though some artists had made video clips to accompany songs (including queen themselves; for example, their earlier singles "keep yourself alive", "liar", "seven seas of rhye" and "killer queen" already had "pop promos", as they were known at the time), it was only after the success of "bohemian rhapsody" that it became a regular practice for record companies to produce promotional videos for artists' single releases. "the guardian" stated it "ensured videos would henceforth be a mandatory tool in the marketing of music". these videos could then be shown on television shows around the world, such as the bbc's "top of the pops", without the need for the artist to appear in person. a promo video also allowed the artist to have their music broadcast and accompanied by their own choice of visuals, rather than dancers such as pan's people. according to may, the video was produced so that the band could avoid miming on "top of the pops" since they would have looked off miming to such a complex song. he also said that the band knew they would be set to appear at dundee's caird hall on tour, a date which clashed with the programme, thus a promo would solve the issue. the video has been hailed as launching the mtv age.