Obviously music videos do not have the impact or importance as they used to. Which makes me ask the question what is the future of the music video? Especially with MTV not playing music videos really, and there not being a universal "Music Network" . Has the video as an artform peaked?

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

With technology being more readily available and affordable, I don't think we've seen an end to the music video. Youtube makes a great platform for videos and even now, a lot of artists break their new vids on youtube before they go to regular channels. Also, youtube allows uncensored and unedited versions f videos, which means creative freedom for the artist and the director. Now if an artist wants to make a 7 minute music vid, they can. That type of freedom encourages creation of art, not deters it. Popularity of vids is measured in "hits" now instead of Mtv viewership. Its actually better this way. Artists no longer have to try to appease execs at Mtv to get their videos played. Now their fanbases can just subscribe to their vevo channel and see the video whenever they want. Nobody has to wait for them to come on, if they ever do. Every artist has a chance for visual representation.

BlaqueKnight said:

With technology being more readily available and affordable, I don't think we've seen an end to the music video. Youtube makes a great platform for videos and even now, a lot of artists break their new vids on youtube before they go to regular channels. Also, youtube allows uncensored and unedited versions f videos, which means creative freedom for the artist and the director. Now if an artist wants to make a 7 minute music vid, they can. That type of freedom encourages creation of art, not deters it. Popularity of vids is measured in "hits" now instead of Mtv viewership. Its actually better this way. Artists no longer have to try to appease execs at Mtv to get their videos played. Now their fanbases can just subscribe to their vevo channel and see the video whenever they want. Nobody has to wait for them to come on, if they ever do. Every artist has a chance for visual representation.

Co-sign.

I think people are still interested in music videos but I think music videos have peaked (as an artform). The reason why they dont carry the same impact as the 80s/early 90s music videos is because they lack creativity, authenticity and originality. Nowadays you have to go all out in convincing people that your video is "innovative" or "something that has never been seen before" although the quality speaks otherwise. I do agree with alot of points Blaqueknight made but I still think that youtube "hits" are not an accurate reflection of whether or not the video is actually groundbreaking or that people even like it. I dont think its fair to say every hit a video receives is because everyone that viewed it liked it. Some people could have viewed it and hated it. I think youtube is a better platform for music videos than MTV but it is much harder to accurately determine whether people liked the video/song or not. All in all music videos today are just not interesting and creative enough. These artists/singers today have no imagination. Instead, everybody seems to be more interested in recapturing ideas that have already been done instead of inventing new ones. I dont see the future of music videos being innovative or making a big impact on the artform. They will still be around but those days are over...and thats O.K. Everything doesnt have to break new ground but it would be nice to at least see more creativity in future videos.

cable tv has a bunch of video channels including MTV HITS that's a 24 music channel similar to what MTV used to be but without the DJ's and besides Youtube is the Universal music video channel now

GeorgieAto said:

besides Youtube is the Universal music video channel now