‘Video Killed The Radio Star’ was the cocky melody that propelled MTV into a household name. There is a bittersweet irony (or perhaps cynicism) in the fact that this would also become the last song the channel played, as they closed all their 24-hour music channels on December 31st 2025. Video did in fact kill the radio star — before getting herself impaled by the rise of streaming.
Whilst most of the nostalgia surrounding MTV lies with those born in the 90s, I still recall fond memories from my childhood of the channel: decorating the Christmas tree with East 17’s ‘Stay Another Day’ playing on the TV, or my older sister’s friends coming over and watching the newest Justin Bieber music video. MTV defined a generation of artists and the visual culture of music throughout the 90s and early 2000s remains so vivid and engrained in our memories because of MTV. The constant 24-hour dissipation of music videos could both propel artists to stardom and entrench their status; one only needs to see pigtails and pink fluffy scrunchies to be reminded of Britney Spears’ iconic ‘Hit Me Baby One More Time.’
This further represents a shift in how we discover new artists; again, long gone are the days when X Factor and MTV were the surefire gateway to success — it is now much more reliant on luck and a song ‘going viral’. Whilst maybe more accessible for new and underfunded artists, sustaining breakout TikTok vitality is hard. Unlike the stardom break-outs of the 2000s when an artist goes viral on TikTok they lack the public image and branding that MTV would provide, as people are less interested in the specific artists, and more a specific song. For emerging artists to repeat this success is often a struggle, one which many fail to achieve.
Furthermore, the death of MTV — obviously — in part highlights the death of the music video. In an era dominated by short-form content, it’s no surprise that labels are spending less on music videos, often drawing in lower views, with many beginning to opt for AI-use too (looking at you, The Life of a Showgirl Promotional Videos). Ultimately, this represents the quiet and upsetting dearth of playful creativity within the industry. Visual culture is increasingly being ignored and diminished as a form of marketing, with labels instead attempting to (rather embarrassingly) manufacture TikTok trends and sound bites. This is futile — 10 years from now I can guarantee I will still remember Carly Rae Jepsen’s ‘Call Me Maybe’ music video more than any two-week trend.
MTV was also integral in shaping fan culture. Shared MTV watch parties, fan clubs and magazines dominated, curating a much more localised and communal culture — a big contrast from the vicious ‘stan Twitter’ seen today. The death of MTV also suggests that such culture is becoming less curated and more algorithmic. MTV’s channels: MTV 80s; MTV 90s; MTV; and Club MTV all were crafted based on an era of music. However, the death of music channels like MTV means that no longer is someone actively deciding when, and who, you listen to but instead an algorithm assumes — a soulless downgrade that often ends up reverting to autoplay.
In turn, the death of MTV represents a growing diminishment of creativity and visual culture within the industry, becoming more algorithmic and AI-based. The nostalgia associated with MTV for many of us amplifies this shift and represents the lack of certainty and definition the industry has going forward.
