Music video diversity Miss Miller

Music Video Diversity 

Creating a diverse music video can have both negative and positive effects upon an artist. One evident positive effect is that it allows a song or video to stand out from other music. This creates publicity for artists and allows them to gain recognition. This may have positive effects as often music fans prefer originality from artists, showing their personality. Also, the extra publicity would mean that more people would watch the video, meaning that more people may want to listen to the artists music and buy records. In contrast to this, diversity within music videos may also have a negative effect upon an artist. The media and public may find videos hard to understand, this could result in confusion for viewers as they lose interest in the music. Also, fans for a certain artist might enjoy their music videos; by changing the video and adding diversity, artists could lose their original fan base. 

What makes a video diverse or unique?

Various directors aim to make their videos unique or diverse in order to make in stand out and become memorable to an audience. This is mainly achieved through deifying the conventions of both society and the genre itself. Directors may distort conventions of music videos and the genre of the specific music through mixing or ignoring various music video styles and altering the Goodwin's theory. They are also often seen to focus on deranged or weird concepts; they can vary from being humorous or having more darker themes. Two directors who are generally seen to produce diverse, unconventional video consists of both Chris Cunningham and Michel Gondry. 

Chris Cunningham

Chris Cunningham is a renowned music video director who is specifically known for creating deranged and unconventional videos that stand out from other videos becoming memorable and interesting. He has worked with various genres and artists such as Madonna, Apex Twin, Bjork and other works made for The horrors. However, two specific videos that clearly show two separate genres of which he has worked on consist of 'Window Licker' by Aphex Twin and the well known song 'Frozen' by Madonna.

Aphex Twin - Come to Daddy

Aphex Twin's music is seen to belong to the electronic dance genre. This video is very unconventional to the genre. The main convention within dance music is dancing and bright colours; it also often includes a lot of performance within the video. This is made to be very subversive in relation to the genres conventions; it is solely narrative based and has no examples of performance or bright colours. This unconventional presentation of the genre makes it stand out against other artists videos, this emphasises Aphex Twin's originality. The music video 'Come to daddy' by Aphex Twin is directed by Chris Cunningham. This music video can be seen as very unusual and unconventional. One example of this is seen from the editing of the artists face onto the bodies of the school girls, is evidently going to be very memorable to the audience which would then create word of moth publicity for the artist. This could result in being positive; presenting him as unique, or, in this specific case, could present him negatively; as could be seen as going too far through making the audience uncomfortable or offended. The title 'Come to daddy' itself could be seen as inappropriate for an audience as the video includes young children who the  older artist seems to control in a dark and twisted manner; it can easily create a negative message for the artist. However darker themes within the video made are all diverse as they are things that are unconventional to the house/electro genre; usually videos within this genre consist of scenes set in clubs, bars or parties. This shows the music video to contrast to the music genre as it shows scary disturbing images which are more linked to the horror genre and heavy rock music rather than electro music.

The advantages of this music video include:

• The diversity makes it highly memorable.
• The individuality promotes the artist as being unique and different which often appeals to a niche target audience
• The use of the artists face throughout will keep them in the audiences mind, this may increase awareness for the artist

The disadvantages of this music video consist of:

• Giving the artist a negative reputation through a disturbing concept and narrative
• Losing fans for house/electro music due to the music video not matching the stereotypes for the genre.
• It may offend the audience with the disturbing images and the use of explicit lyrics.

Madonna - Frozen 

 Madonna is often seen to produce music that belongs to the pop genre; this song in particular was made to blend dance and pop genres. The video itself, created by Chris Cunningham, is evidently unconventional to these genres. The pop genre mainly aims to convey positive, happy emotions with a vast amount of dancing and pace to the videos. This video is made to be totally against these conventions; it includes a lack of movement from the artist with a lack of pace in the video. This builds upon a sense of isolation, creating a deeper meaning to the song; it may mean that the audience has to think about the themes and concepts within the video.The music video portrays a sense of isolation which is strange for Madonna as she is often seen with an extensive amount of back up dances or interesting scenery in her videos. Also, usually her videos consist of bright colours to tie in with the upbeat pop genre, however this contradicts with this as the colours and lighting are dark and dull in order to match the low beat, deep music. This all gives clear evidence of Madonna attempting to reinvent herself during through the video as she goes against all her usual conventions. Reasons as to why Madonna chose to reinvent herself through this song could be  to gain a wider, more varied target audience, to change her genre of music giving evidence of her talents and to publicity and awareness for her music. The change of conventions could be seen to get the audience talking and through word of mouth publicity, Madonna herself can gain more attention and increase popularity.

Advantages of diversity for Madonna:

• new genre and concepts create a wider target audience, gaining a larger fan base
• publicity through controversial press
• she is able to portray her emotions and a deeper meaning to her music

Disadvantages:

• could gain too much bad press
• loss of fans who may prefer her old image 
• the reformed genre may only have a small audience

 

Michel Gondry 

Michel Gondry is another diverse and unconventional music director who has worked with popular artists such Kylie Minogue and The White Stripes who both created obscure and unusual music videos. The music videos are made to be diverse which makes them memorable ; this is often achieved through Gondry by the use of repetition of the artists/characters within the videos. Gondry's success was achieved by the use of mise-en-scene in his videos. The other micro elements he incorporated into his videos are also very unique, and helped to attract and engage the viewers.

Kylie Minogue - Come into my World 

Kylie Minogue's music video 'Come into my world' is from the pop genre which is typically associated with flamboyant iconography, setting and dance routines which the audience would expect from Kylie Minogue. However, in contrast, for her music video 'Come into my world' the artist is the only sole focus within with bland, less extravagant 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; however the effect of this viewer/artist connection could consist of the audience becoming more engaged, making them want to watch further. Another factor that makes the music video so diverse is the fact that Kylie Minogue is wearing casual clothing which again subverts to the typical pop genre; the video itself also has a normal everyday setting. In addition to this, the videos style is narrative and performance based; this is seen when Kylie sings to the camera whilst walking through her home city, 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. The representation of Kylie within this music video shows pure focus on her as well as clones of herself which is self promotion. Overall the video is done in order to promote Kylie as being a relatable, ordinary person. This is achieved through focusing upon her all times and showing her as going through a repetitive normal lifestyle through the use of mise en scene.

Advantages:

• Artist becomes memorable through the use of cloning
• Makes Kylie different to other artists from the same genre due to her being presented as being normal and relatable.
• The relatable plot appeals to a wider target audience - globalisation.
• She reinvents herself, again helping her appeal to a more varied audience and showing her versatility.

Disadvantages:

• Negative publicity due to her showing what could be considered as a 'fake' lifestyle and personality
• Could lose existing target audience due to large change to styles of the video.

The White Stripes - Hardest button to button 

The White Stripes are a duo from the Rock genre, they have created a diverse music video called 'The hardest button to button'. Within this music video you would expect the artists to be playing instruments as this is a key accessory for rock artists due to their large amount of usage in their songs, this is used therefore actually making the music video partially conventional to the rock genre. This ironic conventional use of music is repeated to exaggerate their use within the rock genre, the use of these instruments may be appealing for their target audience as often rock fans aim to recreate the music itself. There is also repetition of the artists themselves throughout the music video which, much like Kylie Minogue's video, is seen self promotion. They are represented as stereotypical rock artists through black leather costumes and the iconography of rock instruments. The setting is constantly changing due to the constant movements of the artists which would put different images in the audiences mind, making it more entertaining and memorable for them. The constant repetition of the conventional rock artists running throughout an average urban city could be seen to be ironic and comical. This is very unconventional to the rock genre, videos within this genre are often seen as being deep and serious with explicit references to drugs or alcohol. The artists may have done this in order to again appeal to a wider audience who can relate to repetitive urban settings.

Advantages

• relatable for the a wider, mainstream audience.
• Unusual - may attract people outside of the rock genre.
• Could attract publicity for its light hearted connotations 

Disadvantages:

• may lose fans from the rock genre
• Won't appeal to a wide variety of the rock audience.
• The use of repetition may be boring for the audience.
• Hard to build a relationship with the audience with a lack of narrative 

There is an evident contrast between Chris Cunningham's use of diversity and Michel Gonry's. Chris Cunningham is seen to develop upon unusual concepts through multiple connotations; this created a deeper meaning to the music that may be seen to contradict conventional aspects of various genres whilst also engaging audiences. Michel Gonry, however, uses original editing techniques to develop yet challenge conventions of various genres in order to create a comical and relatable artist presentation; this light hearted presentation could help artist appeal to mainstream audiences. 

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 due to the use of repetition because as an artist within the house/dance 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 and publicity. 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. 

   

Censorship Miss Miller

Censorship in the music industry

Censorship consists of the ways in which an audience is protected from harmful or explicit content; it is seen both on the television and in the music industry.This is mostly enforced by Ofcom, the communications regulator for the UK, regulating TV and radio. They are seen to censor all media products in relation to the context of which the product is played. This is very vital to the music industry as some explicit songs are censored in order to prevent unsuitable audiences from accessing the music. Examples in which censorship is used may include radio, music channels at certain times; plus iTunes with censored and uncensored versions of the music. It can result in swear words or harmful references being edited out of music or lyrics, plus may result in a curfew for harmful content, often seen within radio and television. Examples of censorship may consist of large daytime radio/TV channels that often censor explicit content such as grime and rap artists, Eminem or Drake. Although censorship is seen throughout the media spectrum, the music industry has experienced a particular rise in recent times. This is especially due to the growth in technology. There has, however, been controversy over the aspect of censorship. With new popular genres and artists aiming to express themselves within their songs which may include explicit content, argued to make songs more interesting and relevant, there is now an argument both for and against the idea of censorship. 

Censorship from an artists point of view (Against)

Artists are often seen arguing against the idea of censorship. This is specifically seen within the grime and rap genre as artists aim to express themselves and their past experiences, often through the use of harmful and explicit content, An example of this is Eminem. As an artist, Eminem feeling he should be able to do want he wants to do and say what he wants to say without the concern of censorship in order to please his fans, He aims to use his songs to motivate his audience. For example in 'not afraid' he aims to show his fans that if they put their mind to it they can achieve anything. Eminem himself does not use explicit content to harm or offend anyone, instead he uses his music to present the negativity that he has seen in his life. He feels that in order to portray his negative and emotional feelings and experiences he must use harmful content in order to relate to his audience and build an emotional connection. 

The artist argues that although of his songs may shock people, with examples of drugs and even rape seen in his lyrics, he would never commit such activities and that his audience should not either. He argues that these negativities are a part of life that can't be ignored and that just because it is mentioned in a song, it should not influence anyone into doing such things. 

Finally, Eminem also argues that it is not the role of an artist to censor their music and protect under aged audiences of whom are most effected. He says that that should be the responsibility of the parents who should decide upon what their children listen to. Ultimately censorship is not the permanent tool for protecting children from harmful content. If they want to listen to an explicit song or watch and explicit video they will find a way and restrictions often influence this.  

Censorship from a record labels point of view (Against)

Shady records, Eminem's record label, was founded by Eminem and Paul Rosenberg. Following large amounts of pressure censorship had to be applied to multiple songs. The company would be seen to strongly believe that it is the responsibility of parents to protect their children from unwanted content and that artists should be allowed to express themselves with whatever content they feel is needed. Who listens to it should not be a priority for the artist. Shady records also would understand that audience across the world enjoy controversy within music, otherwise controversial artists such as Eminem wouldn't be as popular as they are. Controversy that can often stem from explicit controversy can be argued to influence success within the industry, this is an argument used by the company against censorship. Also, another key argument that could potentially be made by the company states that if the content of a song is offending then a person does not need to listen or buy the track. Evidence of it being popular globally is seen by Eminem's great popularity.
Finally, music can be seen as an art form that is often used to express how an artist is feeling. Other art forms such as art or book are not censored, they rely on the viewers responsibility. This should be no different with music. Ultimately songs are created for entertainment purposes, audiences should be responsible enough to not be influenced by them or take them literally. If they do so then that is not the responsibility of the artist but it is the person themselves. They must be deranged or mentally ill.

Censorship from a parents point of view

(For) 

Parents will often argue that they want to be able to let their children watch or listen to whatever they want to without the worry of whether it can be harmful, explicit or negatively influencing materials such as drugs, sex or alcohol. They want to be able to protect their children without feeling they are being restrictive about the child's behavior or attitude. Censorship can be argued for making it easier for parents, giving them peace of mind about what their children may be watching or listening to. This is a very valid argument for censorship as it allows a child freedom yet prevents them from having bad or damaging influences from music and music videos. 
Additionally, a key argument could be that an explicit artists such as Eminem would not want their child influenced by the harmful content within their songs so why would they argue against it?

(Against)

Parents who argue against the use of censorship often argue that it is the parents responsibility for what their children watch and not the responsibility of artist. They may argue that parents and censorship company's must understand that children are easily influenced. Not just within the music industry but through books, newspapers and television. Not everything can be censored; you can't hide the negatives in the world and they are always going to be presented through the use of music. It could be argued that instead of creating naive, over protected children, they should be educated on the morals of life both through parents or schooling and can then have the knowledge to not be influenced by explicit or harmful content. 

Censorship from  music Channels point of view

MTV (For)

MTV have always been known to be strict on their use of censorship. This is especially seen during the day as songs played are censored as they know there is a higher chance of children listening. In contrast, during the evening censorship is slightly more lenient , due to the likelihood of younger children being asleep. A lot of popular artists that the target audience of MTV listens to, such as Eminem, include explicit and harmful content in their songs that children must not be exposed to due to the negative influence it may have on their behavior.  For example, in one of his songs, Eminem threatens to kill a Congressman from the White House, and he is know for homophobic references and has made references to rape in some of his songs. This content could all have very negative influences on children. Particularly the frequent references towards homophobia due to the modernised society and the legalism of gay marriage in the USA.

AKA(Against)

AKA is a grime/rap music channel that aims to develop unknown artists giving them large amounts of creative freedom. They understand that most artists  need creative freedom in order to express them selves. These expressions are often portrayed through the use of explicit and harmful content as they often consist of negative yet relative and lasting experiences that are shared by the artists. The channel may argue that censorship does not allow artists to truly express themselves, meaning they cannot grow in a way in which they might prefer. 

Censorship from radio

BBC radio 1 (For)

Radio 1 is owned by BBC, this is a representation of British media and has a wide spread audience of all ages including children with television channels such as CBBC and CBeebies. Due to it covering such audiences it must censor it's content in order to appeal to parents and prevent negative influences upon children.
Controversial artists such as Eminem can often include explicit content within their lyrics. This may consist of references to drugs, abuse, inappropriate language, offensive references towards rape and references to murdering. All of which can not be glorified to the public. The BBC must censor their content as it is often glorified due to the company representing the whole of the UK. This is especially valid for the radio station, they cannot keep track on who listens to the station, this means that people of all ages can listen at anytime. It results in censorship being a key aspect for the channel as content must be suitable for all potential listeners. Additionally to this, censorship could benefit the artist in terms of marketing. Censorship allows an artists song to be played more times on the radio, this boosts the popularity of the music resulting in more spellings of records and more profit.

Capital extra (against) 

Capital extra is a franchise from London's iconic radio station, Capital. The station appeals to a niche target audience of older teenagers and young adults, it mostly plays RnB and rap music. The RnB and rap music is often explicit and the radio station would feel that it should be allowed to play the music uncensored. They could argue that their audiences are generally old enough to be exposed to the explicit themes and language, and that the artists themselves should be allowed to express their emotions within their music in order to portray a more realistic narrative within the song; this would allow the audience can connect with the artist and enjoy the music more.

Censorship from a fans point of view (Against)

Fans for Eminem may argue that music is an artists way of expressing themselves to their audiences, censorship can be seen to be blocking this freedom and downgrading various pieces of work.
In the song 'Kim', Eminem talks about murdering his wife, which society would understand to be totally wrong and Eminem has declared to be something he would never think of doing. The song itself is an exaggeration of the artists personal hatred towards a women. The content within has allowed him to express these personal emotions, this is what builds a relationship between him and the audience. Censorship can be argued against here as it damages this personal emotional connection due tot he artist not being able to portray his emphasized emotions.

To conclude, it is obvious that censorship is a controversial subject within the music industry; it can be seen to have both its pros and cons. Although it can be seen to protect young listeners from influences from harmful or explicit material, it can also be argues that this is not the responsibility of the artist. A valid argument could be that it is the duty of the parents and schooling to educate children upon the morals of life and protect the from harmful content, preventing bad influences. The could be seen as being suppressed through censorship, not allowing them to express emotions or experiences. Many would argue that artist should have freedom with their lyrics and content and that protection should be covered elsewhere. Although this may be the case, if censorship was prohibited then radio stations wouldn't be able to play popular artist such as Eminem who include explicit content within their works. This could be seen to ruin a radio stations reputation and ruin the entertainment for fans who enjoy listening to their favourite artists. Overall I feel that censorship must stay, particularly on radio or popular day time television songs. However I also feel that there could be channels that may be uncensored, allowing artists to truly express themselves.