Purpose of a Music Video

The main purpose of a music video is to:

1. Sell the song, and invoke a reaction so it leaves the audience remembering the song
2. Give the audience a better understanding of the song
3. Entertain 
4. Sell CDs and/or DVDs to viewers - creating a memorable visual medium for the song increases its chances of sale
5. Market for the purposes of exposure and expansion of the artist's profile

Despite all of these factors coming into play, some people may argue that, in the end, the music video serves one purpose: promotion. A music video is a promotional tool used by the artist to get their songs around the world, where it is easily accessible and provides a visual medium in which their interpretation of the song is shown to their intended audience, and perhaps even beyond. 

There are three types of music videos: performance, narrative, and concept based. 

Performance-based music videos feature the artist/band performing the song throughout most of the video. An example of this would be "Best of You" by The Foo Fighters.

Narrative-based music videos contains footage that attempts to tell a visual story that may or may not be linked to the song. This type of music video tends to be a popular choice for a song that is or will be featured in a movie, where the audience will see some scenes of the movie in the music video. An example of a narrative-based music video is "Centuries" by Fall Out Boy, and an example of one where the song has been featured in a movie is Charlie XCX's "Boom Clap."





Concept-based music videos are based around one single idea. These types of music videos tend to be fairly unusual or utilize a particular style of filming or editing. An example of this is "Monkey Drummer" by Aphex.