Definition of a Music Video

A music video is a piece of films that accompanies a piece of music. Music videos are created and used for a number of different reasons, they can be used to promote artists and their songs/albums through the video being shown on music video TV channels such as MTV which started showing music videos in 1981.

Mtv logo from 1981.

Pans People in 1969,
a example of what music videos consisted
of before Mtv.

Before there was such a wide accessibility to music videos, many of them were simple and showed the artists in studios or had dancers dancing to the music.

In 1984, Joan Lynch stated three basic music video types, performance, narrative and concept.

Performance videos are usually simple videos of just the band or artist lip syncing the song in a studio or arena scene, these videos may include some dancing scenes, these videos are usually used for rock or alternative bands such as Green Day.

Narrative videos are videos that have a story which tend to amplify the lyrics of the song, these videos usually have a high budget and actors can be hired to play roles instead of or along side the main artist. Pop, R&B, hip hop or alternative and the main genres which predominantly use a narrative structure with artists such as Taylor Swift and Nicki Minaj mainly using this structure in their video. Additionally, music video structures can be mixed, for example, artists such as Beyoncé tend to mix narrative and performance structures in their videos.

Finally there are concept videos, these are videos where the visuals don't seem to have a relation to the lyrics or the song, music genres such as dance and electronic music tend to have concept videos and these are sometimes used to back up live performances by DJs.

With these new video structures and the introduction of Mtv, music video producers and directors started to make new types of videos, this allowed artists and bands to create and build iconography and allow directors and producers to use new technology and techniques.

Iconography is on of Andrew Goodwin's codes and conventions of a music video which he stated in his book 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory' which was published in 1992.

The cover of 'Dancing in the Distraction Factory' by Andrew Goodwin

Andrew Goodwin's codes and conventions of a music video are as follows:

• There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals (visuals amplifying or contradicting the music)
• There is a relationship between the music and the visuals (visuals amplifying or contradicting the music)
• Certain music genre have their own video style (e.g. R&B includes lots of dancing whereas rock bands tend to use performance structures)
• There is a demand from the record company for close ups of the main artist or band
• Artists develop own iconography, inside and outside of music videos such as dances or style sense
• Likely to be reference to voyeurism, especially in the treatment of women
• Likely to be intertextual references to either other music videos or films/TV programmes

Jon Gow identified six main music video genres in 1992, these genres are defined in terms of their relation to the display of the performance.

• Anti-performance - Videos do not contain content of the song being performed
• Psuedo-reflexive - Videos show the process of production
• Performance documentary - Videos contain footage of onstage performances and offstage activity
• Special effects extravaganza - Human performance is overshadowed by special effects
• Song and dance number - Videos in which the artists dancing and lip syncing ability is shown
• Enhanced performance - Videos in which different video structures are mixed together such as performance and narrative

In conclusion, a music video is used to allow the record labels to increase recognition of artists and their iconography, they can also be used to promote new music, for example if an artist releases songs and videos at the same time and they are shown on music television. Music videos can boost fan basses and might make viewers view more music or see a live show if the video has documentary footage. New technology such as Mtv has helped boost the availability, variety and codes and conventions of music videos into what they are today.