Research

What is a music video

A music video is a song with moving pictures, these tend to have a meaning or ideology. Music videos tend to be made for a promotinal reason, these will increase sales and allow more people to view the song since it will be on a popular streaming platform like Youtube. Music Videos are also a way for artist to share their view and visual meaning to their song which can being up disucussions allowing word of mouth to gain more streams. 

What is a purpose of a music video

The purpose is to promote the artist and the song but also their other work like albums and the record lable. This could also be promoting any product placment, Billie Eilish promoted beets in her music video Lovley. By doing product placment it gains more awarness to the product and trust as someone like Billie is using it. The brand will pay for the advertisement meaning overall artist make more profit. Availability of a music video also meant they could promote their music while on tour.

History of music videos

Queen have the first massively popular music video with Bohemian Rhapsody. Even though its not the first music video it was the first promotional music video to set standards for others kick starting the music video craze. It has a very unique style to it and the genre became very popular.

The Beatles had short films made to go with their music videos which came out several years before Bohemian Rhapsody. The beatles decided to make some short films as the fans became to crazy to manage and to help they made a short clips for them. These slowly turned into music videos.

MTV was the platform artist wanted their music vidoes on. It became an outlet and a reason for the music videos artist and recrod companies made, as it had the opportunity to be played on a well known tv channel. By being on MTV you were getting promoted even more leading to more popularity. 

Image contruction

Come to daddy by Aphex Twin is a great example for image construction. Their music video defined them as a band and helped contruct their image. The music video is very unusual and shocking which leads to more views and people finding their music gaining more popularity. The Aphex Twin are a very niche band meaning using a big director for their music video and going with a strange style will gain enigmas. Also people will watch for directors which will introduce the band to more loyal fans of Chris Cunningham.

Artistic statement

The artist have a ideology that they want to share with their music video and it means people will find messages they can relate to in the videos. The video will normally convey the songs lryics while others are artistic statments the artist wants to show. Billie Eilish is known for having very unique music videos espcilly Bored. This is just her on a ladder and the laders go on forever. She wanted to do this as it was inspired by being trapped in a relationship that was going nowhere.  

Synergy

This is when there are multiple promotion aspects where you can play a song in a tv show to help gain more popularity. Again the song Bored by Billie Eilish is promoted in 13 reasons why along with another one in season 2 being Lovley. This gained these singles more streams as the show became popular and more and more people heard her songs. Recently Running up the hill has been promoted through stranger things which has gained the song a hefty popularity again to the point of being on the radio. 

Tracking in music videos

Tracking is when a camera follows (normally) the artist and it tends to be one take. A great example would be Hideaway by Kiesza. This is a very planned out video where placings and pace are very important. It shows Kiesza dacing with loads of differnt people throughout the video walking through the street. The camrea was on a gimbal to keep the shot steady throughout leaving the video very smooth. The camera work was done by Kiesza brother.

A couple other tracking shot music videos are Bitter sweet symphony, Unfinished sympathy, F.E.A.R, Wannabe and This Is America.

Wannabe is all one shot and most likley filmed handheld by how shaky the camera was. It follows the spice girls throughout this house while they cause havoc. Its pretty entertaining and by having the tracking shot it feels like you are chasing them through the house as well. The shot works well for making you feel more included. The way this is filmed will gain a younger audinces attention since the one shot take shows more of a reality to the spice girls.

Bitter sweet symphony is a walking tacking shot and you watch him walk through new york street. He is bumping into everyone and not moving out the way, literally nothing stops him from walking while he sings to teh camrea. Its a very well planned music video which gives you so many things to watch and see people in the background. This I would say is the mosy common type of tracking shot music videos as its easy and recognisable.

Something very simular but with a differnt twist to it is Unfinished sympathy where its follwoing the artist through the streets but everything you see happwning is people going on with there normal day. I believe nothing is planne showing the streets reality. This is filmed on a drone which is seen from the first shot where it flys up into the sky and shows a bird eye view. 

Music video producer strategy

Controversy

An example of this would be Madonna music video 'Like a Prayer'. The director for this music video is Mary Lambert. The music video had many controversial views because of the way they were showing religion. Religion is already a sensitive topic so by taking it and showing crosses on fire and a black Jesus its going to start a discussion. In my opionon this is very creative and its defiantly a great way at getting more streams on your music video as its something unique and something that strikes a conversation along with many contrasting views. Its not a traditional music video for sure and I really enjoy videos with deeper meanings towords them.

Entertainment 

The song TENACIOUS D 'Tribute' Directed by Liam Lynch is a typical entertainment song. It has all the comedy elements and starts in a very non serious way showing what type of music video it is straight away. For people who like comedy the start will drag them in as this type of entertainment is very easy to enjoy. Personally I don't always enjoy these type of music videos as I feel like its forced comedy. This msuic video has green screen work and cameos to keep the audience watching intrigued and surprised. This would be mostly younger audinces watching as well.

Thought provoking

AVICII music video For a better day directed by himself and Levan Tsikurishvili is extremely thought provoking. They delve into a very taboo subject and make it seen by not shying away. The music video tackles the issues with child slavery and child sex trafficking. Avicii wanted to start a louder discussion and try change the world with all these storys he wanted to tell. I think it represents the issue very well and the music video is split into three storys that all join together. They are very clear with who they are sending a message to in the music video which makes a powerful statement. I really like music videos that are deep and meaningfull espically the taboo subject ones. They draw me in and I don't lose focus from the strart to the end. They are so important and its such a smart way of sharing these problems we need to fix. 

Demographic/Target audience-centred 

Little Mix is a very good example for demographic as they target the young teen girls and Shout Out To My Ex is a very typical music video for that audience. The video is very centred around showcasing the band in very stylish and aesthetic locations. The song has a very empowring message and I feel like they could have done something better with the music video instead of just modelling themselves and lipsyncing to the song in pretty locations. Though if they did something sending a message the aduince they are targeting probably wouldnt have picked it up as they just want to see cool things and wish they could live the dream of the music video. This music video was directed by Sarah Chatfield.

Label strategies 

Major label

These labels are more focoused on making money (revenue) meaning they tend to have a big budget for music videos. They also will have contacts with other artists that can maybe feature in some videos which will gain some more views. An example fo a major lable is Universal and one of their artists are Black Pink. They are a very high budget band which shows through their music video 'Du Du Du'. They have a tank covered in gems which is just crazy but they can afford to do that as they will make all the money back through streams and more. Major lables will own most of the big artist we hear on the radio and know as they can help them achieve more than any other record comany can. 

Independent lable

This lable is less revenue focused and that means they are often more creative and have a message behind it rather than being flashy. You could also find that certain independt lables only specialise in certain genres. This can end up working in an artist favour but it also means there are less lables for independent people to find taht can help them in what they would need. An example of an independt lable band is Artic Monkeys. They made a music video for I bet you look good on the dance floor which is just them playing the song live on a old fashioned looking camera giving the video a grainy look to it.  This video is very basic but defiantly based of a creative idea they had which an independent label would be willing to use.

Self/Artist produced

When you are produced by yourself you can have complete control over everything happening allowing absoloute freedom. Filmmaking now is also becoming cheaper and much more easy to achieve. So being a self produced artist isnt that unbelievable and very doable. Now days you can make music videos with your phone cameras which makes being a self produced aritist so accessible. This band called battle Tapes made a song called No Good which I would say has a very experimental based music video. Its very creative and not something everyone will enjoy making it unique. Im very intrigued with how they have made it which is what the video was probably aiming to get from people. 

Artist research 

Artist Name- Billie Eilish

Formed/Created- 2015

Exclusive Trait- Billie is a very unique inividual from her voice to her style. She stands out with her iconic looks which are all against the typical fashion. Her music has a very sensitive and dark style to it as she expresses the truth throughout gaining her more of a connection with fans. Billie also creates all her music in her brothers bedroom. They dont go to recording studios and find the comfort of the place they have always make music together much better. It means they can make music whenever and dont have a set time inside the studio to do so allowing much more freedom. 

Music Focus- Billies first popular song was Ocean Eyes which she had released on soundcloud. This started of her career to where she made her firsts album Don't smile at me. Billie gained popularity really quickly at the age of 15 calling her fans friends instead as she wanted to have a close relationship with them all. Now six years later she has released two other albums which are very contrasting. Happier Than Ever album has a very different message then her second one When We All Fall Asleep Where Do We Go. Billie had grown so much during the time between the two albums and it really shows. She went from having a very dark and emotional album that expressing deep topics to an album all about her getting older and her future and how she is happier with where she is mentally. This shows her progression as an artist and how she has gotten more control over her life letting her enjoy each moment more than she perviously did. 

Song Example- The song Happier Than Ever is the first song they wrote for the new album and they based it around it, shows her getting out of a relationship that was draining her. The song is the most she has expressed clearly about the relationship and the screaming at the end felt really therapeutic to her. the song has a new element in it that she ahsnt tried with her other songs, this is a rock section. The song has a very calm mellow theme until suddenly the dam breaks and it changes completely. It shows her growing and maturing throughout the years so well as she finally knows whats right for her and so clearly expresses it. She was writing this song since 2019 and it previously had the title Away from you and the more her and Finneas wrote it they found a different meaning for it and it formed what it is today. Billie also has a very differnt style song called 8 which uses auto tune on her voice making it sound high pitch. This is very differnt from the mainstream sound of Happir than ever. billie also plays Ukelue throughout the whole song for 8 adding to this childlike feel. The high pitch voice does fade into her normal voice now and then creating this intretsing and fassinating song. Its this small cute tune that just makes you happy. 

Artist Name- Taylor Swift

Formed/Created- 2004

Exclusive Trait-  Taylors style has changed throughout her career from country to pop. But recently during lockdown she went back to her country style which got her even more recognition. Espically as she released two albums in the same year. She also starte rerecoding her old albums so she could own them and put (taylors version) next to each track and album. She wanted fans to be able to listen to her music and for her to still earn money from it. Her old label Big Machine owned all the rights which she didn't believe was right and so she acted on it by reclaiming everything.

Music Focus- Her album Red (taylors version) I would say is one of the most popular albums since she also released 7 unreleased songs along with it shocking fans. The internet says 1989 is the most populat though which shocked me until I saw what songs where in the album. The songs were all her popular well known songs leading to the album being the most streamed. Her albums started out with a country genre then it slowly turned into pop. Country artist turning into pop artist is very common now days, another one would be Miley Cyrus. Though now Taylors latest albums are very country based which could show she is going back to her old routes. In my opionon her best album is Folklore one of her new ones as I appreciate her making music in the genre she wants rather than what will be popular. 

Song Example- All to well 10 minute version is Taylors short movie music video. This won the top honour at MTV's annual Video Music award which was voted for from the general public. The music video has over 75 million views. She created this music video as a personal experience with one of her relationships. Its rumoured to be her relationship with Jake Gyllenhaal which Dylan O'brien played and Sadie Sink took on Taylor's role. At the end of this music video Taylor is seen which shows her connection with the song and lets her audience identify her face with the song. This song is known as one of her most popular relationship breakup songs.

Artist Name- Finneas O'connell

Formed/Created- 2015/2016

Exclusive Trait- He makes all his music in his bedroom or own house. This lets him sit in the comfort of his own belongings and be comfortable making music. He also likes experimenting with differnt sounds meaning most his music sounds very different and it adds an edge to him. He helps produce and write music with many artist like his sister Billie Elish and Justin Bieber, Kid Cudi, and Halsey. Finneas is a very talented in many aspects of music having grown up surrounded by it. He has also acted in some things like glee before following in his parents footsteps for a bit. 

Music Focus- Finneas genre is Alternative Pop and he has a lot of singles and two albums. These two albums have very differnt vibes to them. One is very upbeat and calming to listen to in my opinion while the new album has some new aspects that ive not heard from Finneas before which I really love. Blood Harmony is Finneas stepping out into the spotlight and it was very difffernt to his sisters work. He has upbeat guitar songs that are earnest and clean. This is just very rare and leads to fans connecting easily. The Optimist Album is very personal to him. It represnts how he feels and hes happy he was honest and got it out into the world. It discusses lots of important issues and every song expresses a different attitude making a very interesting and intriguing album. With Finneas working with Billie and other music artist a lot he found it hard to look inward and know how he wanted everything to actully sound. 

Song Example- His single 'Mona Lisa, Mona Lisa' is a very pop like song with the romantic lyrics. The music video for this song was made by his girlfriend Claudia Sulewski. The music video was a very cute little montage of them both which was very heartwarming. Especially as the song is directed to claudia which creates a nice full circle. The beat in this song has a slight distorted edge to it during the chorus along with the electric guitar and drums leading to a sort of rock background. The distorted echo effect is very clever and it adds so much to the song. Most people would be scared to use effects like that but i think it adds so much character. He is not scared to use effects which is shown in his other single relased before 'Mona Lisa, Mona Lisa' which is 'Naked'. The very start of Naked is Finneas talking with a strange effect on his voice making him sound like a robot. This start of the song makes me smile evry time becasue its such a great add on and it molds into the song so well with the laugh at the end of it. The end of the song is also great as he plays this guitar melody and it abruptly stops. Each song of his has such a differnt vibe and its so fun to listen to. 

Styles of music videos

Music video style is differnt to the genre. 

Performance bassed

This ends up being cheaper as its just an artist performing in isolation or a gig scenario which can encourage the fanbase to see band live. The video would focous on having a selection of different camera angles focusing on the performers. This makes the music video almost like a live music experience but from home. Royal Blood and their song Look like you know is a great example for this as its got loads of creative shots from the band playing at a gig. Instead of being one video throughout they cut it up and showed different views and angles like the crowd and close ups. 

Narrative Based

These type of music videos feature a storyline. These storylines could involve the artist or they wont feature in it and it will be animation or actors. These storylines can have a really deep meaning or be very simple. For example Avicii has very deep and sometimes dark storylines for this music videos which sends a message to everyone who watches it. Another example is Blurs Coffee and tv music video, its about a missing boy thats on a milk carton and the milks journey to finding the boy and him going back home. The storyline is easy to follow if you pick up the hints left around. Making the main view we follow a milk cartoon also makes it less deep and adds a great layer to the music video.

Interpretive 

This type of music video is one where it follows and portrays the lyrics of the songs in a visual format. This way its easy to interpret the lyrics. In a way the lyrics are a script for the music video and the music video is a movie showing exactly what the song is about. Thriller by Micheal Jackson is a great example for this as it starts with no music and only dialogue between two people which ends up being a movie people are watching. Then once you discover that you follow the couple and the music starts and it's a halloween based music video which you can interpret from the name Thriller as well.

Animated

Animation can refer to many differnt styles on animaition. Stop Motion and Cgi are types of animation. Gorilaz is one of the first bands to be animated which makes it there unique selling point. One of their most iconic music videos is feel good inc. This whole video is animated with thier own characters creating recognisable images for future videos as well. These animation designs are intruging and shoe how creative this band is. The other music video that hsows a differnt animation is Sledgehammer by Peter Gabriel. This shows stop motion through a close up and objects moving round him and settings changing. Its a very engaging music video as you wonder how long its taken and what will happen next.

Surrealism

This is a term used when referring to the art movement, Salvador Dali/Picasso. They created art that was non-sensical and fantastic, this was very far from reality. Music videos from this genre tend to be unsettling or strange. Black Hole Sun by Soundgarden fits this genre well as its not natural and the editing used makes it unsettling, but its a clever and intriguing idea for some. The video uses a lot of editing on the peoples faces making theirs eyes and smiles larger and strange looking. while the band also plays showing some normality in the video. There is a very big contrast between the two clips making the strangeness for apparent. It's defiantly a genre that the music video will be remembered. 

Pastiche

This genre is where you take ideas from another persons work, but not always in a respectful way. Walk by Foo Fighters is a pastiche music video as it copies movie scenes from the movie trailer, it does sometimes put its own twist on it though. By doing this some people will know and understand whats going on and enjoy the music video even more because they have the hidden meaning. While you can still watch the music video without watching the movie and knowing, it wont exactly make sense and you wont understand the meaning behind the music video. So doing this type of genre is a hot or miss idea, either people will get it or they wont. 

Homage

A homage is similar to a pastiche but you generally pay tribute or respect the art form that you are referencing. An example for this is Buddy Holly by Weezer where they a paying respects to an old show called Happy Days. This is clearly shown as they reference Happy Days multiple times meaning if you don't know the reference you can look it up and find out. These music videos tend to be kind as well as they are paying tribute to something or someone. This can bring people who like Happy Days in to watch their music video as well creating a bigger target audience.

Parody 

A parody, which can also be called a Spoof, generally pokes fun at its source material and doesn't take itself seriously. It can also be used to mock the subject that it's based upon in a non serious way. A Parody music video I know is All the Small Things by Blink 182. This music video is making fun of the typical pop band music videos and wears white outfits to mock backstreet boys and dressing up like women to make fun of what they do in their music videos which tends to be dancing and posing. This is pure entertainment and tends to be a very popular genre to use if you do it well. 

Code and Conventions

Techincal and Symbolic

Technical

• Pace/editing style
• Camera movments

Rammstien, Du Hast has a fast paced music video, this is done through editing such as cutting clips quickly and combing everything to speed it up. Other editing techniques would be special effects, colour gradients and camera movements. Camera moments will effect the motion of the music video by either using a steady cam or held hand. Rammstien in his music video uses many different cuts between the band; long shot, medium shot and close up. This quickens the pace and speeds the video up. 

JOJ, slow dancing in the dark is a slow paced music video by using a longer editing style. This slow style follows the rhythm of the music as its a slow song. This can be shown from how the editing becomes quicker throughout when the music speeds up as well. 

Wang Chung, Everybody have fun tonight is a jump cut music video, these are often viewed as jarring and trippy as it jumps from two parallels. It follows two narratives to tell a story from two sides. Everybody have fun tonight quickly flips between two different people singing and following each of their narratives. 

Paralel editing- This is where you cut between two or more storylines. Pharall Willams does this as well with Happy as he has two narratives a past and a present. The present is him singing and the past is random people singing in the street. 

Timing your video with the music through editing. While editing a music video you need to make sure it follows the natural rhythm of the song and the pace it's set in. 

Trope

This is a significant or recurring theme. Musical genres often feature tropes and cliches which have helped define the genre. The audience then become familiar with a genre and start recognising tropes in it and begin to expect certain things to happen as they get comfortable with the genre. 

An example could be grime, Country Dons, sticky situations have very typical theme for the genre which is the dress code. The dress code is black tracksuits with bling, but along with that they cover their faces. They tend to also show of everything like cars, brands and pit balls, the whole idea for the music video is to make them look cool and threatening. 

Another example could be a pop band like the spice girls where they are always seen dancing and posing for the camera. They tend to have bright colours and a fancy dress code as well. Pop is mostly seen by younger kids so they tend to keep it happy and joyful and just lip sync to the song. They live the dream life in their music videos. 

Camera Movement

You can pan and zoom in, out with camera movement's. These add more variation to the videos and makes it more interesting to watch. You can also add these in post production editing. A example of this can be Blinding Lights which and almost every camera movement in it. It pans into the scenes with angled camera movements and pans up and down into scenes. Along with zooming in to his face and out of scenes to show the main focus. 

Diegetic and Non Diegetic sound

Diegetic- This is sound that appear in the universe and has not been added on. Everything is basically live. Then an example for this is Nirvana as its played live and everything you hear is whats happening right there and then. Theres no added sound or effects which makes it completely natural. 

Non diegetic- These are added sound effects that have been placed on. Also can be a soundtrack added over. an example for this is Dark Punk where the dude is going round with a boom box and the music is playing out of it, so in the editing they mimic where the boom box is and turn the sound up and down to make it seem diegetic. 

An example though for both is Billie Eilish Burry a friend. You can hear movements happening like the bed creaking and the sirens going on, the dude also says billies name. This adds a sense of reality to the music video as another layer. Then the backing track is Non diegetic as its added over top along with some sound effects. 

Symbloic 

This is the way of showing you a meaning beyond what you can see in the music video for instance. The image for this symbolism tends to be the eye of providence (the all seeing eye). They have hidden ideology's that audiences can subconsciously pick up on.

• facial expressions
• gestures
• poses
• subliminal imagery

Taylor swift, look what you made me do shows symbolism. In the music video theres a scene where she is on the thrown drinking tea with a snake. This symbolises the gossip Taylor has faced her years in the industry sending a message that she is moving on and does not care about it. 

Katy Perry, Dark horse - Throughout the music video there are many references to the illuminati, such as a hand gesture she uses that people who know about the Illuminati know it has a deeper meaning. 

Camera Production

single shot

This is when a show or movie is made using one camera to capture all the footage. An example of this would be outnumbered as they have a single camera production.

Multi camera shot

This is where there are multiple cameras to film a show or movie, this is popular in game shows and soap operas to catch multiple angles at once. An example could be countdown to show the contestants, host and game board and flick between them. 

Colour Theory

Usage of colour in music videos is very important in the sense of themes. A colour can create emotions or mean something creating a different feeling. 

Colour examples:

• Red- power, Love, Violence, Blood
• Muted Blue- Sad, Cold, Calm

Breaking Bad colour interpretation:

each character has a colour palatte.  And each colour had a meaning towards it. 

• Yellow means meth. Everyone who works in that business wears that colour.
• Orange means danger is near and action. Orange's are a key way of them showing this.
  
• Red is a primary colour that is used a lot, it means blood and violence. This symbolises the criminal lifestyle
• Pink means youth and naivety. It's always seen on a baby.

Colour can be used in two ways

• The way the video is styled eg. props, clothes, scenery
• Usage of colour creation in post production. 

Black a White

Monochrome (black and white) Music videos immediately create a certain atmosphere. These make you feel more sad and I and tend to share something important. It makes you focus on whats going on and not the colours and everything around. Black and white can also have a old fashioned look to it. An example of a black and white music video is Take me to church by Hozier, this whole video is filmed in black and white making this theme dark and serious already. This is based in Russia which does not treat gay people very well so it tackles that issue in a short movie style.

Colour Pallets 

Two examples:

Gotye, easy way out- This primarily starts with blues and greys then by the end its more black and white.

BlackPin- in the majority of their songs have a pink/purple colour. This tends to mean royalty, novelty, wealth, luxury.

My own example:

Bille Eilish, Male Fantasy- This follows a very blue, yellow and beige theme. These colours tend to be quite pale or dark though. This song is showing depression and I think the colours worked very well as they were a constant and quite bland colour showing the lack of motivation. Yellow also tends to mean happiness which I think was challenging stereotypes and creating a different meaning for the colour. It could also show that people can seem happy but also be depressed. Blue is a calming and sad colour which is what the mood for the whole video is, this is very typical ideology to be seen.

Social Groups

Social economics

This is where you can have certain social groups like demographics (upper, working and middle class) or racial groups. These groups will be into different things and have different goals in mind. for instance a stereotype is a upper class student will be more likey to have less of a social life and be hard working to be able to get the grades to go to Oxford uni, this is a typical idea of a social group. We might end up targeting a certain social group for our music video. 

Ethnography

This is where you are observing something and giving feedback on that certain thing to help improve the thing. You take a back seat role and observe to be able to make your research. For example watching someone's music video you would observe it and make notes on what you are seeing. These notes you make can be given as feedback to the person which is research for them.

Geodemographics

This is all factored about the location, for instance country music tends to be based in America like Taylor swift, Miley Cyrus and many more. Another example could be fashion and lifestyle will change depending on where you are based. Every place has the stereotypical ideas surrounding it and most people tend to fall into that category when being surrounded by it.

Psychographics 

psychology effect deographic you have. If you follow the labour/green party you are more likely to be younger and fit in a stereotypical age range while the contrast would be the older conservative people. If you are more positive about your job your likey to try harder meaning you might get a better job and make more money. 

psychographics change more regularly and are altered depending on where you are and the people around you, like their age. Your attitude and hobby can change as you grow and depending on your outlook. Your personality will be continuously changing as you evolve and find out more. These are also more about people, its personal and specific to a type of person. 

Psychographics are also influenced by your demographics, if you have a stressful job you are less likely to have a positive attitude and be influenced by people around you about your political stance. 

While demographics change less often as they stay the same until a change is made. A change of attitude towards your job like a promotion can change your income and possibly move you into a better social class. These wont happen often though as it's a slow changing thing or opportunity. These are more about things you own and are not humanised things it's more factual. 

Finneas audience classification 

The target audience is Young adults, (18-30) This is because his songs are quite political with strong points, that younger audience won't understand. Each strong has a strong ideology to create conversation and confrontation. he raises issues many mainstream artists to stray away from as it risks their songs being taken down or promoted less. FINNEAS despite his wide range of listeners doesn't focus on promoting his music as a wide stream as other big artists would. He only promotion he puts out there is on his social media, this means that only his followers would are aware of his new albums and songs keeping it low-key. Having said that if FINNEAS had a popular fanbase he would end up straying away from his ideologies and what he wanted to get out of his songs. He doesn't want to be the next mainstream artist e appreciates and accepts his smaller fanbase and treats them like friends. With his Sister (Billie Eilish) having a mainstream fanbase he can see how it affects their daily life and her mental health, and that having a large audience is as beneficial as people make it out to be.

FINNEAS keeps an eye on how his listeners are reacting to his songs through social media, interacting and socializing with his fans. He is interested in what his audiences have to say about his songs, he does this by listening to where his fans would like for him to perform. Critics of his new album optimist were mad that he wouldn't openly adveruse ms new album to people however loyal fans of his know that FINNEAS never partakes in advertising and promoting his music. Letting his songs sell themselves.

Since his music is quite political and opinionated he is a psychographical artist who influences his listeners with what he has to say about them. He doesn't stray away from expressing his opinion making sure his audience knows who he is against and for. Through his music growth, we have witnessed him develop a more personal genre he writes about. His songs started with traditional genres and themes like pop and romance, however, with his new album being released he explored more alternative music and deeper themes to show his vulnerability with his personal love experiences and political stances.

FINNEAS originates from Las Angeles meaning many of his fans may be from there as they relate to him as they are from the same place. He also plays sat Los Angeles frequently as he lives there so people there get a chance to see him play. As Finneas is a smaller artist it results in his tickets being cheaper since he is playing in smaller venues. This also means more people will go to his concerts as they are cheap tickets for a good time. This lets new audiences be introduced to his music and they will most likely be from Los Angeles. Overall his fanbase could mostly be from America.

Billie Eilish Artist Research

Billie's Demographic is people around her age (20 years old), she writes songs that people could relate to and you tend to find its teenagers to young adults. Because of this there is a sense of closeness between Billie and her fans. Billie lives in Los Angeles which means she plays special tours for them in her hometown. This means most of her fans will be from Los Angeles or near there, even people who don't even know Billie well could go to one of those concerts and be introduced to her music. When she was starting out she would have played around or near Los Angeles meaning her fans from there will be loyal ones. She will always have a different connection to her fans in her hometown as she will most likely feel more comfortable surrounded by a familiar area. The audience's preferences matter a lot as word of mouth is one of the most reliable marketing strategies. Billie's audience preference tends to be her more relatable songs that other artists are too scared to talk about. Her album When we all fall asleep where do we go was made when she was really struggling and it shows through songs like "Listen before I go". Fans listening to these songs and seeing their idol understand and willing to share deeper thoughts is helpful. It gives them their voice through a song. Some of Billie's songs are dark but these subjects need to be spoken about and those songs are what the fans appreciate the most.

A similar competing artist to Billie is Melanie Martinez, they both sing about dark themes and even take pride in their style and how they are seen which is very similar. I think both artists have the same demographic leading to them being each other's biggest competitors as it really depends on which version the fans prefer. Billie's voice is very unique and some people are not going to like it and will probably gravitate towards melanie. Everyone has different opinions, even though they are extremely similar, for example someone could love Billie's music but dislike Melanie's as it's all about how they share those dark themes in their music, how they present themselves and interact with their fans. I believe Billie is more successful especially with how many awards she has won but it would be very easy for her fans to start listening to Melanie and end up preferring her since with Billies growing popularity she may lose her dark theme which was slightly shown with her new album happier than ever. Yes she still has her deeper meaning in songs but with her leaning more towards the pop genre now it could change.

Bellow are her music videos in order of release and how many views they have:

They really all vary and there's no pattern I can find on why some do better than others. Bad guy did really well because it became a top hit for so long and won a grammy hence why it has 1.2 Million views. Lovely is a collaboration with Khalid so it has two fanbases in one music video which is why it has the most views out of all of her music videos, it sits at 1.6 Billion views. The one that shocks me the most is Male fantasy, yes it's been out for the least time but it's got barely any views at all with its 17 Million compared to her other videos that sit in a three digit range most of the time. With Ocean eyes being her first music video from 6 years ago being at 416M is also surprising as it's the song that made her popular and I expected it to be one of the higher ones. Overall the views on the music videos are dropping as only a select amount of her music videos have a higher amount of views. This could be because of how she has very creative ways of making music videos and sometimes people are not going to enjoy that. The ones that have crazy ideas tend to do better as it draws more people in to watch them.

I would personally still say Billie is rising in fame with her new album release in 2021 and world tour that's finishing soon. She is also creating another album at the moment which she has just announced a week ago. Yes she is not as recognisable anymore without her baggy style and bright green hair which will lead to her being less popular as people won't instantly recognise her anymore. Either way I still think she is rising in fame as she gains all these amazing opportunities like writing music for a bond movie and headlining Glastonbury and Coachella. She has also released her own perfume and has recently released her second version along with her own shoes and clothing line partnered with Nike. She is constantly creating new things which I think will keep her in the now as there is always something new to talk about with her. With all of that she is only 20 and is one of the most popular artists. I don't think her fame will be declining any time soon.