After 25 years of MTV Video Music Awards I have to say they are now one of my favourite award ceremonies. This year’s was brilliant, especially the performances on the Paramount back-lot, which took musical performance and turned it into musical theatre.
This is true of the production values of many music videos these days too. Switch to MTV and I believe you now see “music short films” instead of music videos. Some of them now take on a theatrical quality that engage viewers beyond passive watching and really immerse them in a storyline throughout the song. Case and point is the new Metallica video, an 8 minute epic with an Iraq inspired storyline.
It’s a sign that music videos still mean a lot to record companies. After 25 years of MTV, the music video is still a great marketing tool for new music. Or is it?
How effective are music videos these days in capturing your attention? When you watch music TV channels, are you really watching them? As much as I enjoy the MTV VMA’s, I wonder if the TV is still just a jukebox with pictures and all these marketing dollars are going down the drain…
the best part of the VMA’s was Kanye West’s performance at the end… the worst part was the host (what’s with the accent?)