Sound Images
A thriving community proves music video goes deeper than MTV.
Music video doesn’t exactly carry a lot of indie cred. Mention it to most people and they conjure up images
of handsome young lads writhing on the ground in feigned agony. Or packs of human Barbie dolls cavorting
around ugly guys in leather pants. But in reality, there is a thriving music video scene among indies. And all
signs indicate that it will get much stronger in the coming years.
Any discussion of music video starts and ends with MTV, and the rise and fall of music video as an art form
is no exception. The channel is almost singly blamed for every musical abomination of the past 15 years,
from bad new wave to bad metal to bad gangsta rap. But does it really have to be that way? The indie
community has made a career out of one-upping the major label marketing gurus, taking the same things
the majors exploit in search of crass commercial gain and transforming them into valid artistic statements in
their own right. Take music packaging. While majors slap the sexiest picture they can find on a CD cover in
hopes of driving raging hormones to impulse purchases, indies have quietly made the packaging part of the
experience with things like custom gatefolds, hand printed vinyl jackets and original artwork.
MTV, however, was not always seen as such an destructive force. “When the work really started to happen
in ‘85 or so, everyone thought that it would really liberate fledgling filmmakers,” video producer Kevin Downs
says. “You have this two minute, abstract and very experimental format that doesn’t have to stick to any
linear mold, and it was something that you could get paid for.”
But things quickly changed. When acts that were light on talent but high on style rode MTV play to platinum
sales, the artistic quality of videos disappeared almost overnight. Interesting filmmaking took a back seat to
mini-motion pictures that cost as much as several hundred thousand dollars to make. “It quickly turned into
more of a fashion model style,” Downs says. “They became big budget and very controlled.”
Perpetuated by MTV’s far from adventurous programming, mainstream music video became the borefest
that it is today. “There’s so much cliché and almost stock visuals that are included in some of these videos
that its hard to see it as art,” says Charlie Barnes, a producer at KVR-TV, a student-run station at the
University of Texas. Laurel Sylvanus of the video promotion company, Telemotion agrees that there is little
creativity in most videos. “I’ve seen pretty much everything you can do with the form,” she says.
But as the state of big-time music video worsens every year, certain circles within the independent music
and filmmaking communities are breathing new life into the form. Downs argues that the music video
medium offers exciting artistic opportunities. “[It is] a great chance to do a short experimental piece to music
that is not locked into anything; to use sound against video and image against sound,” he says.
Indie labels are at the forefront of this rejuvenation. Barnes says that about half of the approximately 30
videos they receive every week at KRV-TV are from indies or local bands. And Sylvanus points out that
indie labels have drastically increased their video output over the past two years, whereas major labels are
sharply cutting back.
The limited budgets that indies have to work with require them to rely on creativity rather than leaning on the
expensive crutches of special effects and performance shots. Sylvanus notes a clip by the band Doughnuts
that was shot all on videotape rather than film, which is the industry standard. “The director had such great
camera angles and the footage was so good that we were able to get it played,” she says. Epitaph Records
also consistently puts out interesting and successful videos, Sylvanus notes, and does so at a cost of about
$5,000 to $10,000 apiece, far below the industry norm.
Downs agrees that you don’t always need a big budget to create an interesting video. “Every year there’s
always one that’s done for, like, $8,000 looks great and does a better job of promoting the song than [the
expensive ones].”
A new acceptance of music video in filmmaker circles is also adding to the resurgence. Downs says that
until recently, “You were hardput as to where to fit [a video] into film festival categories.” But many festivals
have recently created separate categories for music video, providing more incentive and inspiration to work
in the format. The South By Southwest Film Festival even featured screenings of music videos in theater
settings. “Most videos are shot on film then transferred to video and we only see them on the small screen,”
Barnes says. “[But] some of these pieces really should be seen on the big screen.”
Of course, even the “lo-fi” work that is gaining prevalence in the indie community don’t come cheap, and
these costs lock many smaller bands out of the video marketplace. The hefty price tag is largely due to the
fact that film is the accepted format. Lexi Sentell of the film production company Planet Vox, says that
working with film is at least three times the cost of the most expensive videotape shooting.
And the costs don’t stop once the clip is shot. Duplication is extremely expensive as most outlets will only
play 3/4 inch tapes, which run anywhere from $12 to $20 a pop depending on the quantity you’re copying.
Factor in the costs of mailing out the tapes and following up with phone calls and you can expect the total
promotional bill to be in the ballpark of five grand, Sylvanus says.
Since shooting and promoting even the lowest-fi video costs as much as many indie bands spend on the
recording a full album, you can bet that the labels are making sure they get their money’s worth. Well aware
that significant MTV play is a long shot at best, indies have learned to cash in on the small regional music
video shows that are aired on nearly every cable network around the country.
Telemotion’s Laurel Sylvanus says there are at least 150 alternative rock shows and between 150 and 250
rap/R&B shows in existence at any one time. And while many of these programs pop up then quickly
disappear, she says there is “a good, stable population of 100” in each format.
While there are a number of professionally-run commercial programs, the bulk of the market is public
access. “People go in once a week and cut a show,” Sylvanus says. “It’s almost a hobby, but it’s more
intense than that.”
Visions of Wayne and Garth ogling the new Janet Jackson clip from their parent’s basement may pop into
your head, but Sylvanus stresses that these outlets shouldn’t be overlooked. For one thing, there are alot of
them -- “70 percent of the music video shows we deal with,” according to Sylvanus. But even more
importantly, these smaller outlets are extremely open to new forms of music. In fact, they tend to take
somewhat of a renegade stance in their programming.
KVR-TV’s Charlie Barnes notes that his video program has always placed an emphasis on electronica,
which MTV has just caught onto in the past few months. “It’s really funny, because I turn on MTV and they’re
playing the same videos we played two years ago,” he says. “People see what they’re playing as new, but
actually most of the stuff is very old.”
Ed Steinburg, whose Rockamerica company produces video compilations that are played in nightclubs and
retail stores nationwide, says that he ignores typical industry sales techniques. “Anyone can submit a video,”
he states. “If I like it, I use it. I don’t give a fuck [about how big the artist is]. I don’t care if they’re on MTV or
major broadcast outlets.” And sneaking onto one of Steinburg’s tapes can be quite a coup for a developing
band. His most “progressive” reel, for instance, goes into rotation for a full month at seventy to eighty
nightclubs nationwide. Plus, Steinburg says, A&R reps frequently check it out to scout new talent.
The grassroots approach that indie labels have taken has proven to be much more effective than the
majors, who usually spend big bucks and pray MTV picks it up. “Indie labels get a return on their investment
with regional shows . . . because they keep their overhead down,” Sylvanus says. “They don’t come out of it
and say, ‘I didn’t get on MTV, what did I spend all this money for.’ They say, ‘That was great, now what’s our
next video.’”
And in fact, majors are starting to follow the indies’ lead. Sylvanus says that majors sometimes “come to us
to treat their artists like an independent.” Telemotion has recently worked videos for majors like Jewel,
Massive Attack and Korn before they were ready for MTV. Each of these acts did go on to mainstream video
success, and a large part of that was establishing them at the grass roots level.
While cable and public access shows already make music video an important
piece of the promotional mix for indie bands, we may have only seen the tip of the iceberg. If the
predictions of new media gurus come true, underground music video will soon become infinitely more visible.
A handful of Internet companies are currently waging a behind-the-scenes war to develop “video streaming”
systems that have the potential to radically change the face of the music video marketplace. Smart money
is betting on Progressive Networks’ RealVideo software, as the company has already made a big splash with
RealAudio, the widely accepted audio streaming standard. However, companies like Xing, VDONet and
Vosaic are fighting hard and spending big to beat Goliath to the punch.
Regardless of who comes out on top in the video streaming battle royal, one thing is for sure: music video
will wind up with one hell of a new distribution channel. Streaming technology works in an “on-demand”
capacity, meaning that users can access the audio, and soon, video content with a click of the mouse. By
removing the broadcast element of current music video channels, consumers will be empowered with the
ability to watch what they want, when they want. No more endless cycles of Bush - No Doubt - Madonna -
Idalis - Bush - No Doubt - Madonna - Kennedy - etc. Unless that’s what they choose, of course.
Needless to say, marketers in the video industry are ecstatic about the possibilities that video streaming
offers. The technology is hardly up to television quality at this stage, and will not provide mass market
appeal until modem speeds are well above the current 28.8k level. But record companies are gearing up.
Telemotion’s Sylvanus says that Capitol Records has already begun plans to adapt their video production to
fit the limits of streaming technology. Sylvanus also says that Xing is hoping the low equipment and
maintenance costs of its streaming software will attract the public access video programs to Web broadcast
in the very near future.
by Jon Carson
carson@i-cities.com
