MTV was huge when it first started broadcasting in the UK in the 1980s. MTV really did reinforce the visuals in pop music. It was the tool behind launching the careers of very famous pop stars like Madonna and Michael Jackson. MTV’s impact was immense during the 1980s and this was way before social media was around. Music videos, in a historical context were influenced by MTV, the aesthetic and commercial spheres, the music video now has a history of over 40 years. As noted by Carole Vernallis: “I will float the claim that many eighties videos possess more charm, allure, or power than their contemporaries today, not only because a community cared about them, and work was so novel, but because the audiovisual relations were special. In eighties videos, directors were trying to discover how to get the new technology of videotape to catch up with the song” (Vernallis, 2013).

Nowadays, if you turn on MTV it would be hard to find any videos at all, this decline of playing music videos started in 1992. In 2000 you could watch up to 8 hours of music every day on MTV. With the rise of social media and in particular YouTube the viewing of music videos on MTV has been reduced. With technological advances such as the camera, mobile phones, videography, digital compression and ultimately the internet and social media platforms, there has been a change in the way video music is enjoyed and accessed. There is no doubt that people have much greater access to video music and that the variety is immense, from DIY to professional video material. The question is, what is the art, the music, and the video, does the music need a video, does the video make the music?  

MTV News was at its cultural peak in the early 1990s, long before social media ever existed, and when the internet was not yet consumer-ready.

By George Lambert

Bibliography:

Vernallis, C. (2013) ‘Music Video’s Second Aesthetic’, in Unruly Media YouTube, music video and the New Digital Cinema. New York, N.Y: Oxford University Press, pp. 207–233.