Purpose and Function in a video representing an artist

What is the purpose and function of the video in representing the artist?

‘Thanks for the Memories’ was a song by the American rock band Fall Out Boy. It was released March 27^th 2007 as their second single from their fourth album called Infinity on High. The song was composed by singer and guitarist Patrick Stump and the lyrics were written by the player of the bass, Pete Wentz. The song was produced by Babyface for the album. Thanks for the Memories was a commercial success, it reached Number 11 in the top charts in the United States. The single reached the two-million sales mark week ending December 27^th 2009 in the US. It became a song that was played all the time on the radio, at their concerts and in interviews. 

Music videos are used to promote the artist by showing the audience what they can do and how they can promote themselves. This video is used to promote Fall Out Boy by showing what they can do when performing and also behind the scenes as they made their music video. The video is a performance video as it shows the band performing together but also it is a narrative as it shows a story through the video. Entertainment is used in the purpose of music videos too. This is because the artist would want it to be known as the better video, the more views the video would get so the more the artist becomes known. This video shows the culture and how the industry actually works as in how the monkeys control everything in the film set not allowing the band members to do what they want, which is essentially what music is all about, an art form to express. So nobody is in charge throughout the video. 

This is the narrative of the music video as a story is told as the video goes on. Another purpose music videos are made is to make money for the artist and producers. As people watch the video and buy the songs they earn money, this is one of the reasons why celebrities make music videos. 

The relationship between the lyrics and images promote the artist by telling us that this is ‘one night’ and they need to remember it. This is why the video is so random. But it shows us that the band doesn’t get what they want, they get controlled and are told what to do. The genre is Rock in the video. Fall Out Boy are known for their rock music. The rock genre is shown here stereotypically by making the video a performance one; this shows us the band performing as one and together. This video is contradictory; it doesn’t match the lyrics that are said. The location is a studio set run by monkeys which is a metaphor for the people that control the music video. Randomness is not really mixed together with Rock music videos but this is an occasion as Fall Out Boy are a group of men that want to change this and make Rock not as serious as it is. This is because they want their audience to be smiling and happy when listening to their music.  

The biographical detail is shown of their life and how they want to live it, by having fun but it is shown that they are controlled. Towards the end of the music video, because they’re being controlled by the monkeys they decide to revolt and put themselves in a positions to control them. This is shown by all the band members smashing the stage up and the monkeys going mad because of it. This video has a comedy value to it but a lesson is taught if you think deeply into it. Tools are used to promote artists eg, in this video Fall Out Boy were dressed in the most stylish rock clothing at that time, they were using the most up to date Nokia phone and the location was used also to show where the band film. 

In conclusion the purpose and function of this video in representing the artist was done by promoting them and showing that they don’t have control. This is a rock but also mainstream as it was played over the radio and broadcasted several times and are bold enough to confront this issue. This song made Fall Out Boys career bigger and made them more well known as it promoted them.