance based, this is shown throughout, such as when Kylie sings to the camera whilst walking through an urban chaotic town, this links in with the title of the song as it shows a day to day routine and the artist going through her own " world" doing the same repetitive routine, and she welcomes the viewers to her world and the viewers therefore get to know more about the artist. The representation of Kylie within this music video shows sole focus on her as well as clones of herself, which is an example of self promotion. Overall the video was made by gondry in order to promote Kylie as being a relatable figure that fans can relate to. This was achieved through focusing on her at all times and showing her as going through a repetitive normal lifestyle, like many of her fans through the use of mis en scene with unconventional settings.



To conclude, the music industry nowadays is a very hard industry to build reputation in and stand out from the large amount of artists within it, therefore, an artist may feel the need to create a diverse music video in order to be memorable and gain fans. Gondry's idea would be less suitable for my potential genre in my production due to the use of repetition because as an artist within house/dance, the genre I may possible pursue, genre the music is already repetitive and you wouldn't want to bore the audience, you would want to be creative and vary the plot. A lack of audience means a lack of profit, popularity and publicity, therefore less fans and less money. As well as this, Cunningham’s style would also be unsuitable for my genre due to the use of explicit scenes and narrative used within the music videos he directs. The house/pop genre often has a large widespread, mainstream target audience and may lose viewings with an explicit video.

Research into censorship

Censorship is the ways in which an audience is protected from learning about or hearing or seeing harmful information. For example, on television or in the music industry, swearing or harmful references are often cut out, replaced by "clean" versions of the song. Censorship is used every day throughout all aspects of media, but especially since the growth in new technologies that has made it easier for music artists to express themselves, as this has lead to the music industry experiencing a rise explicit videos. *

Ofcom play a huge role in censorship. Ofcom is the regulator and competition of authority for UK communications industries. It regulates tv and radio, fixed telecoms, postal services, mobiles and the airwaves which wireless devices use. Members of the public who watch television and/or listen to the radio are protected from harmful or offensive material by the regulations that Ofcom put in place. That is what ofcom do to every form of media on a regular basis to make sure it isn't offensive in anyway and cannot harm viewers or listeners, Ofcom also have a board of directors that will decide whether or not something is in violation of censorship regulations and rules and hasn't been dealt with professionally. Ofcom are the judge and jury of whether or not a song requires censorship, and when it has been, the song is shown on television, if the TV channel do not comply with showing the censored version of a song on their network before the watershed (9pm), Ofcom could give them a fine, as shown by fines they have given to grime and rap music channel "Channel AKA" for instance. 

Censorship from an artists (Eminem) point of view (against)

As a music artist, Eminem wants to be able to do and say what he likes without having to worry about whether it will require censorship ages will be filtered. Eminem uses most of his songs to motivate his fans he wants them to feel that that if you put your mind to your goals, you can achieve anything, like he feels he has done with his music, and the poor background he came from, pretty much making it big from nothing and being an inspirational success story.
Eminem has previously gone out of his way before to offend some individuals, such as Michael Jackson and Britney Spears, however it is mainly intended for satirical and light hearted purposes, he uses his music as a way of releasing any negativity that he has inside of him, for example "kim". He listens and feels the beat of the music, and then writes down how the music makes him feel, expressing his feelings and what comes to his mind. Most of his songs are based on negative experiences that he has had in his life, as he wants his audience to be able to relate to his songs and make an emotional connection with them, and feel like they can embrace and conquer these situations when faced with them.
He argues that even though sometimes the lyrics of some of his songs may offend people, for example, those that make references to drugs and rape, that he himself has never, nor would he ever take part in those kind of activities, and promote that kind of lifestyle to anyone listening to his music, he wants to also spread positve messages, therefore his audience should know not to take his lyrics literally if they can be offensive.
It is not the role of an artist to censor their music, parents are ultimately in charge of deciding what their kids can and cannot listen to. Overall, censorship is not a permanent tool for protecting children from harmful content If they want to listen to the explicit version of a song, they will find a way, on websites such as youtube where the clean version is available as well as the un-edited where the children can easily choose which they want to listen to.

Censorship from the record label's point of view (against)
Eminem, alongside his manager Paul Rosenberg founded Shady Records following the extreme pressure he felt he was under to use censorship in his songs. The pair thought that it was down to the parents to decide and 'censor' what their kids should listen to, not him as the artist.
Shady records do know that audience's like controversy in music, it can make more sales, otherwise artists like Eminem would not be as popular as they are, nor experience that high level of success. If the songs that these artists produce are really as bad as people make them out to be, and do indeed require censorship, then why would many people invest into it and listen?
Also, music is just another example of an art form that is used to express how an artist is feeling, similar to art and books. However, artwork and books are not censored, swearing is free in books, and controversial art is never censored, so why should music be restricted and supressed? Shady records produces music that audience's wants to hear, it is censor free and is given on a plate for what it is directly to their audience, who enjoy hearing it, which is proven by the fact that over the years they have won several awards. Songs are mainly for entertainment purposes, and audiences should know better than to take them literally and to heart.

Censorship from a parents point of view (for)
Parents want to be able to let their children watch whatever they want to without having to worry about whether they are being exposed to harmful materials and images, such as drugs and alcohol. They want to be able to protect, but also trust their "innocent" children without feeling like they are being to restrictive and controlling about what their kids can and cannot watch. Censorship provides parents with the security that young children are being prevented from listening to inappropriate material that should only be available to the more mature and older listeners Would an artist want their own children to be exposed to material similar to the material that they could potentially be exposing other children to?

(Against)
Parents, at the end of the day, are responsible for what their children can and cannot listen to, it is their choice. However, they need to understand that children pick things up easily, especially in a world today with such big technological advance, meaning there are more ways than ever to find material, not just from the music industry, but also through watching the television, by reading the newspaper, through events that take place in their everyday life which hear with their own ears in person and they and also easily online, such as watching on youtube. Therefore, children should be educated to know what is bad, otherwise parents will end up with naïve and curious children, who may even end up surpressing their kids.
There is no evidence to support the statement that music creates negativity amongst children and there never will be. If a child has a mental illness, this can not be made worse or influence by explicit music videos, or the content within the songs.

Censorship for the fans point of view (against)
Music is an artists way of expressing themselves to their fans, showing them who they really are, but censorship is arguably blocking the creative freedom that artists have. In his song 'Kim', Eminem raps about murdering his wife, which most people understand to be an illegal thing to do, and it can also come across as not only graphic, but very offensive, however Eminem has made it clear that it is something he would never do. All he wants is for his fans to be able to make an emotional connection to his songs, feel like they can relate to his sitautions and for people to respect his opinion and freedom of speech regarding these serious topics. When he raps, Eminem often opens up about his personal life which appeal to his fans who want to keep up to date and know about their favourite artists experiences and be able to get to know him more. The use of censorship may restrict the information that Eminem can put across to his fans, and they may not get or understand the full meaning of the message. Furthermore, some of Eminem's songs have more of a suggestive meaning, which may not be as obvious when the use of censorship is blocking out some key parts to his songs, which could be the main selling point. Also, censorship often ruins the rhythm of the song, which therefore takes away from the effec and may make it sound less attractive and catchy.
Eminem does not encourage violence, nor endorse it, he just likes to see how far he can push the boundaries of his creative freedom and wants to inspire others to do the same, to not feel surpressed. However, the tameness of Eminem's more recent songs tells us that censorship is beginning to take a toll on his music, as he is taking a more "mainstream" approach.


Censorship from the music television channel MTV's point of view (for)
MTV have always been strict on their use of censorship, ever since their introduction on television. During the day, most of the songs that MTV play are censored as they know that there is a higher chance of kids listening, as it is peak hours and not post-watershed. In contrast, during the evening censorship is not as strict. In one of his songs, Eminem threatens to kill a congressman from the white house, which is obviously an illegal thing to do. Also, in 1999 following a shooting that took place at a high school in America, censorship was necessary to prevent artists from exploiting the sensitive issue in order to make money. This was proof that some of his views cannot be taken as a joke. Eminem has also released songs that make homophobic references, which arguably shows just how backwards Eminem is as an artist. Especially now that gay marriage has been made legal in all 50 states in the USA, which shows us that times are moving forward, and eminem has an ignorrant and naive view. It could be argued that Eminem uses the controversy of his songs as a marketing tool. People want to listen to his music just to see how far he is willing to push his creative freedom, and to see what his boundaries are.


AKA (against)
AKA aims to establish unknown artists and allow and respect an artists creative freedom, in order to gain popularity. They understand that most artists, Eminem included, use their music as a way to express their often life stories, and that the use of censorship often prevents artists from saying what they want to say. In 2005, the AKA channel was fined £18,000 by Ofcom due to the fact that it played a song that contained inappropriate material. The channel argues that it has learnt from this mistake as they have not been fined since, so clearly the music they are now playing is not inappropriate.
Censorship from BBC radio 1's point of view (for)

Radio 1 is own by the BBC, which is also home to channels such as CBBC and CBeebies, childrens television programmes. The BBC is a family channel, therefore parents will have an expectation that the radio channel will play music that is 'family friendly' and suitable for any younger children to listen to.
There has been a lot of controversy over the years regarding Eminem's music, especially the lyrics that often include references to drug use, alcohol, abuse in relationships, foul language, and offensive references about rape, and some misogynistic lyrics, all of which should not be glorified by the public, or re-enacted for that matter.  For example, his song "Kill You" is primarily about rape and he often uses words such as 'slut' and 'whore', the song which clearly contains very negative messages can be very harmful to some listeners.
A benefit of censorship on the radio, especially when it comes to artists such as Eminem is that children are protected from learning about things that could be very harmful to them (drugs, alcohol and rape). Censorship also prevents young, impressionable children from being exposed to materials that they may not understand the severity of. Also, the radio station can never be sure who their listeners are, and therefore they should play music that is suitable for all age groups, as this is the safest option. The station could risk achieving a bad reputation if they begin playing music that may offend their old listeners, and they could potentially lose loyal listeners, therefore lost their fan base. In conclusion, producing and selling music is an artists job, therefore their main goal will be to make money/a profit, and to also secure a loyal fan base and gain a following. Even if BBC radio 1 does use censorship on Eminem's songs, his songs will still be receiving the same amount of promotion as they song will be appropriate to play on the radio and listened to, which could ultimately boost sales while preventing children from harmful materials.
Also, it could be argued that censorship makes people curious. It may cause them to go home and listen to the song again to see why the censorship was necessary. This could benefit an artist like Eminem as it will result in their song receiving more views and more publicity.

Overall, censorship affects a lot of artists and the music that they create, there are many that approve of censorship and think it saves kids from harmful content and protects them, whilst there are those that are against it and believe that people in general should mature and realise what society is today and realise that kids will learn these things one way or another later in life or now. My personal opinion is that censorship just destroys the artists point and blocks what they really want to get across and can be very frustrating for them. I also feel that censorship is unnecessary as it just delays the inevitable of kids knowing about drugs and that there are people in the world that would commit violent actions, and these songs may contain swearwords that they are likely to hear on a playground anyway, maybe even from their parents arguing. My opinion on censorship shall carry over to my music video when I produce it as I do not agree with censorship and it may ruin an idea that I might have for my music video.

Goodwins Theory

Goodwins theory is crucial to abide by and take into consideration when either analysing or producing a music video. The theory itself is split up into 7 different sectors. 

1. Music video demonstrating genre characteristics.
2. There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals.
3. There is a relationship between music and visuals.- Machines
4. The demands of the record label.
5. There is frequently reference to the notion of looking and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body .
6. There is often inter textual reference.
7.  Whether the video is primarily performance, narrative based or concept based.

For an artist to sell their music successfuly, gain a following and satisfy their audience, they need not only to mainly feature the above in their song, but also enable listeners to have an emotional connection to their music. The visuals are usually what shows the audience who the artist is, the background and lyrics then being the story behind the song.

For this post, I have decided to analyse Kanye West's "stronger", a hip-hop music video. It contains many instances of goodwins theory, with both the visuals used and lyrics.

The first instance is of goodwins theory seen is showing number 1 of the theory, as characteristics of the Hip-Hop genre are present. Kanye wants to look stylish and cool, wearing a leather body warmer, a nice watch and also his trademark sunglasses, that he made popular from this video. Hip-hop artists always want to show off their lifestyle and seem "cool" to their potential listeners, and Kanye in this instance has decided to do so by wearing flashy clothes and rapping about the expensive clothes he can afford. 

The 4th part of the theory could also be seen here, as the record label want Kanye to appear cool, flashy and stylish in order for potential fans to admire him, and for Kanye to gain a following, therefore the pair of them collectively making more money. This video was very successful in setting a trend in wearing "Shutter glasses", as Kanye is seen wearing above, which shows Kanye successfully achieved the "cool" guy status, as many people bought into these glasses.

The relationship between lyrics and visuals is present in a number of instances. The voice in the background behind Kanye's sounds robotic, and robots can be seen operating on Kanye's body, enhancing the effect of this voice and creating a link between the lyrics and visuals. Another example of this is when Kanye says "You could be my black Kate Moss tonight", and after that follows a shot of a young, skinny and attractive black female. This line was infact so inspiring, the model herself took note and appeared in a series of photos as blackface. his is an example of inter-textual reference, as another celebrity has been mentioned and also used in the video which is Cassie Ventura. This then leads to the voyeuristic treatment of the female body, with various shots of the girl in the video making provactive and sexual moves, with various close-ups on her. Towards the end of the video, Kanye is also seen getting closer and closer to her, making sexual advances.

Further lyrics also greatly meet the wants of the record label, as the lyrics "The christian in christian dior" are heard. Being a christian is associated with being a "good person" and having a good image, as if Kanye presents himself this way, it will not cause controversy towards him or have any backlash on the record label. He then mentions wearing Christian Dior, a very fashionable brand, which even further shows his style, what could be used to get him to sell more records. Using the name of this brand is also another example of intertextual reference, Kanye does this several times in the song, also mentioning Louis Vitton.

A relationship between the music and visuals are shown throughout, as the words stronger better and faster are used, and the robots are shown operating on Kanye, trying to make him better. Two minutes into the song, when a key keeps playing, it switches between a very long shot of Kanye rapping to the camera to Kanye being operated on, synching in with the music and timing of the beat.

Overall, the video does not appear to have much of a narrative. It could be argued Kanye is portraying himself as new and better than ever, hence the songs title "stronger" and the lyrics in the chorus "Stronger, better, faster". The video to the song is primarily performance based, Kanye is seen pretty much throughout, with him rapping the lyrics and also acting scenes, such as breaking himself free from a treatment ward. It is him acting and him performing the song, which shows it to be performance based.

In conclusion, I believe Goodwins theory will benefit me in making my own music video, as it shows what audiences usually expect from a video and what a typical successful video would contain. By following this theory, I believe I can make my music video to a good standard and impress my audience, as providing what audiences expect to see will satisfy my audience, and I will try to emplement the theory further in my own work as this project progresses, taking inspirational from popular and successful videos and trying to craft similar ideas in order to make my work a success. In my own video, a part of goodwins theory i'd like to show is a narrative based production, as I believe I can win my audience over with an interesting story which draws them into the production and is successful through displaying emotions.