Music Videos - Purpose

Morrissey said that music is the best form of art – it is better than “slapping paint on a canvas” or just writing literature – music is the embodiment of all arts together. A debatable statement, however, in contemporary society, it can be argued that it is true – music does embody all art forms. Or, music videos do.
 The aural art form is the music itself, the literary art form are the lyrics, and the visuals are moving versions of paintings and photographs, or could simply be seen as the art of film making.

Our society has considerably changed, and has become very visual, with pictures and videos here, there, everywhere. The way in which we consume music has changed; we no longer only listen to music, we watch it.

Music videos are now essential in various ways, such as showcasing the artist’s individuality and creativeness to attract audiences and win fans. Artists can choose how they represent themselves through their videos; for example, Lana Del Rey’s “video games”. Her music video was home-made, a montage of various found-footage of archived vintage Americana, with webcam performance shots of herself. The music video became popular on the “hipster” website pitchfork media, and then went viral all over the web; she was able to promote herself quickly for free with the internet. 

As artists can choose how they represent themselves in the videos, they then construct a star image of themselves - they want the audience to have a certain perception of them. In the music videos, the artists can attach various iconographies to themselves - symbols that audiences can link to them such as hair, clothes, jewelery, images, postures etc. For example with Morrissey, flowers have been associated with him, as well as loose fitting clothes and awkward dancing. These symbols are now part of Morrissey's star image and self-identity in the media. 

Artists can create these iconographies through other mediums and ways such as interviews, live shows. The music itself is of course important (the sounds, the lyrics) as well as the record covers. Richard Dyer says
"A star is an image constructed from a range of materials".

Music videos can be illustrative, and can help the audience understand and interpret the meaning of the song and the lyrics (they can tell a story); they can amplify the meanings and make the various symbols polysemic and give subliminal messages to the audience and make the video and their star image more interesting; or the music video can have nothing to do with the lyrics - disjuncture between the two.

There can be the illusion of closeness between the audience and the artist. If the artists stares directly into the camera while performing, it breaks the fourth wall and includes the person into the video, instead of the person watching in from behind an imaginary fourth wall like a voyeur. The artist can use music videos to connect with their fans, and even simply to just give them something more than just the song, however good it is.

Music videos are also about making money and profit - companies pay enormous sums to get their products placed in various music videos as a form of advertisement. The products may not be overt, but the human mind is easily suggestible.