Sound and Vision

The relationship between sound and image evident in the use of song and underscore in film is also evident in pop video, but with one main difference according to Phillip Tagg - "the pop video is a "visualisation of music rather than sonorisation of image". He also suggests that listeners of pop music already "visualise" the music they hear using a series of semantic connections they hear created by the text. A mini-movie therefore appears in the listener's mind, and each version is different, since people react to music differently.

Will Straw sees promotional videos as a threat to the listener's individualtiy and that it seems to take away the responsibility of visualising the music. He states that the use of the music video is "diminishing the interpretive liberty of the individual music listener who, when presented with a promo clip, seems to have visual or narrative interpretations of song lyrics imposed on him or her".

Accoring to Goodwin "the debate about whether or not the video image triumphs over the song itself needs to take account of where the emphasis lies in the visualisation, and whether or not it ILLUSTRATES, AMPLIFIES, or CONTRADICTS the meaning of the song.

Amplification introduces new meanings that do not conflict with the lyrics but that add layers of meanings.



llustration uses visual narrative to tell the story of the song lyric.




Contradiction has the visuals contradicting the narrative of the song.