Music Theories

Louise King
Andrew Goodwins Theroy
There are 6 main features that Goodwin finds in music videos.

1.Music Videos demonstrate genre characteristics. (e.g. stage performance in metal videos, dance routine for boy/girl
band, aspiration in Hip Hop).
2.There is a relationship between lyrics and visuals. The lyrics are represented with images. (either illustrate,
amplifying, contradicting).
3.There is a relationship between music and visuals. The tone and atmosphere of the visual reflects that of the music.
(either illustrative, amplifying, contradicting).
4.The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close ups of the artist and the artist may develop
motifs which recur across their work (a visual style).
5.There is frequently reference to notion of looking (screens within screens, mirrors, stages, etc) and particularly
voyeuristic treatment of the female body.
6.There are often intertextual reference (to films, tv programmes, other music videos etc).

Sven E Carlssons Theory
Sven E Carlsson stated that music video is a many faceted multi-discursive phenomenon that is communicated through the TV
screen and its speakers via carriers of information such as, the music, the lyrics and the moving images.
Carlsson believed that music videos, in general, fall into two main groups; performance clips where the video mostly shows an
artist (or artists) singing or/and dancing; and conceptual clips where the video shows something else during its duration often
with artistic ambitions.

Standard Clip
A music videos that more or less contains a filmed singer blended with inserted images. A standard clip is meant to be
dynamic and has many variations. The vocalist may actively participate in the story while simultaneously standing outside the
video offering self-reflexive commentary; he may have an alter ego e.g. a cartoon character.

There are three pure forms of visual tradition in music video;

Performance Clip
If a music video clip contains mostly filmed performance e.g. a video that shows the vocalist in more than one setting, then it
is a performance clip. The performance can be of three types: song performance, dance performance and instrumental
performance.
In certain types of perfromances the performer is often made into a materialization of the commerical exhibitionist, this is
where the performer is made into almost a selling item; someone that fans often aspire to be and these scenes will be
extremely high in quality and have a gloss to them. The exhibitionist wants success and tries to evoke the charisma of
stardom and sexuality. Another type is the televised bard, which is a singing storyteller who uses on screen images instead of
inner, personal images. The the third and final type is the elctronic shaman, sometimes the shaman is invisible and only
his/her voice that anchor the visuals and they often shift between multiple shapes.

Narrative Clip
If a music video clip is understood as a silent movie to a musical background it is a narrative clip. A narrative contains a story
that is easy to follow and may not contain any lip-synchronisation.

Art Clip
If a music video contains no perceptable visual narrative and contains no lip-synchronisation singing then it is a pure art clip.
These are normally associated with more modern, experimental music.
Richard Dyer
Richard Dyer created a theory based on stars and stardom, this theory is based around the idea that all stars/ celebrities follow certain elements
in order to become successful in the music industry.The term 'star' refers to a set of meanings constructed around performance and music in
order to sell the artist to a large and loyal audience. Richard Dyer believes that stars are commodities that are made to be produced and
consumed by an audience.

Key elements within Dyer's theory:
Youthfulness
Rebellion
Sexual magnetism
An anti authoritarian attitude
Originality
Creativity/ talent
Aggression and anger
A disregard for social values relating to drugs, sex and polite behaviour
Conspicuous consumption of sex, drugs and material goods
Success against the odds

Stars depend on the media so that an image of them can be created and marketed to the audience. This 'image' idea is made up of a range of
different meanings which are attractive and appeal to the audience. Two main elements of star image are:

The star must be simultaneously ordinary and extraordinary for the consumer- this idea means that the star should be able to reach out to the
audience and be able to relate to them as well as be different from them so that they can aspire to be like them.
The star must be simultaneously present and absent for the consumer- this idea means that the artist should create music for the audience
then take a break so they aren't too overpowering and then reappear with more music for the audience.