YouTube Killed The MTV Star

MTV launched in 1981 and purposely chose one video to kick off its run: Video Killed The Radio Star from the Buggles (1979 Island Records Ltd Universal Musical Group). They were sending a message of change. A new era was dawning. Like adding peanut butter to chocolate the concept took off. Not only was it a money maker, it took off just when cable was taking off. The perfect storm.

I heard you on the wireless back in Fifty Two
Lying awake intent at tuning in on you.
If I was young it didn't stop you coming through.
Oh-a oh

Many think those early videos were cheese-fests, and yes, yes they were, but once people realized what they could do with the new media format things only got bigger and videos more complex. Gone were boring concert videos and psychedelic trips. Videos soon became part of our entertainment culture and yes, some were considered worthy of being called works of art. Videos played and some were good. Then what happened? Well . . .

The Real World wasn't the first show on MTV or the first reality show, but it was the first big one. The one that made people think. No, not its viewers, but producers and CEO's. People will actually watch this? Less music, more drama.

What is playing on MTV now? Well you can watch videos between 6 - 7 am? On MTV2? You can enjoy Pimp My Ride 10 times. As sad as that is, the truth is, can you really blame MTV? How many people have the patience to sit in front of a TV and watch a video anymore? This is where YouTube comes in.

They took the credit for your second symphony.
Rewritten by machine and new technology,
and now I understand the problems you can see.

Now over two years old and reportedly the 4th most visited site in the world, YouTube has made it cool to watch videos again. Starting out as just a simple site for people to upload and share videos it grew just like MTV grew. The technology and bandwidth of its users was ready for a site like YouTube. The perfect storm. Entertainment companies fought at first, but after Google acquired it copyright agreements were forged with most major companies. Many smaller bands use it as a tool to promote music.

Now, not every video on YouTube is music, and not every video is good. But with so much out there one is free to look and discover. Thanks to YouTube, artists once again have a reason to make videos. And we can now go back and re-discover old favorites or dig for new gems.

My personal favorites:

Jason Forest - War Photographer. Vikings conquer all with the power of rock and funk.



Serj Tankian - Empty Walls. A not so subtle message about the war on terrorism.








~ Seth