Video's are released for the purpose of increasing album sales and are part of the over-all marketing scheme. Initially, the label pays for the video just as they do everything else that pertains to recording, distributing, and marketing. The recording industry is a business first and foremost, and basically, what a label does is "front" the money...in the end, the band (if they are going to continue releasing albums), must reimburse the record label for all monies spent on their behalf. Only then, does a band begin to see a profit from album sales.
If a band does not sell enough albums and if it looks like the cost already invested can not be recouped further down the road, the band is dropped from the label and the label is "out" the money it invested.
With Alter Bridge having Gold certification on albums shipped, that means the label paid to distribute at least 500,000 copies (probably more)...Alter Bridge has yet to sell 500,000 (on 500,000 shipped, somewhere around that 250,000 mark is where the label breaks even)...at this point, the label's priority is recouping what it's already invested and it may not see the making of a video for FTR as a means to an end. Concert footage is the cheapest way to make a video but it still requires money, not to mention time in the editing room and with the band in the middle of a tour, the band itself does not have the time to do that themselves.
Speaking of a tour, that's how bands make their money...through touring. Although I would have loved to seen a video for FTR, at this point and time the tour is, and needs to be, the focus for Alter Bridge. Just my 2 cents
