Comprehensively Explain The Nature Of Music Videos - Essay

Comprehensively Explain The Nature Of Music Videos

Nature: The date was August 1st 1981 and the words "ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll" were the first spoken on the new music channel MTV - Music Television.

The year was 1981, Princess Diana is now married, 'Cliff Richard' was top of the charts and 'The Specials' were running the indie scene with songs like 'Ghost Town'. Televisions are now essential in British homes. The medium of accompanying a song with a video was growing in popularity probably due to the increase in popularity the track would get because of this added medium so someone had the great idea of making a music channel that 24/7 played music videos: it worked for TV as the kids not interested in watching the Eastenders omnibus were now watching MTV while musical artists liked the idea as it was just another medium for them to be recognised; The 80's YouTube.

MTV succeeded up till 1989 and by 1994 it was clinging to what relenvency it had left due to the rise of the internet. Why sit through adverts to hear 'Oasis's' new sell-out single 'Wonderwall' when you could now just press play and hear the exact same thing. From the mid nineties to present day nothing has really changed with MTV. There hasn't been any revamp that actually worked as it never would, so the channel is now doing what it has done for 20 years - chugging out awful reality shows one after another on a 24/7 timeframe. I don't think however there is any point in talking about music channels on TV because their all the same, sitting at a standstill whatever channel or subscription surface their on. If its on TV - It isn't worth talking about. 

You Tube, Vevo, Dailymotion, Crackle, Hulu; these are a small amount of streaming websites available. One can upload and proceed to watch videos from anywhere there is an available internet connection, whenever they want. In other words this is what MTV didn't expect. I do my school work and embed videos from YouTube. My friend can tell me I should listen to a song to which I head to YouTube. Im at a party and need to put a song on. Guess which website I visit; If I'm completely honest I don't see the point in talking about any other streaming websites as who really uses them. 

YouTube is one of, if not the biggest, website/business on the internet. Its purpose is simple. Its a platform for people to upload their personal videos for people to view. As popularity grew companies also caught on with the resources to produce high budget videos on a daily basis, companies now practically run YouTube. While that fact is sad due to the individuals with a limited budget having to compete it is still fact. Some of these companies include BuzzFeed, Vevo and TV shows like The Late Late Show With James Corden. The Late Late Show is literally a TV show that also now produces content for YouTube - We are slowly observing the death of TV. 

I will be briefly talking about Vevo. The streaming website and business on YouTube focusing on the distribution of music videos. 

• Number of monthly video views - 1.87 Billion views
• Number of unique Vevo users - 50 Million
• Number of music videos in Vevos library - 230 Thousand
• Most watched video over a 24 hour period - 'Nicki Minaj - Anaconda' with 19.6 Million views

I could go on. This is why the music video industry is so big, sometimes even competing with the actual music in the video. Vevo has realised this now putting out videos on a daily basis. Its a distributing system. It distributes the videos and then takes a slice of the advertisement revenue. The system works as the figures prove. Music videos are quick, simple to find and YouTube is the perfect medium. Seriously analysing the bigger picture it is evident that websites like IPlayer, YouTube and Netflix are not only streaming sites and brands that are will to be known for years they will eventually, as Vevo did to MTV, take over TV as we know it today and if not; already has.