Purpose and Conventions of promotional music videos , album digipaks and magazine advertisements

Purpose of Promotional Music Videos ( reference toAndrew  Goodwin's Theory

The purpose of promotional music videos is to promote the artist/or artists that sing the song in the video. Sometimes the artist themselves feature in the video giving them full exposure. But within some music videos the artist/artists do not appear within the music video themselves.

Goodwin's Theory states that there are 5 key aspects to a music video:

- Thought through beat( seeing what lyrics mean in your head)
- Relationship between the song and the visuals.
- Narrative and performance of the song.
- Technical aspect of a music video.
- Star Image (protagonist), lots of camera shots making him/her the centre of attention.

In His Book Dancing in the Distraction Factory Andrew Goodwin points out characteristics and features that can be found in music videos. Looking at a selection of music videos which can be recognised?

1.      Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics.
(e.g. stage performance in metal videos, dance routine for boy/girl band, aspiration in Hip Hop).

2.     There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The lyrics are represented with images.
(either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

3.     There is a relationship between music and visuals. The tone and atmosphere of the visual reflects that of the music.
(either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).

4.     The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).

5.     There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, mirrors, stages, etc) and particularly voyeuristic treatment of the female body.

6.     There are often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc).

Purpose and conventions of  Album Digipaks

A digipak helps to promote the album and list what is actually on the album .A digipak makes the album look more appealing to customers so that they will be attracted to the Album cover and then make a purchase.

A Album Digipaks helps show customers the theme of the artist/band through their CD's so that they are then recognisable when buying other albums. this helps the artist or the band send across a message through the artwork on the front cover to attract people. Digipaks also help appeal to a wider range of audiences so that they can increase their sales and then add interest onto the artist/ or band overall.

Typical conventions of Digipaks include a recognisable font used across the whole of the digipaks. the colour them will be stereotypical throughout the digipaks, usually with symbols, objects, pictures which link the artist to the front of the digipaks, which gives the audience a slight hint and arouse interest.

Digipaks are all made to reinforce the band's image and to promote that product at the moment of time. There is usually pictures/images to represent the theme of the album, for example on Arctic Monkeys Album, their name is written in the same font throughout with their symbol of 'AM' on the front to reinforce their brand name/ artist name so that customers are aware of who they are and their album.This is traditional of all types of CD Covers.

 A album digipak should include : A front cover, an inside panel and a back cover- below is an example of what a album digiapk should look like.

Purpose and Conventions of Magazine advertisements

The initial purpose of Magazine Advertisements is to promote the artist and the new album which they might be releasing in order to capture potential customers and fans. Another purpose of Magazine advertisements is to be eye catching.

The typical conventions of magazine adverts are;   The release date, Album/Song title, Image of album cover, Artist name, Information about the album, Where it is available to be purchased, Record label/ and logo.

Below is an example of what a magazine advertisement should look like;