Purpose of a music video

There are many reasons for the purpose of a music video like;
    - to make money mainly,
    - to give the lyrics an image,
    - to give the artist an image,
    - or to promote another brand, e.g. coca cola.
But there are five main ones...

1) To promote a new music release, a new album/single or even an artist, almost like an advert for that song.
Promoting a video is letting more and more people know what it is, the person who sings it, the artists/brands in the music video, and this gets spread, maybe even worldwide.. and allows the artist to get more fame and favourability from just a video.

E.g. if the artist is unknown, the video might be spread, not just across the country, but accros the world, e.g people who sing on youtube, they are not knownm worldwide but the video they put up can be spread and get them recognised, like the image below;

<Youtube has shown where in the world this video has become most popular, the person started the video in the UK and it has spread vastly around Australia, and America.






2) To create  a visual representation of the artist. 
This means allowing the audience to know what the artist looks like and from the music video, you could see what the artists personality or genre of music is. 


E.g. the video allows the artist to be seen whilst no performing, and the audience sees there energy and values of the artist including the styles. The video could also allow the artist to reinvent themselves, e.g. Eminem who went from being jokey to being serious. 
The music video could also be a way of passing on a message/meaning to the audience. Telling them what they dislike or protest against; like 30 seconds to mars - This is war.

<From the video people comment on what they think, the comment directly below says that peace isn't hear anymore and we should be grateful we aren't in the middle of it and stuff. 
So it proves people are effected and/or influenced by the videos.


















3) To extent the playability of a sing and provide addition income.
E.g; the song stays out for longer, on music channels and YouTube, so they get royal payment. Also on the link to the video, the artist would get more views as more of their videos would appear on the suggestions.


The video may also allow for DVD releases and appear on them, such as the theme tune for Friends.

<This is the music video for The rememberants for the Friends theme tune, as you can see, it has the Friends characters in it, so you can repeatedly listen to this song, with out downloading it, as well as buying the DVD set. But there is a down side, being the only song on the DVD is this one.






4) To create a synergy with other media sources, such as films or TV show.
This could be to allow the audience to know of a film from watching the video. most videos do this, especially the singles from X-Factor winners, they also promote the show as well as the artist. 


An example of this would be Linkin Park - New Divide, from the film Transformers.

 ^The screen grabs from the Linkin Park video, have the transformers in it,, and some footage, showing that this song was in the film. This happens in other music videos and it not only promotes the song but the film to as if people haven't seen the film they would know about it through the video and vise versa,

5) The video could be to be at their own right, 
Meaning they are very memorable to watch because of the way they have been created, such as the new technology they have, such as green screens and special effects. 


Most videos are memorable because they create enigmas or narratives. An example of enigmas would be one such as Radiohead - Just, as it creates mystery, as you don't know the answer but it gets people talking about it.
Narrative example would be ones like Usher - Confessions, which have two separate songs but with a continuing video.

^These are two screen grabs from Confessions 1 and 2, and the first video carries on to the second, but in this case unlike other songs, the same situation is being carried on with the lyrics as well.