Music videos aren't what they used to be. Contemporary artists and their collaborating directors are breaking down barriers and reaching fans in exciting and experimental ways. Despite relatively low return on investment, the format continues to be crucial for the development of an artist's identity.

The history of art is fraught with instances of erasure. What is not present, or what is pushed to the background, says as much as what is in focus. With their music video for "APESHIT", Beyoncé and Jay-Z take over the Louvre and draw our attention to what we should have seen all along.

Presenting signifiers of dysphoria and disassociation, Ariana Grande's video for "No Tears Left to Cry" prompts a dive into Mark Fisher's Capitalist Realism. What are the ways difference is sought out in a time when nothing seems to be here? How might these desires for something else be coded within whiteness and projected upon trans* subjectivities?

In Beyoncé and Jay-Z's artistic occupation of the Louvre for "APESHIT", they challenge the history presented by the museum and the art world writ large. Moving, dancing in close proximity to the colonial, they open up space for knowledge generation and new potentialities. The art museum serves as a point of contact between the material and social.

Kahlil Joseph has worked as a director of visual accompaniments to music by artists such as Arcade Fire, Beyonce, Flying Lotus, FKA Twigs and Sampha. Through his collaborations, he creates a framing that gets to the heart of Black life. This article by Hilton Als looks at two of his earlier works and elaborates upon the emotions conjured up by his storytelling.

Rihanna's Unapologetic presents the listener with a pop album that, rather than swelling toward a break through, traverses the mild hills and valleys of a non-place saturated with melancholy. As Robin James explicates, how stars are expected to respond to and overcome grief is deeply racialised and gendered. Instead of pushing for a performed resilience, might there be something to be said for staying with that which oppresses?

From "Formation" to "Just Dance", director and producer Melinda Matsoukas' portfolio is nothing short of prolific. But what sets her apart is an unmatched ability to create works that exude emotion. Normally behind the scenes, this interview brings Matsoukas front and centre.

An inherently visual medium, the music video is always already implicated in the politics of representation. What is there to be read in the music video regarding feminism and feminist theory? Railton and Watson ask this very question and, through a set of case studies, seeks to reveal possible answers.

The music video is a melange of high and low culture, living before, in, and beyond the contemporary. As a medium, it can be a space for the manifestation of the not-yet or a reaffirmation of the established order. Recognising the complexity of the music video as a mode of cultural expression, this collection takes an appropriately multi-sided approach.

Ana DuVerney and Jay-Z present us with a future of The United States that is radically different from its past. When all seems lost, imagining and visualising what can be helps to stay away feelings of political apathy and misanthropy.

Problematising the 'problematic' and working beyond the surface of representation, how might the underlying issues of race be brought into public discourse? A strategy focused on being 'woke' avoids an interrogation of structures that give rise to and perpetuate oppression. Artists like Noname are moving beyond optics into realms of study and structural injustice. 

Television has been crucial for the proliferation of the music video. This exhibition at Museo Jumex in Mexico City presented an artistic exploration of the medium.

Brother Portrait's video for "seeview/rearview" is a multilayered tableaux of Black British experience. Roots and a London-based upbringing merge to create a space requiring rediscovery and reconciliation in the creation of a self. At the same time, the individual and social mix to form a sense of history that affords difference and resonance.

Staging an arrest, adopting and amplifying a catchphrase, and dawning the outrageous are some of the ways Rap artists are finding inroads to relevance. Becoming a meme can be an immensely powerful tool for online marketing. Here are some of the artists that do it the most.

Will popular video games such as Roblox and Fortnight become two of the hottest music venues on the planet? Rethinking live performances for a (post)pandemic future, video games give artists the ability to reach fans regardless of distance. In the interactive, virtual environment of the video game possibilities await to be explored, together.

Music videos aren't what they used to be. Contemporary artists and their collaborating directors are breaking down barriers and reaching fans in exciting and experimental ways. Despite relatively low return on investment, the format continues to be crucial for the development of an artist's identity.

Musical artists operate in a paradigm that affords them an audience and platforms, which they can use to influence the tides of social change. Striking the balance between activism and artistry can be a nearly impossible task. When stretched too far, burn-out can cause both to fall by the wayside.

In Beyoncé and Jay-Z's artistic occupation of the Louvre for "APESHIT", they challenge the history presented by the museum and the art world writ large. Moving, dancing in close proximity to the colonial, they open up space for knowledge generation and new potentialities. The art museum serves as a point of contact between the material and social.

Ana DuVerney and Jay-Z present us with a future of The United States that is radically different from its past. When all seems lost, imagining and visualising what can be helps to stay away feelings of political apathy and misanthropy.

Problematising the 'problematic' and working beyond the surface of representation, how might the underlying issues of race be brought into public discourse? A strategy focused on being 'woke' avoids an interrogation of structures that give rise to and perpetuate oppression. Artists like Noname are moving beyond optics into realms of study and structural injustice. 

Protests carried out over virtual platforms can have material effects. Then-President Donald Trump expected to find a sell-out crowd when he arrived for a campaign rally in June of 2020. Instead, over two-thirds of the venue's booked seats remained mute and empty.

Music videos aren't what they used to be. Contemporary artists and their collaborating directors are breaking down barriers and reaching fans in exciting and experimental ways. Despite relatively low return on investment, the format continues to be crucial for the development of an artist's identity.

Can we have this dance, virtually? Under restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 outbreak, dancers have had to find new means and spaces for practising and learning together. In an ad hoc manner, a kitchen is morphed into a (cramped) ballroom.

A response to a pandemic that asks for social isolation, virtual avenues to clubbing attempt to create a safe space for song, dance, and hanging out. But these international, online gatherings are not without their complications. Should these Zoom parties continue to rage past the pandemic, the organisers will need to come to grips with issues of data insecurity and hate speech.

Restricted to their homes, unable to host large on-set production teams, artists are devising new ways of shooting music videos during a pandemic. With a low-budget aesthetic or an increased focus on post-production, pandemic-proof music videos show that artistry does not stop even under the most isolating of circumstances.

MTV made the music video a (brief) fascination of media studies. In the time since the channel's launch, this initial enthusiasm has faded. In Music Video after MTV, Korsgaard brings a scholarly lens to the academically neglected medium. A mountain of untouched history means there is much to be analysed.

Dance music, traditionally reliant on spaces of congregation, would seem to be ill suited for an increasingly digital world. However, artists and collectives are finding ways to utilise the affordances of an online environment for their ends. Creating worlds, these virtual pioneers are making a space for dance music across digital networks.

With a reflection upon the architectural history of performance spaces used in popular music, Kronenburg investigates the role of the spatial in musical performance. From the improvised to the thoroughly planned, stage design has become an industry in its own right. With many hands involved in the process of conceptualisation, production and implementation, stages present all the complexities of traditional architecture and more.

Protests carried out over virtual platforms can have material effects. Then-President Donald Trump expected to find a sell-out crowd when he arrived for a campaign rally in June of 2020. Instead, over two-thirds of the venue's booked seats remained mute and empty.

What are the ways in which the music video reflects and shapes our lives? Carol Vernallis traces the dialectic between lived reality and artistic expression via the music video. Paying equal attention to the visual and auditory opens up a web of relationality that reveals as much about us as it does the artist.

In the second edition of their Video Vortex series, the Institute of Network Cultures expands its investigation into online video and digital distribution platforms. Sourcing contributions from across disciplines (including an article by For The Record research fellow Albert Figurt), Video Vortex Reader II presents a multifaceted study of the state and implications of online video beyond YouTube.

Musical artists operate in a paradigm that affords them an audience and platforms, which they can use to influence the tides of social change. Striking the balance between activism and artistry can be a nearly impossible task. When stretched too far, burn-out can cause both to fall by the wayside.

The history of art is fraught with instances of erasure. What is not present, or what is pushed to the background, says as much as what is in focus. With their music video for "APESHIT", Beyoncé and Jay-Z take over the Louvre and draw our attention to what we should have seen all along.

In Beyoncé and Jay-Z's artistic occupation of the Louvre for "APESHIT", they challenge the history presented by the museum and the art world writ large. Moving, dancing in close proximity to the colonial, they open up space for knowledge generation and new potentialities. The art museum serves as a point of contact between the material and social.

Kahlil Joseph has worked as a director of visual accompaniments to music by artists such as Arcade Fire, Beyonce, Flying Lotus, FKA Twigs and Sampha. Through his collaborations, he creates a framing that gets to the heart of Black life. This article by Hilton Als looks at two of his earlier works and elaborates upon the emotions conjured up by his storytelling.

Rihanna's Unapologetic presents the listener with a pop album that, rather than swelling toward a break through, traverses the mild hills and valleys of a non-place saturated with melancholy. As Robin James explicates, how stars are expected to respond to and overcome grief is deeply racialised and gendered. Instead of pushing for a performed resilience, might there be something to be said for staying with that which oppresses?

From "Formation" to "Just Dance", director and producer Melinda Matsoukas' portfolio is nothing short of prolific. But what sets her apart is an unmatched ability to create works that exude emotion. Normally behind the scenes, this interview brings Matsoukas front and centre.

Ana DuVerney and Jay-Z present us with a future of The United States that is radically different from its past. When all seems lost, imagining and visualising what can be helps to stay away feelings of political apathy and misanthropy.

Problematising the 'problematic' and working beyond the surface of representation, how might the underlying issues of race be brought into public discourse? A strategy focused on being 'woke' avoids an interrogation of structures that give rise to and perpetuate oppression. Artists like Noname are moving beyond optics into realms of study and structural injustice. 

Brother Portrait's video for "seeview/rearview" is a multilayered tableaux of Black British experience. Roots and a London-based upbringing merge to create a space requiring rediscovery and reconciliation in the creation of a self. At the same time, the individual and social mix to form a sense of history that affords difference and resonance.