Hey, it's Alan, and I just wanted to let you know that you can now listen to the ongoing

history of new music early and ad-free on Amazon music, included with Prime.

The 80s and 90s were the golden age of the music video.

MTV was a powerful musical, cultural, and even political force that extended beyond the United

States. Much music had the Canadian market all to

itself and was minting new domestic stars by the dozen every single year. The same thing with

video channels in the UK, France, Germany, Australia, and everybody else. If you wanted to be a star,

you had to have a video to go with every single you released. And because everyone was making

videos, competition for attention was fierce. Budgets got bigger as production values increased,

with artsy themes, special effects, expensive sets, new video technology, and on-location shoots.

Big name directors were brought in. Some video directors

were so good that they were able to make the jump to TV and movies. They became stars themselves,

David Fincher, Spike Jones, Mark Romeneck. Releases of videos by big stars were cultural events,

and sometimes talked about more than the song itself.

And that's because videos were supposed to say something.

A basic performance clip just didn't cut it anymore.

Artists, looking at their royalty statements, got a bit of a shock.

After being convinced to make a video for a million dollars,

something that happened with even mid-level bands,

they found that money being clawed back from their earnings. A video was promotion, and all promotion was a recoupable expense.

But that could be okay if the video helped the song and the album catch fire. If it resulted

in more radio play and more CD sold, then, well, the cost was worth it.

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