ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates that the major record companies and program services dominate the video music business. Record company executives severely limit the creative freedom of producers and directors by providing strong direction about the content of music videos, although certain established directors infrequently have more creative latitude. Program services like MTV also exercise control by requiring submitted music videos to comply with their standards policies. The relationship between majors and program services like MTV can also be described as an interdependent one where neither party maintains complete dominance. Firms in the music video business developed policies designed to maximize their profit from the production and distribution of music clips. MTV's initial refusal to air Neil Young's This Note's for You video lends credence to the instrumentalist contention that MTV executives intentionally suppressed a video that overtly criticized certain aspects of the economic structure that sustains the program service.
