I can remember the first music video I ever purchased. I was in seventh grade and had just gotten a purple fifth-generation iPod Nano, which I thought was the single coolest piece of technology ever to grace the earth. Having graduated from my old first-generation iPod Shuffle — which had no screen and basically looked like a white Lego brick with some buttons — I wanted to take advantage of all my new video-playing device had to offer by buying a music video that was conceptually intriguing and artfully made. So, naturally, I bought the music video to Katy Perry’s “Hot N Cold.”

I can’t estimate the number of times I watched that video. Having very little money and a very limited and terrible taste in music meant that my iPod was home to few songs. Throughout long car rides, I would eventually get tired of listening to my Glee: The Music, The Complete Season One album and I would decide to watch the “Hot N Cold” music video, and 10 minutes later I would watch it again and again and again.

Back then, buying music videos barely made sense. I bought the video because I owned a device that could do a fairly limited number of things. In fact, the main selling points of the iPod itself were its music storage, its size and its ability to play videos (music or otherwise). 

We live in a world today in which our phones can do anything — well, most things. If you want to see a music video, you can search it on YouTube. There is no practical reason to spend money on something that you can watch for free anytime without owning it.

Buying a music video isn’t like buying a song or a movie. I’ve never heard people brag that they have an extensive collection of music videos. Yet there they are on iTunes, for sale. 

The simple fact that these videos are still for sale means people are still buying them (“Sonic Highways” is No. 1 on Billboard’s list of top music video sales, followed by Miley Cyrus’ “Bangerz”). But who are these buyers? Who is willing to spend $2 on something so accessible and free?

Not only can you buy music videos on iTunes, but the music-purchasing site also gives you the option to “gift” them to a friend, a gift that instead of continuing to give, seems not to really give anything at all.

Music videos are important and let artists experiment with their craft by allowing fans to see visual representations of their songs. Music videos are compelling, fresh and sometimes shocking. That being said, purchasing a music video just doesn’t make sense anymore. Video may have killed the radio star, but maybe smartphones are about to kill the music video salesman.