The New Age of The Music Video by Jason Blagman
In 1981 MTV created a channel that would show music videos all day, everyday. Along with original programming viewers were thrilled to see their favorite music from their records put to images on the screen. A lot has changed since then and over the years the top two music video channels, MTV and VH1 are showing less music videos and more original programming. However music videos did not simply disappear, they went to the Internet where people could view them whenever they wanted.
Enter YouTube. Since its creation, the website has housed music videos and has now become the go to place to view them. As it is stated through LFYT, videos on YouTube are no longer just for the causal viewer, it has become a search engine. By this logic, people now log onto YouTube to find particular videos, in this case their favorite music video.
Since music videos entered the world of Web 2.0, there have been advantages in terms of content that television could not provide. Since music video television channels hit a wide range of audiences, certain videos had to be censored by ways of silenced lyrics during the song or videos would not even air because of their graphic nature. It was also rare for videos to be longer than five minutes because of programming arrangements on television. There were circumstances where videos did run long however in those cases the artist was popular enough to make networks trust the viewer would stick around. Now that the standard is YouTube today, there is no longer a restriction in time and the artist can tell a story if he/she/they want to.
The other advantage for musical artists on YouTube is that the amateur artist has a fighting chance. Before many artists had to have a record deal to get on television, however considering YouTube was made for the everyday person, undiscovered artists now broadcast themselves and are discovered by the labels through their videos.
While some believed the music video age was dying since it was leaving television, the fans kept it alive. As YouTube provided the video, fans kept watching. This is clearly seen by the amount of views each video receives especially considering 18 of the top 20 most viewed videos on YouTube are music videos. Fans still want the videos and they value the creativity within the song. The video simply adds to the creativity more than it ever has.
Enter YouTube. Since its creation, the website has housed music videos and has now become the go to place to view them. As it is stated through LFYT, videos on YouTube are no longer just for the causal viewer, it has become a search engine. By this logic, people now log onto YouTube to find particular videos, in this case their favorite music video.
Since music videos entered the world of Web 2.0, there have been advantages in terms of content that television could not provide. Since music video television channels hit a wide range of audiences, certain videos had to be censored by ways of silenced lyrics during the song or videos would not even air because of their graphic nature. It was also rare for videos to be longer than five minutes because of programming arrangements on television. There were circumstances where videos did run long however in those cases the artist was popular enough to make networks trust the viewer would stick around. Now that the standard is YouTube today, there is no longer a restriction in time and the artist can tell a story if he/she/they want to.
The other advantage for musical artists on YouTube is that the amateur artist has a fighting chance. Before many artists had to have a record deal to get on television, however considering YouTube was made for the everyday person, undiscovered artists now broadcast themselves and are discovered by the labels through their videos.
While some believed the music video age was dying since it was leaving television, the fans kept it alive. As YouTube provided the video, fans kept watching. This is clearly seen by the amount of views each video receives especially considering 18 of the top 20 most viewed videos on YouTube are music videos. Fans still want the videos and they value the creativity within the song. The video simply adds to the creativity more than it ever has.