Iain Duncan asks:
"I would be interested in hearing some suggestions as to how a distinction
can be made between the study of individual music videos and of music channels
such as MTV.  The (few) articles that I have read seem to confuse the two -
it seems to be impossible to talk about music video without mentioning MTV
at some point.  Does music video as it is experienced by most people only
exist as part of a televisual flow?  Or do we think of music videos as
individual works of art?  Does it depend on the particular video or group?
Does this question have any bearing on the difference between watching MTV
and listening to music on the radio?"
 
You're right.  The two are confused too often, or-rather--"MTV" has become
signifier synonymous with "rock music video," simply becuase it did so
much to introduce and spread the form.  But now even The Nashville Network
does videos that have become increasingly sophisticated.
 
The videos on MTV were initially a "televisual flow," but as the channel
has diversified its audiences, it has introduced new formats that appeal to
particular segments of the rock audience (Headbangers Ball, MTV Raps) and
other types of programming (news, talk, Beavis & Butthead, Liquid Dreams,
et al.).
 
There are also undoubtedly videos that stand out in relation to their
identification with particular songs and/or performers.  Michael Jackson and
Madoona's songs are only the most obvious examples.  And while the primary
intent of most videos is commercial (as are Hollywood films and network
tv), other aesthetic, social and personal considerations slip in from time
to time.
 
Give it another decade or less and we'll probably have video-auteur festivals
popping up (as some have here and there already).
 
--Don Larsson, Mankato State U., MN