Music videos serve several purposes: to make money for the record company, provide a visual to accompany the song to help audiences remember it, introduce artists, and give context to the song's meaning. Part of promoting an artist involves crafting an image through their videos. For example, Miley Cyrus' videos portray a rebellious teenager persona. Music videos also extend the life of songs and income for artists by promoting them long after albums are released. Rihanna's "Umbrella" video contributed to the song's commercial success. New outlets like YouTube have expanded how labels can distribute videos to promote artists. Videos can also promote other media like movies through product placement. The number of YouTube views a video gets now impacts

1. The Purpose of Music
Videos
Umut Tasci

2. The Fundamental Purpose of a
Music Videos to Essentially to:
Make a lot of Money for the
Record Company

3. A Music Video Can Also…
To provide a visual in addition to the audio so the
audience can have something to recall to when
remembering the song thus it can stick to
audiences even more.
Introduce an Artist to the audience.
Give the audience a better understanding of the
song and what its about.
Entertain and show off the artists talents.

4. Selling An Image
Part of promoting an artist is selling their ‘image’. This is
essentially when a record label constructs an image for a star
to appeal to their audience. This is achieved by artist setting a
certain mood in their vide.
Miley Cyrus
Miley Cyrus has a lot of music videos that are memorable. This
is because of how different and crazy there are. However, this
is just a small part in her star image; it’s the record company
constructing her image, which is to be a rebellious teenager
who loves to party and be ‘different’.

5. Extension of Income
Like I've mentioned before, one of the main purposes (if not,
the main) of the artist’s music videos is to make money.
However, this is only successful if they succeed in the long run.
That’s why, even though Music Videos help to promote a band
or artist long after the single or album has been released,
some artists are remembered years later solely because of a
memorable music video.
Rihanna - UmbrellaOne of the best examples of this is the song
‘Umbrella’ by Rihanna. This was an instant hit
in the UK, where is debuted at #1 solely on
the strength of download sales. This is a great
example for me personally because this song
is one of the main reasons I am familiar with
Rihanna. It was a huge success when I was
younger because of its creative Music Video. It
spent 10 weeks at the #1 spot thus breaking a
world record that stood for nearly 55 years.

6. Extension of Outlets
In the past, Music Videos would be aired on TV Chart Shows and on
Music Video channels, such as MTV. Labels worked together with
music channels to ensure the playing of their videos to try and
achieve an increase in sales.
However, with the increased popularity of online sources such as
YouTube & Soundcloud, the labels now have a better variety of ways
to outlet their Music Videos. Additionally, social media also plays a
key role in increasing the artist’s coverage. Its so easy to find songs
and new artists these days because of how popular YouTube and
other online resources are that I was able to go on YouTube and find
this video of Ed Sheeran without having to search for it.

7. Synergy
Music Videos are also used as Synergy. This is where two
areas of media work together. One big and common example
of this is when a Music Video features scenes from a
Hollywood movie to promote it. Usually the song will feature in
the film and the trailer, which a wider number of people will
see.
Adele - Skyfall
Adele Skyfall was the
official score for the James
Bond movie, ‘Skyfall’. It did
really well on YouTube and
created more awareness
for the movie.

8. Impact of YouTube views
An additional purpose of a Music Video could be to do well in
terms of YouTube views. This is because, with the growth of
technology and popularity of YouTube, having a good amount
of YouTube views will play a big part of how successful the
song is.