WB - Music Video Theory

“Music videos are simply a tool for promoting an artist”. With reference to a promotional campaign, how far do you agree with this statement?

Shaggy’s song ‘It Wasn’t Me’ belongs to his fifth album ‘Hot Shot’. Belonging to the reggae fusion genre it was released in September 2000. The song featured English singer RikRok who also accompanied Shaggy in writing the track along with Shaun Pizzonia and Braun Thompson. Many consider this to be Shaggy’s breakthrough song within the pop market as it topped charts in the UK, USA, France, Ireland, Austia, the Netherlands and Australia. Matt Hanson saw music videos as an art form, yet a negotiated view could argue that Shaggy’s music video to this song is simply marketing.

Music videos can be defined in terms of genre of the track and the encoding of formulaic conventions as evident in this track. Being a reggae track the people wear bright vibrant colours and there is high key lighting present. This is something we link to reggae artists, colourful and vibrant. When applied to the music video we can see that this is evident with Shaggy’s attire. He wears a bright shiny purple jacket with a yellow ascot scarf. This is further reinforced with RikRok’s clothing, wearing an orange sweatshirt. The high key lighting can be seen with the surroundings they are in. The trees are extremely green and the sky a very bright blue. It seems like the colours are enhanced in order to represent their visual motif associated with the reggae genre. Goodwin discussed the relationship between lyrics and visuals. In relation to the lyrics and visuals within this track, I would say the relationship is amplified. There is a narrative and the lyrics do match a great proportion of the visuals but other visuals are included for the entertainment factor or used as a further use of marketing. This can be seen in the section where they are sitting around the table, in a discussion format, fitting with the lyrics, yet in the background there are women promiscuously dressed walking around them.

Deconstructing the signifiers constructed in the digipak enables audiences to evaluate the text in terms of representations and ideoloigies. With reference to the album cover for ‘Hot Shot’, signifiers such as first person mode of address connote that Shaggy is ultimately the main focus and most important person within the album and all its songs. The bright bold yellow text reinforces the dominate ideology of people within the reggae genre, liking bright vibrant colours. This is also evident with the face being enhanced with a very high contrast. It is a rather simple digipak yet markets the artist and its music quite effectively.

Shaggy is as a whole seems to be represented within this video to be depicted as a concept, metaphor, style, within a narrative as there is quite a clear structure to the video with a very evident narrative. Nevertheless, in contrast it could be argued that it is a more voyeuristic/ fetishistic style as there is a very prominent inclusion of promiscuously dressed women. Dyer believes that artists construct themselves in order to create a star image. Dyer believes that artists do this through the use of having a USP and common values that are common between almost all ‘stars’ within the industry. This theory can also be applied to Shaggy as he seems to hold some of these ‘star’ qualities. Rebellion, sexual magnetism, originality, talent, and disregard for social values are all shown within the video. Not all of them on the other hand relate to Shaggy individually. For example, sexual magnetism relates to the women around Shaggy and appearing in the video with him, but there is nothing to suggest it relates to himself. It also doesn’t seem like youthfulness is a trait Shaggy holds as he is represented to be older and wiser, giving advice in the video. Costume, props, setting, lighting etc… help to represent Shaggy as an artist and his characteristics. The use of a very high contrast and high key lighting represents the serious issue in quite a light hearted manor. The costume also used, being very colourful highlights the tone of the song reinforces dominant ideologies associated with the reggae genre.

In conclusion, it can be seen to a degree that music videos are a tool to promote an artist to an extent. As Dyer would suggest, it helps create the artists ‘star image’ meaning that they will become more popular and evidently more successful.  On the contrary, much alike Matt Hanson, it is sometimes evident that music videos are much more than just a marketing tool and actually an art form that allows for the performers to express their creativity and work within a different media form. Personally, my view is that it can be both. Some mainstream pop artists I believe sometimes do utilise music videos simply as a marketing tool but I also believe that many bands along with solo performers, do see it as an art form which they actually use to express and present their work in a different light. In relation to ‘It Wasn’t Me’, I would have to agree with Dyer that the video is more for promotional purposes in order to create a star image, rather than an art form.