y.e.a.r.n. for music videos 2

Music videos - the wonderful window into an artist's visual soul. They have been around for a long time, inspiring, connecting and bringing people closer to the music they love.

MTV brought them into the mainstream like never before: a 24/7 music video channel, entering people’s daily lives. Suddenly, music videos were intrinsically connected to an artist’s identity and brought audiences closer to them, in a more tangible way than the radio could. However, through the years, after the development of first YouTube and then of streaming music platforms, MTV lost its audience and fell in demise, closing down in 2025. The practice of sitting down and intentionally watching a music video channel was lost to the convenience of social media algorithms and streaming platforms. The good side of this is that anyone can upload their music video onto these platforms, with no big label that gets to decide what may or may not be shown. However, this democratisation comes at the cost of a challenge for visibility, which is shaped by people’s algorithms. And this, in turn, is still influenced by the structures and institutions that have made the music industry a space where independent artists struggle to survive. For them, the challenge is still how to showcase their work and reach the audiences that will connect to and support their artistic journey.

We’re now at a point of fast consumption where if something doesn’t immediately grasp your attention it might be swallowed by the algorithm into irrelevance.

We’re now at a point of fast consumption where if something doesn’t immediately grasp your attention it might be swallowed by the algorithm into irrelevance. But for us, music videos don’t fit into this mode of functioning and deserve more than a four- second watch and scroll. That’s why we made a whole night for them to be in the spotlight. And this night is specifically dedicated to the artists from our local scene in Tthe Netherlands, with the intention of promoting a new way of engaging with this art form.

This got us thinking, why do we love music videos so much? This brought us back to our childhoods and recalling what our first memories of it were.

Back in 2010, on our family iPod we were synchronised in our obsession with watching music videos. Jeanne from the moment she watched Nobody by Wonder Girls (an iconic K-pop girl group), and Maria from the moment she watched Telephone by Lady Gaga. There was no social media as we know it today, so music videos were a magical portal into the universe of our favourite artists; they shaped what we knew of them and changed our relationship and connection with them. Suddenly, there was an entire cinematic masterpiece that would replay in our heads every time we heard ‘Telephone’ on the radio. 

What’s even more magical, is that this is still how we feel about music videos to this day - despite the fast format of social media, music videos are still an iconic medium where artists can express their entire artistic vision for their music and the story they so urgently want to tell through visuals. We think one of the best parts of the YouTube music-video-ificiation of it all, is to see just how DIY music videos can get - from fan parody music videos circa the 2010s to underground artists making music and music videos in their house (see early brockhamptom music videos). People had quickly realised you didn’t need a bajillion - euro production budget to make your visual dreams come true. 

Beyond this nostalgic attachment, we also adore hanging out together and with friends on a couch and watching an endless stream of music videos we still hold close to our hearts. We wanted to recreate this experience by hosting a live event where we could screen music videos and watch them together with like-minded obsessed people. At the same time, we were finishing up our own music video, so we thought: ‘What if we actually turn this into a music video screening night with local/underground bands only? As fate would have it, many of our friends in other bands were also releasing music videos around the same time - so we took this as a positive omen.

We had so much fun at the first edition, and we are so excited to announce we will be hosting a second edition of ‘y.e.a.r.n. for music videos’ on September 16th at the Ventilator Cinema. We have invited Dear Omen, My Purse and Katie Bitchcoin to showcase their music videos, and through a Q&A moderated by our dear friend Emma, they will discuss their creative process and what inspired their vision.

Each of these artists has crafted a unique sonic universe with iconic visuals and a fever- dream-feeling to their music videos, and we’re so excited to dive into each one of them. Come and bring your friends to discover new artists and yearn for music videos with us.

Event info and tickets