Music video success criteria

Purpose of music videos

There are many different purposes of a music video, one important factor is to promote the artist, album or single. The video could be used to change the meaning of the song, for example Johnny Cash's cover of Nine Inch Nails 'Hurt' changes the meaning from a song about drug addiction to a sort of eulogy of Cash's life as he was suffering from terminal illness, similarly the video can be used to express powerful emotions as seen by Cash.

A good music video can also add value to an (otherwise rubbish or un-interesting) song that needs to be illustrated. Artists such as George Michael make a statement with songs such as 'Outside' which draw on events in the artist's life that cause controversy in the media, while other artists market their image; Madonna shows many different clothing styles in her raunchy videos.

Some artists make an artistic statement in their videos, Talking Heads 'Once In A Lifetime' was displayed in the Museum of Modern Art as an abstract art piece as it was so different to other music videos of the time.

Artists also use product placement in videos, companies pay to have their products shown in videos, to subconsciously encourage viewers to remember the video and buy the product. In Christina Aguillera's video 'Not Myself Tonight' she advertises perfume.








How might we measure the success criteria

-How many people buy the song after the video is released
-YouTube views
-Word of mouth
-Newspaper articles/ TV reports- could be positive or negative
-How many times the video is shown on TV
-Downloads- legal and illegal
-Position in charts
-CD sales

There has been a massive switch in the importance of YouTube from TV channels such as MTV. The majority of the viewing of music videos is now online.