People select their music based on a number of different factors such as preference of genre and style, whether it reflects the mood they're in, the lyrics of the song and what is popular at that particular time, as in aspects of taste in music, people can be very influencial.
In terms of genre and style, people may select particular bands and songs that could be categorized in a certain type that appeals to the person. Although they may not be familiar with certain bands, they might choose to listen to them as they may be tagged with a particular label that conforms to a person's taste.
The rhythm and lyrics of a song also have a strong influence on a person's choice, as the feel of a song can sometimes have a strong influence on a person's mood. Upbeat and happy tunes can trigger a jovial feel, whilst simple piano and darker lyrics can reflect a blue and sad atmosphere.Popularity has a huge influence in today's music as with the use of TV, radio and websites such as youtube, we are constantly subjected to music, and more often what's is rated as top hits. Eventually this leads to the spreading of whichever song is stated as popular at that particular time.
Do music videos make a difference?
Depending on which way people wish to listen to their music, videos can either make a huge difference or be completely irrelevant to a person's choice. I listen to songs mainly on my ipod, so I do not feel videos to be hugely influencial in my choice. However, occasionally if I see a video that is particularly appealing I feel it does have an impact on my choice and will definitely enhance my liking of it. For example I wasn't a huge fan of Uffie's 'Pop the Glock' until a friend introduced me to a video, at which point I really started enjoying the song as the narrative and graphics featured in the vid really appealed to me.
In today's world with webstites such as youtube, music channels and itunes enabling people to download not only music but it's accompanying video as well, I feel that music videos are gaining more and more importance. These vastly developing ways of viewing mean that more and more people are being subjected to music videos, therefore increasing the need for catchy graphics and interesting narratives to match the origianl song. However, I do not believe that music videos are that influencial in terms of putting people off, as although I feel a catchy and interesting vid like Lady Gaga's series of outrageous videos can attract more and more attention to a song, a boring and simple video is not enough to actually put people off from listening to the track.
Genre and theme of video is also generally quiet important, as a convincing video possessing graphics and narratives that would generally be found in the genre of the song can contribute greatly to it's popularity. This concept can also go for the general atmosphere that the melody creates, as an upbeat tune conforms to a colourful and happy video whilst a heavy bass and house song suits the club scene of half naked girls, nice clothes and expensive drinks. A convincing portrayal and continuation in theme between video and song can definitely influence it's popularity as it would initially conform to it's target audience, therefore allowing the vid to have just as much importance as the track.
What attracts people to a video....
In terms of what is popular today, I definitely believe that an interesting mixture between dancing, attractive people, enhanced grapics and general money-spending attract a vast number of today's youth as this is comes as an overheader of what most kid's are interesting in these days. A good example of this is J-Lo and Pitbull's track 'On the Floor'.
However, disregarding the more mainstream aspect of music and considering the indie orientated genre I feel that an interesting narrative and style that conforms to the feel of the music is much more important than the showing of skin and money. Anything that is original can be viewed as attractive to the indie genre, as it will be expressing individualism, therefore a video that displays themes that relate to the genre will increase it's importance in relation to the track.
...And what puts them off?
Basically any video with a poorly made narrative, either considered as boring or too complicated to follow, in my research I've found that narrative is the main contributing factor to the success and popularity of a video. Another aspect of a vid that could potentially put people off is a poor performance on the band's part as they are the main attraction and an unconvincing act could make a joke out of them as they can no longer be viewed as professional.
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