Music video - a visual radio

In our previous lecture on MTV, we have discussed music videos’ commercial nature. Music videos are so popular among young viewers that they function similar to what fashion magazines and television ads do. For example, many young audiences dress the same as people they see in hip-hop/pop music videos. Many hip-hop/pop music videos like to feature artists using the newest technology at the time. For example, in “Yo (Excuse Me Miss)”, Chris Brown is shown listening to his SONY Bean mp3 player. It was the newest SONY mp3 player at the time. The music video tended to promote Sony’s new technology development as it gave the mp3 player a good 3-second close up. The repetition of music videos also makes them similar to television ads. However, this triggers an interesting point. I notice that how a song becomes so popular has a lot to do with its music videos and how frequent it is shown to viewers. In this year’s BigDayOut, the Killers performed in a great atmosphere where fans were jumping up and down and singing along to their hits “Somebody Told Me”, “Smile Like You Mean It”, and “Bones” etc. from the previous albums. They also played a few of their new songs which had never been heard of on the radio. The fans still enjoyed themselves but it was obvious that the crowd was less excited when the Killers played their brand new songs compare to when their previous hits were played. I reckon the reasons are 1) the fans can’t sing along to the songs; 2) the music doesn’t trigger their memories to any cool music videos (such as “Bones”) because there hasn’t been any shown on television yet; and 3)…well, maybe it was just not a good song compare to their previous success. Anyway, my point is that this real life experience has made me realize the important and powerful role that music video plays in the music industry. Despite its commercial nature, it also determines the popularity of a song.