What Is A Music Video?

A music video is a visual performance sequence used to accompany a song or piece of music, often with the use of dancing and visual effects which reflect the song lyrics. Music videos often contain footage  of the artist/band performing the song using lip-sync techniques (performance), and can sometimes follow a storyline of a protagonist or event (narrative). However, sometimes artistic concepts and experimental footage can be used in a music video (concept) such as patterns, colours, contorted visuals and many other artistic elements. Music videos reached peak popularity in the 1980's after the introduction of MTV, so artists began to use narratives and concepts in their videos rather than just artists performing on stage to an audience. The mood of the video (bright, cheerful, dark, serious, funny etc) can depend on the artists personal preference based on reputation and iconography, or on the director of the video who may specialise in a certain style. Genres can often adapt their own style which runs in a general pattern, for example hip hop videos often feature dancing, whereas rock videos mostly have dark lighting and usually feature narratives. Music videos are accessable via television and the internet (mainly YouTube), and are a popular way for artists to promote songs and albums.