The Death and Rise of Music Videos
When you turn to MTV are you watching that same Sweet 16 episode over again, left wondering where all your music videos went and questioning what is Ed Lover doing now? The day of music television seems to have come and gone overnight. It existed long enough to define the culture of a generation and then in what seemed like a blink of the eye had itself redefined by a new generation. Don’t get me wrong MTV as a channel is not gone, its focus has just shifted. MTV on air is no longer Music Television it’s more like Teen Reality Television.
Enter the INTERNET which makes what was once lost now found. It’s unlimited capacity has made music videos popular once again and given them a new home. MTV is serving them up online, but so are the content creators. The fact that the creators are acting as the immediate channel or distributor marks a definite shift. The point illustrates the narrowing gap between creator and consumer, as well as who can be the creator. The creator could range from a small band with a camcorder to a large music label’s production.
With all that said, the time of waiting endlessly for that one video to come on or staying up late hoping to catch the next big thing has come to an end. Now it’s just a matter of search, point, click, and enjoy. The amount of music videos now available seems endless and it just keeps growing. We have gone from discovering cool on MTV, to MTV discovering cool on YouTube. These are exciting times.