Music Promos

      A music promo is an advert/promotion for the artist and song. They are not just for entertainment, they help promote the artist.

Promos help to increase sales and publicity. They also help to link the song to a video which relates to the brand identity and therefore informs the audience about the bands genre and style.

Most music promos are exhibited on music channels like MTV which allows access to a very large audience. This method is 
a more traditional form of promotion.



Music promos are now using modern media forms to promote their music. YouTube and iTunes have become very important and big for music promotion. ITunes allows the audience to download the songs easily, and YouTube enables them to watch the music promo for free.

Narrative

• Linear: chronological order
• Non-Linear: Not chronological (flashbacks/forwards, montage, ellipsis, going backwards)
• Closed: Closure or conclusion
• Open Ended: No true ending, own interpretation, cliff hanger
• Circular: Ends where it began
• Singular-stranded: One storyline
• Multi-strand: Multiple storylines

 

Todorov’s Theory of Narrative

1. A story of equilibrium (as it should be)

2. A disruption of that order by an event

3. A recognition that the disorder has occurred

4. An attempt to repair the damage caused

5. A return to restoration of a new equilibrium

Synaesthesia

“A condition in which one type of stimulation evokes the sensation of another, as when the hearing of a sound produces the visualization of a colour.”

Andrew Goodwin - Music promos can interpret/use meanings created in the song lyrics in different ways:

Illustration - The promo illustrates the ideas/narrative of the song lyrics.

Amplification – Use a key idea/image from the lyrics and develops it into a concept within the promo. A link remains between the lyric and the promo. Take a theme, and represent it by thinking out of the box with the ideas.

Disjuncture - The promo bears no resemblance to the lyric or its meaning: abstract; often seen as unconventional and creates a new range of meanings for the song.