september 10/09/09

How do music videos reflect pop culture of the time?

If you look at the history of 'the music video' it is fairly easy to see that music videos are a new phenomena in their current day form and uses. History shows that the concept of music videos started with the creation of music television such as top of the pops so that that major rock bands of the time could put on a performance without actually being there. In this sense music videos were used when bands were on tour as a way to 'keep up appearences.'

Nowadays most music videos are a statement on some sort of pop culture which reflects modern cultures and stereotypes that audiences find easy to relate to, mostly used for promotional purposes to help with merchandising as well as being used as a representation for artist image. In modern cultures music videos are a representation on society and cultural conventions that audiences can find relateable inorder to promote and sell records. Today, music videos, you could perhaps say, are an expected part of any music artists job and without them representation of image would not be possible. In terms of pop culture music videos of today are a reflection on different sub cultures in society and they clearly lay foundations for genre's of music and demonstrate different 'labels' that artists and audiences associate themselves with, they are a form of identification.