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So what is it about new media that’s keeping the music video art form alive?

 

New media is a concept drawn from Lev Manovich’s “Language of New Media” that describes anything surrounding digital media. This includes websites, social media, virtual-reality, computer games and animations, and interactive installations. According to Manovich, "music video has served as a laboratory for exploring numerous new possibilities of manipulating photographic images made possible by computers" and music video is "a living and constantly expanding text-book for digital cinema." For the last 20 or so years, it’s apparent that the music video itself has become a new media art form.

 

The age of the music video may have peaked in the 1980s and early 1990s, mostly, even entirely due in thanks to MTV, an old media concept as it is analog. It made viewing music videos all but compulsory and brought a breath of life to the music industry. As soon as MTV shifted its focus away from music and on to reality TV, a shroud of doom came over the art form as if it was over for good. But today, the form is being kept alive thanks to new media.

 

The earliest form of new media we’ve seen in accordance with music videos is computer animation. Some of the most successful music videos of all time utilize state-of-the-art animations and visual effects that grab and hold the attention. As computer animation has become more advanced, so have the music videos. They stretch the imagination and add new expression to the message sent by both the music and video by generating visual intrigue. It provides distinction, surrealism, and ultimately makes a song and video more memorable and one-of-a-kind.
 

We see music video in a variety of forms on a variety of platforms, with special influence from the Internet. The website YouTube has become the primary source for uploading and viewing music videos. It is, in a sense, the MTV of the Internet age; a constant stream of video, only this time, giving the viewer choice in what to watch. People can watch music videos anywhere on their mobile devices. It also allows for sharing of video onto other platforms, like via text message, or social media such as Twitter or Facebook. Today’s participatory culture has made features like sharing, liking, commenting, and parodying commonplace. Music videos are among the most watched and spread content across the Internet because they fit the demands of online video clip culture: short, catchy, and visually striking. Music videos are a perfect storm when it comes to viral media.

 

Now, with rise in music video pertaining to social media, interactivity, and virtual-reality, these new media forms will propel music videos into the future. Music videos are no longer a passive experience. They demand involvement and put the viewer directly in the video. There is no longer separation between the music and the watcher, which is exciting and intriguing for everyone involved. Rather than music videos being brought into your living room, you are being brought to the music video.

 

The uses of all these new media technologies prove that the music video art form is not slowing down any time soon. They are continuing to take new shapes every day and explore all of the avenues provided by new developments in the digital world. Technology is not the story; it's the vehicle for engaging the senses and inspiring memories. When the technology dissolves away, it creates focus. Music is the perfect vehicle for experiments with new technologies like social media, interactivity, and virtual-reality because it creates a thread of emotion in an otherwise cold space. As technology blends more seamlessly into our lives, it's exhilirating to consider how we'll be able to engage our senses and create a more personal connection with the art we love.

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