Huge fan of rock / alternative / folk / indie here but I can't help but wonder why the videos look so cheap. It's only now that they at least try to actually give a f**k about them.
Even low-budget pop / R&B music videos still look better than average budget rock ones. This is why many of the latter look so dated. It's also true for even the high-grossing bands or acts.
I'm just going to use these videos by Fuel as an example:
I love Brett Scallions but these are just... bad.
Even pop rock acts like Imagine Dragons, American Authors and OneRepublic make better videos on a very tight budget. (see: Gold, Something I Need and Go Big or Go Home as examples.)
It's only now that they at least try to actually give a f**k about them.
I disagree. If anyting, rock/alternative/metal MVs had higher qualities back then. Even compared to pop MVs.
if we're talking strictly about budget then yes in general less budget means limited resources to actually utilize 'better' things but creativity doesn't always require bigger budget
but a part of me agrees with your other points. my biggest problem with contemporary rock/alternatives/metal music video is that (from what i see) they lack effort. They have the budget but lack the vision. Sometimes it's the other way around. Relatively well-known band makes a meh video just cause they had a new album out and you're supposed to make a video for the first single. but the video only shows them in hilbilly outfit singing in front of an old house for 4 minutes (Yes i am talking to you All That Remains). that's lazy. but some other bands went the other way, taking risk and materialize their vision into a visual medium that could help the viewers to 'feel' the song even more (talking about Mastodon, now). it's all scattered, really. depends on the band. and the same could be said for any other genre.