Are Music Videos Still Worth the Money to Make?

When I was young, I would spend hours sitting in front of the TV watching music videos on MTV. I would spend an equal amount of hours talking with my friends about how great certain videos were. These videos inspired me to buy the albums of the music stars that I found that I liked.

Today, we are not exposed to very many music videos. MTV and VH1 have both filled their lineups with other programming, most of which has nothing to do with music. Usually, the only time that you can catch music videos on the stations are at odd hours. It makes me wonder if music videos are important at all these days.

The point of music videos was to open up another medium for music stars to promote their work. It became a competition as to which performer or group could create the most original and catchy video. Those days appear to be long past.

Music videos are not inexpensive to make. Many of the music videos take at least a few days to shoot, and the pockets of the people working on them have to be filled. Sometimes, everyone has to be called back to shoot an addition, or to reshoot something that was already done.

The music video will then have to go through the editing process, which could take a few months. This process is also costly to the star and the music company.

Since so few people are able to see music videos these days is it really worth spending all of the money for them? Could that money be spent in other ways that could boost the sales of the musical act even more?

Groups like Pearl Jam, which has only made a handful of music videos, continue to sell millions of records, and sell out shows. There are more and more groups that are beginning to question if making music videos is still worth it.

Out of all of the genres of music, only country music (on CMT), rap, and r&b (both on BET) are affected by music videos. While the impact has declined since they are not shown in a rotation on MTV or VH1, they still have an impact for introducing new stars and new music.