Over the past couple of years reaction videos to music videos and songs have been becoming more and more popular. And they are changing how we watch and view songs from artists all over, as reactions are becoming bigger and bigger. 

Reaction videos allow people to have a sense of community and social interaction when watching a music video or listening along. As music was originally a solitary experience, reaction videos have given fans the chance to listen along with someone else. These reaction videos can also make the music feel more communal through the viewer reacting to the reactions and takes from the person reviewing the music in the video you are watching. 

Along with a sense of community, these reaction videos can also encourage viewers to watch the music videos with a deeper meaning and engagement with the music. As music videos usually give a more in depth reaction, it wille encourage the viewer to engage more deeply. It can cause the viewer to focus on things such as production techniques, lyrics and visuals. Something that maybe the average viewer doesn’t quite engage with. Mcdaniel says “Popular music reaction videos might seem superficial or trivial, but they can counter problematic musical values in important ways. For one, they show how affect and embodied knowledge can be important in the act of listening.” (Mcdaniel Byrd). Mcdaniel is saying that these music reaction videos can be important for the viewers knowledge when listening so they can listen to the video more deeply than they already might. It Gives another opinion to think about. 

The perfect example of a streamer who delves deep into music videos is a streamer named “Fontano streams”. He will do an in depth viewing of a video while communicating with his live chat which is shown on the corner of his videos answering any questions and going over any disagreements his viewers have with his opinion. 

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Bibliography

Bernstein, Jonathan, and Jonathan Bernstein. “How YouTube Reaction Videos Are Changing the Way We Listen.” Rolling Stone, 24 Aug. 2020, http://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/youtube-reaction-videos-interviews-in-the-air-tonight-lost-in-vegas-1046225/.

McDaniel, B. (2021). Popular music reaction videos: Reactivity, creator labor, and the performance of listening online. New Media & Society, 23(6), 1624-1641. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444820918549

fantanostreams. “Fantano REACTION to “Not like Us” by Kendrick Lamar (DRAKE DISS).” YouTube, 4 May 2024, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSTs-KwZs9E. Accessed 28 Nov. 2024.