Task 1b - Major artist

Rihanna - Umbrella - Major Artist:

A major artist always has less control over the music videos they are in, rather than an Indie artist or especially a self produced artist. They have less control because the record label want to use the artist in the best way for them to make the music video go viral, so this is also why record labels insist on using close ups on their star image, which in this case is Rihanna.


Image: She comes across as seductive and sexual in the video. Major artists, such as Rihanna, tend to change their image across time by using hypereality, this means that someone like Rihanna would do this for her target audience, this is because she knows that the audience will want to buy in to the hypereal idea of how she portrays herself within her video. As for her target audience, who have followed her since her first album are growing older, with Rihanna, as she has got older, she wants to appeal to the usual audience but also by coming across in a seductive and sexual way in her videos, she relates to and appeals to another audience, a younger audience, both male and female, as the sexual image appeals to men that are attracted to her and many of the female younger audience will buy in to the hypereal image that is portrayed to them, even though only a small fraction of that image is probably true.

The label will always try and promote the artists image to sell, the artist is what they want the audience to enjoy and sell to.


Budget and production value: As this is a music video done by a major artist and a major record label, it means that there would have been a massive budget involved, this is because the label would have paid for; the studio, props ect. The budget will be funded by the major record label, as they are rich and have enough money to fund the video, this will mean that the label will make most of the money from profits back - usualyy around 90%.



Synergy and product placement: This is an example of an advert that is used on youtube before the music video begins. This is put there on purpose to make more money and profit for the company.

Audience they are appealing to (sizes and types)
Her audience that she appeals to are a wide one, this is because she is a major artist, she will have the audience that followed her since she became a star image, she will now also have a wider audience because of this video at the time, this is because of the hypereal sexualisation that she uses within the video, this gains a wider audience, as she is appealing to males and females will want to be like her hypereality that she portrays. The audience that a major artist will appeal to is much bigger and broader than an Indie artists or a self produced artist, this is because as they are trying to sell the star, in this case, Rihanna, has to appeal to a larger audience world wide.


Strategy used to get attention or to promote:
To promote their music, the record label will insist on using many close ups within the video, of the artist, this is because they are the star image and the main focus and appeal, making it so the audience know who is the person to understand is the main focus. They use close ups to show the star image of the major artist. They do this also because by using the artist in the video, this is what will sell and make money and profits for the label as the audience will buy tickets to tours and live performances, this is the main source of profits because hardly anyone will buy music anymore from iTunes, as it can be downloaded for free.

Monetisation of outlets:
The video was monitised by using YouTube to promote the video to become a viral success. By only YouTube alone, as the video has an advertisement before, it will make $2 per every thousand views by viewers.
However, as Rihanna is a major artist owned by a major record label, it means that she will only earn 10% of the total earning from Youtube.