The purpose and conventions of promotional music videos

Music videos are an important aspect of promotional packages as they often lead to increased company profit if executed correctly. Almost all chart-topping hits have a music video to complement them today as they help to promote a song, an album or an artist. Most music videos are a combination of performance, concept and narrative based.

There are many reasons to create a promotional music video for example to sell the song; this works well as people who watch a music video are more likely to remember the song, meaning that the company have done their job as they have made it well known and managed to generate a profit. 

They can also give the audience a better understand of the song. For example if the video is a narrative based music video then the audience can match the visuals to the lyrics and understand it better. Age is also an important factor in creating a music video to appeal to an audience. If a song is released, the mature, adult audience is more likely to understand their lyrics; however, the company can help the child understand its message by creating a music video to depict the lyrics through visuals instead.

The artist can also promote their talents in the music video. For example, if they sing and dance, they'll have a performance based music video which showcases their talents.

Creating a music video is a form of marketing because in the video the artist is selling themselves and showing the audience what they can really do, building up their profile and creating artist exposure.

Andrew Goodwin suggests that music videos are important as they tell us the genre of the song. The lyrics are represented with visuals, the relationship between the music and visuals, lots of close ups of the artist which helps the audience to recognise who they are. There is often an inter-textual reference to different media types as well, such as television shows or other music videos. E.g. Katy Perry's 'Roar' when she sings the chorus is links in with the music video.