Next Steps For Music Video How Music Videos Miss Much Of The YouTube Opportunity

The 20,000 Foot View The music video has undergone a major transformation since its original conceptualization in the 1970s and commercialization in the 1980s. Originally a tool to drive sales, MTV transformed it into a product in its own right and then YouTube did the same thing for the digital era. This was not really a problem right up until the 2010s because consumers were still discovering and buying music as a result of watching the video. Now though YouTube, and by default music video, has become the end destination for most consumers – especially younger ones - rather than part of the music discovery journey.

Key Findings

• Music Video            now the main way consumers            with music digitally
• Music video            outgrew audio streams in 2015            music is losing ground on            relative to native creators
• Music artist            label channels represented just            of            most subscribed YouTube channels in            2015 
• Though artist            label channels made up            of            native YouTubers outperformed again with           
           of consumers watch music videos on YouTube while            watched an artist’s YouTube channel
• Video plays            the strengths of smartphones in            that the static audio file           
• YouTube is            media consumption platform of choice            digital natives, especially Generation Edge
           of YouTube music viewers are aged under           
• Fewer than            third of consumers buy music            discovering new acts via streaming
• A quarter            streaming consumers follow newly discovered            on social platforms
• Only            of            viewing growth for YouTube’s fastest            channels are music related
• YouTube stars            the importance of authenticity for             audiencesRecord labels and artists need            build music video strategies designed            YouTube in 2016 not YouTube            2010

Companies mentioned in this report: Comedy Central, Facebook, Instagram, NBC, Spinnin’ Records, Spotify, Twitter, YouTube,