Research: What is the function of a music video?

It is popular belief that the main purpose of a music video is for the ways it can effectively promote:

• Singles
• The album a single is from
• The artist themselves

A given definition for a music video: 'A short film accompanied by a main soundtrack which often includes dancing and visual representations in relation to the expressed lyrics'

A music video has a number of other important purposes too, such as providing it's audience with an improved understanding to a particular song as opposed to their previous understanding with audio only. The visual imagery that is provided by music videos gives the artist the ability to communicate expressions and meanings visually, providing a greater level of entertainment for the video's intended audience. Furthermore, music videos have proven to highlight several other talents of artists aside from vocal performance, ranging from dancing to acting, depending on the genre and style of music video performance.

Music videos aim to widen the audience of a certain artist as much as possible, in order to help promote different products, such as singles, live concert performances and albums. Music videos are vital to successful marketing within the music industry today.

Included below is a music video to Wiz Khalifa's hit single 'Black and Yellow'. I have chosen this as an example as it illustrates how music videos can impact popularity, in this instance, a huge impact, as this video has garnered over 100 million views. Not only does the video promote Wiz Khalifa's single itself, but it also promotes several products seen within the video too, such as artist merchandise, and the 'Wiz Khalifa Aviator' shades by Norman Childs, a sunglasses manufacturer.