If you’re not convinced we reached a new era, then look at the MTV VMA ratings. Less than a million viewers tuned in and watched the debacle. The internet killed the video star. Oddly enough, Madonna opened the show followed by the usual suspects like Shawn Mendez, Justin Bieber, and of course the go-to rock act Foo Fighters.
For the last several years, MTV’s Video Music Awards (now the mask awards) has been trying to bolster its viewership and recapture the glory it once had over the public. The execs were hoping they would announce a spike in audience viewership, instead they walked away with a 5% drop. In fact, only 1.3 million watched on the MTV channel. To put this in perspective, America has a population of 330+ million people. The other channels (MTV2, Country Music TV) that broadcasted the award show averaged around 222,000 viewers.
The show was very predictable with no surprises. It barely made headlines, not uncommon for the times we are in now. The acts that performed got the trophies which makes sense. I can’t blame them, I would want a trophy, if I’m going to rehearse, hire some choreographers, a stylist, and a makeup artist. Lastly, the show had no effect on the music charts, but that’s not to say the artists didn’t benefit. Just the fact that some parts of the show with Gaga wearing a mask was a Twitter trending topic makes it all worth it. I suppose…
The MTV VMA’s was centered around Taylor Swift. Not surprised MTV gave her LGBTQ+ anthem “You Need to Calm Down” video of the year. Other winners include Ariana Grande, Billie Eilish, and Jonas Brothers. Full list below….
Video Of The Year
Taylor Swift – “You Need to Calm Down” – Republic Records
ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Ariana Grande – Republic Records
Fly By Midnight releases the track Toy. The track premiered on Apple Music’s Breaking Pop + Hot Tracks. The NY Duo has been rolling out track after track for the last year or so.
Press: Billboard, Buzzfeed, NYLON, Huffington Post, and Ones To Watch.
Live: 40 school college tour, Firefly & Panorama festival, Sold Out show in Irving Plaza (NYC)
Playlist: Spotify’s New Music Friday, Apple Music’s Breaking Pop & A-List Pop, and Soundcloud’s Fresh Pressed.
The latest Taylor Swift video for Me! is a mini-million dollar movie. Insiders claim Swift’s latest video cost over a million. Is it worth to spend a million dollars on a music video today? For Swift, sure. She has the money to spend, but for other artists?
It’s hard to make money off videos in the digital age because of streaming. Unlike 20 years ago, at least today, videos can generate ad revenue whereas MTV paid nothing to artists and labels. Regardless, big budget videos were always a risky bet even in the MTV era because it’s never a surefire bet that the masses would embrace the song. In many cases, artists would come out with the song first, and if the song did well, then shoot a video.
YouTube pays out approximately $1.50 for every 1,000 views, therefor, music videos should be viewed as a promotional item, not as a profit center, especially for a new artist.
The Economics of Taylor Swift’s ‘ME!’ and Music Videos In the Digital Age
Music-video costs range from $2,500 (for an indie-label project) to $700,000 or more (for a pop superstar like Swift, Grande or Drake). Vince Staples’ 2018 video for “FUN!” cost roughly $200,000, says his manager, Corey Smyth, although it has just 3.7 million YouTube views. “It’s worth it,” he says. “They’re all calling cards. You don’t know what’s going to hit and what’s going to go viral.” Country stars spend $30,000 to $250,000 per video, according to Erica Rosa, royalties director for Nashville business-management firm Flood, Bumstead, McCready and McCarthy. “I saw one in the pop world that was around $850,000,” she says. “I almost fell out of my chair.”
“Videos are as important as they’ve ever been,” says McLynn, who manages Sia and Fall Out Boy and has made videos from $10,000 to $200,000. “When you’re rolling out a bigger artist, you want to double down — you want to make sure you have everything you need, so you up the budget.”
Big budget videos are reserved for a few artists a year that can generate hundreds of millions of streams. Since the cost of making music videos have gone down, it makes sense for most artists to release videos in the digital age. In fact, music videos and visuals are more important than ever.
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