Music videos serve a crucial part in keeping the artist/band in the public view, this is done by using many close ups of the artist/band which is promoting themselves through the use of their own music video, they often create an image visual that will match and go with the music’s lyrics.
One of the first music videos was by Bob Dylan in 1965 - Don't Look Back, which was directed by D.A Pennabaker, when music videos first started they were more like short films, and very simply done compared to the music videos that are made now. Within this music video there is only one shot involving no editing except the soundtrack being over the top of the video. He was one of the first to write his own songs which is why in this video it is showing words from the song, this is because he was more loved for his song writing than his voice.
There is often a mixture of performance and narrative within a music video, ensuring the artist/band are shown within the music video starring as themselves performing their own music, which is something fans love to see, and this is mixed with the use of narrative which is telling a story within the video which is often related to the lyrics of the song. Wham with Club Tropicana uses this mixture for the video, performing in a place that through the lyrics is described as a great place to be and relax which shows him laid in the pool with a drink, the use of narrative shows their journey to this great place, them being there and then leaving.
Radiohead - Street Spirit which was in the late 90's does an abstract/arty music video, this doesn't have any real meaning in relation to the lyrics/song or even the artist, it is supposed to be more for fun and to be creative through the use of a video.
Music videos almost always use intertextual references, such as in Madonna – Vogue who dresses just like Marilyn Monroe, the video is both narrative and performance, the video being like a massive photo shoot with constant posing, which has reference to the name of the song, which is also the name of a magazine.
Michael Jackson - Thriller is more of a short film, with a constant narrative throughout, it even holds the conventions of a horror film, such as the over voice which is iconic of a horror film being deep and 'scary'. There are also many codes within the video that help fit with the genre, such as Michael Jackson being in red which can symbolise danger, blood, death, but from the point of a music video this symbolises that he is the main person in the music video, that everyone should look at him as he is meant to be standing out.
As well as being a great way to promote the artist/band and get them recognised and known as music video is also used to entertain the audience, giving them something to watch whilst listening to the song, it gives the audience a chance to actually see some performance from the artist/band which they may not be able to in real life such as to go to their concert.
The closest to a music video there used to be was to watch the artist/band perform on Top of the Pops, where people could watch the show on BBC and see their favourite songs performed live which first aired in January 1964, until 1981 when MTV started which was made to show actual music videos on TV, this was different as it showed actual music videos rather than just live performances, interesting the audience more, beginning the important role of music videos in popular music marketing.
But now people can go looking for music videos themselves without waiting for them to be aired on the TV. Since 2005 when YouTube was created where users could upload, share and watch music video using the internet website, this meant anytime anywhere people could watch their favourite music videos as much as they like, meaning that the artist/band could be far better known due to advertisements of other music videos being featured on other pages.
There has been many developments for music videos which help the artists and bands promote themselves even more and more successfully, due to technology developments it means that music videos can be made far more interesting and creatively to attract their audience more. TV, Cd's, DVDs and the Internet all play a really important part in the promotion of a band or artist and their music, ensuring success and profit in the business.
