Few will argue that the music industry has been raped and pillaged by the proliferation of easily accessible first generation digital copies of their product. One of the last bastions they have is the concerts, merchandise and of course, music videos. However, since "Video Killed The Radio Star" echoed through the airwaves in 1981 on MTV, the format has remained largely unchanged, except for larger budgets and more credibility. MTV based their entire line up around the notion of music videos, but today has moved away from the medium that made it so popular. As an artist, it was a huge milestone to get yourself on MTV in your own music video. Depending on your viewpoint, it was the official sign you've made it, or sold out. The budget you'd need to make a music video was prohibitive, and then finding an audience was nearly impossible without the ubiquitous music television.
Thirty years later, almost everything that started the medium has changed. Suddenly, you needn't have a huge budget in order to make a music video. "Prosumer" video cameras have opened up professional quality recording to average Joe's. The ability to create something professional and then syndicate it to a huge audience has never been easier with the invention of modern compression codecs, high speed internet, and huge audiences at sites like YouTube, Vimeo and Facebook. The barrier to entry to share a fim accompaniment to your music has been almost eliminated. Unfortunately, this has lead to a flooding of the market. Almost 7 million videos are returned for "Music Video" on YouTube.
In this crowded market, it's even more important to differentiate yourself. If you're a relatively obscure artist....
