The purpose of music videos

1. THE PURPOSE OF MUSIC VIDEOS
A music video is a short film integrating
a song and imagery, produced for
promotional or artistic purposes.

2. Promotion and Marketing
The main purpose of the music video is to promote the artist and
the song.
The music video can make a reaction from the audience which
will encourage the audience to remember the song, so are more
likely to recommend people to either listen to the song or watch
the video. The artist is often in the video so this also gets the
audience aware of the artist

3. The music video may also help people to understand the meaning of the song
more as they often show the narrative if the music is telling a story.
Music videos could also appeal to people interested in different things, such
as, people interested in videos, whether that be film, TV, or performance art.
Many people could see music videos as a form of performance art, as they
are often performed and are shown in a more abstract ways, especially
through mise en scene, through things such as costume and art. A good
example of music videos being seen as art is David Bowie’s Lazarus music
video.

4. Selling the artist’s image
Music artists very often have their own image and style, this
usually related also to their genre.
Examples of artists who have a very strong image and style are
Lady Gaga and Sia. Both are very well known for their style and
also for their well known music videos.
Sia in particular has a style in which she has kept to and people
will recognise, which usually involves dancers in her signature
hair and unusual dancing. Her videos have gotten publicity
before, so when a new video comes out many people will go to
watch it, so it has gotten her much more publicity and
popularity.

5. Entertainment
A large part of music videos is simply to entertain an
audience.
Music videos are often made to be visually interesting
and/or fun, so they can appeal to many people, maybe who
are interested in the film and music videos and want to see
how it’s filmed or of there are special effects, and also
people when they are interested in the band or artist it
gives and they’re in the video it could make them feel like
they know them more after seeing them in the video.

6. There are also many music videos that are seen as iconic and are
memorable, this shows that many people have watched it and it
would make people aware of the musician/s.
An example of a memorable music video is Fatboy Slim’s
Weapon of choice. This video is simple and features a
businessman, overhearing the song on the maid's radio, and
takes to dancing in the hotel lobby. The reason that this music
video was most likely so popular was because the dancer was
the well-known actor Christopher Walken.