Research -Contemporary Context

The industry 

 In the music video industry the key players may be the production companies, directors or even the talent themselves, some influential individuals who have been known for producing high quality and successful music videos include, Logic ft. Alessia Cara, Khali for their song 1-800-273-8255 where they raise awareness for mental health, Beyoncé for one of her newer songs ALREADY featuring Shatta Wale, Major Laze where the music video is promoting diversity and Brent Faiyaz who has been gaining mass attention for his music and his music videos which have interesting editing. 

In terms of the directors, according to 'lights film school' the top 5 are as follows; 1. Michel Gondry is the Academy award winning French filmmaker who directed the hit feature film “Eternal sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and “The Science of Sleep”. He has also directed music videos for Bjork and Daft Punk, Foo Fighters, Chemical Brothers and Radiohead to name only a few. 2. Hype Williams is undoubtedly the most famous hip hop music video director of all time. When music video budgets were still large he directed the music videos for names such as TLC, Busta Rhymes, Usher and many more. 3. Spike Jonze is a household music video directors name. He has worked on creative music video projects with The Pharcyde, Sonic Youth, Bjork, Beasty Boys, Fatboy Slim and the Notorious B.I.G. 4. Chris Cunningham should be watched by every up and coming music video director. He has a very unique style and is always pushing the boundaries of the medium. He has worked with musicians ranging from Portishead, Madonna and Placebo. 5. Floria Sigismondi

 is a photographer and filmmaker who has made her mark with her dark and mysterious images. She is currently getting into the feature film world and is well decorated in many artistic awards. She has worked with the likes of Christina Aguilera, Fiona Apple, Incubus, and David Bowie to name only a few.

Finance 

All companies must finance themselves to become established, when looking at music video production companies it is prominent that it is either their own finance they have saved or earnt from producing smaller music video's and worked their way up, loans. And when speaking about the equipment most established companies will either have already bought their own cameras and equipment, the client may have provided it, or usually smaller companies will rent their technology. 

In terms of who is paying for the music video itself It can range from the artist themselves, the producer, the record company or anyone that wants to take the chance and make the investment. It used to be that the record company would put up the money to record the albums and take care of financing the entire endeavor start to finish. Over the years, they have become much more guarded with their investment.

Distribution 

When looking at how music videos are distributed the most popular has always been Youtube as its free, easy to use and accessible to most. But there are other options, whilst they may not be as popular they are still online, Vimeo is another video sharing platform like Youtube and so is Utreon not only do these all allow companies to share their videos but this is also where viewers will access them. In terms of exchanging these music videos this can be done on mostly all social media sites, for example, Twitter is a great example of where to promote a new music video and get people speaking about it, this also relates to theorist Clay Shirky's ideas of the active audience.