Did video really kill the radio star?

[YOUR Hero]

fact - When MTV launched, back in 84 (or whatever the hell it was) the first song they played was 'Video Killed the Radio Star'.

What impact do (did?) music videos have on the music scene?

Were some great singers shunned or less successful than the pretty ones?
Were the quality of the videos what turned regular songs into top tens, even #1's?


discuss.

[G]

To me, I enjoy the radio more than tv. I'd rather hear some good tunes while driving down the open road, than watching some flashy music videos while sitting on the couch eating bon-bons.

[G]

Didn't even answer one question. :cool:

[Funky Fly]

My brother told me about this experiment where 2 videos are made for the same song: one featuring middle aged musicians playing the song and one featuring young people playing the song. Each video is shown to a group of typical MTV-watching kids, and not surprisingly the kids liked the song when it was the video with young people, but not so much when the middle aged version was shown.

Food for thought.

[Kane Knight]

"Video Killed the Radio Star" was about the switch form radio to television in the early days of TV. IT's literally true. Many people simply couldn't make the jump or transition. Television has always been somewhat about image, whether subtly or overt.

Cue MTV.

Music videos were about images even as far back as Elvis and the Beatles. Hell, Elvis' comeback special doubtlessly influenced the videos of the great Michael Jackson. Modern videos only really showed up in the late 70s (Though previous people did do similar things), and without access to MTV, it seems unlikely they had the influence for video to kill radio yet again. Nowadays, though, there's no doubt. Image pushes products.

[Kane Knight]

Interestingly enough:

My father's a music reviewer, and he told me about a comment from the band Click 5 or whatever. MArket-wise, they know what they're after. They're marketing to teenagers, because the demographics are stongest in the teens and 40 somethings. I somehow doubt the 40 somethings are the ones buying their CDs, unless it's for a teen who they raise.

And the teenagers are both the ones most interested in image and most likely to actually buy the CDs, as opposed to college aged and mid-20s folks, who are the most likely to download.

[Gertner]

i think videos help the radio star

[Mike the Metal Ed]

Making crap music killed the radio star.

[Kane Knight]

Making crap music killed the radio star.

Yeah. Good thing we were saved from that with videos from talent like Brittney Spears, George Michael, and Fat Joe. :love:

[Savio]

You forgot about 50 cents Amazing videos :roll:

[Xero]

Well, I guess you could say that it influenced purchases. Because if some kid, back in the mid-late 90s, saw this 'kick ass' new Brittany Spears music video, they would have had a higher chance of buying it than if they heard it on the radio.

Now, though, the saying should shift from 'Video killed the radio star' to 'Internet killed the Video star', because with the internet, people have a much wider range of music genres and styles than what's on MTV and, in most cases, the radio. More and more unknown bands are getting noticed by non-underground/indy fans.

[Kane Knight]

Actually, even Soundscan is now recognising a rise in Indy sales, and they only do big chains.

However, because we talk about a change, I figure I should mention that the last time this happened, the big five bought up something like 80 % of successful indie record sales.

[Kane Knight]

companies, not sales. :|

[Jalapeño]

nah

[Joey Slugs]

nowadays it's more like "the internet killed the radio star"

[Kane Knight]

LATE'D!

[Impact!]

The internet is killing off some of the music industry yes (according to Metallica.....those big whinning nancies) but with the internet the smaller bands are certainly getting more coverage and fame. So really Video Killed the Radio Stars - Internet kills the big name music stars. (maybe)

[Kane Knight]

The internet is killing off some of the music industry yes (according to Metallica.....those big whinning nancies) but with the internet the smaller bands are certainly getting more coverage and fame. So really Video Killed the Radio Stars - Internet kills the big name music stars. (maybe)

Not really. The big name ones are the ones most likely to survive.

[The Mask]

am i the only one who never really can pay attention to the music when i'm watching a video of something completely unrelated to the song going on?

[Kane Knight]

Let's break this down. There are two groups of people LEAST likely to be affected by P2P downloading: Indie artists and superstars. What hurt MEtallica was NOT Napster, but records that their fans thought were fucking shit. Big artists generally don't take a significant hit. Small artists aren't getting shared enough to be sizably affected.

So howcum the music industry's taking such a hit? There are thousands of major label artists who aren't Metallica, Aerosmith, Ashley Simpson, and so on. These are people less established, less likely to sell, and a liability to them when even their superstars aren't pulling in more sales every year.

[The Gooch]

Agreed with KK's above post.

I'm really starting to think that for me personally radio is killing the radio star. Bands that I used to like for example Coldplay are getting sickening amounts of play. It seems I hear the same bands over and over again on rotation. To make matters worse we have Canadian Content laws which means that Nickelback and Theory of a Deadman are played every fucking hour.

I should really explore getting back into listening to University radio. Unfortunately the range for these stations are usually small and I live outside the city.

[Kane Knight]

Corporate playlists are fucking small. I don't know how it is up north, but we've got a large number of stations with almost identical playlists. Without contaent laws or anything, we still end up with people being played on an hourly basis.

The only thing is, I'm trying to decide which I'd rather hear...Nippleback on the hour or Toby Keith on the quarter hour.

[YOUR Hero]

What inspired me to make this topic was seeing the old video from 'A-HA'. They had a huge hit with "Take on me". The song was a generic little number that I believe on it's own would have garnered them some success. However their video for it is regarded even today as the best video ever made behind MJ's 'Thriller'. That video is what propelled their record sales and I do believe the song went to #1 on the billboards.

Couple that with the facts already made in this topic and I believe (although this thread is 10 years late) the only conclusion that can be made is that Video did kill the radio star. Style over substance.

[Kane Knight]

Fuck substance. :foc: