Another good post. I do feel that many videos are becoming more and more watered down these days. 2009 saw the most recession videos of all time, and a handful of them were done by Beyonce, someone who once was being quite crafty with her videos. I think that directors should be held accountable too, many of them have just run out of ideas and tend to use the same concept over and over again. I guess one could also argue that because channels like BET, MTV, and VH1 barely play videos anymore except late at night until the early morning, that shortens the interest. But to counter that theory, how many of us log on to youtube these days to watch out favorite video, past or present? Lots! Youtube and myspace music,(and once the now defunct "imeem" r.i.p.) are the new MTV, the market is still open. And what is funny is that a lot of those legendary videos like Thriller, didn't even take a ton of expensive locations in order to get the job done. You don't need a complex concept and a large budget to make a nice video. That is what a lot of artists didn't understand last year, they figured since funding was scarce, they would just be lazy and throw something trashy together. All you really need is about 4 simple shots, good lighting, a good editor, and a simple yet effective story. On the other hand, I have seen a lot of videos that did have a large budget, but didn't have an effective theme, or just had too much bling flashing going on to make it worth watching.