Are Music Videos Still A Thing? Here's What Led to Their Decline

May 8, 2022

If you remember the 90s music video culture, you know how influential and powerful this type of content was. So, what happened?

If you were born before the 90s, you understand how big and influential music video culture used to be. From channels like MTV to VH1, music videos had a hold on society that seemed promising for the future. However, with several factors including the rise of short-form video apps such as Vine and TikTok, music videos began to decline.

But are they dead? Here's what we think.

Music Is More Accessible Now

At first glance, this may seem incongruent. After all, if music is more readily accessible to us now, then wouldn't that mean that music videos would be more relevant? Not necessarily.

Before, listening to music needed effort. You had to either find the track and purchase it, or use software to locate it online. Youtube was not as big as it is now, but it provided a platform for music videos to be shared. Nowadays, we can just put on our Airpods or wireless headphones and play music. With millions of songs available within a click, listening to music has never been easier. Not to mention, the introduction of smart devices such as Alexa and Google Chromecast have also led to the fall of music videos.

Short-Form Video Apps Like Tiktok

No, TikTok is not to blame for the end of music videos. However, social media apps, especially ones like Vine, Thriller, and TikTok, have contributed to our short attention spans. If you think about it, a music video is typically three to eight minutes long. The maximum length for a video on TikTok is three minutes. As we get used to short-form content, our minds begin to adapt and place it as the standard. This makes watching a full-length music video a task that our brain is not able to focus on for the whole time.

What's your take? Do you think music videos are still relevant or do you think they are a thing of the past?

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