FEATURE:
That Ain't Workin'
IN THIS PHOTO: A still from Peter Gabriel’s classic music video, Sledgehammer (1986)
Is the Closure of MTV’s U.K. Music Channels the Death of the Music Video?
__________
I don’t feel…
PHOTO CREDIT: Jace One/Pexels
we will ever see the end of music videos as we know them. However, as it has been announced that MTV will close the last of its U.K. music video channels at the end of the year. I have written about that before. However, it is clear that there is still a place for music T.V. I guess many people associate MTV with music videos. My memories of MTV are of classic and memorable music videos. In the 1990s, there was this golden period when you would see these amazing and innovative videos. Ones that endure to this day. I really love music video and think that, if done right, can elevate a song. The connection between song and video. It is so amazing that we had this long period where we got these great videos. Now, with so many artists out there and music videos not really played on T.V., it does call into question its future. Whether music videos are viable. I think that artists need to put videos out. There is no way they can ever end. However, I think there is a shift more to Spotify and physical media. Maybe people not going to YouTube and watching videos. Unless you are a massive artist, are you seeking out the video for an artist? There are not that many features that discuss the best music videos of the year. I guess the issues with music videos is that directors and artists not making money from them. Put that together with the cost of making them in the first place, and are they too much of a risk? In a new feature, The Guardian reacted to the moves at MTV and whether a shrinking of their music T.V. output puts the music video under threat:
“For some, it represents the end of an era. Others, such as the musician Hannah Diamond, suggest that era may have been over some time ago. “The last few years, MTV has sort of transformed [into] more of a nostalgic memory,” she says. “It hasn’t been part of the conversation for such a long time that it really doesn’t surprise me that they’re ending it.” As an independent artist, she says, YouTube has always been the primary platform for music video releases.
The specific shuttering of the brand’s music platforms does call into question the position of the music video in today’s industry, and whether the form still provides a viable outlet for expression and promotion. Jennifer Byrne, head of development at Academy Films – the famed production company that launched the careers of film-makers such as Jonathan Glazer through their music video work – says that “labels aren’t as willing” to invest heavily in videos as they once were. “They’re trying to spend that money on so many more deliverables than there used to be,” she says, referring to the multiplicity of online video and social media platforms. “It used to just be one three-minute video. Now it’s: how do you reach all these different audiences and can you cut it in 10 different ways?”
Iris Luz, a London-based director who has made videos for British pop singers PinkPantheress and George Riley, says that budgets for videos are shrinking rapidly, even for seemingly simple clips. “The number of times I’ll come up with an idea that, to me, seems easy, and people are like: ‘No, that’s gonna be 50 billion pounds,’” she says. “I’m like, that’s funny, because it’s in one house with four people. I don’t know what’s going on.”
Neither Luz nor Byrne believes that the end of MTV will significantly impact music videos overall. In Luz’s mind, videos now are less promotional tools than “vehicles for relatability and branding that makes [a viewer] want to buy into the artist,” she says. “They’re just a facet in the ecosystem of a musician. Because of TikTok and the rise of independent artists, people put out music as soon as they’re done with it. So a video is designed to convey that immediacy – where they’re at in one moment – rather than make a big splash like 15 years ago.”
There are also still barriers to entry for smaller artists, says Diamond. “The music videos I have made have been made through sheer luck, grafting or multiple years of work put into one thing,” she says. “I’ve become a musician in an era where artists don’t get the budget to make a music video unless they are a really big artist with a big label behind them that thinks it’s going to be a worthwhile investment”.
It is sad how things have shifted. I guess money is such an issue for so many artists. They need to put music out regularly to stay relevant and make a career. That means touring extensively and making sure any money they do make is put into the music. Not to say videos are under-ambitious, though there is perhaps not the budget to do something high-concept and luxurious. Think about some of the all-time classic videos from the past. Maybe time-intensive or expensive, you have Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer and Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Of course, videos do not have to be expensive or complex to be memorable. Think of OK Go’s Here It Goes Again and how amazing that is. If cost is not the biggest barrier, maybe grabbing attention is. If you put out a terrific music video that is intelligent and original, what is the best-case scenario? You might get quite a few videos, but in terms of that adding any value and earning money, is that possible? Perhaps it can lead to more albums sales, but will it be that noticeable? It is harder than ever to make money and the golden age of the music video has passed. If we have seen the last of that MTV age where videos were very much this important stock, I do feel like the music video remains important. At a time when so many people are preferring short-form videos and perhaps have less focus and attention, the music video provides this middle ground. They are typically pretty short and not too demanding. However, one of the reasons why we need to keep music videos going is because it does give that platform for directors. It is also good acting exposure for artists. Directors that go on to make films. A chance for artists to be on camera and pick up this discipline. Whilst they can gain some of that experience from the stage, I do think that the music video performance is something different. Also, I think there is something about the pairing of video and music that makes a song more powerful and enduring. I can remember songs from decades back because of the video. Not because the videos were especially brilliant but because the visualisation of the song was more attention-grabbing and potent.
What Hannah Diamond said about artists and budgets. Maybe there is not a great deal of money available to make videos. I do contend that, rather than there being music video channels, that there are alternatives to the limited music shows we have on U.K. screens. That music videos could form part of one that also incorporated live performances. If some no longer watch music videos, for so many people, they were our path into music. I love the work of directors such as Michel Gondry and have forged aspirations myself of directing because of him. It does come down to profitability and whether there is any financial sense in making them. I do feel like they hold a place, though they are not as prevalent or important as they once were. Only major artists have the budget to make bigger videos and the audience to make them worthwhile. Maybe this will change. Physical music is not rising and has seen a revival, so will music videos be next? I genuinely feel there should be this central fund or organisation that can provide money to artists for music videos. We cannot let such a beautiful and limitless artform dwindle and die. The possibilities and long-term potential. When was the last time you say a genuine standout video that stayed in your mind?! I don’t think it is due to a lack of talent but directors and artists maybe feeling people will not watch videos. Or there is not enough money to make them. To ignore the music video and completely write them off is wrong. If we lost them altogether, or there was this feeling they are not worth investing in, then that…
WOULD be a tragedy.