Would Richard Bona Succeed in Today's Ecosystem?
The writer reflects on Richard Bona's career arc—ten albums, no solo music videos, yet international jazz recognition—and asks whether such a path remains possible in 2021. The question turns on a shift from the MTV era (when Bona emerged) to the present era of algorithmic content discovery and visual saturation.
Richard Bona has 10 albums. That include single projects, collaborative albums and live albums. Yet the man does not have a single music video.
Yes, he appeared in the video for Charlotte Dipanda's Bodimbea (which, by the way, I think is her most musically-accomplished song), and also for the song he did for the Ngarbuh massacre, which is a rather special song.
Richard Bona is a gifted artist. Certainly the most gifted of his generation. He has constantly preached about the importance of playing live music, and the fact that he is a jazz musician no doubt accentuates the fact that he does not do music videos. I love jazz and I have never really imagined myself watching a Charles Mingus music video.
That being said, Richard Bona came up in the era of the music videos. MTV was popping and a good number of Richard Bona's songs could have definitely made some beautiful music videos. Despite that he flourished and excelled and gained wide recognition and has played in the most prestigious jazz festivals in the world.
That being said, this is the different epoch. Richard Bona may have come up in the era of the music videos, but this is the era of content. Many musicians who were pushed by MTV and other channels thanks to label associations will hardly make it today because there are so many channels to view music from.
My question to you guys is, can a musician today, in 2021, irrespective of the genre, start a career and make it to worldwide, or even continental recognition without music videos?
Is that possible?
Let us hear from you guys in the comment section. Tell us what you think.
- Team Poise
The piece speaks to a moment of rapid change in how music reaches audiences globally. As streaming platforms and social media became the primary listening channels in the late 2010s and early 2020s, musicians faced new pressures to produce visual content alongside recordings. Bona's example—a Cameroonian jazz virtuoso who succeeded without leaning on the music video format—offered a kind of counterpoint to contemporary industry orthodoxy.
The post captures a real tension in contemporary music promotion: whether artistic excellence and live performance could still generate recognition without the visual mediation that platforms now algorithmically favor. It remains relevant because the question of how emerging artists build audiences without institutional backing (labels, MTV-era gatekeepers) is still unresolved; Bona's example suggests that genre, authenticity, and live work can still carry weight, even as the barriers to attention have multiplied.