Music Videos Aren’t Fun Anymore Like They Were Before The 2010’s

Act III- The world economy

The world is in debt. With themselves. I’m not even joking. Exceeding $324 trillion.‍ ‍

This debt affects ALL of us in many different ways. It causes us to spend differently, act differently, dress differently and ultimately it makes us create differently. As we have discussed before, the original routine of becoming an established artist in the music industry would be to get signed to a label for artist development and funding. Pop stars like the people we are familiar with nowadays (Beyonce, Gaga, Justin, Ariana etc) were our escapism from our lives. We looked forward to their performances and song releases because they brought us joy and relief. They lived lives that were different from us that we would admire to be like or just for a sweet change from reality but when did people stop feeling that sense of joy from celebrity life and culture?

Inflation. Prices raising higher than we can afford and we are being paid below the prices. The rich stays rich and the poor gets poorer. The gap between celebrities and the audience grew and what filled the gap was hatred and envy. It was cool to support celebrities or give them praise for their accomplishments until it started to affect us directly. Suddenly, it is inconsiderate to fly via private jets because of the excess fuel that pollutes our air. It is selfish to buy real fur as it is sourced directly from animals that were slaughtered. It is ignorant to waste water for a performance when people are lucky enough to have clean water that lasts a day. It is not fair that we suffer and they get to live however they want. They have all this money to change the world for better and they can’t even say ‘Free Palestine’.

Audiences stopped looking up to these celebs and start looking at even-levelled artists who lived the lives they lived. Who understands the struggles of having nothing and making something beautiful about it. They resonate more with music like that, they connect to the artists in a more direct way. Those artists are far from polished, promoted, pronounced. They are figuring themselves out through the music and art they make, just like the audience. They are recognised for having a tight budget to convey their message in a way that is more abstract or literal and simple . It’s intelligent and inspirational. It makes the audience feel like they can still work on their passions in alternate ways to the norm.

Instagram used to be a platform where everyone updated each other with photos of their day. Random photos like their dinner or going out with friends or the annoying homework they’d have to do. Now, it is used to showcase art, hobbies and passions aiming to connect with a like-minded person across the world. Everybody has Instagram, even big brand names who have websites. In the early 2000’s, the main point of contact for reacting, listening and watching new songs and albums was Youtube. Founded in 2005, Youtube was the hotspot for artists to reach a global audience, although ‘YouTube's initial music focus leaned heavily on quirky, viral music videos rather than standard artist promotion.’ Indie artists majored on platforms like MySpace Music at the time but in 2006, Record Labels like Warner Music Group and Sony capitalised on Youtube, scoring licensing deals, ultimately releasing official pop star music videos leading to the creation of VEVO.

In recent times, Indie artists also posted on Youtube and other platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. By this time the industry has become much more saturated as the public saw people progressing from ‘normal lives’ into stardom and believed that it is easy and achievable to gain fame and money; so therefore, they immerse into music-making. Now, the way that artists used to be scouted by labels were through maxxing out on live performances- jumping to any venue that would accept them showcasing their raw talent but the way that modern-day scouting works is through social media. That may be because some artists do not have the time nor the money to travel to venues and sing for free likewise for labels. It is easier and less time consuming to scout online from their phones or computers. In the midst of this over-saturation, it is not simple to catch the global attention on independent music videos so artists found different ways to outreach. Visualisers.

Visualisers are short-form videos that loop over a song. They last between 3-30 seconds before restarting again until the song ends. Artists tend to make these visualisers aesthetically pleasing and eye-candy for retainment. Artists capture the story and mood in 30 seconds compared to how a 3 minute music video would play out the same story. It is a great method for artists to storytell in abstract and literal ways without spending a fortune. A music video takes minimum 2 weeks to plan and execute whereas a visualiser can be thought of and shot within the same day (Varys artist by artist). Visualisers x by growing social platforms like Instagram and TikTok drives the audience’s attention away from VEVO and onto these bite-sized clips. Slowly, these songs that are associated with a certain vibe, mood or aesthetic starts to circulate and people start to resonate because they relate to the emotion portrayed compared to the entertainment they’d receive from pop stars’ music videos.

Currency. Currency flows in more ways than money. Currency was more fixated in live performance venues where it was a luxury to find an artist like a diamond in the rough. Nowadays, currency has flowed to social media where there is a wider pool to find like-minded artists. Before, labels finding and signing an underground artist was a competition- whoever found that artist and turned them into a star would gain the most attention and recognition. Now, being signed or having a brand deal in any capacity puts artists in competition with each other. The competition ranges from who has the better visual identity, who has the most immersive music video concept, who has the best produced vocals, who has the best face branding values, who has the best star quality. Trying to out-do their peers, they circle into the drain of self-production. They are the ones who produce the music videos - the concepts, the visuals, the editing, the sound quality, the promotions, the short visualisers, the face behind the brand- everything ! Artists turned themselves into their own team of content marketers and managers; a job built for a team of people; a responsibility that used to be the labels.

A part of me kind of believes that this surplus of artist independency in terms of direct competition of music videos and marketing abilities feeds a sense of superiority, where each artist who aspires to be signed or recognised globally actively tries to be better than their musical colleagues in a somewhat arrogant way that feeds their ego; musicians have a lot of ego btw but that’s just built into them..maybe a topic to discuss on a later date?

The labels, watching this all unfold from a Birdseye view, followed the currency and now prioritise signing artists who already come with the full package. It is phrased as cost effective for the labels and access to full creative control for the artists but how would this affect the production of modern day music videos?

Budget cuts. An artist in the modern day comes bubble-wrapped with their own creative marketing and sometimes DIY music video. The labels give them around 20k which may sound like a lot but compared to the early 2000’s, that is a major downtrend. To produce long-lasting, iconic and historical music videos like Britney’s ‘Oops I Did It Again’, a budget of 20k would not cut it. 200k - 2Mil was the accurate amount of money and resources they’d use on music videos.

Although labels are also profiting from using the methods that independent artists birthed for vitality and recognition, labels still want to host a gap in between the two different lanes. They don’t want to be valued within the same bracket as indie artists otherwise they’d become obsolete. They want to maintain these budget cuts and shed more workload onto the artists whilst maintaining that ‘star power’ quality of music videos. BUT if they are not buying or building these big and expensive sets and still want to have the essence of the early 2000’s seep through, how would they manage ? What tool do they acquire to produce quality videos on a budget?

Act IV - Intro of AI in music..