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In the glory days (yes, I am writing about THAT again) there was a trade publication called CVC that covered the ins and outs of the music video industry. CVC was something that insiders subscribed to so they could see who booked which video and which rep signed what hot new director.

In 2004 CVC folded and the editor started a website, Video Static, that does much of the same stuff. It is a very valuable tool for anyone who is in the music video business. The wealth of information on VS is great. It is updated every weekday and I check it on the regulars. The subscription fee for CVC was hefty so looking at some Dip Set banner ads is a small price to pay for all that knowledge.

Anyone interested in music videos, in my opinion, needs to follow the business side of the industry as well. It could be claimed that a director is an artist and he should only think of the videos, but to me, that seems like a chef opening a restaurant and only paying attention to the food while refusing to notice if his new locale is on a busy street or if there are competing restaurants near by. It’s show-business.

The list of what videos get added every week is, by itself, a great learning tool to see which way the wind blows.

This is the path of modern media. Publishing information on paper and sending it through the mail (the old, CVC model) just doesn’t make much sense in 2006. For something as finely niche tuned as Video Static (or this, depressing blog) – the audience is never huge. Music video as a whole seems to journeying on this same path with smaller (but hopefully more fervent) audiences for every niche. Is MTV-Screamo or BET-Hyphy on the horizon? If so, you bet Video Static will have the science.

Labels: music video, videostatic