\n<\/p>\n
T<\/span>he launch of MTV, in 1981, ushered in a new era of music. Showing music videos 24 hours a day, the television channel redefined artist marketing and launched the careers of artists such as Michael Jackson and Madonna, whose public personas became inseparable from the gripping, frequently controversial clips they produced to be played on the service.<\/p>\n Now, that chapter of music history appears to be drawing to a close, with MTV\u2019s parent company Paramount announcing last week that its five dedicated music channels in the UK \u2013 MTV Music, MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Club MTV and MTV Live \u2013 will cease broadcasting after 31 December. (The flagship MTV channel, which broadcasts reality programmes such as Catfish, The Hills and Geordie Shore, will remain in operation.)<\/p>\n For some, it represents the end of an era. Others, such as the musician Hannah Diamond, suggest that era may have been over some time ago. \u201cThe last few years, MTV has sort of transformed [into] more of a nostalgic memory,\u201d she says. \u201cIt hasn\u2019t been part of the conversation for such a long time that it really doesn\u2019t surprise me that they\u2019re ending it.\u201d As an independent artist, she says, YouTube has always been the primary platform for music video releases.<\/p>\n The specific shuttering of the brand\u2019s music platforms does call into question the position of the music video in today\u2019s industry, and whether the form still provides a viable outlet for expression and promotion. Jennifer Byrne, head of development at Academy Films \u2013 the famed production company that launched the careers of film-makers such as Jonathan Glazer through their music video work \u2013 says that \u201clabels aren\u2019t as willing\u201d to invest heavily in videos as they once were. \u201cThey\u2019re trying to spend that money on so many more deliverables than there used to be,\u201d she says, referring to the multiplicity of online video and social media platforms. \u201cIt used to just be one three-minute video. Now it\u2019s: how do you reach all these different audiences and can you cut it in 10 different ways?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/span>Music video for Romeo by PinkPantheress, directed by Iris Luz.<\/span><\/p>\n Iris Luz, a London-based director who has made videos for British pop singers PinkPantheress and George Riley, says that budgets for videos are shrinking rapidly, even for seemingly simple clips. \u201cThe number of times I\u2019ll come up with an idea that, to me, seems easy, and people are like: \u2018No, that\u2019s gonna be 50 billion pounds,\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019m like, that\u2019s funny, because it\u2019s in one house with four people. I don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on.\u201d<\/p>\n Neither Luz nor Byrne believes that the end of MTV will significantly impact music videos overall. In Luz\u2019s mind, videos now are less promotional tools than \u201cvehicles for relatability and branding that makes [a viewer] want to buy into the artist,\u201d she says. \u201cThey\u2019re just a facet in the ecosystem of a musician. Because of TikTok and the rise of independent artists, people put out music as soon as they\u2019re done with it. So a video is designed to convey that immediacy \u2013 where they\u2019re at in one moment \u2013 rather than make a big splash like 15 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n There are also still barriers to entry for smaller artists, says Diamond. \u201cThe music videos I have made have been made through sheer luck, grafting or multiple years of work put into one thing,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019ve become a musician in an era where artists don\u2019t get the budget to make a music video unless they are a really big artist with a big label behind them that thinks it\u2019s going to be a worthwhile investment.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>\u2018MTV hasn\u2019t been part of the conversation for such a long time\u2019 \u2026 musician Hannah Diamond<\/span><\/p>\n Directors are feeling the pinch too: Byrne says that where \u201cback in the day, an artist would have been like, \u2018I like what Glazer\u2019s doing, I\u2019m going to talk to him,\u2019 now, you\u2019re pitching [to an artist] against [maybe] 10 different directors, and that\u2019s free labour on the director\u2019s part, creating this amazing treatment.\u201d Plus, she says, \u201cno one makes money out of these videos. Production companies don\u2019t \u2013 but we still do them because they\u2019re really important and a vital part of a director finding their own voice.\u201d<\/p>\n Part of the problem, of course, is that content budgets now have to stretch across short-form video, too. Luz says that while TikTok videos can be \u201cshot on a DSLR camera; a guy with a guitar and a dream, singing on a pub stool,\u201d they can also be just as creative and innovative as traditional videos. \u201cContent can be an added facet to the [musician\u2019s] world,\u201d she says, citing her work with the band Confidence Man, which she says is \u201con par with their shows and music videos because they have fun with it.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite everything, videos can still be a pipeline to feature directing, says Byrne: \u201cIf you look at [Everything Everywhere All at Once directors] The Daniels, they started off in the music video world, and then they won an Oscar,\u201d she says. \u201cMusic videos still allow those unique personalities to shine through and take risks.\u201d<\/p>\n Last month, the Wall Street Journal reported that Paramount was looking at ways to revitalise the MTV brand, and Diamond says that, given how volatile and changeable the industry is, it\u2019s hard to make any assumptions about the future of videos. \u201cWho knew that vinyl was going to make such a massive comeback, you know?\u201d she says. Luz agrees: \u201cIt\u2019s like an album \u2013 albums are never gonna go away, and music videos are like punctuation for an album. They\u2019re always going to exist.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The launch of MTV, in 1981, ushered in a new era of music. Showing music videos 24 hours a day, the television channel redefined artist marketing and launched the careers of artists such as Michael Jackson and Madonna, whose public personas became inseparable from the gripping, frequently controversial clips they produced to be played on<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28937,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[17140,2062,12007,686,16654,1162,94],"class_list":{"0":"post-28936","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-channels","9":"tag-money","10":"tag-mtv","11":"tag-music","12":"tag-switching","13":"tag-threat","14":"tag-video"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28936\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28937"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}