base talk The Guardian: The music video is dying...

[Revolution]

Quote

Music videos were once cultural events almost as important as the music they promoted. In an era of digestible bite-size content on TikTok, the art form is in danger of being lost for ever.

 

The two dominant global forces in recent years have been K-pop and Latin music, and their big-budget music videos still rule the roost (Shakira and the Colombian singer Karol G's TQG video was viewed more than a billion times last year). For Anglo-American pop in 2024, however, a seismic shift has occurred: music video viewership has plummeted, Beyoncé and Drake have stopped releasing videos altogether and pop's A-list are struggling to make a dent on a platform they previously dominated.

 

Since its release in November last year, the video for Houdini – the long-awaited lead single from Dua Lipa's third album – has been viewed 93m times, making it only the 27th biggest of her career. Ariana Grande's Yes, And? clip is only on 51m views after two months; she has eight hits with over a billion. Even Taylor Swift – who essentially is the music industry – isn't immune, with Anti-Hero, the lead single from 2022's Midnights, on a so-so 192m views.

 

"Asking people to stay on one page for the full length of a track in an era of scrolling is really difficult,” says Hannah T-W, an artist manager and the former head of music videos at production company Somesuch. "It's now not a normal viewing practice. People are used to much shorter clips and devouring things really quickly." Those "much shorter clips" proliferate due to the music industry's latest obsession, TikTok.

 

There's now a ripple effect: the drop in viewing figures has meant a drop in video budgets, which in turn can squeeze creativity. While creativity can still thrive with tighter budgets, quality can suffer as directors' skills are stretched. "The music video historically has been, and still is to this day, an art form,” Rose says. "And we're losing it.”

 

It is an art form that has the ability to create instant visual iconography (think Smells Like Teen Spirit or … Baby One More Time), cement artists as visual innovators as well as musical ones (see Björk's mind-bendingly outre aesthetic or Missy Elliott's splashy, DayGlo surrealism) and create such anticipation that video premieres become watercooler moments. (One office I worked in came to a standstill so everyone could watch the YouTube premiere of Lady Gaga's Bad Romance, a pricey visual feast of white latex, Thriller-esque choreography and bed-based incineration.)

 

Sarah Boardman and Joceline Gabriel, who represent a host of music video directors through their company Hands, cite both general "oversaturation" of visuals and the fact that views are now being split across lyric videos and visualisers [simplified teasers for songs] and the main video itself as factors affecting music videos today. They also touch on perhaps a more concerning issue for the industry at large, one involving the "rarity of seeing a new artist with real charisma and hearing a really good track that doesn't just follow a trend".

 

"We're hungry for greatness right now,” agrees Calder, whose work on the Canadian pop star Tate McRae's recent album campaign – including sleek and stylish performance-based visuals that recall 00s Britney and look like, according to Calder, they "belong on MTV, not on TikTok" – has bucked the trend of diminishing returns from videos, and elevate McRae beyond pop's mid-tier. "I don't think the music video is dead; we just want it to be better,” he continues. "We're living in a pop desert right now where nothing feels too exciting.”

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/apr/05/has-tiktok-killed-music-videos

[CherryBay]

Transforming and transitioning to streaming 

[Karla Cabello]

tiktok killed the video star 

[Odette Violet]

2 minutes ago, Revolution said:

The two dominant global forces in recent years have been K-pop and Latin music

Times has change 

 

 

[Digitalism]

Just like with movies you need really talent people to make good music videos for cheap and nobody wants to spend a lot in them anymore 

[enchanted0]

JoJo Siwa literally just revived it so 

 

 

[Kh-Loud]

[BrandNewBrandon]

It's not that people are used to devour things quickly. Because people still spend time and long hours on Netflix and YouTube. 

 

It's that the music video goes hand-in-hand with a song. In countries where people are poorer, music videos are still the go-to format because they can be listened to/watched for free via YouTube but in other countries where people already pay for Spotify, for example, watching the video once is enough whereas before the 1 billion views were people re-listening to the song and not necessarily for the video itself. I have been at many parties in the past where YouTube was being played but since streaming took off no one is playing music off of YouTube anymore so the platform and its music videos are losing a lot of views that way. 

[Anomaly]

It's a very simple explanation: cheap streaming services simply made it no longer necessary to watch the YouTube video for a free listen anymore.

Edited April 6 by Anomaly

[PrettyHurts]

9 minutes ago, Kh-Loud said:

she's so evil 

[Mania]

If only a certain someone that could fix the pressing issue by releasing the visuals (or at least an update and stop playing)

 

[Glamthony]

21 minutes ago, Mania said:

If only a certain someone that could fix the pressing issue by releasing the visuals (or at least an update and stop playing)

 

No gay soul would survive if she decides to release ren's visuals

[Maroonx]

well blame tiktok for shortening people's attention span to 30 seconds. x

[Sun]

it's sad what negative effect tiktok has had on so many things so far

[barbiegrande]

Only because labels are broke. If they had money to make videos with 90s budgets, of course they would become popular again.

[dirrtydiana]

1 hour ago, Anomaly said:

It's a very simple explanation: cheap streaming services simply made it no longer necessary to watch the YouTube video for a free listen anymore.

The lack of talent and interesting videos too.

 

no beyonce visuals, no new britney, no MJ = no videos

[alfonso12]

1 hour ago, BrandNewBrandon said:

It's not that people are used to devour things quickly. Because people still spend time and long hours on Netflix and YouTube. 

 

It's that the music video goes hand-in-hand with a song. In countries where people are poorer, music videos are still the go-to format because they can be listened to/watched for free via YouTube but in other countries where people already pay for Spotify, for example, watching the video once is enough whereas before the 1 billion views were people re-listening to the song and not necessarily for the video itself. I have been at many parties in the past where YouTube was being played but since streaming took off no one is playing music off of YouTube anymore so the platform and its music videos are losing a lot of views that way. 

Yeah this is it. I don't think it's just a matter of quality or short attention span but the fact that before Spotify a lot of people used to play the videos on YouTube so they could listen to the song, while not necessarily watching the visuals. 

[Achilles.]

Quote

It is an art form that has the ability to create instant visual iconography, cement artists as visual innovators as well as musical ones, and create such anticipation that video premieres become watercooler moments.

As making videos ceases to be standard practice, the last video makers left standing will be those who care to develop iconography or establish a reputation as an innovator. We'll get a few great videos instead of lots of okay-to-good ones. 

[popmusicisdead]

52 minutes ago, Sun said:

it's sad what negative effect tiktok has had on so many things so far

it's so jarring to see Youtube views fall so bad when just a few years ago, videos like Señorita and WAP would get 20M+ views on the first day. now you're lucky to see videos debut with more than 2M views

[brenda-walsh]

there's also few interesting videos being made. it's been a few years since you had a music video enter mainstream cultural conversations (Lil Nas, Montero)

 

with streaming no one cares to watch anymore and no one has adapted to visuals for tiktok/ bite-sized format which i think could be interesting. 

[Iaintsorry]

I know it's easy to blame the labels for not funding actually good videos and relying on TikTok for hits, but can you really blame them when it's easier  to force their artists to make a free TikTok than to actually put money in to a creative concept for a video? 
 

And it all comes down to the consumer. Nobody is watching videos anymore, so how can we expect them to exist (let alone be creative and good)

 

Either way, it'll be interesting to see how this UMG beef affects TikTok and vice versa. 
 

All that to say, Renaissance visuals ain't ever coming (and neither are any other Bey visuals)

Edited April 6 by Iaintsorry

[bliaz]

In Latin America they are still popular because most people consume their music through YouTube, not because the videos are good.

[Roger21]

And that's a good thing

[Letemtalk]

4 hours ago, barbiegrande said:

Only because labels are broke. If they had money to make videos with 90s budgets, of course they would become popular again.

Who told you the labels were broke?

They are doing just fine.

 

 

Global recorded music revenue from 1999 to 2022 (in billion U.S. dollars)

The 3 major music companies are now jointly generating approximately $2.9m per hour

 

Quote

In calendar Q1, Universal Music Group saw 9.6% YoY revenue growth in recorded music; Sony saw 10.5% YoY revenue growth in the same category; and Warner's recorded music revenues bounced by 2.5% YoY. (All constant currency.)

They just don't need to pay for big budget videos to promote music these days.

[Princess Aurora]

Imagine using Tiktok 

Edited April 6 by Princess Aurora