Existing Music Channels and Festivals

By looking at existing music festivals and expecially music channels, my music video will benefit from this as I have looked into the possible markets that it would be shown on. If the music video were to be a success on the music channels such as MTV or 4Music, then it is possible that the artist would go on to do concerts and perform at festivals so it has given me a good insight into what ones are popular and the styles of genre that is typically performed at either of them.

MTV

MTV is an American based cable and satelite television programme owned by the MTV music and logo group and a subsidary of Viacom Inc. The original purpose of the channel was to air music videos, with its main demographic being young adults, however, this has evolved and is now mainly targeted at adolescents and teens. The first ever video that was shown on MTV was 'The Buggles - Video Killed The Radio Star.' The chosen videos and the decision on what would be played was guided by on air personalities called 'VJs' or 'Video-Jockeys.' In 1984, the channel produced its first MTV Video Music Awards or 'VMAs.' The first award show was punctuated by a live performance by Madonna of 'Like a Virgin.' The statues that are handed out at the Video Music Awards are of the MTV moon man, the channel's original image from its first broadcast in 1981. Presently, the Video Music Awards are MTV's most watched annual event.

4Music

4Music is a music and entertainment channel in the United Kingdom that launched in the summer months of 2008. 4Music is the sister channel for Channel 4, Kerrang! and Smash Hits, and is owned by Box Television, (Bauer Media Group/Channel Four Television Corporation). Some of the programmes that featured on the channel were: Today's 4Music Top 10, Your Official Top 20, UKHot40, 4Music Doubles, and many others. 4Music hascoverage at both V Festival and T4 on the beach, (the festival shut down when T4 aired for the last time in 2012) and they have/had a stage at both of these music events.

V Festival

V Festival is an annual music festival hosted in England on the penultimate weekend of August. The dea initially came from Pulp's front man Javier Cocker who liked the idea of being able to play 2 different stages, in 2 locations over 2 days. He got together with his management team who thought it was a good idea and they decided to bring in other artists to perform also. The first ever V Festival took place in the August of 1996, where the show took place in Victoria Park, Warrington and Hylands Park, Chelmsford. It started out typically as a rock festival, however over more recent years it has been common for more pop artists to get involved. The festival is sponsored by Virgin Media and was televised on Channel 4's sister channel 4Music, however the rights to air were sold to MTV in 2014. Some of the artists that have headlined or performed at V Fest are: Blur, Foo Fighters, Coldplay, Oasis, Kasabian, The Killers, Snow Patrol, The Goo Goo Dolls, Lily Allen, Taylor Swift, Passion Pit, Kaiser Chiefs, Chase & Status, Rihanna, Eminem and David Guetta. In 2007, V Festival Australia was launched in which there was initiall 2 stages, but the year after they expanded to 4. In June of 2006, Richard Branson decided to launch Virgin Festival which was a spin off of the British V Festival, this was held in the United States of America and Canada.

Reading and Leeds Festival

 

Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds, England over the Bank Holiday weekend in August. Reading is the senior of the two festivals and was introduced first and is the worlds oldest popular music festival with rock, alternative, indie, punk and metal dominating the line up. The festivals are run by Festival Republic, divested from Mean Fiddler Music Group. the festivals usually consist of the following stages: Main Stage, NME/Radio 1 Stage, Dance Tent, Lock Up Stage, Festival Republic Stage, 1Xtra Stage, Alternative Tent and BBC Introducing Stage. Artists that have played at the festivals are Arctic Monkeys, Green Day, Kings of Leon, The Killers, Blink-182, Ramones, Nirvana, The Rolling Stones, Kasabian, Eminem and My Chemical Romance.