In an interview on BBC, Brian Eno explained how MTV created music videos as a culture currency for fans. Today music videos are still held with the same regard, but with the presence of Muzu.tv or Youtube music videos no longer have to conform to required expectations to guarantee airplay. Cover art is being replace with music videos!
What was once gushing rivers of revenue for the music industry has turned into not so much as a dribble!
One big move from record labels to capture revenue from advertising dollars spent on targeting music videos shown on the likes on YouTube or Muzu. Considering music videos as cultural currency, fans want to share them throughout their online profile, via blogs, social networks profiles etc, but this effectively removes the possibility of advertising, removing the possibility of earnings from ad revenue. EMI recently disabled the ability of sharing videos, hindering fans to share the infamous music videos from band OK GO. In response to outcry at this decision Ok Go’s Damian Kulash posted an open letter on the bands site explaining the “harsh” reality in the music industry, that labels have not only lost control, but have lost their ability to recuperate production costs!
Irish-based music video website Muzu.tv has signed a number of video syndication deals that will see its content made available to major publishers including AOL Music, the Telegraph Media Group and Bebo in a return for a share of advertising revenue. Although the the video site is recording traffic growth at 20-30 per cent month on month, it poses the question how sustainable this revenue model is for the music industry.
Rather than spending another misguided year counting the pennies, labels must realise that 2010 will be the year that social media-fueled technology and behavior is responsible for more content consumption choices than ever before. By continuing to alienate music fans, the labels responsible are showing no understanding of the music fan. The most effective digital platforms have shifted from “disruptive” to “productive” providing a service or utility. What does this mean, simply brands, bands and labels must change their approach once again to consumers and ask themselves “how can we make their lives better”?
In Seth Godin’s book, the Linchpin, Godin states that ‘the winners are the artists who give gifts‘. Artists who provide additional experiences apart from their music, eventually win out, whether it be fantasy football, one of Radiohead’s amazing distribution activities or simply allowing the fan to use the music video to not only promote the record within their social group but also to use as a form of self expression.
Anybody interested in looking at some quality videos, click on the image above!