Comments on: Do Viral Music Videos Sell Records? A Closer Look at OK Go

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 06:28:30 +0000

Perhaps consumers won’t but youtube is paying for those that are really getting the hits:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/11/business/media/11youtube.html

By: Suzanne Lainson

Suzanne Lainson — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 19:32:43 +0000

Jon has hit upon the reality of the music video. Sometimes it gives you all you need and you don’t have to make an accompanying purchase. Sure, in some cases video leads you to a higher level of fandom, and you go buy the merchandise or go to the show, but when your financial resources are limited, you’re likely to be pretty choosy about who you financially support.

By: Jon Ostrow

Jon Ostrow — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 14:39:47 +0000

Sorry to jump on this comment board a bit late, and forgive me if someone had brought this up already. But to me, the real difference lies in the fact that during the time of Mtv, a music video was only played when THEY wanted it to – if you liked the song, you HAD to go out and buy it because there wasn’t any other accessible way to listen to the song at your own leisure. Therefore these music videos became a legitimate marketing tool used to drive demand for singles and albums. However, NOW these music videos are accessible at any time, from anywhere that you can hop on the internet (which lets face it, with 3G mobile devices, including your iphone, is now anywhere you want). The need for people to go out and purchase these singles or albums is virtually non-existent because they already have unlimited access to the song.

By: Arnbjorn Marklund

Arnbjorn Marklund — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 12:43:35 +0000

Interesting angle and I agree. There’s definitely more to an artists career than just selling records. Success should therefore be measured otherwise.

I have written a masters level paper on viral marketing of music videos. Maybe someone will find it interesting:

My paper is a case discussion of the marketing of the video of the song “Stoppested” by debuting Danish artist Kristian Luc (I am not discussing video content – only the marketing strategy). The recommended strategy should however be well fit for most artists and music companies (world wide) looking to work out a functional strategy for the marketing of music videos.

Link: http://www.marklund.no/?p=1202

(link to download the whole paper at the bottom (All in English)).

By: refe

refe — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 17:08:23 +0000

Thanks for commenting Kenny – great to see you around the site!

It’s the publicity Catch-22: you need to enter the scene with a big enough bang to get noticed, but the bigger the bang the harder it will be to live up to those initial expectations in future releases.

By: Rich Huxley

Rich Huxley — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 11:14:08 +0000

“Without a music video, an artist is guaranteed not to sell records” – Not sure that’s the case. Plenty of artists make a living without making a video.

By: Julian Bowman

Julian Bowman — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 11:05:10 +0000

Surely, a great song will sell a great song.

Dress it in as much candy floss as you like, but if a song either touches the soul or tweaks one’s smile muscles then people will want it. The aforementioned song was a great video in a song that I instantly forgot.

In all discussion on the ‘predicament’ of the ‘Biz’ the commentators/industry heads all ignore the HUGE elephant in the room… that the music industry is STILL peddling LOADS of sub-standard crap at an over inflated price. The ‘market’ and airwaves are so saturated with this crap that it is harder for great music to be discovered, and people are quite tired of being shafted for £15 for 1 or 2 good songs and 8 to 18 fillers.

I find it hilarious that the business model of pumping tonnes of cash behind a fledgling band who had one mediocre song become a hit, to try and continue to milk that cow when all subsequent material is redundant is still in operation and when the sales dip everyone shouts WHY and P2P is killing music.

Honestly, this is the problem when bean counters see music as a product. As a ‘product’ it is almost dead, as nourishment for the soul it will never die and people will buy it, will want to own it. Perhaps not in the millions of units like before, buy hey, is it our fault the Major’s infrastructure is so bloated? Nope.

Pass global legislation to stop shit music littering the airwaves and the Biz/PR/Press cabal from peddling this shit as a little boys club, and watch music sales return.

You want to sell music again, touch the soul, and stop fleecing the pocket.

By: Suzanne Lainson

Suzanne Lainson — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 06:29:21 +0000

Now this is a “music” video I like.

“A Conversation with Natalie Portman”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHbqb32vEUM

By: Sébastien Gilles

Sébastien Gilles — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 10:13:02 +0000

I recently met up with the label behind “Baby Baby Baby” music video by French band “Make the girl dance” (1 million views in 3 days, most viewed video on Dailymotion 2009).

To my question “Did all those views translate into increased sales”, their answer was simply “No” ! It did help the band fill venues, though.

This can be put this way: “Without a music video, an artist is guaranteed not to sell records, but there’s no guarantee of selling records with a music video”

By: Rich Huxley

Rich Huxley — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 06:40:27 +0000

Good second question.
It could be argued that that’s what we’re conditioned to like.
7in vinyl – Motown had a timer on the desk to stop them over-running into the crap-sounding bit of vinyl after 3 mins.
Pop has always been short and snappy and as our lives get ever-more crammed with information, work and leisure stuff it becomes increasingly the case. It’s why we like twitter!

And y’know what, the 3-4minute pop song is a great form. In most cases, if you can’t say it in less than 5 minutes, you’re probably not being succinct enough.

There are great exceptions to this mind. Telegraph Road, lots of Floyd stuff… but a song in under 5 mins… it’s a great format.