Around 2007 the world of music video turned upside down as YouTube became widely recognised as a platform for music video. With his breakout single Crank Dat, Soulja Boy became accredited with pioneering the self-governed music video which is a norm of today. Before this turn in the 21^st century things were much different.

In 1981 MTV was birthed, and two 4 years later VH1 was birthed. These two channels were dedicated to playing music videos filmed by record labels to promote their artists songs. On these channels, music videos would have short introductions by majority white VJ’s (Video Jockeys) before playing songs of the AOR (album-oriented rock) format, but then certain audience members started to realise one particular thing that was being gatekept. In a 1983 interview, the innovative superstar singer-songer writer, David Bowie criticised MTV for not playing black artists – to which they replied stating black artists did not make the type of music that the organisers wanted to play. This instance regarding Bowie was the first instance in which the gatekeepers were exposed for being gatekeepers, this is when the audiences started to realise the amount hurdles one would have to jump before being allowed to air their music video on MTV.

Only signed artists could air their videos which meant MTV was excluding a large pool of talented but undiscovered artists. How could they express their music on screen?

The patterns of the MTV music video being highlighted created counter cultures such as ‘Scratch Videos’. Such videos featured secondary footage being cut together in nonsensical yet repetitive rhythms. These types of videos emerged in the mid 80’s and were the first truly self-governed music video – the first step of breaking free from the gatekeepers.

Alongside underground subcultures, technological advancements and the introduction of streaming platforms such as YouTube and Dailymotion are responsible for the music video being unyoked from cable television, expensive filmmaking and the financial necessity of major labels (Music/ Video, Histories, Aesthetics, Media, 2017)

BY ELORM KWESI AHORSU

01/12/2022