With the revolution of social media and websites like YouTube, Vimeo, and Hulu in the 21st century, the music industry has rapidly changed.

Chris Tegge, also known as “the Professor,” a Full Sail University graduate of recording arts and show production & touring, from Gales Ferry, Connecticut, says musicians have always had trouble getting recognized.

He says before the birth of YouTube, musicians would get their work out there through bootlegs, word of mouth, and live shows.

“They had a different kind of challenge than today,” Tegge said. “Now you’re competing with 8 year olds who are putting stuff out.”

According to the Financial Times website, piracy is causing big record labels to no longer foot the bill for big music video productions.

This makes social media, film festivals, and other outlets the only way to get noticed.

The website also reports, in the new digital age, videos are back and bigger than ever.

“YouTube is our modern-day MTV, and it’s just as relevant as MTV was back in its day,” said Kelly Denson, executive producer of Music Video Asheville (MVA). “It gives a national platform to young up and coming artists.”

According to the Observer website, the most searched topic on YouTube in 2014 was music.

Denson says she has been working with MVA for three years. She sees it as a way of putting artists in the spotlight, in a way they might not have been able to in the past.

She calls it her passion project and loves what it does for the community.

“What is so unique about Music Video Asheville is that in this particular community, the musicians and those who are in the music business in this town get to be in the same place at the same time,” Denson said. “I always refer to this event as a family reunion of the Asheville music community.”

Denson says MVA stands out from other music video festivals because it’s condensed into one evening, compared to several days.

Furthermore, MVA opens up submissions in January, and artists can submit their videos with a $15 fee.
She says every person involved, whether it a musician, videographer, or otherwise, must live within a 60-mile radius of Buncombe County, making it locally based.

Denson says the hardest part about MVA is only being able to show 90 minutes of video, making the submission process excruciatingly painful and very competitive.

“I think what’s really great and unique about Asheville is that it’s not that crab in a bucket mentality when everyone’s trying to be better than the other,” Denson said. “Here, yes, there’s a natural competitiveness when you’re doing the same thing, but we use that competitiveness in a positive way. We’re helping each other and working to make this community as a whole better.”

She says on the day of the event, at the Diana Wortham Theatre, there’s a social hour in which guests are flocked with photographers, paparazzi and journalists, as they step on to the red carpet.

“Everybody’s dressed to the nines with a very Asheville flare,” Denson said. “Nobody’s wearing Ferragamo shoes or Vera Wang dresses, but they’re wearing their Asheville finest.”

After the red carpet social, Denson says everyone goes into the auditorium to watch the selected videos. From there, local entertainers present awards with an Oscar-styled ceremony.

Bryan Colston, an Asheville native, and half of the hip-hop duo Crazyhorse & Colston, says he and his partner, Max Hupertz, took home the award for best cinematography two years in a row from MVA.

He says they won awards for their videos “Makeshift Spaceships” and “Soul Driven,” thanks to Andrew Anderson of Double A Productions, who produced and directed them.

Both videos have over 5,000 views on YouTube, and Colston says social media is a great way of getting people to notice musicians. However, he still feels live shows are the most important.

“It’s all about the music; it’s all about how you interact with real people,” Colston said. “You can get gassed up and type whatever you want on that keyboard, but it’s hard to get on stage and not stare at your shoes.”

Colston says it’s hard to get people to watch an entire video these days due to Vine and other sites. He says people have less of an attention span than they use to.

The Medical Daily website reported a study by Microsoft Corporation, which found a human’s attention span to decrease from 12 seconds in the year 2000 to eight seconds in 2015, due to technology.

Furthermore, Colston has always admired music videos and what they do for an audience.

“Think about when you’re a kid and you see somebody’s music video and it does what it’s supposed to do, make it larger than life,” Colston said. “You’re able to give people a vision, so they know exactly what you’re trying to say.”

Musicians might not be putting out videos like Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” anymore, which is considered the most famous music video of all time according to the Rolling Stones website, and cost half a million dollars. However, Kelly Denson believes music videos are still iconic.

She says many people ask her why she throws a music video event when MTV is dead.

“Have you seen Miley Cyrus swinging around on a wrecking ball?” she said. “There are so many music videos, but everybody knows that video.”

Denson says if musicians have something catchy or a wide fan base, word will quickly spread, and social media is a great way of doing that.