MTV VMAs: Taylor Swift dominates but do music videos matter?
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By Naomi Clarke and Andrew Rogers, BBC Newsbeat
We're far from the days of blockbuster music videos dominating TV channels like MTV. Catchy hooks and sleek dance routines now take center stage on social media feeds, hoping to capture people's attention long enough for them to give a new song a chance.
The evolution of this landscape was marked last year when MTV axed five music channels in the UK after nearly 40 years. Yet, its Video Music Awards (VMAs) still hold significant power over music A-listers. Pop icons including Taylor Swift, Madonna, and Charli XCX attended the awards on Sunday to accept prizes and deliver dramatic performances.
Cinematographer Melissa Cofie tells BBC Newsbeat that while these award shows "may seem very performative to others," they are "so important" to those in the music industry:
"The sleepless nights, the months, the weeks that it takes to put together a music video, it's almost as much work as you would put into a film itself."
But do music videos still hold the same weight for fans as they once did?
Evolution of Music Videos
Cofie believes their purpose has evolved over the last few decades. For her, they serve more as a means to "connect with artists" and for them to express their vision, rather than a crucial part of their promotion like in the 2000s.
Today, pop stars like Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, and Olivia Rodrigo still heavily rely on videos to build out the visual world for each album era. Swift, who broke the record for most MTV VMA wins ever last weekend, is renowned for her big-budget productions that fans meticulously search for Easter eggs—clues pointing to future plans.
Her recent video for "Opalite" featured a star-studded cast, including Graham Norton, Lewis Capaldi, Cillian Murphy, Domhnall Gleeson, and Jodie Turner-Smith. However, the video was exclusively released on Spotify and Apple Music in February, appearing on YouTube 48 hours later.
Changing Times for Music Videos
Industry analysts speculated that this exclusivity period was due to a change in US chart rules, where songs streamed on YouTube no longer count toward the Top 100. This shift came into effect in January as YouTube ended its decade-long partnership with Billboard, stating:
"This doesn't reflect how fans engage with music today and ignores the massive engagement from fans who don't have a subscription."
While most artists don't possess Swift's budget, this change may further discourage US artists from investing heavily in elaborate music videos.
In contrast, international markets like the world of K-Pop continue to embrace music videos, often releasing multiple versions for one song.