Music Video Institutions - Kieran Panchal 9652

A Music Video Institution is a company or organisation who produce or create a music video for an artist. Often a music video will be produced by an artist's music label. These are usually large conglomerate companies who are integrated horizontally, allowing this to easily take place. However, there is also a large market for niche freelance film makers to make modern music videos. Often doing this will ensure a differentiated and less commercial product, as many independent film makers, generally speaking, will focus their work on creativity, concepts and art rather than producing a video that is most likely to guarantee a return for the company.

NABIL

http://www.nabil.com

Nabil Elderkin is a freelance Director/Photographer raised in Australia but based in Los Angeles. As well as creating visuals for a variety of media platforms and advertising campaigns, Nabil is a freelance music video director. He now has many employees working for him, with the start up of the company 'N E Direction'. The company's portfolio is vast and previous clients include Foals, Alt-J, The Weeknd, Bon Iver, Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, Skrillex, Arctic Monkeys and Frank Ocean.

Nabil's directoral approach is very unique, and his style can be easily recognised. In particular, conceptual and narrative music videos are his forte. With Nabil's music videos, it is obvious that the mise-en-scene is always very carefully crafted, and particular attention is paid to smaller aspects in the production, such as choreography, lighting and location, each of which build up to create a strong mise-en-scene and atmosphere within the video. In addition, I am especially fond of the emotional attachment that Nabil creates between the audience and character, and i am keen to emulate this in my own production.

In contrast, as aforementioned there are many large conglomerate institutions that create music videos. Many of the production units are subsidiaries of large record label institutions, meaning it is possible for cross media convergence to occur and for the different divisions of the company to work together easily and symbiotically. The main record label companies that produce music videos are EMI, Universal, Sony Music and Warner Music Group. Due to the vast range of artists that these companies accommodate, there is nothing in particular that connects their music videos together, as they can be so varied. Usually however, they will recruit external and usually reputable directors and producers to carry out the productions, although they will be funded by the label.

EMI

• Founded in 1931
• Revenue: £1.072bn
• Artists: Coldplay, Lily Allen, David Guetta, Iron Maiden, Kylie Minogue, Katy Perry, Snoop Dog, Pink Floyd, 30 Seconds To Mars

Universal

• Founded in 1934
• Subsidiary of Vivendi
• Claims to be largest global label
• Revenue: $6.5bn
• Artists: Kanye West, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Enrique Iglesias, Avicci, Maroon 5, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z, Adele, Metallica

Sony

• Founded 1929
• Formerly known as SONY BMG 
• Revenue: $4.8bn
• Artists: Calvin Harris, Shakira, Britney Spears, Avril Lavigne, Celine Dion, Kelly Clarkson, Alicia Keys, John Legend, Plan B, ASAP Rocky, Mark Ronson

Warner Music Group

• Founded 1958
• Artists: Ed Sheeran, Madonna, Wiz Khalifa, David Guetta, Jason Derulo, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Charlie XCX, Led Zeppelin
• Revenue: $2.87bn 
• Parent Company: Access Industries