Product Placement

 Product placement has certainly become far more common in recent years now that artists and companies are trying to utilise social media websites such as YouTube or Facebook. because of the boom in artists promoting products, artists like Dr Dre are moving away from music itself and focusing more on the entrepreneurial side of music. For example with Dr Dre's Beats by Dre company. People are paying for his name and he has taken advantage of this. He is also incredibly well respected in the music industry for what he did for hip hop and a lot of artists are using his product in his video to be associated with such a big name as Dre. Almost all mainstream west coast hip hop videos have some sort of Beats by Dre product in their video and the company has branched out to more mainstream international artists such as David Guetta and Robin Thicke. Dr Dre changed product placement and opened the door for other electronics companies such as Sony Ericsson or Nokia. 

Robin Thicke with the new Beat pill

Eminem helping out his friend Dre

 Some artists use music videos for their own gain to promote products they are associated with for example, Pharrell Williams who regularly promotes his own clothing brand Billionaire Boys Club in his music videos or Jay-Z who wears Brooklyn Nets  basketball gear as he is a lifelong fan and also has shares in the franchise.

Jay-Z wearing a Brooklyn Nets jersey

Pharrell Williams in Billionaire Boys Club