Research - What is the function of a music video?

Music videos are a way of promoting the artist and their music. As a music consumer myself I would say that the music video does have effect in the image of the artist and how I respond to them. The more a music video provides pleasure to the viewers, the more they will want to watch it again, therefore, it has a huge impact in the promotion of the music. By experience, I can tell about how I have watched music videos that I didn't particularly appreciate the music, but because I appreciated the video, soon, after watching it numerous times, I started to feel more comfortable with the music. One example of it would be 'The One That Got Away' by Katy Perry, in which the first time I watched the video I wasn't very fond of the music, but after watching it many times because I liked the narrative in the video, I actually started to like the music too.

In the same way in which, I started to dislike artists because of the way they started to present themselves in their videos. Therefore I conclude, as a music consumer, that the music video is essential to promote the artist. The way the artists choose to portray themselves and show their styles throughout their videos might attract listeners, or even repel listeners. It is very important for the artist to create a strong image of themselves with a very clear personality, but they must always be careful to use it to attract viewers/listeners rather than to repel them. 

I believe that Lady Gaga is a good example of an artist that presented herself strongly in her pop videos, which promoted her very well and enabled her to increase her audience massively because of her scandalous style. When Lady Gaga emerged she was considered bizarre. Her bizarreness made her 'unique' to the public, which attracted many new listeners interested in this idea of uniqueness, and it had influenced many other pop artists to become more innovative. Before, the pop videos used to have a lot of emphasis on sexuality - like Britney Spears or Madonna - and although Lady Gaga still uses of sexuality in her videos, she puts a lot of the emphasis on her eccentric style (like in 'Born This Way' where there are various bizarre events happening). Lady Gaga's eccentric videos clearly promote her as style as an artist, which may have attracted a wide audience but also repelled some people who think she is too much of an 'attention-seeker'.