cover image by Crasianne Tirado

In an age dominated by short-form content, it’s becoming increasingly common for today’s top music videos to go unseen. Should artists still invest in these art forms, and if so, what can we do to support them?

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If you’re an ’80s child or earlier, you probably remember a music video featuring a man in a red outfit leading dancing zombies. Those who grew up in the 1990s might recall a music video of a schoolgirl swaying through crowded hallways with pink bowed pigtails. For the generation born in the 2000s and later, you might remember a video of a pop star dressed as Cleopatra sitting on a Sphinx-like throne. Even if none of these examples resonate with you, it’s doubtful you’ve forgetten when one of the world’s biggest rappers released a video at the height of the Black Lives Matter movement, calling attention to issues of systemic racism in America.

From Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” (1983) to Britney Spears’ “…Baby One More Time” (1998) to Katy Perry’s “Dark Horse” (2014) to Childish Gambino’s “This is America” (2018), these iconic music videos have left an indelible mark on popular culture and cemented their artists’ place in the history books. Music videos have played a significant role in our lives in the past, even if we weren’t aware of it.

Once a staple for fan engagement and artist promotion, music videos are navigating a dynamic landscape where streaming platforms play a significant role in music discovery and consumption. Today, a track can make it to our Spotify Wrapped without us knowing what its music video looks like. One might question whether modern music videos still stand in an age where everything is short-form, attention span is minimal, and the music industry is fragmented and saturated.

When looking at the most streamed tracks on Spotify in 2023, 36 out of the top 40 tracks released between 2022 and 2023 had accompanying music videos. On average, these videos garnered 374M views, whereas the tracks themselves accumulated an average of 1.1B streams. This resulted in an average gap of 731M between the number of views on the videos and the number of streams on Spotify. While this data does not offer a comprehensive view of the entire music industry, it does suggest a shift in the role and impact of music videos compared to previous eras.

2010s and the Golden Age of music videos

While modern music videos have been around since the mid-20th century, YouTube's arrival in 2005 and Vevo's in 2009 transformed the way people consume music videos. Enabling artists to interact with global audiences directly, the 2010s saw music videos evolve further due to the digital revolution.

The most-watched music video on YouTube is "Despacito" by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee from 2017, with over 8.39 billion views, followed by Ed Sheeran's 2017 "Shape of You" at 6.21 billion views and Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth's 2015 "See You Again" at 6.19 billion views. Most of the top videos date back to the 2010s, when Western pop music was at it's peak on YouTube. These tracks were massive hits during that era and could be heard everywhere from the radio to retail stores.

To better understand the relevance of music videos today, we can zoom in on the most-streamed tracks on Spotify in 2023. Examining the average daily changes in both YouTube views and Spotify streams, we're given insight into how these songs perform on a daily basis over time across both platforms.

The death of pop music videos?

Most pop music videos are centered in the second, lower half of the graph. This suggests that while these pop tracks may still be popular on Spotify, their music videos on YouTube are not experiencing substantial daily changes in views compared to other genres, such as Latin. This includes big hits such as Taylor Swift's "Anti-Hero" (10th most streamed track), which has 1.41B streams, SZA's "Kill Bill" (2nd most streamed track) with 1.68B streams, and JVKE's "Golden Hour" (29th most streamed track) with 1.08B streams. This doesn't mean that fans are not watching pop music videos, but rather that fans tend to use other platforms to consume the track after the initial release rather than watching its video repeatedly.

Many music fans nowadays prefer quick and easy ways to enjoy their favorite tracks rather than diving into the full visual experience. This trend stems from our love for short-form videos, which allow us to consume content on the fly. Traditional music videos, on the other hand, require jumping through hoops like ads on YouTube before you can even watch them. That's why fewer people bother with them these days, opting instead to listen while doing other things. But the superfans will go the extra mile and watch the music video for a deeper connection with their favorite artists.

One of the most successful pop music videos in recent times is Miley Cyrus' "Flowers" video, which was the No. 1 most streamed track of the year. It premiered on January 13, 2023, and within 24 hours, grossed over 13.8 million views. In just 32 days after its release, the video hit 202.8 million views. As of now, the video has reached 719.9 million views with an average of 1.76 million daily views. The music video is notable for its simplicity, featuring Cyrus moving through various activities at her home in Los Angeles, from outdoor exercises to dancing on the roof at night. The video's narrative is deeply personal and female-empowering, and it allegedly integrates easter eggs that hint at Miley Cyrus's personal journey and past relationship with Liam Hemsworth.

Another example is Doja Cat's "Paint The Town Red" (35th most streamed track). Released on August 4, 2023, the video is visually striking, featuring dark and symbolic imagery like Doja Cat peeling out her eyeball and scenes with death (grim reaper), reflecting the song's unapologetic anthem, where she emphasizes her indifference to others' opinions. Doja Cat showcased her artistic talent pre-release by creating paintings during Instagram Live, which served as inspiration for the music video.

While the video initially lagged behind its Spotify counterpart, which garnered 128.2 million views within a month, it still amassed a notable 27.4 million views on YouTube a month after the release. Although impressive, this figure is overshadowed by it's Spotify's performance. By that time, the track had gone viral with 989k TikTok posts, resulting in a significant boost in views, particularly on September 8, with 2.9 million views. It subsequently debuted at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on September 16. This surge appears to be attributed to the track's viral success on TikTok and its cross-platform popularity. However, it raises the question: would such growth in YouTube views have been possible without its viral traction?

A music video released after a track's initial release is a common strategy to revive interest, maintain chart performance, and engage the audience. This approach is often used to release singles after an album launch. Released on April 25, 2023 as the sixth single of her second studio album, "SOS," SZA's "Snooze" (37th most streamed track) peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. The music video premiered on August 25 (258 days after the initial release and 123 after the single release) and features artists Justin Bieber and Benny Blanco. The music video, alongside a four-track bundle that includes a sped-up version of the track and the acoustic version featuring Bieber (released on September 15), helped the track reach a peak number of 2 on October 7.

Despite these promotional efforts, the music video has garnered relatively modest views, with only 53.8 million views in six months, averaging around 2.9 million views per day with a daily median change of 250k. In comparison, the official audio of the track on YouTube, released with the album, has amassed significantly more views, totaling 172 million views and surpassing the 93.1 million views of "Kill Bill."

The domination of Latin music videos

Latin music videos on YouTube have consistently remained popular over time without any significant fluctuations. Seven of the ten tracks with the highest average daily change are Latin. Moreover, the top three tracks from these seven have very similar average daily changes on YouTube and Spotify, and even "TQG" (12th most streamed track) by Karol G and Shakira has 2.66 million average daily streams on Spotify and 2.7 million on YouTube. It is the most-watched music video of 2023 and earned Vevo's most-watched global premiere title with 181.9 million views in its first two weeks. Similar to "Flowers," the track's lyrics feature "shots" directed at Shakira and Karol's ex-boyfriends.

The second track in the graph is "La Bebe (Remix)" by Yng Lvcas featuring Peso Pluma (13th most streamed track), which was released on March 17, 2023, and has 797.9 million YouTube views with an average of 2.37 million daily views. The official visualizer and the accompanying cover audio, both released simultaneously with the music video release, have garnered 31 million and 35 million views, respectively. This indicates that despite its longer duration and less convenient listening format than the cover audio, the music video continues to attract attention.

The Bzrp Music Sessions comprise a series of music collaborations between Argentine producer Bizarrap and several artists. The music videos of these sessions have a raw and energetic vibe as the artists lip-sync to the tracks in dynamic and colorful shots that appear to be filmed in Bizarrap's recording studio. Both "Vol. 52" with Quevedo (32nd streamed track) and "Vol. 53" with Shakira (9th streamed track) had a significant YouTube performance, crossing over 626.2 million and 694.2 million views, respectively. This proves that a great concept is crucial and often more impactful than a high-budget production, and that concept should align with the song's vibe, energy, and feel and cohesively blend with the entire project.

The global popularity of Latin music and the collaborations within it boost both YouTube and streaming numbers, broadening the genre's global appeal. Secondly, trigger cities, mainly in Latin America, play a crucial role, with dense populations consuming and sharing music, leading to significant views, especially since YouTube is a free and accessible platform. Despite the gap between the number of Spotify streams and YouTube views, music videos appear to remain a prime driver in Latin music.

Music videos in K-Pop

Similar to Latin music, K-pop recognizes the importance of high-quality music videos. This trend has led to the production of high-budget, meticulously crafted music videos that serve to entertain and enhance the global reach of these artists and their music. Nine of the 10 most viewed YouTube videos in 24 hours are by the same K-pop artists: BTS (5) and BLACKPINK (3). BTS's "Butter" broke the record for the most viewed YouTube video in the first 24 hours with 108.2 million views in 2021. A recent example illustrating this trend is the release of Jung Kook's "Seven" featuring Latto (4th most streamed track). Within just a week of its release on July 14, 2023, the video garnered 86.4 million views on YouTube. Within a month, it surpassed Taylor Swift's "Anti-Hero" (10th streamed track), accumulating 115.4 million views. To put this into perspective, "Anti-Hero" took 467 days to reach the same milestone that "Seven" achieved in just 47 days, hitting 184 million views.

So, what's happening?

The current landscape of music videos varies by genre, with Latin music maintaining consistent popularity on platforms like YouTube, while K-pop emphasizes high-quality production, and pop music might have lost its relevance and appeal, at least when it comes to daily consumption.

However, this evolution in music video popularity is part of a broader cycle, reflecting the ever-changing landscape of pop music. Major labels face criticism for prioritizing viral sensations over talent, as they once did back when MTV was in its prime. As a result, the industry is suffering from a lack of artist development, with platforms like TikTok providing rapid exposure before artists are fully prepared. On the other hand, pop music fans still value traditional music videos for their artistry, however, recent ones are criticized for being uninspired and low-budget, making it challenging for artists to innovate while keeping audiences engaged.

And what can we do?

We must prioritize artist development, support emerging talents, and preserve traditional media outlets. While the music scene has evolved significantly, creativity should guide us, and we've even seen unexpected comebacks. Who knew that CDs would experience a resurgence in popularity even in an era dominated by digital streaming services?

While Spotify streams may exceed YouTube views for many popular tracks today, the role of music videos in the industry remains substantial. They are not just promotional tools but integral parts of an artist's creative expression and a key element in the music ecosystem, offering unique experiences that audio alone cannot provide. Remembering that music is a passion, not just a race for views or likes, is crucial for maintaining artistic integrity. This might be a transitional period rather than a permanent downturn.

No matter what genre, great music videos evoke strong emotions and leave a lasting impression on viewers through iconic moments that become part of pop culture. Who could forget Kelly Rowland's memorable Excel text to Nelly in the "Dilemma" music video, "Where you at? Holla when you get there," a moment that puzzled us for years?

Edited by Sarah Kloboves, cover image by Crasianne Tirado

Photo credit: KAL VISUALS

This article is for the indie musician who’s trying to turn music into their career. If you’re ready to do both the creative side and the business side of things, this post is for you. So by asking Are music videos worth it for indie artists?, I mean financially and strategically.

The Purpose of a Music Video

The main reason you create any kind of content surrounding your music is to promote your music. And any music video you create is content.

Wendy Day is a well-known name in the hip-hop world for her mentorship and partnerships with indie rap artists. And she had some things to say about music videos in an interview on the NDPNDNT podcast.

“I don’t want to have a great video because I don’t want people watching the video because it’s a great video,” she said. “I want them listening to the song.”

Music videos should not be a mini movie, she said. If you make a music video, it needs to be one that you can easily chop into smaller bites of content for social media. She said a music video is a “turbo boost” for promoting your music.

The Cost of a Music Video

How much does a decent music video cost?

In a Medium article, filmmaker Garrett Wesley Gibbons says a “shoestring budget” for a music video is $2,000 to $5,000, based on what he would charge. This includes everything – one full day of shooting, a small crew, editing, maybe one or two paid actors.

You can obviously shoot a music video for less than this, but it means you’ll do more of the work. If you have a small or nonexistent budget, you (and maybe your bandmates) are probably going to be the script writer, camera operator, director, actor, and editor.

If you can do all of that and you enjoy it, go for it. But most indie artists may not have the skills or desire to do all of that. And that’s why, if you want to make a music video on little to no budget, you have to make sure it will actually be worth it.

Music Videos vs. Short-Form Content

Right now, short-form content has way more ROI than a full produced music video for indie artists who are growing their fanbase.

You can shoot content on your phone, edit it yourself using a service like Kapwing, and get your music in front of tons of new people on social media. And all of this costs you nothing.

And remember, the point of a music video (or any kind of content) is to promote your music. So if you can make content that costs you nothing but gets your songs in front of strangers, why wouldn’t you focus on that rather than a full-fledged music video?

Should Indie Musicians Make Music Videos?

“Should” here depends on your music career goals and your artistic endeavors. If you want to make a music video to scratch a creative itch and you have the budget, go for it. But if you’re trying to grow your fanbase, focus on making short-form content for social media.

And the content doesn’t have to be super fancy. Burstimo, a music marketing agency, says that “a music video of you just performing live is perfectly fine.”

“If you have more than 100,000,000 streams, then absolutely [a music video] is worth it,” they say. “But I wouldn’t go spending huge amounts of money.”

Whenever you’re wondering if you should focus on a certain music marketing method, like music videos, ask yourself: how many artists have I discovered from this method?

For example, nowadays I discover artists on TikTok and Spotify playlists. So as an artist, that’s where I’m putting my marketing efforts.

So are music videos worth it for indie musicians? If you have the budget and you want to express your creativity – sure. To grow your fanbase – no music videos, just focus on simpler, more affordable content that promotes your music. 

Ray J has had enough of Kanye referencing him in his songs, and the ‘Famous’ video was one step too far…

Last week, Kanye West released the controversial video to his song ‘Famous,’ exclusively on Tidal.  A few days later, the video surfaced on YouTube.

Now, if you haven’t seen the video already, it’s 10 minutes and 44 seconds long.  Five minutes of the video consist of heavy breathing and nude screenplay.  In the video, several celebrities — including Kanye West, Kim Kardashian, Rihanna, Chris Brown, Amber Rose, Taylor Swift, and Ray J — can be seen laying in bed, ‘naked’ alongside one other.

The actual celebrities were not physically present in the video: they are wax-like replicas that look convincingly real.  However, since its release, some of the celebrities that had their identity used in the video were unsurprisingly not in favor of Kanye’s ‘artistic’ choices.

Now, there is talk of possible legal action.

Ray J is one of those celebrities that are now considering filing a lawsuit.  In an interview with Entertainment Tonight Ray J said…

”I’m engaged. My marriage is all messed up cause of craziness.  I’m not part of nothing crazy.  I walk down a good path.  My fiancee tripping.  It’s all bad in my world, and that ain’t cool.  Don’t put me part of nothing that’s weird, that don’t make no sense. Can I grow up?”

Ray J’s business manager David Weintraub added…

”There’s too many times Kanye has done this, and you can’t really continue to use people’s likeness without either compensation or clearance.  It seems to be becoming an issue— this is like the fourth time in six months he’s done this.  We haven’t really worked anything out.  There were kind of discussions but it’s getting old, so our legal team is working out what we want to do with everything.”

Then again, Kanye has been expecting a lawsuit the whole time.  In fact, before any of the celebrities featured in the video responded, West said ‘sue me!’  It seems as though West was ready for the backlash, but the question is: how many more featured celebrities are going to follow suit?

If you asked a hundred people to describe a typical ‘80s music video, no doubt you would get a lot of the same answers: Cheap special effects; Loud, ridiculous outfits and hairdos; Cheesy pantomime and stilted acting; Confusing, surreal imagery; and so on.

It may take the benefit hindsight to identify the hallmarks of music videos in the 2010s, but one is already apparent: Beats by Dre.

If you’ve spent any time watching music videos since the rise of YouTube, you have no doubt seen Dre’s products littering the cultural landscape.  Beats headphones, earbuds and portable speakers have become an all-too-common fixture in the mainstream pop music video world.

If you only saw it once, it’d be easy to miss.  They typically only take up a second or so of screen time, and as such probably wouldn’t have made much of an impact.  Instead, Dre was able to sell Beats to Apple at the end of 2014 for a whopping $3 billion.  Despite a reputation among audiophiles for being overhyped and overpriced, Beats have become the most known brand of audio equipment, using the same strategy that GEICO uses to advertise its insurance: Quantity is quality.

Just as GEICO blanketed the airwaves with ads, Beats by Dre has made its priority to be in every music video from 2006 to the end of history. Genre doesn’t matter, as long as it reaches a lot of viewers; artists as diverse as Miley Cyrus, Lil Wayne and Dierks Bentley have all let Dre use their music as a backdrop for his product.

Dre is the most notable example of someone using popular music as an advertisement opportunity, but he’s hardly the only corporate brand to do so.  To be clear, this is not the same thing as artists earning money from product endorsements, which is not new; as early as the ‘50s, Elvis Presley was recording a jingle for doughnuts.  Instead, the dominant trend is that the music itself functions as an advertisement.  This isn’t artists simply name-dropping brands they personally like either (which rappers have done since the dawn of the genre); companies instead are actively paying artists to mention their products in their songs.
It can be as blatant as Busta Rhymes’ “Pass the Courvoisier,” but it can be more subtle: Wrigley’s Gum paid Chris Brown a sizable sum to insert their slogan “Double your pleasure, double your fun” into “Forever,” one of the biggest hit songs of 2008.

Last night’s Super Bowl ad where a cell phone company forces Drake to alter the lyrics of “Hotline Bling” was more true-to-life than a lot of its viewers realized.

And whereas once this would be considered “selling out,” more and more artists see no issue with it nor experience any backlash. As just one of many examples, Pitbull began his smash hit “Give Me Everything” by openly boasting about his endorsement deal with Kodak. (The Pitbull Seal of Approval was not enough to keep Kodak from filing bankruptcy a year later. Perhaps this was not a wise use of Kodak’s money.)

In 1989, Neil Young proudly trumpeted his refusal to accept sponsorships deals in his video for “This Note’s for You,” which openly mocked Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston for selling Pepsi.  Young was celebrated in purist circles for sticking to his principles, but the idea of any artist taking such a stand now only seems quaint – even more so in the streaming era, where the already-difficult task of earning a living off of music seems ever harder.

Compared to musicians literally letting advertisers dictate their artistic output, the increasing product placement in music videos seems like a reasonable concession to commerce.  After all, music videos are essentially advertisements themselves, for the artist.  But as advertisements go, they’re expensive to make and there’s no guarantee that they’ll reach any eyeballs, and you can’t buy airtime for a music video like you can with a commercial.

More importantly, the budget for them typically comes directly out of the artists’ royalties (TLC cited the expense of their beloved, groundbreaking videos in the mid-‘90s as one reason they had to file for bankruptcy). In a time of massively decreased revenue for the music industry, it’s little surprise that more and more big-name artists are looking to outside sponsorships to help cover their expenses.

Lady Gaga made flashy spectacular music videos one of her hallmarks, but from the very beginning, even before her videos became ambitious, they were using Dre’s product placement checks to cover some of the budget. But it would be a different Gaga video, “Telephone,” that would bring the practice to its absolute pinnacle.

Gaga’s eight-minute-long video was notable for many reasons, but one of them was its blatant, unashamed product placement, including such unglamorous sponsors as Miracle Whip, Wonder Bread and the dating website PlentyOfFish.com. To put it mildly, it was distracting, so much so that one could miss that a Beats laptop was featured in it as well.

“Telephone” was not an experiment to be repeated, and very few videos have let brands break the flow of the video like that since. (One exception is All Time Low’s “I Feel Like Dancin’,” which tried to use a ‘Wayne’s World’-style self-aware sendup of its paid endorsement of Rockstar Energy.  Whether this was successful is up to you, but the song and video certainly didn’t set the world on fire.)  Instead, artists are using more seamlessly integratabtle products like shoes, perfume, cars, fancy alcohols… and of course Beats headphones, a thoroughly logical choice of prop for a music video. (There’s probably an amusing alternate universe where instead of Beats, it was Miracle Whip that dominated to the music videos of the 2010s.)

That said, it can still get obtrusive.  In David Fincher’s Rat Pack-themed video for Justin Timberlake’s “Suit & Tie,” JT scrolls through some sheet music on a distinctly modern tablet. Alicia Keys’ “Girl on Fire” features Alicia as a housewife and mother circa the 1950s, but she still listens to music on state-of-the-art Sony headphones from an mp3 player. (Previously in the video she listened to music on an old transistor radio. It’s hard to believe that up-to-date electronics and designer sunglasses were really part of the director’s vision.)

Again, music videos are essentially advertisements themselves.  Very few see them as an artistic product in themselves, so product placement is seen as less of an intrusion the way it is for TV shows and movies. (Ask any Marvel fan about the Fantastic Four shilling for Dodge in the middle of “Rise of the Silver Surfer,” an extreme low point in an already-terrible movie.)

If you’d like to learn how the headphones are in terms of quality, check out this review.

Still, there may be backlash yet. The new frontier in advertising is retroactively inserting product placement into the videos of the past. Imagine it; you could soon be seeing Michael Jackson wearing some Beats in one of his classic videos. Viewers have been mostly accepting of products in their videos, but this may yet be one ad too far.

Todd Nathanson (aka: Todd in the Shadows) has been making video reviews of pop songs and one hit wonders from throughout the ages since 2009. Check out his channel!

The tech giant also said that “over time, the company plans to bring it to all users,” but it didn’t give specific timescales.

The features are very similar to that of Meerkat and Twitter’s Periscope, and an obvious attempt to keep live-streaming users on the Facebook platform.  But Facebook has the upper hand with additional features that the other live-streaming pioneers lack: on Facebook, users can save videos to their timeline, and those videos can stay there unless users choose to delete them.  This certainly sets Facebook apart, and the social media platform is currently reporting eight billion views every single day.

Besides keeping Facebook at the forefront of the social media game, the launch is one more step towards turning Facebook into a more video-centric platform.  And, another way to cash in on video advertising.