Purposes of a Music Video

As a class, we discussed the purposes of a music video, and came up with the following:

• To promote the single
• To promote the artist
• To increase sales of the single, as well as the artist's other music
• To gain interest in related entities, such as a film or television show
• To show the artist's interpretation of their song
• To cause controversy and therefore publicity
• To highlight certain issues
• To hide the flaws of the song
• To increase the artist's fanbase
• To market a particular image
• To entertain
• To make an artistic statement
• Product Placement

Primarily, music videos are used to promote the song and the artist. By creating a video, the song is not only played on the radio, but on television channels such as MTV and VIVA, as well as YouTube.
By creating an interest in the song/artist, the artist's older music is therefore listened to by the interested party.
Some music videos are of songs used in blockbuster films, such as Celine Dion's My Heart Will Go On and Titanic. The music video featured a large amount of footage from the film, as well as Dion herself.




Some artists also use their videos as a way to show their interpretation of the lyrics, or the story they based the song on. Ed Sheeran is an example of this with his video for The A Team, which depicts the final 24 hours of a female drug addict's life.



Other music videos are controversial (See: Rihanna's 'S&M'), whilst others highlight taboo issues and disregarded subjects (See: Rihanna's 'Man Down').Some videos have been said to have been made in a way that attempts to hide the mediocrity of the music. Lady Gaga's work has often been branded average catchy pop music, yet her extravagant persona and wacky videos overshadow this, causing her to be the Holy Grail of the current pop generation.