Digital killed the analog video star?By
David Share:
Sphere: Related Content
On marking today’s birthday of Sam Bayer, who made his name largely by directing Nirvana’s “Smell Like Teen Spirit” music video, you have to ask what exactly happened to the music video, especially as an art form ?
Can it all be summed up in the fact that music videos are no longer MTV’s and Vh1’s priority programming? Or that record labels no longer want to or have the budget for a memorable video? Billions of promo music videos may be streamed each year, but there rarely seems to the buzz about a single clip in the way that people said, “Oh, you must see the video for ‘Closer’ and any of Madonna’s or Radiohead’s videos or Pearl Jam’s ‘Jeremy’.” The last clips which seemed to get that must-see buzz were Johnny Cash’s video for “Hurt” and OK Go’s treadmill clip. Otherwise the art angle seems to have been lost… unless I am missing something?
Add a Comment
COMMENTS (2)
donmothra said:
Labels forgot the original purpose of the Music Videos. Like most struggling commercial endeavors the pursuit to monetize all of your assets will lead the death of creativity. Music videos were originally commercials for the artist and to support music releases, they weren’t intended as a direct revenue stream. The original music videos were full of creativity, branding, messaging and a realistic budget, but like Super Bowl Ads music video budgets in its heyday skyrocketed. Granted you could never achieve the quality of Mark Romanek’s work on “Bedtime Stories” or Tarsem’s video for “Losing My Religion” on a shoe string budget, those days are over. Labels low tolerance for risk and focus on return on investment means music fans are stuck with the crappy formula “Baller” videos, done on the cheap. This leads to a slippery slope, if the idea is to monetize these videos- labels have to return to creating product people want to watch. Hey music labels … take a risk … support the next generation of Gondrys, Jonzes and Romanecks. Kate Walz said:
I think Donmothra’s comment is pretty dead on. I do think MTV and VH1’s programming has something to do with it. When the video for OKGO came out, you saw it on Youtube, because there wasn’t going to be a timely opportunity to see it on MTV. |
Share a memory, write a review, post a recommendation 
Buffers, Bridges & Bubbles
Love is Strange
The Birds, the Bees & Me
Recent EntriesDateTitle12 | 04The Bowels of Your Brain: 12 | 03Experience '67: A Closer Look at Two of Jimi Hendrix's Defining Statements 12 | 03Playing the Beatles Backwards: 12 | 03Walking a Mile With Another Man’s iPod 12 | 03Shoegaze & Sexuality: M83 + School of Seven Bells 12 | 02Playing the Beatles Backwards: 12 | 02Pay Attention! Underappreciated Artists Due for a Breakout in '09 12 | 02Mechanical Soul Searching: Kanye West's 808's & Heartbreak 12 | 01Playing the Beatles Backwards: 12 | 01Has Anyone Here Seen My Old Friend, The Brachiosaurus? |
