The Death of The Music Video 

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radio star killed the video

One thing that has died and no one talks about is single covers They are all just the album cover now

I think a discussion on this subject needs to include k-pop because love it or hate it, that is an industry that is still putting big budgets and time/effort into their music videos and those videos pretty consistently do incredible numbers on views. More generally I guess, we should be looking at what folks outside of the western music industry are doing because I’m also thinking about the music video for Hanumankind’s Big Dawgs and how viral it’s gone on both RU-vid and TikTok. Food for thought. Great video though and definitely has me thinking.

Don't forget that Beyonce didn't release one music video for her last TWO albums.

Then there‘s A$AP Rocky who hasn’t dropped an album in 6 years and takes months off between songs but when he finally drops one it always ships with an insanely high-effort music video

Since music videos aren’t important from a business perspective any more, we can at least assume that music videos now only come from a place of artistic expression

what’s interesting to me is the fact that in the kpop industry, you seldom get a music project that doesn’t have a music video for at least one of the songs. it’s basically unheard of to release an album with no music video to match because it’s such a massive part of their marketing. i think the kpop industry is keeping the music video alive

The Not Like Us video is the last music video I was excited to watch. Just because of the impact the song had. I got that notification and forced my mom to sit down and watch it with me. Even before that, Kendrick's videos for Mr. Morale are the last music videos i had watched. Pearl Jam said that they hate that they made a music video for Jeremy because they'd rather the audience picture what they want listening to the song. I kind of share that sentiment. For a deeply emotional song like that, I'd rather just listen to it. I'm glad there isn't a video for Black for that reason. But for a song like 7 rings, where she's just showing off, a music video of her showing off makes sense. In turn though, that's why I'm glad Fake Smile doesn't have a video.

For their most recent album release, Twenty One Pilots made a music video for each song (which while it pushed the album back a week due to some not being finished) was a really cool thing to have.

Child of the 90s here. In my day, the Pixies took 10 seconds of footage of themselves jumping over some rocks, stretched it over "Velouria," and called it a music video. That's the way it was, and we liked it.

360 has an iconic music video. I feel like it's part of the lore of that track

Coming from the Kpop Bubble, they are still very important.

Mic imma let you finish.. but Magdalena Bay got some of the greatest music videos of all time!

Billboard downgrade the impact that music video streams on free platforms have on the charts. That severely hurt how much labels invest in them.

Honestly, I think the reason we're seeing less of a buzz surrounding new music videos is because the music landscape is so fragmented. It's more important for pop artists nowadays to establish a devoted audience than appeal to the widest demographic possible. If they do, their staying power isn't for very long in the zeitgeist, especially when large swaths of the population are disconnected from it overall, so it's harder to be a mega-influential. In any case, like what you said about Billie, fans may or may not want a music video. When I think of music videos, they are usually for songs that feel like an event, like "Seven Rings". While there have been pop songs that feel like "events" nowadays (Good Luck Babe!, Apple), it's not to the extent that it was five or ten years ago, and so I don't feel it's necessary to create a music video, especially when the target goal of many of these musicians isn't to reach as many people as possible ("Not Like Us" being a modern exception). Besides, with the internet at hand, more people would rather re-watch older videos (either from theirs or others' childhoods) than go out of their way to watch something new; when MTV was the only music video channel, people would watch what the channel promoted. I agree with your point overall, I just feel that "the death of the music video" is way more connected to "the death of listening to current music on the radio" in the age of streaming.

K-pop can still have some very good videos. Not every group, not every song, but they do put effort usually

kept waiting for Megan Thee Stallion mention and it never came...?😭 Her videos' visuals and storytelling are constantly outstanding

I think it depends. Music videos are still pretty pushed in RU-vid's recommendations, at least for me, and I think we're getting more interesting ones in non pop/non US centered areas of music. There's a Japanese artist, Eve, who will drop a fully animated music video and it'll be an instant watch.

My favorite non-musical aspects about music are dying :( Music videos, cool album packaging, hell, the concept of an album at all.

meanwhile on the other end of the spectrum: Twenty One Pilots made a music video for EVERY SINGLE SONG on their newest album Clancy, most of which premiered the night of the album’s release while the band did a livestream on their youtube channel. i wish more artists were doing stuff like that.

I definitely think the "death" of the music video started once people started gravitating towards streaming and social media and distancing themselves away from cable networks that used to always show music videos (MTV, VH1, Fuse, etc.) and also watching RU-vid for other things that don't revolve around music. As someone who loves music videos, it does feel like they aren't a priority to a good bit of artists. (Side note: I'm also interested in who is directing these music videos and musicians who have taken it upon themselves to direct their own music videos)

Music videos won't die in Kpop! It's a staple for the album roll out, especially the mood sampler videos and the album intro videos!

It's definitely the part about promotion I would say. The death of the music video is also related to the death of the post-release single. Since the streaming era artists no longer do more than 2 or 3 singles before or during the album cycle since everyone can just listen to the whole record the moment it drops. And since the singles are usually the songs that get music videos for promotion purposes, that leads to way fewer of them in general. Think about how Taylor Swift released 6-7 singles with high-budget music videos for 1989, but now for The Tortured Poets Department she's only released 2 so far (and one of them just has Eras Tour rehearsal footage as the video).

i thought about it, and the most memorable music video ive seen lately is definitely Eusexua. Eusexua owns.

When I hear “music video”, images of Bowie’s Ashes to Ashes, Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart, Thriller, Bohemian Rhapsody etc come to mind. I think in the past images were a major part of selling an artist, providing individuality in time of surging genres. Now we’re in the age of the internet, more specifically social media, perhaps people these days are more concerned with personalities and relatability. Music videos were really short films, audiovisual experiences: I guess we’re now overexposed and oversaturated with content that music videos have been reduced from to art to content: nothing more than an accessory to a piece of music.

This is such a fascinating topic! I remember being entranced by music videos growing up because I loved how they often told a story, but it absolutely feels like that storytelling factor is gone now. I can't even tell you the last time I actually got excited for a music video--maybe high school or early college? Regardless, can't wait to watch this when I get out of work in a couple hours ☺️

I know a lot of KPop fans have chimed in already, but other genres are still putting effort into their videos. Rock/metal/indie fans care more about the "art" of an MV than Western pop or hip-hop fans.

I think what I mourn most is videos with CHOREOGRAPHY and not just a silly TikTok dance trend shoved in the middle, like FULL ON dance routines that are supported by interesting concepts, sets, etc. I know it’s a lot to ask but artists like Normani with Wild Side, proved that it can still be achieved. I think the issue is that the standard for the music video has been set so insanely high by past artists (Micheal Jackson, Madonna, Britney Spears, etc) that there doesn’t seem much point in attempting to match that quality BUT I wish people would still try. I personally feel there’s so much artistic and performance merit in a well crafted music video so I hope they don’t die out.

Here in India, YT is THE way most people listen to using. Spotify barely used outside metropolitan and tier 1 cities (20-25% population).

Music videos are like mid-brow indie films. They just don't get the budgets anymore. People still make great music videos, people still make indie movies, but there just isn't the market, and thus backing for it.

I think one element you maybe glossed over was the artist themselves wanting to express something through a music video. An idea/performance mood/tone etc. it’s their art and their creative freedoms and choices. TikToks are not that, it’s fans interpretations and their personal engagements which can be fun when done well and creatively. But that’s a different thing altogether. Also one thing to note most artist monetary recoupment on music videos is negligible because that money is coming from the labels and pre internet era music videos were never monetized. It’s always been a promotional cost that usually factored into their over all deal. 🎉

This is really interesting, and it’s something I have been thinking about recently too. A large part of my TV viewing experience while growing up was watching music TV channels and just constantly consuming music videos, and I do wonder if (aside from just me getting older) a part of my struggle to connect with new pop music as much is because I don’t really engage with TikTok or visualisers etc. as much as I used to when I just had a singular place for music consumption. Then again, I guess streaming also didn’t really exist then so I do mostly consume music via streaming services now, which is something I have been doing for over 10 years now. Additionally, some others have mentioned it as well, I do also wonder if part of why I gravitated towards K-pop about 10 years ago is due to the fact that is still quite heavily music video based. It’s definitely interesting to see how trends change and develop over time with music and how it’s presented visually.

One of the few things that make me wanna say the infamous sentence "I was born in the wrong generation" is the fact that I didn't get to experience Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry's music videos when they first premiered

Internet killed the video star

I googled this exact thing yesterday. Love you Mr The Snare.

8:37 hell, in the 1960s, most music videos were just glorified home movies of the band fooling around for a couple minutes!

Jade (ex-little mix member) has started making fun, intriguing, messy, mesmerising music videos and I hope she continues to push herself because I think the ones from her first two singles are sooo much fun!

This actually feels like sort of a follow up to the physical media video in a weird way. The nature of the culture's changing relationship to the visual media tied to music releases is *another* indicator of the current "formless" nature of music.

so into your content it made me watch glee as a 23 yr old adult. glad you covered this! BEST music channel on yt

vertical killed the video star. not sales wise though, apparently it was second degree homicide

I really like how this channel scripts its videos. I went back to a few older videos this weekend and they hold up very well. Its the right combination of commentary, analysis, levity and coverage. Pretty happy about having subscribed all those years ago. PS: I noticed there is no patreon. Self funded. GGWP. PPS: obligatory *Deep Discog Dive on [insert artist here]* , yeah the artist I'm requesting is still *Porcupine Tree*

You (Mr. T. Snare) said it yourself in the Kpop video a while ago: western videos aren't that good this days. Even the biggest artists don't do an effort to be iconic (or don't do it with enough taste [cof coffee, Katy Perry, cof cof]), but they don't need it also, because (as you say in this video) they already are getting hits without music videos. Making my classic parallel to Kpop, western artists don't need a music video because usually they don't do concepts for the albums or the singles. >One exception is Taylor Swift, but she proves this point making a change in concept with every album, so the music videos are a good tool to complement this work

MIC IS BACK 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉(where is the next DDD mic, I'm going insane) P.S. a really good video from this year was green days corvette summer. Check it out

i know the kpop fans have already chimed in, but i just wanted to add that i think kpop is keeping more things alive than just the music video. an easy one to name would be physical album sales, but also the concept of celebrity, or in kpop terms, idols. we have entered a mini renaissance with the pop girls that are big now, but i feel like generally music is moving away from having ‘big names’. and as you said, that may be bc music is more easily co-opted by the general public these days. in kpop, the idols, the company, they make the dance, but for western music, the people on tiktok make the dance. that is to say in kpop, the people making the music have that control, but for western pop, we have that control. we decide what’s popular, we decide what the trend will be. and the last thing you’d want to do is make a music video or push a single that doesn’t end up being the big hit from the album. and that’s why i feel like we’ve lost our big name celebs in music the way they were in the past, bc we’re in control and we can find the music we want and make it popular. we dont just listen to what is given to us and what we’re told is good or popular, which makes it harder to keep a musician in the popular zeitgeist.

I honestly hadn’t thought about it, but I think you’re right that they’re dying out. It’s easy to see how it wouldn’t be worthwhile as an investment for most artists. I still remember spending hours watching music videos on Fuse, sometimes MTV, definitely spend way less time watching them now

The first time watching the Virtual Insanity felt like I had drank 5 red bulls, crashed my car then proceeded to do 50 lines of cocaine.

Personally, I won't even really find out a song exists if there isn't a music video to go with it. Some songs enter my radar through tiktok or when my friends put on their music. However, the songs that really stick in my mind and in my memory are the ones with music videos. MCR's video for SING is one that I have memories associated with seeing on TV and marveling at the storytelling and visuals. Songs are already auditory stories to me so to have the aid of the visual story as well makes it even more impactful. Certain lyrics and musical beats then become associated with certain frames of the music video. It enhances the vibe overall. I guess this is why I've been a kpop fan for so long too. Kpop treats music as a holistic package. The music and lyrics themselves are just one part. There are the artists themselves, the CD, the choreo, the MV, the wardrobe, the makeup, the live performances, and so on. These pieces are all intricately tied together to create an entire narrative which makes it really difficult to only engage with the music or only engage with the visuals. It's an all or nothing kind of thing, because otherwise you're missing pieces of the puzzle. A lot of western pop feels incomplete to me because of this. For example, I spent months listening and watching to Beyonce's Lemonade album. There was an entire discourse borne from it. On the other hand, I loved Renaissance just as much, but I spent less time on it because there was less to dissect. If every song had a music video that bled into each other (just like the songs did) I probably would have lost my mind. Again, this is personal and reflects the way I grew up listening to music.

Are we gonna talk about how a big part of this is the music TV channels no longer giving a shit about music or Video premieres used to be MOMENTS! Oppottunities for promo and passive consumption from the networks just playing music vids on loop. Thats gone now :(

congratulations for 300k mic!

Magdalena Bay has made great music videos for Imaginal Disk (which in itself is, I think, a contender for album of the year) it's the only example I could think of but I would say in general girl groups have alsp kept the long time tradition of music videos with a lot of solid choreography and aesthetic

TLDR the economics of music making don’t favor intricate music videos the way they used to

idk why but we all lost the need of watching music videos. even when my favorite artists puts one out I just don't watch it and I feel this way since 2020 I fear. also people watching less music videos makes the artist care less about it so it becomes lower in quality so it makes us not wanting to watch it even more.

I know other people have already mentioned Kpop, but I do really find myself gravitating towards many Kpop artists bc of the lore/universes they create - which often translates into multiple videos for 1 song. And, bc many of the songs are in other languages and the groups have more than one member, there are also lyric videos that offer several translations as well as showing who is performing which part of the song...that said, I'm a YT Premium subscriber, so I get YT Music included as part of that subscription, so clearly I am someone who values the visual aspect...maybe that's not typical? Anyway, your channel rocks. Love from Canada 💜

7:16 Charlie Brown: "Even my dog is doing a TikTok dance! I can't stand it..."

Excellent choice of song at the end, Mr. Snare

One thing visualizers and lyric videos have a distinct advantage over music videos is the guarantee that it will just be the raw song audio as intended. You're not going to get any random pauses for the sake of the MV's plot or any extra sound effects, dialogue, credits, etc. that are added for the sake of the MV. Visualizers and Lyric Videos can serve as another way to stream the song naturally better than MVs

Porter Robinson has been an interesting artist to watch this year from a visuals standpoint. He’s put out some of the best music videos I’ve seen all year, but it was extremely obvious that the budget was primarily spent on the video of the first single of this album cycle, “Cheerleader”. All of the other videos have been much smaller, cheaper productions with lower stakes, but still quality! What’s interesting is that his video for “Russian Roulette” was a lyric video, but I guarantee it’s the most unique one you’ll see this year. I noticed that during his live shows, most of the visuals for the tour were lyric videos, giving his performances a kind of karaoke vibe. I believe the “Russian Roulette” video was created not just as a promotional tool, but to double as a visual for his concerts. I wouldn’t be surprised if more mainstream artists start to take this more economical route for their visual art.

I feel like every time people talk about music industry things that are "dying", it's a thing that it's still thriving in the kpop industry, like music videos.

I miss music videos being commonplace. I used to have favorite directors whose work I would check out if I didn't know the artist or even if I didn't like the artist.

I think maybe the problem is that the term “music video” is now often associated with a big production and aren’t as simple or mid-budget as they used to be. A video that’s just the artist performing, like the Hey Jude video or something, would be considered a visualizer now because it’s not basically a short film. So it could be a case of diminishing returns compared to the other types of videos you mentioned. I personally want music videos to be lower budget and easy to replicate again!

I wouldn’t name it as a MAJOR factor but I think RU-vid removing the trending tab from the bottom of the page and removing the “number 1 on trending” tag on videos (plus the algorithm/watch patterns behind it changing to largely just be cocomelon and shorts) had a serious effect on music videos as cultural “moments” or as marketing methods on here. Back when “7 Rings” came out, it was the top video on RU-vid trending for weeks. Same with any of the other big videos from the mid-late 2010s like “This is America”, “God’s Plan”, or even “I Love It”. In that era, pretty much anytime a big artist uploaded a video, it would shoot towards the top of a dedicated page on everyone’s RU-vid right next to their suggested and subscription feeds. And what’s more, if it was good or had some cool ideas or moments, it would prompt discussion and be able to properly capture the zeitgeist - thereby staying at the top of the trending tab. Now, to see a music video on here, you need to actively search for it or have it recommended to you by listening to the artist or similar artists often.

Music videos are one of my favorite things ever combining both music and a visual form to create another art. I love when artists try to make their music videos more than just a simple lip syncing video

Worth mentioning the many studies performed in the last few years about the spiraling of human attention spans. I imagine the sentiment expressed at the end of this video is a symptom of that. Great vid man!

I started listening to Caroline Polachek because I was mesmerized by her Billions video, so music videos can still be a great way to find an audience.

Yeah, basically most new artists don't need videos to thrive anymore. Before, videos were what added more to a song or artist like cool visuals, lights, effects, something that told a story or you could learn to dance to. Now, most songs aren't really tied with these factors. I'm glad we still have a few like Sabrina, Dua Lipa, etc. because I used to love watching videos and often they can enhance how I feel about a song.

Earlier this year I went through all my downloaded music and made a music video playlist of all the songs that had one and then I kept adding to it and now it’s 1,406 music videos (91 hours & 40 min) and I love it so much and constantly have it on in the background and I love the people who are still making good music videos but also I’m surprised by how many people are still making music videos like its definitely still a thing

I think there is clearly an oversaturation of visuals (probably due to youtube, the proliferation of visualizers and lyric videos like you said + all the content produced by fans)... and also not many artists trying to push boundaries when it comes to music videos. Beyonce has now released two full albums without a single mv, Taylor Swift had a huge record and 1 mv, which arguably wasn't very impactful. Music Videos have always been about branding, about creating the storytelling or the 'vibe' of a record, and today that is done through the many different forms of 'content', it's all about the sum of its parts. I'd also like to point out that a huge reason for the popularity of Kpop as a genre is the amount of effort they put on their Music Videos, with the crazy visuals and choreography, so I'd say the MV isn't dead, it's on the backburner of our culture (for now). It's safe to say they might come back, we just need work that is more memorable.

Hey Michealthe Snare this video is great thanks for making it.

I still think music videos are useful, especially for smaller artists to grab someone’s attention.

Also the short visualizers are played in a loop when you listen to the song on spotify

It's crazy that this guy included the visualizer for Infinity Sign. Nice job 👍

Japanese Bands and SK, are doing magic on music videos

i love the music videos from electric callboy, they are almost always insanely fun and incredibly well produced. and recently ive been getting into Atarashii Gakko, they are so cool and fresh. their music videos are so unique, somehow. their dance moves are made by themselves and so WEIRD. theyre not like tiktok dances, i really love that.

0:37 parkour civilization ahh payment

Good music videos can enhance a song. It might be too old at this point (it's basically a classic rock song at this point), but This is America by Childish Gambino basically made the song worth listening to.

I noticed the decline of music videos back in 2016, when “One Dance” by Drake managed to be hit song without having music video.

Short form media is winning It's also interesting to see the history of the 'visualiser' and it's indelible link to the k-pop industry

One of my favorite quotes was about. how Michael Jackson came up around the time music videos were launching off, They took each other into the stratosphere, and then music videos stopped really being relevant around the time he died.

A minor addition to point #2: I prefer using lyric videos or visualizers when I listen to music on YT (my primary music platform) because music videos can have extra dialogue before, during, or after the song, gaps of silence, etc. and I just wanna hear the song straight through (going back to the shift toward streaming/consuming music as efficiently as possible)

thank you for this video mic the snare, you always make my day 🙏🏼

also not to forget that edits are efficient popularity boosters for songs on tiktok. music videos that stand out will have people editing them, thus bringing attention to the artist.

I remember once upon a time when Lady Gaga would drop a music video and everyone would tune in to see what boundaries she would push next Bad Romance will forever be one of the most impactful music videos I have ever seen for that reason I wish we were back in 2010s era pop

I think it’s absolutely true that there’s a decline in Western music videos, but like someone else said about K-Pop, Japanese artists are still throwing together some great ones. I think that the broad influence of those videos pales in comparison to, like, peak MTV era stuff, except they’re still artistically interesting or complement the music in some way.

Babe wake up new Mic The Snare video just dropped.

"... of music becoming more communal on social media" YES 100%, I love this aspect of the modern culture

4:13 Mic I think you just made a BoJack Horseman tongue twister

I really miss Lady Gaga’s and Katy Perry’s music videos from over a decade ago. Still watch them to this day

omg so early!! I just need mic the snare to know that your Kate bush episode of pop pantheon? So excellent. You were an incredible guest!! okay time to grieve the music video 🪦

ppl need to realize that music videos don't need a big budget to be cool and awesome, like u don't need a high concept to just take some cool shots and have urself and some friends performing in them

2:00 weyes blood!

Bill wurtz is proof you can still make music videos that go hand in hand with songs. All you have to do is inject your creative style everywhere.

it rocks so hard every time I see a new pop music video there's an ad in it

I just rely on the hyper-animated music videos that play in my head whenever I listen to music. This happen to anyone else?

This reminds me of the backlash to Pinkpantheress saying she doesn't listen to albums and that she doesn't care for sequencing. Everyone criticized her for it but it begs the question: why do artists need to release albums? The album only became the dominant form of musical expression because it was financially lucrative in the past. Nowadays albums are not neccessary to get your music listened to. So if Pink doesn't care to use the album as an art form then who tf cares? Its not the end all be all of musical packaging. There was in fact a time before the album where artists still released music.

Internet killed the video star...! Like the way you ended your video with that melody from the Buggles!

Magdalena Bay have done some excellent music videos over the past few years. It also directly plays into their concert performance and overall visual aesthethic.

there’s this *relatively* smaller singer i’ve been into called Ha Vay. she did a whole film sequencing music videos for every single song of her new album. you can tell they are low budget but the aesthetics are so so cool, they compliment the album’s concept perfectly! music videos don’t have to be top notch in quality to be good & they’ll always be one of my favorite things about the music industry.

JADE is doing some very interesting things music video wise, in fact Angel Of My Dreams might be the most music video video in the last few years.

so good i had to watch it twice.. when typing this comment i paused at the beginning and now i am on the frame of you zoomed in B&w on my tv. it’s scary.