Research: The Function of a Music Video

A music video is a visual representation of a recorded popular song (usually a single from an album or EP).

The main purpose of a music video is to promote the single, the album (or EP) the song comes from and the artist. 

Other purposes of music videos include:

• Creating something visual in order to:
• Give the artist a visual link with their audience
• Have a narrative/ tell a story
• Engage an audience
• Broadcast a song on TV
• Giving the artist the opportunity to perform the song
• Increasing sales
• Sometimes, to cause a reaction or be controversial

A music video does this by:

• Selling the song in a way that the audience is able to remember the song whilst building a visual link to the video.
• Providing the audience with an understanding of what the song is about – this helps engage the audience.

Entertaining the audience by highlighting the talents of the artist and anyone in the video – this can be done with dancing, singing, performing and even from the way an artist presents themselves visually (costume, make up, etc).

A good example of a music video does this is Selena Gomez’s “The Heart Wants What It Wants”.
 

The song is about being in love with someone that you probably shouldn’t still have feelings for but you can’t help it.

The music video explores this idea – providing the audience with an understanding of what the song is about. It does this by showing how a relationship might have been in the past (including some clips which are made grainy deliberately in order to make the footage as if it were recording on a home video camera – enabling the audience to feel closer to the artist) and then contrasting this with the painful emotions felt afterwards, or “now” (i.e. when the song is being/ was written).

The artist is also seen singing (lip syncing) the song and providing the entertainment factor to the video. The video then serves as a visual link to the song. I, myself, when thinking of this song – think of a black and white close up of Selena Gomez with tears streaming down her face and it has become a sub-conscious visual link.

- Dan