The purpose of a music video

Music videos help to publicise an artist on a global scale. With mainstream artists, such as Rihanna using YouTube, it's clear that the music industry takes advantage of technological developments, like the internet, in order to aid in their success. For example, Rihanna's song 'Diamonds' has over 400 million views on YouTube, which demonstrates her strong fan base as well as a mainstream artist using music videos to help make them as well known as possible.

Music videos are also designed to help convey any meaning that the artist was trying to get across, with the visual aspect presenting the same themes and ideas that the song alone gets across but in a more obvious manner. For example The Killer's song 'Spaceman' capitalises on the insanity of people, and this is reflected in it's music video, with  the costumes being very distinct and not at all realistic.

They can also carry their own artistic merit, with each having a distinct visual style, whether it's through C.G.I., the settings, costumes etc. An example of this can be found in Jessie J's song 'Price Tag,' with the setting being a plain lightly-coloured background, which connotes cleanliness, suggesting that the artist is also refreshing.