Beats & Bytes: I want my Tidal TV

This weekend the world woke up to two internet-shattering video releases. Proving that the music video is back and more relevant than ever.

It’s funny because at one point I thought the internet had killed the music video. Clearly that’s not the case and that’s got me excited about the future. Queen Bey kicked off this video renaissance with her HBO approved Lemonade experience. But Kanye took it to another level. Catching everyone’s attention with his flesh-filled visuals for his song Famous. What I love about Kanye is that in addition to having an extremely provocative video, he also rented out the Forum, sold out tickets and made it an experience.

Then DJ Khaled dropped his new song with Jay-Z and Future. It’s great to see Jay back with another summer anthem. Dear Summer is one of my favorite summer jams. Both videos are available exclusively on Tidal, just like Lemonade. It’s clear that in the race to expand streaming services beyond just music Tidal is winning the game. It almost begs the question when are those Tidal VMAs going to take place?

To add to this we have Facebook Live, Periscope, YouTube’s version coming soon, and more jumping into the live video arena. My bet is that with these tools we’ll see that the music video is once again necessary to stand out from the crowd.

Ultimately I think this re-investment in quality video content is fantastic for artists and fans, because a few year’s back the future of the music video looked bleak. Videos were pretty much only to be found online and there wasn’t the emphasis on quality, leaving videos to be something of an after thought. Not like they were in the Hype Williams era when each video more splashy then the next. I know a lot of people miss that. That Hype Williams VR video experience could be even more next level or imagine that Spike Jones synchronized drone video.

But the tides are once again changing and the art form is back to crucial relevance. This is an opportunity in the space because it’s no longer about MTV video airplay. It’s about capturing the attention of the music world with new technologies, distribution platforms, and artist release strategies. It will be interesting to see how the music industry continues to evolve now that videos are proving to be in many ways more relevant than ever.

– @JesseKay