From hits to misses: Music industry losing its rhythm

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Remember when we rushed up in the morning to get ready for school, in a hurry but not in the mood to go, and then your favourite song started playing on the 9XM music channel? At that point, you don’t want to leave and stay until the song ends. 

The transition

Gone are those days when you had to patiently sit around in front of the TV, hoping that your favorite song you wished to watch would show up. You are switching between channels to watch that gossip(y) Bollywood stories. Well, do we do that anymore? Sadly no!! 

The emergence of streaming platforms like YouTube, Netflix, Spotify, and Wynk Music has significantly shifted consumer viewing habits away from early-age TV channels like MTV, B4U, Zoom, etc. With streaming services like a vast library of content, easy accessibility, on-demand availability, and interactive and personalized content have drawn the younger generations to move away from the passive viewing experience of traditional music video channels. 

Shift in the business

The streaming revenue and a decline in physical music sales brought significant changes in the music industry. The production cost of recording labels, management, and artists' hard work are to be looked at by themselves. To get their product out into the world, it costs hefty for the artist. They shifted their focus from music videos as a primary marketing tool. With the decline in the importance of music videos for artist promotion and streaming revenue, the record labels reduced their investment in high-budget music video productions, which further contributed to the overall decline in the prominence of music videos.

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Overtaking by social media giants

Remember when we sat and watched the entire music video, seeing our desired actors and celebrities dance and sing? We imitated the steps and rehearsed the lyrics of the song until it was played on the channel. With the decreased attention span for the longer-form music video format nowadays, the young audience post-2012 has become more accustomed to short-form video formats, such as those found on platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts. The ability to discover and share music through social media and streaming algorithms has become more appealing.

With the advancement of technology since the 1990s, the prominence of music videos as a dominant form of music and entertainment consumption has diminished.