‘Video Killed the Radio Star’: The Buggles song that predicted the future
On August 1st, 1981, some 44 years ago, MTV ironically launched by airing a song that would predict the future of music consumption, aptly titled: ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’. The track had been released a few years prior in 1978, a testament to its prescience and catchiness that decades later still stands the test of time, still finding a place on your local DJ’s playlist. The Buggles weren’t the only band to sing this prophecy, as Queen released ‘Radio Ga Ga’ in 1984, a commentary on how television is overtaking radio’s popularity. But there was just a bit more to The Buggles’ effort.
Since then, the music industry has evolved at breakneck speed, and, in many ways, it’s now easier than ever to actually be a musician. Dabbling in a digital audio workstation (DAW) and consistently uploading it online could make you a producer, as in the case of Venjent, or layering bathroom acoustics on CapCut could launch a singer-songwriter. But while access to music creation has expanded, cutting through the noise has arguably never been harder. So this begs the question: how does an artist stay vibrant amongst the constant glowing stream of saturation?
Major labels are pushing artists to focus on their image as much as music, with daily content drops etched in caps as part of the contract. Social media marketing, micro-influencing, TikTok trends, BTS, the list goes on, and I can’t help but wonder if Jeff Buckley or Johnny Cash would have happily shared ‘A Day In The Life…’, or talked us through their rider requests. There’s no shame in playing the game. After all, we can only use the tools available and adapt to the world we live in. But at what point did accessibility become a prerequisite when music itself is something that is supposed to be heard, not seen?
It’s important to note that the discussion extends beyond the music industry and is by no means exclusive. But it does feel like technological advancements have impacted this corner of the world a lot more than others. Social media is an omnipresent portable networking device (amongst many other delights and horrors), offering limitless opportunities to connect with anyone, anywhere—especially those who choose to put themselves out there as creatives.
In 2024, Instagram was ranked as the fourth most visited website in the world, trailing only behind Google, YouTube and Facebook. This year, the number of Instagram users worldwide is expected to rise by 4.44% to 1.47 billion. Digital platforms aren’t showing any signs of retirement, even as conversations increasingly centre around their paradoxical role in making us feel more disconnected than ever. Surely we must stop to ask what this means for artists who want to be heard and not become a spectacle in the process.
“84% of the songs that reached Billboard’s Global 200 last year first went viral on TikTok”.
Music Business Worldwide
It would be unfair to say that radio is dying; it certainly isn’t. But with the rise in competition—podcasts, streaming platforms, and more—radio in its traditional sense has lost dominance in new music discovery. There was a time in the not-so-distant past when radio DJs dictated the next vinyl purchase to add to a proud collection. Artists were associated with cultural subcategories, and their faces remained largely unknown unless featured on a poster or Top of the Pops.
Today, they’re expected to cultivate unique, personal brands in the way of skincare products to maintain a connection with their audience, or perhaps more tragically, their “customer base”. This is where visual content acts as a quick solution—it’s fast, free and flexible. But does it have as much to do with art and the music beneath it?
Yet, not all breakthrough artists have sprung from the merciless TikTok rabbit hole. While there is an element of content production for all musicians on a journey to success, some manage to maintain their reach through live performances and community-driven engagement rather than daily social media updates.
Still, the numbers speak volumes. As Far Out recently noted, 84% of the songs that reached Billboard’s Global 200 last year first went viral on TikTok. Another 12% went viral on TikTok after hitting the Global 200 chart, and only 4% of tracks on the chart didn’t experience such virality.
Steve McCarthy, the programme leader for music business at LCCM, noted, “Influencers and content creators are often paid to promote music.” The line between genuine organic growth and calculated marketing strategies is often blurred, and radio can’t offer anything in a similar vein, so, naturally, labels and businesses gravitate to where the most revenue can be made. It is this modern quirk that is making The Buggles more prescient than ever with their prediction, which, upon release, was actually still rather debatable.
This video culture underscores what we are learning about the evolving digital age—visual media has possibly become a more powerful amplifier than radio when revolutionising music tastes and trends. New artists cutting through the circuit are under constant pressure to cosplay as presenters, journalists, actors and comedians in order to play their intended role as musicians—if it proves much more pervasive than its present level moving forward, video might even kill the musician as we once knew them.
The question remains: is this a natural adaptation to the online era and one we must accept, or have we lost sight of what truly matters in music?
