Throughout a musician's rise to fame, it is often expected to see their music and accompanying material improve in quality over time, due to the musician's being able to afford better staff and equipment in helping create their material.

A key example of how musicians are able to create better work as their fame grows is the fact that they are able to afford, both in regards to reputation and finances, better teams and bigger budgets to create work with higher production values. Music videos, for example, are something that can be used to highlight the growth of a musician over time. This can be shown through the contrast of music videos towards the beginning of a musician's career in comparison to the music videos they use most recently.

Ed Sheeran's video for his first single "The A Team" was directed in 2010 by Ruskin Kyle, a director who, in regards to the music industry, has little experience. The music video is both reflective of the directors lack of experience, the small budget (which was announced to have been just £20), as well as the year (2010) in which it was made in, being that a lot has changed and developed in regards to technology and visual trends in the previous seven years.

In comparison, the music video for one of his more recent singles, released in 2017, "Castle On The Hill", was directed by George Belfield. A major difference between the two videos, which can be related to the difference in status and fame of Ed Sheeran, is the director. George Belfield has worked with other established musicians within the music industry, including Tom Odell and Paloma Faith, and his experience and professionalism can be seen clearly in contrast to the video for "The A Team" when considering the number of locations used and the advanced visual and technical codes.

Both videos, however, do share similarities in that Ed Sheeran does not appear in either video, which is somewhat strange - especially towards the beginning of his career - as appearing in his own music video is likely to strengthen the connections between his name, brand and music. Likewise, both videos rely on a narrative, rather than being performance based.

However, whilst there is usually a correlation between the quality of a music video and the stage of the musician's career, as there is with Ed Sheeran, not all music videos towards the beginning of a musician's fame have low production values or unknown directors. For example, Adele's first video, "Hometown Glory", was directed by Paul Dugdale who has worked on various films and documentaries within the music industry, including with big names such as One Direction, and so was arguably already a notable name within the industry. Although, in regards to production values, it can also be argued that her videos have improved as she has gained more popularity. One of her more recent videos, for "Hello", a single from her album "25", was directed by Xavier Dolan and differs to her earlier videos through the incorporation of a solid narrative: the music video appears more like a film, which could be influenced by the fact that Dolan is a filmmaker by trade, which tells a story than it is a music video focusing on performance, such as "Hometown Glory".

Interestingly, both songs "Castle on the Hill",  by Ed Sheeran, and "Hometown Glory", by Adele, refer to the artist's hometowns and roots, helping to represent them as grounded individuals who are still in touch from where they have come from. I think that this is important in creating a fanbase as well as created positive connotations with the artist's brands. This is especially evident in the fact that director George Belfied, who directed the music video for "Castle on the Hill", declared that the local community where eager and cooperative in helping to create the music video. This is an example of how these positive representations of Ed Sheeran might have helped in the production process of the music video.