VIDEO KILLED THE MP3 STAR

As an industry they're now worth billions. They've been around in some form for almost a century, and range in quality from barefaced mass appeal through to high art. But what does the future hold for music videos?

Of all the formats clamouring frantically for your attention in the digital age, music videos are trend-weathered veterans. Their venerable history can arguably be traced back to the 1920s, when Oskar Fischinger created a series of short animations to accompany a record company's latest releases.

Pubs and nightclubs in the Forties anticipated the popularity of today's music channels with the Panoram jukebox, which screened up to eight three-minute videos of bands and singers performing their hits. Even the enduringly-popular Looney Tunes cartoons take their name from their original purpose as visual enhancements to music that Warner Brothers wanted to push to punters.

The final decades of the twentieth century saw the medium's importance as both promotional tool and artform suddenly mushroom. 1981 is often heralded as the advent of the so-called modern age of music video - the year of MTV's first broadcast, kicking off their 24/7 output aptly with Video Killed the Radio Star by The Buggles.

Gradually, technically-stunning videos like John Landis' mini-movie for Michael Jackson's Thriller (1984) and the widespread controversy in the wake of envelope-pushing artists like Madonna saw promos rising to the top of the agenda, despite the high production costs involved.

"Twenty-odd years ago, the most risqué videos were Duran Duran's Girls on Film or Frankie Goes to Hollywood's Relax," observes Athene Parker, Head of Music Video at independent label Streetlight Films. "Shocking at the time, but now eight-year-olds are exposed to Ann Summers styling in your everyday dance video on The Box. What we are anaesthetised to, across the board, has changed dramatically."

With the likes of Eric Prydz' Call on Me passing uncensored, she clearly has a point. But just as the boundaries of controversy are moving, so are the technological goalposts. "In terms of effects equipment and talented operators, what we're capable of doing in post really is limited only by budget and idea," declares Athene.

All of which could have shoulder-barged the little guy out of the game. But fortunately, when pushing your promo to the YouTube generation, viral appeal can count for more than showers of cash. 2002's micro-budget Move your Feet video, which saw Junior Senior catapulted to (albeit fleeting) success, had a tiny filesize that made it easy to email, even with a dial-up connection - arguably making it one of the first videos geared to viral distribution.

Michel Gondry's innovative Lego-style piece for The White Stripes' Fell in Love with a Girl garnered just as much attention as its glossier counterparts. And in December 2005, Leamington's previously unknown hip-hop folk duo Nizlopi enjoyed the number-one spot with their JCB Song, largely down to a quirky hand-drawn animated video that spread like wildfire across the web.

Simplicity is a lesson that still hasn't sunk in across the industry. When the low-budget Justice vs. Simian video We are your Friends by Jeremie Rozan and Martial Schmeltz won Best Video at the 2006 MTV Europe Awards, Kanye West spat the dummy.

"I haven't seen it. Possibly it could have been quite good, but no way better than Touch the Sky. I paid a million," he announced. "Obviously it's not all about the money, but the response my video got transcended everything. It really made great TV. It took a month to film; I stood on a mountain; I flew a helicopter over Vegas. I did it to be the king of all videos, and I wanted to walk home with that award."

Although the irate rapper has since apologised, he may have spoken the thoughts of many out-of-the-loop fat cats in the industry. But his words didn't chime with fans. The ill-judged tirade resulted in a slew of insulting messageboard posts online, and a general sense that Kanye had failed to understand the way today's music video industry works. When it comes to critical acclaim at least, innovation is everything.

So how important are music videos to contemporary culture and business? You only have to look as far as Google. Their surprise $1.65 billion acquisition of YouTube in October 2006 sent ripples through the world's media. The two-year-old online video portal founded by twenty-somethings Chad Hurley and Steve Chen counts music videos amongst its most popular content - and they certainly represent one of the greatest potential revenue streams for its new owners.

It's fair to say that music videos are one of the most important new media artforms of the twenty-first century, spreading onto monitors and mobiles just as they made it to televisions in the Eighties. And as we saw in the Nineties with the furore over MP3 file-sharing, the companies who own the copyrights to this booming artform aren't always as keen as users to share.

Big labels currently have differing attitudes to the free promotion that sites like YouTube can offer at the expense of copyright infringement, but everyone agrees that it's important to tackle these billion-dollar questions. And since that all-important takeover of YouTube, attitudes have shifted noticeably.

Doug Morris, chief exec at Universal, formerly demonised the likes of YouTube and MySpace as copyright infringers. The day that Google popped that $1.65 billion question, Universal struck a licensing deal with them - alongside Warner and Capital Records - in an attempt to co-operate the site that carries 100 million videos per day.

This stands in huge contrast to the diminished content of MTV and the like, who are increasingly screening celebrity-based reality shows like Cribs and Pimp My Ride for a significant portion of their schedule.

Some maintain that the YouTube boom follows the same model as the success of MP3s on sites like MySpace. Uploading an MP3 to MySpace remains a relatively cheap way to promote your band, particularly at the DIY end of the spectrum. But there are certain crucial differences. Videos are promotional, in the sense that they make no money themselves. They promote a band who then make money elsewhere through album sales or touring.

Although it's much cheaper than it used to be, making a video is still comparatively expensive. The success of MySpace is therefore largely driven by unsigned, or less wealthy, bands, while changes in the video market are still going to be influenced by those with a certain amount of cash.

From the labels' point of view, releasing videos directly through YouTube currently isn't that attractive. They don't make any money from it, unlike with music television where they can try to claw back some of the cost of the video through royalties.

However, as with all promotion, you have to go where people are watching - and as their main target market of 16 to 30-year-olds starts switching to YouTube and away from music video channels, the labels will have to follow.

Athene Parker's view is moderate, however. "YouTube hasn't changed the market," she counters. "But it has made access to videos easier, along with sites like Video C. It demonstrates how consumers value this particular marketing tool."

A more attractive prospect to record labels may be video downloads to mobile. Networks are becoming quite adept at pushing content to customers through their phone bills, and people are increasingly using mobiles to listen to music. But with so much content available free online, the appeal to customers will have a limit - and a recent deal between YouTube and American mobile company Verizon Wireless will see YouTube content extended to mobiles like never before.

December 2006 saw subscribers to Verizon's Vcast service posting and viewing clips directly from their mobile phones. For $15 per month, the access will be limited to a pre-approved range of YouTube clips, but whereas uploading content previously required an email address, a five digit code will be used. YouTube itself will be keen to do more deals of this kind, though at time of writing is still missing out on an enormous chunk of advertising revenue through running ad-free content.

Bands also seem willing to contribute to the surge in mobile technology at the other end of the process. In 2005 The Presidents of the United States of America shot a broadcast quality video for Some Postman entirely using mobiles. Director Grant Morrisson shot for ten hours with twelve two-megapixel Sony K750i phones - the resulting video became a great success on ifilm.com, with almost half a million views to date.

Deals like those between YouTube and Verizon may be worth bigger bucks everyday, but ironically on the ground the industry is becoming financially less of a burden than it used to be. Cheaper digital film and post-production software have democratised the format, making it easier for unsigned bands in Britain and across the world to escape the influence of established institutions.

Athene highlights a flipside however. "Budgets are getting squeezed, but the expectation of the end product has risen," she cautions. "Pressure to deliver a video that connects with a band's core market creates an approval system that compromises creativity." Such pressure, she argues, can "breed an atmosphere of fear within labels; fear of taking a risk either on an idea or a director, which can make it harder for new directors to break into the market."

Nevertheless, UK channels like MTV Base and MTV2 are increasingly open to content from the strong independent labels like Warp and Ninja Tunes. This is partly down to the increased quality of low-budget work being produced in the UK - the availability of cheaper digital equipment and software like After Effects is on the rise, and can be acquired at relatively low prices to produce comparatively high-quality material.

Newer directors like Dougal Wilson, Dawn Shadforth, Sophie Muller and Wiz are amongst the hottest up-and-coming talent, according to Athene. "There are hordes of really good British directors that go unnoticed and unnamed," she adds. "YouTube is a great way to discover great new talent you've never heard of."

Stephen Irvine, Head of Programming at MTV2, describes this new wave of low-tech videos outside the aegis of the major labels as increasingly "more appealing" to the MTV target audience of teenagers and twenty-somethings.

The major contrast between the MTV-era early music videos and the scene today is the price. While successes like Thriller attract publicity for the acts they effectively advertise, they can also cost millions, as Kanye West pointed out so vehemently.

Spending a huge chunk of cash on a video if you aren't an established name is a monumental risk. In an oversaturated market, there's a good chance that your video will simply fall through the cracks. In the ‘80s there were very few outlets, and hence heavy rotation of the videos on MTV's playlist.

Now there are not only multiple digital music channels, but also emerging Video on Demand functions like VMX on Homechoice. Another side-effect of the YouTube generation is that attention spans are getting considerably shorter, and VMX allows viewers to skip easily between videos with the remote.

Even more sophisticated is the ‘save' function, where hundreds of favourites can be stored in a personal playlist, rather like having an iPod in your television. It's still at a relatively basic level - only one playlist is allowed, and it can only be played on shuffle - but it's easy to see where this model might go next.

Innovations of this kind make it easier for consumers to choose what they view, putting the onus ever more on directors to make their work stand out. If a promo doesn't stick, there's very little the label can do to force exposure. But popularity can equally snowball, with fans promoting it themselves and passing on anything they find funny or cool.

So how should an aspiring band in Britain go about creating a video and getting it seen? First off, it's important to take things seriously from a production point of view, and that will usually mean writing a script and storyboarding it. Most of the best directors storyboard - even if you ultimately end up changing elements on the day, it's better to have a plan and depart from it if necessary than try to wing it.

Innovations of this kind make it easier for consumers to choose what they view, putting the onus ever more on directors to make their work stand out. If a promo doesn't stick, there's very little the label can do to force exposure. But popularity can equally snowball, with fans promoting it themselves and passing on anything they find funny or cool.

Finding a director isn't as hard as it may sound. One method is to get in touch with film schools to find young directors keen to bolster their portfolios, who may work for free. Once the video is shot it's crucial, possibly more than for any other artform, to get the editing spot-on. Using the same channels as you did to find your director, look for someone who has a feel for cutting to music rather than simply allowing a track to play over footage in an unconnected way.

Aside from MTV and YouTube, useful places to promote your video include ichoosetv.com, undergroundfilm.com and ifilm.com. With a market that's ostensibly easier to access, yet simultaneously oversaturated, the UK music video scene is currently a playground for users, and moderately accessible for bands and directors.

The continuing development of web and mobile platforms should improve choice and the potential for exposure for new acts, provided takeovers by companies like Google don't lead directly to the institutionalisation of the scene. The major advantages of making music videos in the twenty-first century lie in the hands of the talent and the consumer, with the labels and television channels so far drawing the short straw.

LINKS

www.streetlightfilms.co.uk
www.colonelblimp.com
www.youtube.com
www.mtv.co.uk
www.ichoosetv.com
www.undergroundfilm.com
www.ifilm.com
www.juniorsenior.com
www.nizlopi.com
www.whitestripes.com

Text: Catherine Bray
Photography: Courtesy of Streetlight Films