Video killed the video star

With Glastonbury underway for the unwashed and the overpaid, I decided there was no better way to celebrate my non appearance than with seven bottles of the now commercially available Brothers cider (a fitting correlation with the festival’s own commercialisation over the past few years).

While in the public house, I couldn’t stop staring at the plasma screen that, fresh from showing the Spain – Russia game, was going through an array of popular music videos past and present. It got me thinking about the medium, but also taught me a few things along the way.

Lessons learnt included that I quite like a song by the Ting Tings and that the green in the video for Hot Chip’s ‘Over and Over’ is rather alluring and similar to the colour of the bizarre Pimms concoction I was presented with at a private view earlier in the day. Most notably though, I realised that, despite this invaluable learning experience, video is really a dying medium.

It may seem a little obtuse, I mean, technology has given everyone the chance to make videos and the internet has given everyone a perfect, free distribution channel but doesn’t the fact that EVERYONE can make a music video make it a overcrowded, overrated stagnated video jungle?

An episode from the last season of South Park made a point in lambasting the US writers’ strike that there is little money to be made by videos on the internet. Youtube stars become famous flash in the pans but nobody gives them money because their, let’s loosely call it, talent has already been whored out for a cheap taste of fame.

The argument with music of course is that this whoring is good promotion for the artists. Which, to an extent it is. Personally though, although I have realised that a Ting Tings song made me tap my foot, I’m not going to rush out and buy the album and listening to the same track on Radio One would have given me the same reaction, so why bother with the video?

For less popular independent artists, most make videos and few get past rarely viewed Myspace or Youtube links, and barely any translate into record sales. Jezus Factory’s Paul Hawkins & Thee Awkward Silences have made two videos for the superlative ‘The Evil Thoughts’ but they haven’t sold out of a 200 run of singles, priced at a measly £3 each with an awesome split side with Lil’ Lost Lou. You should buy one here.

What benefit does making a video have? In the age of Myspace, which despite its lack of usefulness as an A&Rs home is still good for checking on bands you’ve heard of somewhere else, you can hear released and non released tracks by artists at the click of a button. It saves on the costs of indies who would be better using their money to invest into artists or just marketing their releases better and it’ll allow artists to spend their time honing their craft rather than pissing about in frog outfits.

Spot the difference:
The Ting Tings – Great DJ

Paul Hawkins & Thee Awkward Silences – The Evil Thoughts