Andrew Goodwin, in Dancing In The Distraction Factory (1992, Routledge), has identified the following features of music videos:
1. Music videos demonstrate genre characteristics (eg stage performance in a rock video, dance routines in a boy/girlband video).
2. There is a relationship between the lyrics and the visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, or contradicting)
3. There is a relatiomship between the music and the visuals (either illustrative, amplifying, or contradicting)
4. The demands of the record label will include the need for lots of close-ups of the artist and the artist may develop motifs which recur across their work (a visual style)
5. There is frequent reference o the notion of looking (screens within screens, telescopes etc) and particularly voyeristic treatment of the female body
6. There is often intertextual references (to films, TV programmes, other music videos)
It is also worth considering
Whether the music video is primarily performance-based, narrative-based, concept-based, or a hybrid, and how elements of each are used in it.
You can also use Goodwin's categories to analyse music videos for yourself.
