Music Video Outlets
Mainstream TV:
Mainstream Television channels such as BBC One ect. Have a large audience viewing their channels. This means Artists can take advantage of the audience the Channel has. By showing their music videos or advertising themselves on Mainstream TV Channels they can expose their figure as an artist and gain new fans. This leads onto them having a larger revenue in the sales they have. With the money they earn they can invest into other Mainstream TV channels and grow their audience. The advantages for the Television institution is that they'll generate revenue and they can make extra money to improve their services for the audience. Also some mainstream channels are aimed at different audiences which helps the Artist chose the most appropriate Channel he wants to advertise on. Also Mainstream Channels like BBC Three, One, Two ect. have a wide range audience so it will increase his popularity as audiences who have not heard about the artist will be listening to his/her music. This means Artists who are rappers would have to post a "Clean" Version of the music video where all the SWEAR WORDS are censored out. This can be a disadvantage to the rapper as he wouldn't be able to express himself properly to the audience and also will disrupt the flow of the music video. Mainstream channels can affect other channels such as Music Channels due to the fact that Mainstream Channels have larger audiences who view their channel and could potentially get the Artist larger recognition. This means that the artist who is viewed on a music channel will not get as much attention as if he was to be on a mainstream channel.
Music Channels:
Music Channels are ideal for Artists who want to get their music out and around the world. The mist preferable choice for an Artist is to advertise their albums and singles on a music channel where the audience are used to seeing a Music Videos. The artist can have uncensored versions of their video which can help themselves express the Genre of Music they are exposing to the Music Community. The disadvantages here for the artist is that there might be a concentrated audience for the Music Channel; this meaning that there are not as many viewers as if it was to be a Mainstream Channel. Another disadvantage for the Artist is that the Music Videos are viewed only once so if some of the audience take a break they'll miss his Music Video on the channel so he is not using the Music Channel to his advantage. Also the rapper is not getting his investments' worth by advertising on a Music Channel as the Institution don't replay the Music Video until later in the day. There can be a chance where the audience do not watch both the times when the Music Video comes on.
Direct CD/ Special CD /DVD Releases:
The artist has more methods for exposing himself to the world by selling his Singles/Albums to his fans. He can sell his Albums at major stores such as HMV, As HMV has a large audience who come into their stores and view the products they have to offer, the artist can viralize himself because the CD Cover will be viewed by many customers within the shop. Most often these CDs include Interviews, Behind the scenes and many other extras people may want to see. Also by selling Collector's Edition or special Edition which includes exclusives such as a signed Poster, the artist can earn a lot of revenue because his fans will buy it and keep it as a collectible for future reference. The advantages the Artist will receive is that he'll earn revenue by selling exclusive Merchandise along with his album which his fans would buy and for new fans they'll be expecting more exclusive content by the rapper as they start to listen to the Music he or she has produced. HMV plays a big part here because when a new song comes out they play the song around their store and new listeners to the artist may enjoy that type of music and may lead into them purchasing a CD from the artist. Due to HMVs major audience the money that gets generated by the sales of the CD goes to the company. The Cons an artist may have is that he may not sell as much as if it was to be sold online as the 21st Century shopping is mostly online. For a common example we can use iTunes. iTunes sells all the latest albums in their store. Its easy to access and buy. This may result in a loss for his revenue because he will be investing a large amount in making the album and may result in not selling many due to the fact that these days most shopping is done online with ease.
Streaming Websites:
In streaming sites such as YouTube the artist gets a very large audience due to the fact that YouTube has a very large audience. This is the easiest strategy for Artists to promote their upcoming Albums and music videos because of YouTube's Fan base and ease to use search bar. If a video is clicked the view count at the bottom is viewed so the users know how many people have watched it. To see how popular the Artist is on YouTube that is viewed by how many subscribers he has. Its not the same scenario all the time because there can be people who watch the video and may not subscribe to him. Which brings me onto subscriptions. A user can subscribe to him so he gets the latest updates on the Artists' Videos. Also if you viewed a video on YouTube from the Artist there are links at the bottom which link them to the artists' website, Facebook, Twitter ect. This will help the artist grow his fan base.The advertisements on YouTube also helps the artist because YouTube plays a fraction of their song in an advert so people can hear it. This will help the artist gain more fans and help him expose himself to a larger audience. Also YouTube allows the user to view music that does not show up today. Music from for example 2003 would not be shown on Music Channels because the Music Channels focus on the Charts. This is where streaming sites like YouTube come into play. They allow the users to search for music that can be old and still listen to them. One major down side to streaming is that people may not have the best quality internet which results on very bad quality audio and video on the website. This means the viewer will not get the best experience in listening to the artist's song. As technology is growing Music Channels are losing out on viwers due to the fact that the internet is available 24/7. The streaming websites such as Youtube provide free access to music video all day whereas on music channels the viewer has to wait for a certain video to be shown on the channel. Youtube allows the viewer to search for the video with ease and they have a variety of versions such as explicit, clean & lyric videos where the Music Channel only allows clean versions of the videos. This reduces the viewers who are available for the Music Channels such as Viva or 4 Music because it is easier to access and can be viewed any time of the day. Also streaming websites require the Internet so if a person does not have access to internet they will be losing out on new releases of a particular artist they like.
Artist Website :
The artist's website is the best way for fans to keep up with them. The website shows their upcoming albums, new singles, releases ect. They use the website to promote themselves and to show the fans what they are up to. The artist's website usually includes links to their social media such as Twitter, Facebook & YouTube. By advertising his Social Links he can interact with his fans, the best example for this is twitter. For this example I will be using Wiz Khalifa. He also includes links to his instagram so his fans can follow him on instagram. When you enter his website It i advertises his songs that he has done along with the album cover for them. When clicked on the album cover it takes the fans to a link where the video can be viewed. Also Wiz Khalifa advertises his "Crew" called Taylor Gang whose merchandise can be purchased through links from his website. By advertising Taylor Gang on his website the crew can get more attention due to the fact that Wiz Khalifa is a big artist who is mainstream. The down sides to this is that some people may not have access to the web which can result in him not getting maximum attention.
Legal & Illegal Downloads:
Music can be Legally or Illegally obtained through the Internet. One way which is legal is buying the album from iTunes and listening it with studio quality audio which is crisp and clean. Where as on the other hand illegally obtaining it through software such as lime wire can result in bad quality audio; but the reason why most music is downloaded illegally is because its very easy and saves the person money. The downside is that when a song is illegally obtained there is no money going towards the artist and the company. Therefore will leave the artist with a small loss but the big thing is that Millions illegally download the albums illegally which results in a huge loss for the company and Artist. Once there is a way to get music for free everyone is pulled towards that method instead of legitimately obtaining the music. A hardcore fan will buy the CDs to collect them along with the artists' previous albums. Now that downloads have come along online such as iTunes (Legal) and other sites like LimeWire(Illegal). This reduces the sales of CDs sold at a company like HMV. By downloading online it is easier and can be free when downloaded illegally whereas in the stores you'll have to pay for the CD. If the CD is not looked after it can become scratched and unusable where if it is downloaded online and becomes corrupted and it can be re-downloaded again. Once a CD is damaged it cannot be fixed and a new one has to be purchased in order to listen to the tracks. This means money has to be used in order to get the CD replaced
