Yeah it's weird because I'm putting all this effort into single covers and album covers and Majors are just being super lazy about it cause no one cares. Oh well more things to set myself apart then haha.
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 RUclips and TikTok. Food for thought. Great video though and definitely has me thinking.
I find it weird that this video didn't include K-Pop especially because Mic The Snare has addressed these exact points before in a past video entirely dedicated to K-Pop
Kpop definitely puts more effort into its music videos, but even those get less views than they used to, despite the songs themselves not being any less popular
Kpop fans have complained recently of MV tropes being tired and predictable. So even an industry that is visual fronted is also seeing MV diminishing returns. Views are down for kpop too.
@@LonadurnI think Kpop suffers from being limited to fancy studio props and green screens. I much prefer those that actually go outside (Super Shy by New Jeans is refreshing when it came out and it was shot in Portugal).
@@Greybell I totally agree. Also, each member has to have a glamour moment and as many lewks as possible. There’s been some amazing videos recently that veer into the cinematic, including a lot of the BTS solo work. V’s Slow Dancing and RM’s Come Back to Me as well as Lost are stand outs. Their strength is not looking like a Kpop video.
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
I'm so hyped for his next project, even though "Taylor Swif" might as well had been released on "Testing". Music Videos still fulfill a purpose. They force you to sacrifice a little bit of your time and attention -- which is the currency of our post modern internet society.
It's exactly BECAUSE he takes so long, he needs the effort in his videos to keep himself in the hype and zeitgeist and he also just enjoys making bomb visuals
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 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.
You should check out Jungle, they have insanely good coreographed music videos. Also they have great conceptual videos for all of their last two albums songs!
There’s so many artists that dance their asses off still. The problem is the older generations constantly shutting them down. How do we critique artists of today for being “lazy” but jump to hate on people like Tate McRae who dances her ass off😭😭 they’re constantly in a lose-lose situation
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
True, but considering the Birds of a Feather MV situation, clearly even that has become a pain in ass with entitled fans DMing the director to complain. Like, I can't blame artists if they choose to not do it anymore.
That's a great point. I hope we can see independent artists making short films at this point to further their artistic expression. Or, you know, they can just make shortform content with no artistic value like everyone else is doing.
Albums are still pretty much a thing. Magdalena Bay's newest album was amazing. There's plenty of good albums that are not just a bunch of songs surrounded by filler. But they come from other genres rather than mainstream pop.
@@Teh_Akod yep definitely, this year my favourite new albums have been gloom division by idkhow (amazing blend of synthy indie pop jazz and alt rock) and Wall of eyes and cutouts, both by the smile (jazzier version of radiohead). Then we have the cure and linkin park's new albums both releasing soon in November which are gonna sound incredible so i completely agree people just need to look past the mainstream pop radio stations
@@river3604even pop radio puts out good albums pretty consistently; Chappell Roan's Midwest Princess, Brat, Guts, Hit Me... 10'000 Gecs is one of the best albums I've ever listened to, and I've listened to a lot.
Not only do all of these things still exist, but they're more accessible than ever. Cool album packaging is the only thing listed that's arguably iffy depending on precisely what you mean by that considering the digital landscape dominates over physical media -- but if you're speaking of cool album art that very much still exists. Idk kinda feel like these opinions are coming from a bunch of zoomers who are idealizing an era they weren't really around for. RUclips allows for the mass proliferation of creative music videos from effectively any artist -- which in my mind beats having to watch the same dozen mainstream band MVs on MTV over and over again. That some music videos are pretty bad and uninspired is fair, but considering how saturated and accessible music videos are it's kinda an argument via cherry picking.
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
Because kpop survives on cult of personality and a creepy obsession with youth that caters to very specific demographics that need a steady stream of visuals…..
@@embunchofnumbers what are you even saying... kpop mvs involve a lot of production, interesting concepts and choreography, sometimes even lore, which is what keeps people hooked... the "cult of personality" aspect isn't much different from western pop
@embunchofnumbers …You say that while refusing to read past the first sentence 😂 You clearly have an opinion and don’t wanna budge on it, so don’t be surprised when people aren’t going to budge on theirs.
Well there should be a new Lady Gaga music video coming soon. Quote: "The song's music video has been also been described as "meticulously choreographed", similar to 2009’s 'Bad Romance' and 2011’s 'Judas' but is currently yet to drop."
also if ur looking for someone who still makes MVs, and a LOT of them basically one for each song on the album, u should try Melanie Martinez (and hers are rlly creative)
@@abdulmajeedahm644 it definitely is for the better. sometimes it’s genuinely hard to have a decent music discussion online, especially when it comes to pop music, because many fans equate albums quality with its commercial performance
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.
yes i love twenty one pilots! such a great band, i’m obsessed. i thought having a mv for every song was great. the problem is just expectations as mic put in the video. everybody was like “oh there aren’t enough lore videos”. i would love more lore videos BUT STOP COMPLAINING!
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.
I think it depends. Music videos are still pretty pushed in RUclips'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.
Yeah I've been getting a lot of reposts of obscure Japanese shoegaze and j rock from the 2000s and the algorithm has been leading people like me there the past few months. It's been pretty great!
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
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 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 RUclips 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)
Literally the opposite is true. I feel like this opinion is coming from zoomers idealizing an era they weren't actually around for. That or millennials being overly nostalgic. I have access to thousands of creative af MVs at my fingertips on RUclips. How precisely is that worse than having the same dozen playing over and over again on MTV? Especially considering I can watch older era MVs on RUclips as well. Yeah, some music videos are uninspired. Okay??? Cherry picking a few bad ones hardly means the art form is dying. And citing lyric videos is silly because that's an entirely separate thing. It's not as if every song on an album use to get full budget music videos -- just a couple singles. Lyric vids are their own thing, they aren't replacing music videos.
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.
except they are dying in kpop too, yes they still get 10m+ views in the first day but by the end of the week their getting under 1m per day, it's not like a few years ago when videos like 'dynamite' & 'kill this love' would have high first day views but then continue gaining millions of views a day monrhs or even years after its release.
I wouldn’t name it as a MAJOR factor but I think RUclips 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 RUclips 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 RUclips 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.
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.
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.
That’s because it’s FKA Twigs. She takes imagery and performance just as serious as music if not more so at times. Not sure what my point is. I’m just commenting to fangirl over her.
True I don't watch any new music video from now days I honestly just watch Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Britney spears, and artists like that's videos
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 ☺️
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.
ik Melanie Martinez is currently working on mvs for her album w intentions for the entire standard edition to get one and both her other albums were both visual albums (her second was attached to a movie that had the mvs tho)
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
Even groups from smaller companies and subsidiaries (Kiss of Life and Billlie) have incredible music videos with intertwining lore. The medium being fundamental to every facet of a group's conceptual identity is part and parcel of the industry standard at this point.
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 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.
Back in the 50's and early 60's, most bands/artists released singles, and the albums were an afterthought, just a collection of singles, their B-sides and a few songs too good to throw away, not good enough to be a b-side or single in their own right. Sounds like things are going full circle. I remember even into the 90's bands would release stand alone singles between tour/album cycles that would only later appear on the greatest hits.
I don't personally think that there is some kind of hard and fast requirement for artists/bands to release full albums but I also don't want to live in a world where the idea of a full length album is considered outdated or undesirable. Albums serve an important creative function and can help paint a picture of where an artist is at a given point in time both emotionally and creatively. Heck. I am not even really talking about the intentional concept albums or anything like that. Even a pretty standard album can tell an overall story if one is willing to pay attention. Obviously online music formats have changed things quite a bit. Even going back to when Apple started selling music by the song, things started to shift towards a more indirect, more "I just put playlists on shuffle and passively listen" kind of thing. There is a reason why "lean back listening" is a big deal in music streaming services. The move away from albums facilitates that to a great degree.
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
@@CineRamOh yeah, I love that one! Though my favorite by him is the one for Let Forever Be by the Chemical Brothers. My favorite one by Spike is definitely Praise You, I mean come on
@@Vitorio582 Let Forever Be is incredible. I can't imagine the intricate planning that went into that one. Another mind-blowing video is "Sugar Water" from Cibo Matto. Not sure if Gondry directed that one, but it sure seems like he did.
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!
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.
@@suoutubez19 op said the art of music videos! as in some genres use visual concepts and storytelling to expand on the songs more than others. i think it’s fair to say that genres like kpop, rock and indie do this more than hiphop, not that they don’t it as well. for kpop for example mvs are just as important as the songs, they’re integral parts of the experience just like the choreographies and visuals of the project. same for many indie artists that create full concept albums with a storyline displayed in one to multiple mvs, melanie martinez and twenty one pilots come to mind.
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.
And European artists and bands, especially in the UK, were creating a tradition (for lack of a more accurate term) of producing music videos (even though the term "music video" per se wasn't around in the 1960's or maybe even the 1970's) ahead of the US acts
Makes sense but on the flipside, that's kind of the life of directors in general. A music video is essentially a short film that costs money and isn't intended to make money but rather to be a means of artistic expression. If artists went into it with that mindset, I think we'd see more out there. But yeah, in this economic climate - it's really difficult. I don't fault independent artists who avoid this for financial reasons.
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*
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 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. 🎉
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 💜
I like when music videos actually add more context to what the song is about or like when MJ made entire short films around a song. Like what even is the point in making a music video if it’s just you singing the song or found footage type clips put together?
You are still missing something: kpop Very popular category where music videos are still alive and well, heavily anticipated, and if a song randomly becomes popular, they're quick to jump on making an mv.
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.
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.
It was already dying even before that. Music videos were always costly to make for record labels and they got a lot of mileage on television because of advertiser support and without television, they are hardly worth it for the record label a lot of the time.
I think they got killed off by streaming. When you actually had to pay money to get to hear something, why not watch the video to see if you wanted to download the song? Now that you can stream things to hear them, why bother with the MV?
@@madduxlunde7007 Yeah, but you still need a way to promote your music, especially to a wider audience. It doesn’t do good for your music career long term to not have songs that not only are built to last, but ones that a lot of people know, then all you become is a cult figure that people either likes or hates.
@@RocStarr913 that’s where I like Mic’s thesis that the trends for that shifted to Tik Tok. Old Town Road happened and the songs that came next all have Tik Tok dances
With Michael you can see the drop off of the the importance of music videos between his 1995 album HIStory and his 2001 album Invincible. HIStory got six full big-budget music videos. But by the time Invincible came around, his label Sony only put out two, and one of those didn't even have Michael in it.
I think one of the most overlooked points here is the fact that music videos are opportunities for directors to show what they're capable of on a smaller scale.
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.
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
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.
oh man mcr was on another music video level man. The revenge MV rollout is probably one of the most iconic rock album rollouts and that was BEFORE welcome to the black parade
NO-ONE has made music videos/Short Films like Michael Jackson since he's not been here he made it into an art form think he even invented the short film musix video concept but he set a standard that won't be beaten
For youtube music views, the change to how many repeat views are counted back in April 2022 also factored a lot. It disproportionately affects MVs and K-pop Stans keep writing to RUclips about how they're only getting 1/3rd of expected views on new music.
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.
I feel like Megan Thee Stallion should've definitely been mentioned as someone who still makes music videos well! She's released 5 music videos in the past year alone (Boa, Hiss, Mamushi, Cobra, Neva Play).
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
It all began when people started dowload music illegaly. Then, when RUclips came alond, you could get access to videos for free. When people don't want to pay for music or videos, who's willing to create them?
It cracks me up how young people today consider 4-5 years ago “back in the day” or forever ago. People need to slooooow down. We may not need music videos anymore since we don’t really have artists anymore or art being made. Everything is about money so who cares about what the music means. Fuck it on to the next beat.
Tik Tok is a great vehicle for fans to give their take. If you get fans to feel a part of the music making process(adding their spin) the Aquarian Age loves you. It’s all about the people, not the star
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’m 27 and already exhausted with things. In the 80s and 90s you had a hit record, perhaps a few hit singles, a few music videos, good photos and press, maybe some merch, and a tour to cap it all off. Even that sounds like a lot but it was easier to follow.
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.
I found it funny how he mentioned Sabrina but completely glossed over someone like FKA Twigs who makes far more ambitious, creative videos that are truly mesmerizing. She's been doing this all the way back to Water Me.
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
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 have been loving how Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Ronan have released their music. They are going all out including music videos. But I don’t know if it really matters when tickets tok and Spotify isn’t what makes their music spread to people.
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
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.
As a Up & coming HipHop Artist I noticed that Music videos were dying I dawned on me months ago I don’t even know anybody who watches them tbh I rarely do myself I would rather just listen to the song
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
next video will be a new DDD, thanks for being patient and watching these other videos :))))
Kpop still works off music videos just as much as back in the day in the west.
Do a DDD on Michael Jackson or Janet Jackson plz
Also when’s “Music That Defined the 1980s” coming out?
Will we get anything about Coldplay's MM? For Chris, our Frog daddy...
Paul McCartney DDD when?
radio star killed the video
Tiktok star
Streaming killed the video star
Tiktok killed the streaming star
Radio star strikes back
heeeey i was gonna say that
Literally podcasts
One thing that has died and no one talks about is single covers
They are all just the album cover now
I believe that's because singles aren't released on physical media anymore.
Yeah it's weird because I'm putting all this effort into single covers and album covers and Majors are just being super lazy about it cause no one cares. Oh well more things to set myself apart then haha.
You're gonna love Magdalena Bay
you’re gonna love machine girl
@@JJRedyfr I was a big fan of their recent single covers, not to mention their dedication to music videos as well
Don't forget that Beyonce didn't release one music video for her last TWO albums.
You’re trying to survive and I get it
we love you Beyoncé 🥰✨
To considerable backlash lol.
I'd love for her to make a 1 hour music video combining the stories of Act 1, 2 and 3 after Act 3 comes out in the future. She has the money lol
Tell a person 10 years ago that BEYONCE didn't make any music videos for 2 consecutive albums, and see if they beleive you
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 RUclips and TikTok. Food for thought. Great video though and definitely has me thinking.
I find it weird that this video didn't include K-Pop especially because Mic The Snare has addressed these exact points before in a past video entirely dedicated to K-Pop
Kpop definitely puts more effort into its music videos, but even those get less views than they used to, despite the songs themselves not being any less popular
Kpop fans have complained recently of MV tropes being tired and predictable. So even an industry that is visual fronted is also seeing MV diminishing returns. Views are down for kpop too.
@@LonadurnI think Kpop suffers from being limited to fancy studio props and green screens. I much prefer those that actually go outside (Super Shy by New Jeans is refreshing when it came out and it was shot in Portugal).
@@Greybell I totally agree. Also, each member has to have a glamour moment and as many lewks as possible. There’s been some amazing videos recently that veer into the cinematic, including a lot of the BTS solo work. V’s Slow Dancing and RM’s Come Back to Me as well as Lost are stand outs. Their strength is not looking like a Kpop video.
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
I'm so hyped for his next project, even though "Taylor Swif" might as well had been released on "Testing".
Music Videos still fulfill a purpose. They force you to sacrifice a little bit of your time and attention -- which is the currency of our post modern internet society.
@@funnyyellowdog8833 can you please explain tailor swif? i dont get the meaning
@@yomnaislam948that’s the name of his newest single.
It's exactly BECAUSE he takes so long, he needs the effort in his videos to keep himself in the hype and zeitgeist and he also just enjoys making bomb visuals
Tailor Swif is incredible. I'm not even sure if I like the song but I can't stop watching that video
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
We kind of are in some aspects
stream disease❤
what impact?
Hell no, music was at its absolute lowest
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.
You should check out Jungle, they have insanely good coreographed music videos. Also they have great conceptual videos for all of their last two albums songs!
See Victoria Monet, she had a big hit but better performance videos.
Tinashe has been doing choreography in most if not all her music videos
Check out Childish Gambino, specifically “Big foot, little foot” he goes hard in that.
There’s so many artists that dance their asses off still. The problem is the older generations constantly shutting them down. How do we critique artists of today for being “lazy” but jump to hate on people like Tate McRae who dances her ass off😭😭 they’re constantly in a lose-lose situation
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
you'd think so
no, because corporations generally do not adapt quickly and take time to realize when a market is no longer profitable
True, but considering the Birds of a Feather MV situation, clearly even that has become a pain in ass with entitled fans DMing the director to complain. Like, I can't blame artists if they choose to not do it anymore.
That's a great point. I hope we can see independent artists making short films at this point to further their artistic expression. Or, you know, they can just make shortform content with no artistic value like everyone else is doing.
Only in Western music markets.
My favorite non-musical aspects about music are dying :(
Music videos, cool album packaging, hell, the concept of an album at all.
Also the concept of "bands". So many things seem to be "dying" now and honestly a.i isn't here to save anything either.
Albums are still pretty much a thing. Magdalena Bay's newest album was amazing. There's plenty of good albums that are not just a bunch of songs surrounded by filler. But they come from other genres rather than mainstream pop.
@@Teh_Akod yep definitely, this year my favourite new albums have been gloom division by idkhow (amazing blend of synthy indie pop jazz and alt rock) and Wall of eyes and cutouts, both by the smile (jazzier version of radiohead). Then we have the cure and linkin park's new albums both releasing soon in November which are gonna sound incredible so i completely agree people just need to look past the mainstream pop radio stations
@@river3604even pop radio puts out good albums pretty consistently; Chappell Roan's Midwest Princess, Brat, Guts, Hit Me... 10'000 Gecs is one of the best albums I've ever listened to, and I've listened to a lot.
Not only do all of these things still exist, but they're more accessible than ever. Cool album packaging is the only thing listed that's arguably iffy depending on precisely what you mean by that considering the digital landscape dominates over physical media -- but if you're speaking of cool album art that very much still exists.
Idk kinda feel like these opinions are coming from a bunch of zoomers who are idealizing an era they weren't really around for. RUclips allows for the mass proliferation of creative music videos from effectively any artist -- which in my mind beats having to watch the same dozen mainstream band MVs on MTV over and over again.
That some music videos are pretty bad and uninspired is fair, but considering how saturated and accessible music videos are it's kinda an argument via cherry picking.
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
Because kpop survives on cult of personality and a creepy obsession with youth that caters to very specific demographics that need a steady stream of visuals…..
@@embunchofnumbers what are you even saying... kpop mvs involve a lot of production, interesting concepts and choreography, sometimes even lore, which is what keeps people hooked... the "cult of personality" aspect isn't much different from western pop
@@kimjonghyuns re-read what I wrote and take a minute to process 👍
@embunchofnumbers …You say that while refusing to read past the first sentence 😂
You clearly have an opinion and don’t wanna budge on it, so don’t be surprised when people aren’t going to budge on theirs.
@@rubyy.7374 facts are not opinions. Always happy to help 👍
I really miss Lady Gaga’s and Katy Perry’s music videos from over a decade ago. Still watch them to this day
Well there should be a new Lady Gaga music video coming soon. Quote: "The song's music video has been also been described as "meticulously choreographed", similar to 2009’s 'Bad Romance' and 2011’s 'Judas' but is currently yet to drop."
Gaga’s Disease MV felt like a breath of fresh air.
@@nandernugget omg seriously
also if ur looking for someone who still makes MVs, and a LOT of them basically one for each song on the album, u should try Melanie Martinez (and hers are rlly creative)
Billboard downgrade the impact that music video streams on free platforms have on the charts. That severely hurt how much labels invest in them.
I don't think Billboard is still relevant at this point
@@abdulmajeedahm644they definitely are very relevant and still control a lot of
@@abdulmajeedahm644 oh it definitely is. Fans, or should i say stans care way more about the charts now than they did pre-covid
@@justsamoo3480 oh ok then im just out of touch, which is good
@@abdulmajeedahm644 it definitely is for the better. sometimes it’s genuinely hard to have a decent music discussion online, especially when it comes to pop music, because many fans equate albums quality with its commercial performance
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.
Get into FKA Twigs then. Y’all males always complain about female artists having no depth or vision but then ignore the talented ones
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.
I want a twenty one pilots DDD sooo baddd
Oh shit. Lil Nas X did that too and I totally forgot about it. Damn my brain rot.
yes i love twenty one pilots! such a great band, i’m obsessed. i thought having a mv for every song was great. the problem is just expectations as mic put in the video. everybody was like “oh there aren’t enough lore videos”. i would love more lore videos BUT STOP COMPLAINING!
@@madduxrlEXACTLY
Twenty one pilots need more love
360 has an iconic music video. I feel like it's part of the lore of that track
I honestly didn't like any of the songs on Brat until the videos came out (and I tried). The videos flipped something in my brain where I 'got' them.
totally waiter vibes
That music video is literally 🗑️
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.
I think it depends. Music videos are still pretty pushed in RUclips'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.
Yeah I've been getting a lot of reposts of obscure Japanese shoegaze and j rock from the 2000s and the algorithm has been leading people like me there the past few months. It's been pretty great!
the literary nonsense music video is so magical. out of my j-pop/j-rock phase, but it’s honestly so cool.
Mic imma let you finish.. but Magdalena Bay got some of the greatest music videos of all time!
Agree. Got their stuff recommended by random last year and it's been a treat
The Death & Romance mv... absolute cinema.
THANK YOU FOR MENTIONING HER!!!
@@venusenvsuits two people lmao
The Secrets (Your Fire) video has such a great aesthetic.
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
I think they should do both the visualizer and the music video
kept waiting for Megan Thee Stallion mention and it never came...?😭 Her videos' visuals and storytelling are constantly outstanding
Me too!!
Totally!!! Her videos are always exciting
y'know what, yeah! hiss, boa, w.a.p... she's really doing it!
Internet killed the video star
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 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 RUclips 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)
I directed and shot all of my recent videos with my tripod and my iPhone alone, if you are interested.
Literally the opposite is true.
I feel like this opinion is coming from zoomers idealizing an era they weren't actually around for. That or millennials being overly nostalgic.
I have access to thousands of creative af MVs at my fingertips on RUclips. How precisely is that worse than having the same dozen playing over and over again on MTV? Especially considering I can watch older era MVs on RUclips as well.
Yeah, some music videos are uninspired. Okay??? Cherry picking a few bad ones hardly means the art form is dying.
And citing lyric videos is silly because that's an entirely separate thing. It's not as if every song on an album use to get full budget music videos -- just a couple singles. Lyric vids are their own thing, they aren't replacing music videos.
K-pop can still have some very good videos. Not every group, not every song, but they do put effort usually
That’s because KPop is one of the few genres of popular music left where the videos actually help sell physical albums/digital downloads.
Did someone say Lisa
@Krissy-u8d Yeah, unfortunately, and it's only getting worse with the use of AI visuals. 😔
That is because the priorities are for the video first
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 know, it's like kpop doesn't even come into consideration for people
@@iloveamerica64u can’t expect Americans to talk about non American stuff 😂
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!
except they are dying in kpop too, yes they still get 10m+ views in the first day but by the end of the week their getting under 1m per day, it's not like a few years ago when videos like 'dynamite' & 'kill this love' would have high first day views but then continue gaining millions of views a day monrhs or even years after its release.
I wouldn’t name it as a MAJOR factor but I think RUclips 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 RUclips 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 RUclips 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.
RUclips has become bad for discovering new music videos or any other kinds of new material; 80% of my recommended is stuff I've watched before.
Oh bow I miss that trending... trend?
Coming from the Kpop Bubble, they are still very important.
Rock/metal too.
Metal? Seriously? Music videos haven't been relevant to Metal since the MTV days, even then barely.
yeah cuz choreography is an important thing there, and how are you gonna show that choreography?
@@phiphong9920they have choreography / performance videos for that which is another thing
@@phiphong9920 with a performance video
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.
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 thought about it, and the most memorable music video ive seen lately is definitely Eusexua. Eusexua owns.
That’s because it’s FKA Twigs. She takes imagery and performance just as serious as music if not more so at times. Not sure what my point is. I’m just commenting to fangirl over her.
True I don't watch any new music video from now days I honestly just watch Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Britney spears, and artists like that's videos
Same!
Exactly
@@SoldierOfLoveForNowjudging by your name, mj fan?? Me too
Agust D videos ? BTS videos ? Also they had RUclips being as* to them cuz they don’t get money from those songs for sponsors.
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 ☺️
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.
Not everybody has money to burn like they do, it seems.
ik Melanie Martinez is currently working on mvs for her album w intentions for the entire standard edition to get one and both her other albums were both visual albums (her second was attached to a movie that had the mvs tho)
@@RocStarr913 most of them were very diy low budget. most big artists surely have a bigger budget than them
I remember getting ready for school, watching MTV and seeing Lady Gaga's Just Dance video for the first time
Gaga was a breath of fresh air!
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
Even groups from smaller companies and subsidiaries (Kiss of Life and Billlie) have incredible music videos with intertwining lore.
The medium being fundamental to every facet of a group's conceptual identity is part and parcel of the industry standard at this point.
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.
You're correct.
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.
Back in the 50's and early 60's, most bands/artists released singles, and the albums were an afterthought, just a collection of singles, their B-sides and a few songs too good to throw away, not good enough to be a b-side or single in their own right. Sounds like things are going full circle. I remember even into the 90's bands would release stand alone singles between tour/album cycles that would only later appear on the greatest hits.
@@jon-paulfilkins7820 Also "songs getting shorter" trend. 40s songs were short (but it's due to limitation of the physical audio fomat at the time).
I don't personally think that there is some kind of hard and fast requirement for artists/bands to release full albums but I also don't want to live in a world where the idea of a full length album is considered outdated or undesirable. Albums serve an important creative function and can help paint a picture of where an artist is at a given point in time both emotionally and creatively. Heck. I am not even really talking about the intentional concept albums or anything like that. Even a pretty standard album can tell an overall story if one is willing to pay attention.
Obviously online music formats have changed things quite a bit. Even going back to when Apple started selling music by the song, things started to shift towards a more indirect, more "I just put playlists on shuffle and passively listen" kind of thing. There is a reason why "lean back listening" is a big deal in music streaming services. The move away from albums facilitates that to a great degree.
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
Tell me that you've seen Gondry's video for "Hyperballad" by Bjork! That's an all-timer for me.
@@CineRamSpike Jonze directed her It's Oh So Quiet video. He also did Buddy Holly and the Sweater Song. He's got great credits under his belt.
@@meowertwelve Agreed. Didn't he also do "Sabotage"?
@@CineRamOh yeah, I love that one! Though my favorite by him is the one for Let Forever Be by the Chemical Brothers. My favorite one by Spike is definitely Praise You, I mean come on
@@Vitorio582 Let Forever Be is incredible. I can't imagine the intricate planning that went into that one. Another mind-blowing video is "Sugar Water" from Cibo Matto. Not sure if Gondry directed that one, but it sure seems like he did.
Here in India, YT is THE way most people listen to using.
Spotify barely used outside metropolitan and tier 1 cities (20-25% population).
Very true. Who tf would want to pay hundreds of rupees for access to the *back button* ?
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!
Checked them out after seeing this comment. Both of the ones I saw on her channel were bangers.. Thanks for pointing me towards them.
Seriously, “Angel of my Dreams” is one of the best music videos in a long time that’s not from South Korea.
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.
Metal is my favorite genre but most of their music videos are very generic
Ehhh I don’t know if i can say with confidence that rap fans don’t care about art
@@suoutubez19 op said the art of music videos! as in some genres use visual concepts and storytelling to expand on the songs more than others. i think it’s fair to say that genres like kpop, rock and indie do this more than hiphop, not that they don’t it as well. for kpop for example mvs are just as important as the songs, they’re integral parts of the experience just like the choreographies and visuals of the project. same for many indie artists that create full concept albums with a storyline displayed in one to multiple mvs, melanie martinez and twenty one pilots come to mind.
@@abdulmajeedahm644 Only if they have a low budget.
The music video medium was taken to a new level with Jackson and plummeted when he passed
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.
8:37 hell, in the 1960s, most music videos were just glorified home movies of the band fooling around for a couple minutes!
And European artists and bands, especially in the UK, were creating a tradition (for lack of a more accurate term) of producing music videos (even though the term "music video" per se wasn't around in the 1960's or maybe even the 1970's) ahead of the US acts
Well yeah and then they evolved
I just rely on the hyper-animated music videos that play in my head whenever I listen to music. This happen to anyone else?
I dont think anything could beat Thriller. Its the music video of all music videos, in my opinion.
TLDR the economics of music making don’t favor intricate music videos the way they used to
Pretty much.
Makes sense but on the flipside, that's kind of the life of directors in general. A music video is essentially a short film that costs money and isn't intended to make money but rather to be a means of artistic expression. If artists went into it with that mindset, I think we'd see more out there. But yeah, in this economic climate - it's really difficult. I don't fault independent artists who avoid this for financial reasons.
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*
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 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. 🎉
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 💜
I like when music videos actually add more context to what the song is about or like when MJ made entire short films around a song. Like what even is the point in making a music video if it’s just you singing the song or found footage type clips put together?
You are still missing something: kpop
Very popular category where music videos are still alive and well, heavily anticipated, and if a song randomly becomes popular, they're quick to jump on making an mv.
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.
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.
It was already dying even before that. Music videos were always costly to make for record labels and they got a lot of mileage on television because of advertiser support and without television, they are hardly worth it for the record label a lot of the time.
I think they got killed off by streaming. When you actually had to pay money to get to hear something, why not watch the video to see if you wanted to download the song? Now that you can stream things to hear them, why bother with the MV?
@@madduxlunde7007 Yeah, but you still need a way to promote your music, especially to a wider audience. It doesn’t do good for your music career long term to not have songs that not only are built to last, but ones that a lot of people know, then all you become is a cult figure that people either likes or hates.
@@RocStarr913 that’s where I like Mic’s thesis that the trends for that shifted to Tik Tok. Old Town Road happened and the songs that came next all have Tik Tok dances
With Michael you can see the drop off of the the importance of music videos between his 1995 album HIStory and his 2001 album Invincible.
HIStory got six full big-budget music videos. But by the time Invincible came around, his label Sony only put out two, and one of those didn't even have Michael in it.
I think one of the most overlooked points here is the fact that music videos are opportunities for directors to show what they're capable of on a smaller scale.
Music videos are dead because no one has the attention span to sit through a video longer than 15 seconds
vertical killed the video star. not sales wise though, apparently it was second degree homicide
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.
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
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.
oh man mcr was on another music video level man. The revenge MV rollout is probably one of the most iconic rock album rollouts and that was BEFORE welcome to the black parade
NO-ONE has made music videos/Short Films like Michael Jackson since he's not been here he made it into an art form think he even invented the short film musix video concept but he set a standard that won't be beaten
Tyler the creator
Japanese Bands and SK, are doing magic on music videos
I agree, there’s so many incredible videos coming from both countries, and the music is a lot more fun and interesting than Western music too.
For youtube music views, the change to how many repeat views are counted back in April 2022 also factored a lot.
It disproportionately affects MVs and K-pop Stans keep writing to RUclips about how they're only getting 1/3rd of expected views on new music.
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.
the Good Luck Babe official lyric video itself is a fucking work of art
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.
congratulations for 300k mic!
I googled this exact thing yesterday. Love you Mr The Snare.
lady gaga was the last person to take music videos seriously
Also the short visualizers are played in a loop when you listen to the song on spotify
I feel like Megan Thee Stallion should've definitely been mentioned as someone who still makes music videos well! She's released 5 music videos in the past year alone (Boa, Hiss, Mamushi, Cobra, Neva Play).
Honestly not having a music vidoe is a new trend 😅
It’s so hard being a visual artist fan when your favorite visual artists are getting bored of the visuals 😭
it rocks so hard every time I see a new pop music video there's an ad in it
True. I think the corner of music still thriving w music videos is Kpop
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
Personally I love music videos so im sad theyre not as popular but im glad kpop has kept up with it
It all began when people started dowload music illegaly. Then, when RUclips came alond, you could get access to videos for free. When people don't want to pay for music or videos, who's willing to create them?
It cracks me up how young people today consider 4-5 years ago “back in the day” or forever ago. People need to slooooow down.
We may not need music videos anymore since we don’t really have artists anymore or art being made. Everything is about money so who cares about what the music means. Fuck it on to the next beat.
Excellent choice of song at the end, Mr. Snare
Tik Tok is a great vehicle for fans to give their take. If you get fans to feel a part of the music making process(adding their spin) the Aquarian Age loves you. It’s all about the people, not the star
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’m 27 and already exhausted with things. In the 80s and 90s you had a hit record, perhaps a few hit singles, a few music videos, good photos and press, maybe some merch, and a tour to cap it all off. Even that sounds like a lot but it was easier to follow.
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.
FKA twigs has been slaying music videos since day 1. Glass and Patron, Cellophane, Home with You and now the masterpiece that is Eusexua.
I found it funny how he mentioned Sabrina but completely glossed over someone like FKA Twigs who makes far more ambitious, creative videos that are truly mesmerizing. She's been doing this all the way back to Water Me.
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
7:16 Charlie Brown: "Even my dog is doing a TikTok dance! I can't stand it..."
Nice one.
Why can’t I have a normal dog like everyone else…
Social media system is going too fast
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.
Thanks for recommending the Porter videos, I'll give them a look.
So much love for the new porter robinson album. As someone who doesn’t really listen to EDM, that album is banger after banger after banger
I have been loving how Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Ronan have released their music. They are going all out including music videos. But I don’t know if it really matters when tickets tok and Spotify isn’t what makes their music spread to people.
so into your content it made me watch glee as a 23 yr old adult. glad you covered this! BEST music channel on yt
gonna go watch some music video classics now, LUV U
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
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.
As a Up & coming HipHop Artist I noticed that Music videos were dying I dawned on me months ago I don’t even know anybody who watches them tbh I rarely do myself I would rather just listen to the song
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.
Polyphonic, PageFire, and now Mic the Snare. We´re eating good on music video, video essays