These kinds of videos were described by various terms including ' illustrated song', 'filmed insert', 'promotional (promo) film', 'promotional clip', 'promotional video', 'song video', 'song clip', 'film clip' or simply 'video'. They can be commercially issued on home video, either as video albums or video singles.Īlthough the origins of music videos date back to musical short films that first appeared, they again came into prominence when Paramount Global's MTV based its format around the medium. These videos are typically shown on music television and on streaming video sites like YouTube, or more rarely shown theatrically.

Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. Commercial video featuring a performance of a songĪ music video, sometimes abbreviated to M/V, is a video of variable duration that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes.