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White Collar Criminals

MUSIC VIDEOS: ARE THEY STILL RELEVANT?

 Thursday, July 8th, 2010 at 2:00pm by

mtvI know I gave Earache head honcho Digby Pearson some not-so-gentle ribbing a couple of weeks ago with regards to his defense of the indefensible re-thrash fad, but I still appreciate what he’s doing with his “straight talk” blog Ask Earache. In his latest entry, Pearson answers a reader question about the £25,000 budget the label spent on a music video for Cathedral in the early ’90s, a sum that would be considered ludicrous by today’s standards.

Pearson’s answer basically boils down to this: a) those were different days, b) equipment was way more expensive back then, c) there was major label money involved from Sony/Columbia. But I’d like to focus on (a), namely the role of the music video today vs. the ’80s, ’90s, and early ’00s. My argument: in these different times, who really needs a fancy-shmancy music video?

My good pal Axl spends a great deal of time analyzing the cinematic qualities of music videos, which is only natural as he went to film school. Personally, I don’t care as much; I view music videos as a promotional tool for a label and band to help spread the music to potential fans via one more avenue.

I used to love an awesome music video… LOVED them, taped them on my VHS, watched them over and over. But these days I don’t care as much; at best, I’ll watch a music video online and I’ll get into a band or song because of it, but I’ll never go and watch that video again. Even if it’s an amazingly, jaw-droppingly beautiful cinematic video. Videos just don’t play that role for me anymore, and I don’t think I’m alone here. The “charm” of music videos has worn off as their role in the entire music marketing canon has evolved. As far as I’m concerned, labels SHOULD be making low-budget, run-of-the-mill music videos because those kinds of videos serve the function that they need to in today’s music industry culture.

It used to be that getting a video a coveted MTV spot could result in an instant sales spike, and having a video in rotation could make a noticeable difference in a band’s popularity. Things are different now, and not just because MTV doesn’t play music videos anymore (especially metal); with an ever-fractured audience split into sub-sub-genres thanks to the endless choice offered by the Internet, there is no one “magic bullet” that results in a big sales bump for a band. Labels have adjusted their marketing plans accordingly to be a lot more diverse and organic, attempting to reach potential fans in every corner of their little universes instead of trying to make the big splash from above all at once. As such, shouldn’t the role, and therefore implementation, of music videos change too?

Given today’s tight music video budgets — especially in metal — it’s quite understandable that so many bands end up with the typical “band in a warehouse” clip. But my argument is this: who cares? At the end of the day, don’t we really want to see our heroes rocking out and [pretending to be] playing your favorite song? This kind of video serves exactly the purpose it needs to. There’s still value in making a music video in 2010, just not the same value there used to be… so what we end up with is a different, stripped-down kind of video.

What do you think? Do you still love music videos? Do you wish labels would spend more money on them or are you ok with a simple performance or band-in-a-warehouse clip?

-VN

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  • Hibernum

    I agree. Music videos are a waste of money. They don’t efficiently promote a band. They don’t generate buzz. With myspace, YouTube, and blogs they aren’t relevant like they were in old media days.

  • jason

    More story and/or abstract symbolism. Less footage of the band.

    • http://thenumberoftheblog.com/ groverXIII

      THIS

      • Kuranes

        I disagree, my favorite videos are “performance” videos (I understand they’re not really playing). I don’t like seeing someone else’s interpretation of what the song is about. Show some fingers playing the solo, cut to the drummer for the interesting fills. And leave out all the cliches (that Embryo video that was just posted could do without all the maggots crawling around, for example).

        • samthebrutal

          I agree, I’ve always enjoyed videos that have the band in them. If the band isn’t in a video at all I usually don’t even bother watching (unless its a band that I worship, then I suffer through it for my undying fanboy love of the band).Now having a story line included that breaks up the performance usually works for me but, seeing the band play is my main reason for watching a video.

  • the opposition machine

    i still love music videos. high concept…low concept….mini-movie…performance footage…no care….as long as the song is woorth a damn im there

  • Heywood

    I don’t know if some of my favorite bands at moment even have a video out. Don’t care either.

  • nick

    Well its pretty obvious that music videos died once the internet became fast enough to show them. I mean just like the radio has kinda lost its importance. Prior to the internet the only way to hear a band was see them live, through a friend, on the radio or on MTV. Once the internet came along you can now listen to their music online. There was something alot more special about music say 20 years ago, when hearing a live recording meant paying $25 for a bootleg cassette at some shady record store that might sound so bad you can’t even listen to it. Today with the internet everything has lost its touch. You don’t have to discover bands anymore, they are all right in front of you to listen to whenever you want online. The music video was important when MTV played the biggest role in a bands future. Now wit MTV outta the picture when it comes to music videos, and endless ways to be seen and promote yourself online, its really not that important. Anyway can put a video of their band on their homepage now, but prior to the internet the only way to see a video was MTV. Thats when videos were important.

    • nick

      And this all came to light when I found a bootleg copy of the FNM show I was at monday the day after the show. I downloaded it and bam I had it on my ipod. I could remember the 20 or so FNM bootlegs I bought in NYC for $10 a pop for a cassette that half the time was such poor quality you couldn’t even listen to it, but if you wanted something live it was your only choice. I just think the internet has watered down the music industry, it made it to easy for to many bands to get their music out and it just a pond with to many fish in it now.

      • http://heavystreet.com/ Sat

        I totally miss the days of going to the local bootleg store and buying say a Motley Crue’s Shout At The Devil demo bootleg cassette and totally getting exited like I was one of a few who had the songs that didnt make the album. It was really special. Even riding on my bike to the local record store the day an Iron Maiden album would come out, and picking up the cassette. I think that concept has been lost on todays youth. Dont get me wrong, the internet can be a metal heads best freind, as one can discover a millions bands at a click, but its not as exiting as actually working for it, and doing some leg work on getting something super rare that only a few people have.

        • Vlood

          I’m totally with you on this one here, Sat. And i feel myself an old turd because of that!
          The availability of any music/video online killed the value of discovering and possessing it.

    • foobear

      I’ll get off your lawn.

      (I do agree, though)

  • No-ghost

    I don’t know, music videos do generate buzz but for little kids. As MTV and any other music video channel is usually geared towards little kids. It’s actually those stations fault for the death of the video or no one caring. Don t put fucking headbangers ball on at 4 am bring back 120 minutes. Take off who is the fattest shit or who’s pussy smells the worst.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Glenn-Pillsbury/641369365 Glenn Pillsbury

      This. All of it. Brilliant.

    • http://www.myspace.com/severed Tonberry

      What? I would totally watch Who is the Fattest Shit or Who’s Pussy Smells the Worst!

      • no-ghost

        haha well its actually one show. who is the fattest shit who’s pussy smells the worst.

    • Tha Rev’rend

      120 Minutes is on VH1 Classic at 3 or 4 AM Central. Not sure if it’s just Saturdays or every day.

  • robocop420

    Don’t half of this website’s posts have bands music videos in them?

    They serve their purpose: you can hear what the band sounds like and see what they look like (or see whatever imagery they chose to portray the song). They’re definitely not obsolete, it’s just their function is changing, much like everything else, as technology changes and becomes more advanced.

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Bobby-Nall/1537330640 Bobby Nall

      Bingo, dude. Also: big budget, not necessary. Creativity is still, and will continue to be, worth more.

  • Honeynutzz

    It’s a waste in the long term I think a band really only needs a couple music videos every few years to serve the purpose of a marketing tool.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Daniel-Winnett/504952291 Daniel Winnett

    I think that an awesome video can still generate buzz about a band. I mean I’ll be the first one to admit I was first drawn to Behemoth by their awesome “At The Left Hand Ov God” video and now they are my favourite band of all.

    Awesome videos appeal to me because I like art and symbolism and I also like cinematography so videos like Between The Buried And Me’s “Obfuscation” and Psyopus’ “Duct Tape Smile” really hit home with me even though in neither of those videos feature the band playing at all.
    Those same things are what make me excited about Behemoth’s upcoming “Alas, Lord Is Upon Me” video even though early indications suggest the band will not be playing their instruments in it at all.

  • seasonswithered

    If the rumored Beavis and Butthead return holds to be true, I’d pay attention then if they included them. Besides that I watch more parody song videos or the mashups than actually music videos .

  • Slaughterhouse

    Don’t care for music videos but I do thoroughly enjoy Music Documentaries (History of the band or making of the record).

  • http://www.myspace.com/palehorseofhell lord assenfroth

    i dont think ive watched a music video made by a band that i like in years. its a dying art

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Chuck-Wagner/506137459 Chuck Wagner

    My next video will be of me…taking a dump…to a goregrind riff.

    RUMPLESTILTSKIN GRINDER FTFW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • DemonicLemming

    Don’t give half a good damn about them. Most are boring as hell, with nothing but the same generic filming style of the band on some stage, with a bland background (or, in many cases, a non-background – nothing but a black hole there), pretending to play their instruments and sing. What makes it even more painful is that most bands are absolutely horrible in front of a camera, attempting to make a video.

    Sure, there’s the occasional good video, where the music, the band, the imagery, and the filming all tie together, but they’re becoming more and more rare.

    I guess what it comes down to for me is the fact that I listen to a band because of the music they make, not the videos they come up with to accompany some of their songs. I don’t watch a movie because of the soundtrack or play a game because of the cutscenes, and while a movie might be rendered much, much more cinematic because of the score (think of Gettysburg or Lord of the Rings without soundtracks), a video isn’t going to make a band’s music any better.

    /typical DL wall-o-text

  • Cokane

    The band-in-a-warehouse kind of video is ok with me.

  • GoingDeaf?

    I think music videos are more important than ever… more people check out music on youtube than anywhere else….even more than myspace. As someone said earlier, creativity is more important than big budget. Just look at OK GO as an example. Their whole career is based on a creative video that went viral. Behemoth’s videos are Art.. plain and simple. Most bands don’t have those kinds of budgets, but art needn’t be expensive.

    I have no problem with basic performance videos, but the band has to bring it. The Landmine Marathon video is a perfect example and didn’t need to be shot by David Bro-ski to be good. Tech Death bands should stick to symbolism videos, though…nothing more boring than watching 5 dudes stand in place and wiggle their fingers around.

  • gauche

    that Horse the Band video for Shapeshift was awesome and got me into the band even after i had written them off.

    i think my favorite of all time is A Small Victory. and i really dig Minerva.

  • Frampler

    Hmmn. I no longer have any interest in music videos, but I see q

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Justin-Ashley/894695456 Justin Ashley

    Personally, I love a well made music video.

    Key words. Well. Made. Though, I suppose I could throw “relevant” and “original” in there too. Most music videos nowadays honestly just seem like they were slapped together quickly with zero input by the band, and zero connection to the song.

    Good music videos do exist, they are just few-far-and in between.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Alan-Sacha-Laskow/839335493 Alan Sacha Laskow

    From a musician perspective it’s still a chance to make another ‘artistic’ statement. Music and visuals together can still be very powerful. It’s also another marketing tool.

  • http://thenumberoftheblog.com/ groverXIII

    There are so few bands that still make decent videos… Rammstein, love ‘em or hate ‘em, still know how to make interesting fucking videos. Trent Reznor has a flair for making good videos too (see How To Destroy Angels’ ‘The Space In Between’ video, which is creepy and awesome). But yeah, there aren’t a lot of great videos any more.

    • 10000 Gays

      Trent’s older snuff-esque videos like Happiness in Slavery / the whole Broken film were the shit

  • chris

    I normally start the video and continue with whatever I was doing; ie reading news on this site. I could care less about a video. Videos and metal don’t seem to work unless it’s live footage of a band playing.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Nihil-Quest/100000267200294 Nihil Quest

    Let me give you something from the other side. Few months ago I released a video that I did for my band Nihil Quest. We went the warehouse route mixed with something that is actually relevant to the song. As this was our first video I wanted to show the band – hence so many shots of the band – but that’s only for the start. I’m already making my next video and this time it will be 95% story driven. Why do I bother? Of course some kind of promotion is nice but apart from that – it’s… well… art. That’s what I like to do. I write lyrics, I sing them and a video is another step. Sure, most artist are either too stupid or too lazy to do something like this, but for those who are willing to go beyond music it’s a great adventure. I want to make as many videos for my songs as time permits – to me it’s just another way to get a message across.

    Here’s the video. It didn’t have a budget but a lot of work went into making it.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Djr3VDiQkTA

  • Kram

    I think they’re still relevant, even more since youtube. As person mentioned earlier they give a good overall view of the band and it’s usually their ‘best’ song so that gives you something to judge them by. I don’t like performance videos personally but I guess they’re good as ‘fillers’ to keep the art alive so the real artists can make killers videos like ‘The Talking Horse’ and ‘Pussy’. Those videos make me happy.

  • kmfcm

    The bands themselves need to be creative.
    The Red Chord, how big are their video budgets? They have some nice weird videos.
    Hewhocorrupts have one of the best videos of all time, and it’s obviously low budget.

    And then there’s Meshuggah.
    New millenium cyanice christ, I still watch that thing. It’s hilarious.
    The rational gaze video was just them playing, but it was also fucking trippy.
    Napalm Death’s “silence is deafening”. . .with the sign language picture in picture, excellent.

    Just because you’re a broke band doesn’t mean you can’t do a cool non-cliche music video. These kids are just lazy.

  • Steve O

    I have no idea why Black Veil Brides get to shoot music videos.

  • kickoutthejamsman

    there are many videos that I return to watch many times. I love a good music video, but so many of them suck.

  • 10000 Gays

    Trying to show how cool your band is by focusing on you just playing music with maybe a montage of some vague story between two people is boring, every time.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Kyle-Heider/602520830 Kyle Heider

    From the perspective of someone who makes these on a fairly regular basis, I have mixed feelings about all of this. I think the one thing people seem to be missing these days is the role that a talented director/cinematographer can play in determining the future of a band, and not even in the sales spike/promotion department.

    I’m talking about artists reaching out to other artists and actually collaborating, not just having a label rep. send the most cost-efficient crew to go make a video. When the artists combine forces, they also have a tendency to rub off on each other, drawing influence from one another.

    Example: Lasse Hoile and Porcupine Tree. Throughout the course of their professional/artistic relationship, Lasse has undoubtedly formed PT’s visual aesthetic through A. his videos B. photography and C. live projection (something not enough bands do imo). Likewise, PT’s songwriting / thematic elements obviously shaped his artistic style and eye, which is evident in all of his solo work. This symbiotic relationship between artists is what’s missing in todays music scene, and hence causing the downfall of one of my favorite artforms. When videos are used as a peripheral to the music, they’re worthless. But when both take center stage, it becomes something much larger then itself, and if music videos have any hope of keeping their relevancy, then that will be the direction they must take.

    Just my two cents :D

    • DemonicLemming

      Music videos that use both the music and the visual aspect to create actual art, either through telling a story, making a subtle point, &c are great. The problem with modern music – and I think MTV, as much as they helped music videos get rolling, also helped utterly destroy them – is that most bands either see them as a marketing tool (which leads to really boring videos) or as something they just “have to do” in order to stay relevant with their peers, since so many kiddies today are unable to process music without seeing some inane visuals accompanying said sound.

      The end result is mostly a jumbled mess of asinine, bland, boring videos that are out there to either blatantly promote a band, or simply so the band has some videos out there, instead of a band trying to form a relationship between the video and the music. Granted, the painfully shallow topical nature of music today doesn’t lend itself to making profound videos, but it doesn’t seem like many people understand (or want to take the time to develop) the symbiotic artistic relationship between music and visuals.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Alejandro-Aldana/683878171 Alejandro Aldana

    it’s changed media, but i feel that they’re still relevant. i don’t know how many bands i’ve discovered from watching their vids on youtube. also, even though headbanger’s ball is still on mtv2 it’s at 3am on a tuesday morning.

  • http://www.flamingtusk.com Zosimus

    This has already been mentioned, but you do realize that more often than not MetalSucks only mentions a band when there’s some kind of video clip you can embed with your story, right? Not every time, of course, but it’s obviously hugely important to MS to have videos to either praise or deride.
    The real heyday of the music video is almost twenty years gone, but (as has ALSO already been mentioned), YouTube has probably become the resource of first resort for kids who hear about a band and say “hey, I wonder what they sound like?”. Obviously song-over-a-still-frame serves a purpose on YouTube (hell, I’ve done it with my band), but the whole point of YouTube is video.
    The ubiquity of music videos causes two things: first, videos in general are less special than they were when there was literally one place in the mediaverse to see them and, second, most of the good ideas have been done and done and done. At this point I really think the only music videos a band should bother creating are well-produced actual live performance clips unless they (or someone they collaborate with) has a really really killer idea that will make people go ‘wow’.

  • Scourge441

    A simple music video does it’s job, provided the band can get it out there. If the band can get it posted on a blog like this one, then people watch it, hear the song, and maybe check the band out further.

    However, I don’t think that’s using them to their best advantage. A unique music video is could catch on and bring a lot of attention to the band. OK Go’s treadmill video is a wonderful example of this. So is Lady Gaga; her music videos have become events.

    The trick is to use the same creative power and inspiration you use to write songs when designing a video concept. Imagine if Portal created a music video; that shit would be freaky as fuck, and would probably catch on big with metal fans.

    So basically, a music video can do wonders for a band if you do it right. So far I haven’t seen a whole lot of “doing it right” in metal.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Ryan-Sean-Heron/9391234 Ryan Sean Heron

    personally, I always thought videos were pointless and irrelevant. It’s supposed to be about the music. And once in a great while a great video would come along that perfectly complemented the great music it went with, but for the great majority music videos were just pointless window dressing bullshit for me. Videos also helped destroy the music business. It became all about people like Madonna and what would then do shocking in their next video instead of about artists and their music.

  • Tha Rev’rend

    I’m surprised no one pointed out that the MTV logo they used is out of date. They dropped the “Music Television” from the bottom of it months ago. It’s just some fucked-up rectangular M now.

  • soy el niño más bonito

    music videos are only good for seeing once.

  • mike

    Couldn’t be bothered reading all these posts, but I will say:

    - When you can stick a music video on YouTube, and gather hundreds of thousands (even a couple million) views, then music videos are a winner — the reach is far more than sitting down and watching metal videos being played on niche shows such as Headbanger’s Ball (does that still exist?). Half the time in the good old days, I would tape Headbanger’s Ball and basically skip most of the episode as very few of the videos played interested me. Now I can simply search YouTube, find a band I like, watch their video and the “related” videos, and once in a while you’ll unearth something you like.
    - Most videos are crap nowadays, but some of the best are those compiled from numerous live footage, copy and pasted together. From the top of my head these stand out:
    * Heaven Shall Burn – Counterweight
    * Shadows Fall – The Idiot Box
    * DevilDriver – Fate Stepped In

  • Brendan

    I don’t know man. I watched a lot of MTV growing up, so I appreciate a really good video every now and then. Especially for metal. Some videos can be really epic and have surreal imagery and fucked up storylines and shit.

  • OliFant

    A music video is OK for me if it’s compelling, original, creative. I sometimes don’t even like the music ! A performance video ? I’d much prefer to see the band live. Performance videos are just so boring, it’s like listening to the album and having to look at a concert without all the excitement and feelings associated to being there and living it. Absolutely useless and a complete waste of time.

    When I think “awesome videos”, I immediately think of those :
    OK Go – Here It Goes Again (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv5zWaTEVkI)
    OK Go – This Too Shall Pass (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qybUFnY7Y8w)
    Rammstein – Du rieschst so gut (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqYbZ82x2_8)
    Rammstein – Sonne (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXqEMuXGK08)
    Pearl Jam – Do the Evolution (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAKdck1OOM0)
    Tool – any video they’ve done is the shit.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Chad-Sabre/100000782524532 Chad Sabre

    I think they are more important for turning people on to new bands then for existing fans. If I love a band I know when there album is coming out and i’m gonna get it. At that point, I could care less about a video. However, I would say half of the bands I get turned on to are from seeing a music video.

    They do serve there purpose and can also register an artists actual buzz or success more than MTV spins because people are voluntarily choosing to watch them not just watching a show where a video they may or may not like comes on.

  • Clement

    Yeah, there isn’t much of a point in them in marketing. I would still watch one that’s really interesting and creative, but I don’t think I’ve seen any videos like that since the White Stripes stopped making new music.

  • Dean

    There is a fan-made video for Pink Cigarette on YouTube and Vimeo that I think you ought to see. If you think the music video is useless, devoid of artistic merit, too expensive to do well, or all the other blah blah narrow thinkers resort to, you will feel very thoroughly owned by the Pink Cigarette video.

    Then you should go and check out the Retrovertigo video by the same director and prepare to be utterly gobsmacked.

  • Pete

    This is a very strange point of view regarding music videos. I feel if more people really read into POPO’s statements, they’d probably find the need to re-evaluate their stance on music videos.