Pop Music Genre

"Image is a key paradigm for music genre, with an artist's look categorising them before they start singing or playing."

This is the main point I gleaned from this article and is something which I'm very aware of.
It's true that when I look at an artist who I've never seen before, I'll make assumptions about their music, messages and whole image before I've even heard their music and will judge whether I listen to their music dependent on my opinion of their image. This means that, without creating an image which is the same as every other popstar, when making my artist's image I have to research into the target audience for the genre of music and make sure the image is spot on.
A signature element is also something which I would like to create. For example, Elvis' flares, Micheal Jackson's glove and Amy Winehouse's beehive are all things you could look at in isolation and would remind you of that artist- perfect examples of good marketing of their images.

In the music video, the clothes they're wearing make a big impact on the seriousness of their work so this is something I'll pay attention to- if their message is of non-conformity and rebellion then I'd dress them in wacky clothes to signify this, whereas if they sing ballads and love songs, I'd put them in more normal or slightly dressed up clothing to look romantic but relatable.

We can see these ideas are often applied in the music industry, with 70s punk rockers The Ramones wearing leather, ripped clothes and long hair in order to show their disregard for social norms whereas we see Adele often wearing romantic black dresses with demure makeup and her bigger size helps with her likability for her target audience.