That's a little bit of a dramatic title, but I think now that we've made a decision to put ourselves out there in the world as the music video database, we need to put out a reason for our existence beyond just the fact that we like music videos. The truth is, we can't build the music video database without you, so why does IMVDb exist and why should you contribute to it?

Music videos are misfits. It's a medium that was created by its own method of distribution (cable TV), caused a huge cultural movement, but were then essentially abandoned by the thing that made them. Music videos are not short films, so they don't fit into the database structures of the film databases. They aren't commercials, but they are promotional tools. They are the most popular form of online entertainment, but they are often not taken very seriously. In short, music videos are weird.

That uniqueness has led to an unfortunate reality: music videos have no real standard home on the web that's built just for them. YouTube pages can be taken down or moved. Music videos are too short to have their own websites, like films and TV shows do. Just like in the days of MTV, their existence is ephemeral.

The same unfortunate reality has affected the way music videos are credited as well. It's not uncommon for a major music video to be released with no mention whatsoever of who made it. Not even a director or production company - it's like they arrived into the world with no creator whatsoever. If there are credits, they are banished to the description text box of their video host where they are just a long list of names with no real use.

That's a depressing reality for an art form that is not only incredibly popular, but amazingly versatile. What other medium can you hit "play" on and truly not know what is going to appear on your screen? It could be anything from a performance to a story to an experimental visual; music videos have many conventions and barely any rules. They can introduce countries to entire genres of music and launch careers. And if you don't think music videos are popular anymore, take a look at the top 20 most viewed videos of all time on YouTube.

Music videos need a home on the web - and we believe that IMVDb is the right place for them. When a video has an IMVDb entry, it has a home on the internet. Credits that were just inert text data become connections between real artists, people, and companies. As we grow, we can make connections out of data that didn't exist before. There really has never been a comprehensive music database before, and the possibilities of what can be done with it are extremely exciting.

But there are a lot of music videos, and we're not hoping to have some music videos in our database, we want all of the videos in our database. We can't do it alone. If we added videos all day and night it wouldn't do any good - a database is a community project.

So why is IMVDb the place to store this important data? We've built, and are continuing to build on, a really smart structure for a music video database. We've thought about, tackled, and continue to tackle the unique issues of a music video database since 2010, and we think we've got it right. We think it's the right time, and the right place.

So if you believe in music videos as a cultural and economic force, we need your help:

- If you represent a production company, get in touch with us. We can make it very easy for you to have your information consistently added to IMVDb. It could be as easy as you emailing us a call sheet for new productions.

- Get on our IMVDb users mailing list (if you have an IMVDb account, we've added your name to the list). This is where we'll send periodic emails about new database features. Trust us, there is some great stuff coming up that you'll want to know about.

- If you have an IMVDb profile page, apply to manage it (just go to your page and click the apply to manage link). It just takes a second, and then you can update your basic information. A lot of upcoming features center around managing a profile.

- If something doesn't work, let us know. Email me at adam@imvdb.com and let me know the issue. The more bugs we discover, the more we can fix.

- Add a video. This is an important one. The video adder is available to any logged in IMVDb user. You don't need to be in the music video industry to add a video - all submissions are moderated, and we accept submissions from anyone from directors to fans.

We want IMVDb to be more than just a big website of music videos, we want IMVDb to be the canonical place for music videos, built by the community who enjoys and makes them. Let's get started!

Adam Fairholm is the co-founder and lead developer of IMVDb. You can find him on twitter at @adamfairholm.