Music Vids Shrink as $$$ Fade

A music industry headed for financial crash-and-burn has radically downsized its once-extravagant videos, the AP reports. Viewers of today’s MTV Video Awards will see more single-camera videos and quirky YouTube-inspired concepts that save cash—all suited for play on small screens. "A comet hit the earth and the dinosaurs are dying," says video director Samuel Bayer. "There's a new age coming.”

Bayer’s recent "What Goes Around... Comes Around" clip for Justin Timberlake is a big-budget exception that snagged numerous VMA noms. But Beck is more in sync with his homemade videos, which highlight puppets of the band and a dancer sporting poncho and bear mask. "This is more a punk-rock aesthetic," says one author. "It's very exciting." (More Justin Timberlake stories.)