Categories of Music Videos

Performance Based Videos

There are 3 main types of music videos in the music industry:

• Performance Based 
• Narrative Based 
• Concept Based

'Apparently' by J.Cole is an example of a performance based music video.

A performance based music video shows the artist or the band performing the song to the camera. It aims to create more focus on the artist and their talents, as it is hiding the fact that the music is pre-recorded, therefore the audience will forget about everything that can be edited in the studio and will believe that what they are seeing is all completely natural talent. It can also create more of a connection between the audience and the solo artist or band, because it is more intimate and creates the feel that they are performing for the viewer rather than the camera. Therefore making the audience feel as though they have seen the artist/band live.

Narrative Based Videos

'Sucker For Pain' by Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa & Imagine Dragons ft. Logic & TY Dollar $ign, is an example of a narrative based music video.

Plenty of artists chose to make their videos narrative based, especially when they want the audience to understand the meaning behind the lyrics. It gives more meaning to the song and engages the audience, as they begin to understand the song. It is common for artists to use narrative based videos if the song featured in a film, whereby they use short clips of the film in the video.

Concept Based Videos

'Wet Dreamz' by J.Cole is an example of a concept based music video.

This type of music video is based around one random theme or idea. It has no structured narrative and often what is happening in the music video has no relation to the lyrics. Artists tend to chose to make a concept based music video due to the fact that they are quite dramatic and tend to convey their message in a metaphorical way.