what is the purpose of a music video

1. The Music Industry
Why music videos are
important

2. Brief History
• A music video is a promotional film for popular music. Music videos began
to be widely broadcast on television in the early 1980s. Like the
commercials they essentially are, music videos may qualify as the
quintessential postmodern art form.
• The Beatles, first and foremost, had begun substituting filmed clips for in-
person TV appearances in the late 1960s, and bands marginalized by
conventional commercial outlets. Punks were among the first to recognize
the form’s usefulness as both sales pitch and agitprop a decade later.
• Music videos did not become Popular until the advent of MTV (Music
TeleVision) in 1981 made them an all but indispensable adjunct to
marketing a song.
• In 1975 the stir created by Queen’s clip for “Bohemian Rhapsody” showed
how video could increase if not outright define a song’s qualities.

3. What is the purpose of a
music video?
• Narrative and performance:
-It provides entertainment for the viewer
- provides more understanding of the songs meaning.
• Promote:
-A music video can promote the song and the artist as it entertains
and attracts viewers.
-The artist may promote themselves through video by featuring
within the video throughout therefore selling their look.
-Through the use of product placement artists can also be paid to
feature a product therefore promoting a product and brand as well as
themselves.