The purpose of a music video

There are 5 categories for why music videos are made:

1. Promotional - To sell the song and ensure the audience has a reaction that makes them remember the song, to allow the audience to better understand the song, to entertain the audience and allows the artist to showcase their talent, to sell their music to the public by creating memorable visuals and for marketing purposes as it enhances and expands the artists image
2. Extension of income - To help promote the song long after it has been released e.g. Kanye West's song Famous only had a music video months after the song had been out, as well as the fact some artists are only remembered for their music videos rather than the song
3. Extension of outlets - Compared to the past where music videos were usually on TV on channels like MTV but now has been changed as there are multiple platforms for release such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Google. This enables audiences to look for any music videos they want and encourages word of mouth as the more out there the video is the more it spreads due to its memorability. The use of controversy on media outlets gains massive publicity for an artist and their music due to people's fascination with anything remotely entertaining or controversial.
4. Synergy - Where two areas of media work together, examples of this include celebrities appearing in videos e.g. Bad Blood, or the artist may use a movie clp as it means that their song will be featured in a movie e.g. See you again by Wiz Khalifa and Fast and Furious 7, this increases the potential viewing numbers and expands the audience awareness, product placement also helps the record company and artist to make money as major labels get paid lots of money to use certain products, 
5. Producer's strategies - Vevo is an example of this as they have a partnership with Sony and Universal, they host music videos on YouTube and use adverts at the start of each music video to create revenue, this allows companies to regulate their online distribution and to make money from it, this also allows a wider audience to have access as Vevo has different platforms such as Ipad and certain applications