From Lightning Rod to Promotional Must: Hitting Rewind on Billboard’s Coverage of the Music Video

This year’s MTV Video Music Awards will take place Sept. 11, a full four decades since the first VMAs helped the nascent cable network make a place for itself, as well as the music video format. Back then, some executives already had a crystal-clear picture of its possibilities, while others just saw static. Video eventually migrated from TV screen to mobile phone, cable to Internet. Billboard has been binge-watching the entire time.

Monkee Business

Groups from ABBA to Queen had made videos since the 1970s, but it took one of The Monkees to see the future. A full year before MTV went live, the March 1, 1980, issue of Billboard reported on Mike Nesmith’s Nickelodeon TV series, Popclips. “The concept is to feature video images with songs separated by a videodisk jockey,” an article explained. Nesmith predicted that “every professional musician” would soon have to adapt. Was this “MTV see, Monkee do”?

Full Speed Ahead

Then came the new wave flood. Elektra chairman Bob Krasnow told Billboard in an Aug. 25, 1984, article that “MTV exposure for the accompanying videos” fueled The Cars’ Heartbeat City album. Others hit the brakes. “I think those people who are out spending, trying to cash in on new technology, will get their fingers burned,” predicted another executive in the same issue. A Sept. 1, 1984, op-ed shared a fear that video would kill the radio star: “How many of the superstars of yesterday… would be denied contracts in 1984 because of a perceived ‘lack of viability’ as video artists?”

Ride the Wave

Fans wanted their MTV. “Our research shows that young record buyers are greatly affected by the channel’s airplay and promotional efforts,” reported the Sept. 8, 1984, Billboard, and “40.1% of those influenced by MTV” preferred new wave. That was reflected by the winners at the first VMAs, which took place Sept. 14, 1984, including The Cars, Cyndi Lauper and Eurythmics. But the big winner was the channel itself. “When MTV signed on in August 1981,” declared the Oct. 13, 1984, issue, “music videos changed the face of rock in the blink of an eye.”

Computer Love

With the new millennium came a new frontier. In the Sept. 4, 2004, issue, Billboard predicted that “two new mobile platforms hitting the market this year” — the Palm and Pocket PC — “represent what will become a powerful new way to distribute and consume music and music videos.” Handheld devices, it predicted, would “become a key part of the modern lifestyle.”

YouTube-ular

By the mid-2000s, industry executives longed for reruns of the days “when music videos, not longform reality and lifestyle programs, ruled the roost at MTV,” reported the Feb. 12, 2005, issue. “My biggest disappointment is that there’s no longer an ‘M’ for music in MTV,” said Clive Davis. And as the airwaves dried up, data streams began to flow. The Oct. 14, 2006, issue reported that “online sites such as MySpace, YouTube and Yahoo are pursuing [MTV’s] audience” for music videos. Seven years later, the Billboard Hot 100 began blending YouTube streams into its data pool.

This story appears in the Aug. 31, 2024, issue of Billboard.