Task 1 - Purpose of music videos

Purposes of music videos
Music videos are a short film or video that goes with a piece of music or a song. Usually produced to promote the song and image of an artist and encourage sales of that particular song or the album, also they can promote clothing and they can demonstrate the characteristics of a music genre.
Usually it’s easy to identify the genre of music with the visuals of a music video, and I think this is important for promotion which is the main factor of a music video. A genre of music usually have a niche market, and you have to include certain things for them to appeal, for instance metal bands have dark, aggressive videos and pop videos have dance routines and are very posed, grime videos are usually set in area that the artists come from and also quite dark and aren’t all posed up. Of course this is very stereotypical but this is all a part of a music video, they are used to reel in the viewers mostly looking into the type of person that listens to a certain music and make them appeal to them, say hip-hop the targeted audience are teenagers to young adults, mainly men (without sounding sexist), and hip-hop videos include cars, under dressed attractive women, money, fashionable clothes ect. So you'd expect the viewer to watch the video and then want to go out and by the song or album and maybe even clothes they've seen in that particular video, music video's are usually all about promoting the artist.
The way in which a music video are shot can also promote the artist, lots of close-ups can be used to emphasise and image of a band, I think image is important and this is mainly put across in music videos because its part of a genre, people, especially young people are influenced by the way their idols look and dress as music and fashion are closely related, so a style can be copied from a certain music video and this is also promotion, for example a certain hair style like Rhianna, or say men in skinny jeans promoted by bands like Green Day. You can also develop visual motifs, perhaps a certain sign or symbol or dance move that can always be related to an artist if its always featured in music videos, for example Jay-Z has his hand symbol.
Sometimes a music video can tell the story or the song/lyrics and illustrate the song maybe to help give a better meaning of it, usually there is a relationship between lyrics and visuals, so basically what is being sung is being illustrated or acted out, sometimes you can derive a totally different meaning of a song after watching a video rather than just listening to it, visuals can give a better understanding. Or maybe the way a song is performed in a video can express the emotion to the song.
Also another main factor of a music video is to create a reaction, artists like lady Gaga like to shock, and are very controversial the music video has make the song one to remember whether it be an outfit or a dance move or just the song, the video has to promote the artist well, and has got to be entertaining, if a music video is good it can keep you watching or listening, if someone doesn’t like necessarily enjoy the song or the artist, they might love the video which will make sales.
I think a memorable video to match a song, is really important to the sales and promotion of a band. We know music videos are important because of how their popularity has grown through-out the years and how we now have television channel dedicated to music videos, I think fans enjoy music videos as it’s a good way to watch an artist you enjoy without having to go to a gig.