Key Institutions

With the huge recent explosion of the internet since around the year 2002 music video showcasing has been dominated by YouTube, Vevo YouTube music channel and the TV channels MTV, 4 Music and Viva. These are all Huge conglomerate companies or really high up subsidiary companies. They work to a profit. This means that they only showcase the music videos with the largest followers. This is to retain the largest viewer numbers possible. YouTube pay channels when they reach a certain number of subscribers and can also pay per view. this allows the large channels like VEVO with 7.76 million subscribers to make a lot of money. for some bands the music video is seen as just as important as the music itself and VEVO is the place where they can share their videos."The concept for Vevo is a Hulu for music videos, with the goal being to attract more high-end advertisers." They make their money from a merchandise store and links to places to buy the song being viewed.

MTV, 4 Music and Viva are the top 3 TV music stations. they show the top 40 singles in the charts at the time. They show the top 40 along with the accompanying video. millions of people tune in to see the top 40 and prefer to do so than listening to it on the radio because its more interesting due to them showing the video and not just the music itself.

All of these channels help to promote the musicians that they play exposing them to huge viewer numbers. They also allow viewers to feel like they are in a group (uses and gratifications of media). This allows them to feel part of a group giving them things to converse about. e.g. "did you see the new video for Coldplay on VEVO."