Music videos can help boost the success of songs by increasing views, publicity, sales and downloads. Sinead O'Connor's cover of "Nothing Compares 2 U" became more successful than Prince's original version due to her iconic music video, which featured close-ups of her crying and walking in a garden in black clothing. The video won several awards despite its gloomy and repetitive nature. Similarly, A-ha's "Take On Me" gained popularity in the US and UK through its innovative music video featuring animated sequences, which was groundbreaking at the time and helped expose the song on MTV.

1. Added Value

2. Music videos are a way of adding value to an artist's song. There has been many
cases where we there was two very similar songs however one became much more
successful than the other due to their music video and sometimes the quality of their
music video. Music videos have made songs become more successful due to many
reasons for example; word of mouth, publicity (television and news), sales and
downloads and views. I think the number of views is the most important as it links in
greater with the idea of music videos as people can watch the music video and if they
enjoy it (or not) they will start to tell other people about it which will then increase the
publicity of the song or artists. This results in sales and downloads which finally
equals success for the singer(s).

3. ‘Nothing Compares to U’
‘Nothing Compares to U’ was originally a song which was written and performed by
Prince as a side track for one of his albums. In 1990, an Irish singer, Sinead
O’Connor, released the same track but with a music video to go along it. Surprising
enough, Sinead O’Connor’s version got more publicity and views which made her
version of ‘Nothing Compares to U’ much more successful than Prince’s.

4. The video which was a worldwide hit in the 1990 was produced by O’Connor along
with Nelee Hooper but was directed by John Maybury. The video has been described
as iconic as it is not the same as most music videos. There are only two different
shot types, close ups and wide shots. In the close ups we see the singer crying and
from time to time angry and in the wide shots we see a figure dressed in full black
walking around a garden. The black clothing could imply the sadness and/or anger in
her. In my opinion, the video is very gloomy and repetitive which is not really what I
like to see. However, the video did win three Moonman awards at the 1990’s MTV
VMAs.

5. ‘Take On Me’
‘Take On Me’ was released in 1985 by A-ha. The song had two versions and was
released three times before it gained second place in the UK singles chart by October
of 1985. On the other hand, in the US, ‘Take Me On’ was at first place on the Billboard
Hot 100 on the same month. This success was due to the exposure of the music video
that was done by MTV which caught the eyes of many.

6. The music video directed by Steve Barron was described as innovative as it was
something new and different from other music videos. The videos consisted of
mainly close up shots at the start then progressed to some mid and long shots.
There were a series of cartoon images which came to life that at the time was seen
as really high tech work whereas today there have been many animated style videos
making this an innovative piece of work. The use of cartoons and the music gave
the video a more childlike and game feeling which made it much more enjoyable.