How MTV Destroyed Their Network (They Gave Up On Music)

whether it was the 80s where they played music videos 24 7 the 90s with the real world beavis and butthead yomtv raps the 2000s with trl true life jackass spring break cribs the 2010s with jersey shore and teen mom or sadly today with 24 hours straight of ridiculousness mtv holds a special place in all of our hearts they define generations of youth culture inspired and changed music forever but as the years went on they slowly lost their identity struggled to maintain profitability and failed to adapt to the rapid shifting media landscape this is the amazing rise and sad slow downfall of music television stay hydrated this is the very first segment that ever aired on mtv [Music] ladies and gentlemen rock and roll the rocket blasting off was a beautifully artistic way to introduce the network that would dominate popular culture for the next 20 to 30 years this first broadcast which was on august 1 1981 was only available in certain parts of new jersey as if it couldn't get any more artistic the first song they ever telecasted was video killed the radio star by the buggles [Music] mtv would go on to play almost exclusively music videos 24 hours a day seven days a week for six years straight but even if it wasn't music videos it was still one hundred percent music related programming that's a lot of demand to keep up with if only there was a little cheat code to making music production and songwriting more accessible and efficient luckily today we have song starter song starter provides high quality pre-produced beats with downloadable stems and midi royalty free you can edit and rearrange these elements reducing the pressure of creating a song from scratch go to the catalog section to hear some beats [Music] let's say you like this one but you want to make some changes click download each download credit is exchangeable for one instrumental but you can get all the stems for five credits throw the files into your daw of choice chop it up and make something original out of it and boom writer's block gone advanced producers can earn money and win prizes for their beats being featured in song starters catalog go to the submissions tab upload original instrumentals with no samples loops or external music services and get paid up to 250 if approved by song starter get 25 credits for free when you subscribe to song starter before august 1st just click the link below and use my coupon code patrickcc25 so when you see comments that say i miss when mtv used to only play music those people are most likely ages 43 and older because that's how old you would have to be to remember that what i'm saying is it's been a very long time since mtv only showed music sorry to 20 of my audience range i didn't mean to dis y'all remember music videos were basically unheard of at this point mtv was a huge reason why artists became interested in creating music videos because they now had a network that would distribute them to the audience in the beginning a lot of the same videos got played since they didn't have that many options but pretty quickly it became an industry standard for artists to create a music video for a single or album during the 80s the only break from music videos on mtv would be for video jockeys who would give an intro or an outro to a song give a quick little backstory to a band or a song maybe some general music news but this only took up a few minutes of air time and behold a new concept is born the best of tv combined with the best of radio the first shows on mtv were still 100 music focused profiles and rock fast forward heavy metal mania the cutting edge these were programs dedicated to documenting and discussing music rather than just watching music videos mtv hosted the first annual video music award show in 1984 which would bring even more relevance and importance to the music video in itself i'm very confident in saying that music videos are still extremely important today and that they wouldn't be what they are without mtv's vision in 1986 they broadcasted the first annual spring break coverage college kids partying down in florida had been a cultural norm for americans since the 1930s but in 1985 all hell broke loose when 370 000 kids showed up to fort lauderdale which led to 2 500 arrests mtv's coverage over the years made kids all over the world yearn for the day that they could visit florida and party on the beach for a week unfortunately mtv wasn't very profitable as a 100 percent music-based network they did not have to pay to play these music videos which was good but they also did not get paid by record labels to play them so the only way they could make money was by selling ad spots which is essentially the backbone of how tv shows and now content creators make money as ubiquitous and all-encompassing music is music content is actually very niche so getting people to watch mtv for long periods of time was difficult and obviously the more people watching the more advertisers are willing to spend meaning the more money you're gonna make 100 of you watching this like music a significantly smaller percentage of you like watching music content at least consistently you click over to mtv a song is playing that you like you stay and watch the moment they play a song you don't like you click off let's say they're doing a biography on a band you don't like or that you don't know most of you click off chances are you'd rather spend your time learning about a band you do like so all of us like music but actually only a small group of very open-minded people like watching learning about and listening to music that we either don't know or are unsure if we like or not granted there was no other music channel back in the 80s so maybe people were a bit more complacent but mtv still prioritized top 20's hits and repeated the same popular songs you were hearing on the radio it was a safe way to keep people's attention but angered the niche community of people who wanted fresh music content the financial struggle reached a tipping point and it was time for them to pivot before the whole network collapsed from 1987 to 1996 mtv debuted 39 non-music related shows and 51 music related shows cutting the network in half basically with only 56 music content the other percentage represents shows where it's kind of music related but mostly not so yeah remote control december 7 1987 was a game show marking the first ever non-music show aired on music television ratings were at an all-time low but the game show boosted their numbers by a lot remote control was a jeopardy style show where contestants picked a general category and had to answer trivia questions about that category the theme was centered around pop culture music and movies and the prizes were music centered as well so it didn't seem like it was out of place on mtv from here the network added animated series to their lineup of programs stevie and zoya were roughly 60 second shorts that would air randomly during commercial breaks about two teens that thwart super villains plots liquid television a more notable animated series would air june 2nd 1991 it was a compilation of animated shorts by independent artists beavis and butthead was first featured here and would go on to receive its own very successful spin-off the shorts were often strange but comical for example a parody of melodramatic soap operas but with actual soap you're so transparent i know you still want me you're wrong look me in the eyes and say that you don't have eyes faster aren't you the major cultural change would come in 1992 with the real world mtv took seven strangers all in their 20s and put them in a new york city apartment to live together for a few months it was the first unscripted reality show on television it was a massive success also sidenote i randomly went back and watched this first season and is very good i recommend it the cast was very well chosen a good mix of people who would never ordinarily live together these seven strangers became a representation of what the 90s youth was like talking social issues racism gender roles sex mtv gave a platform to the people of the black latino lgbtq communities who were underrepresented in mainstream media at the time norman was even the first openly bisexual man on television the show was raw and real and you could feel it when you watched it the term reality television comes from the real world mtv literally invented reality tv which we all know ended up becoming more important than their origins as the music network one thing a lot of people don't give mtv credit for is that they continuously try to produce music related shows as you can see there's an extensive list of shows most of these only ran for a year or less for one simple reason people didn't watch them why we talked about it before everyone likes music but music content is niche it's easy to skip i'm sure if mtv had music related shows that were popular and profitable they would have stuck with them well they did actually have a couple yo mtv raps running from 1988 to 1995 this was the first hip hop music show on the network the show was two hours long and would feature rap videos interviews with rap stars and live in studio performances many iconic groups and artists would be able to tell their stories and show the real culture of rap music from the perspective of the artists who created it the notorious b.i.g explained how he met diddy my man maddie c got with puff and puff said he wanted to do something new for uptown and he heard the little little garbage demo you know he just knew he just told me that he knew i could rap tupac explained how he got into music shock was like come on come on the road you could be my roadie you know what i'm saying and ain't gonna be glamorous but you'll be working you'll be meeting people the wu-tang clan performed cream live [Music] it was a hip-hop head's paradise and helped rap music become accepted as a mainstream genre the grind airing in 1992 was another hip-hop centric show featuring the hottest new rap and hip-hop records in a club-like atmosphere with young people dancing and enjoying the music the dance party would be punctuated by short clips of the respective tracks music video you could feel like you were at the club and maybe even learn a few new dance moves from the comfort of your living room they did have some music related hit shows but it's not like the other shows they put on the network at the time were so left field that they didn't contribute to the musical zeitgeist at all beavis and butthead is an iconic cartoon that was about two stoners who watched music videos on their couch while celebrity deathmatch was about celebrities a lot of the times musicians fighting to the death mtv was creating culture however some of their audience still wanted just music which they were providing with programs like the top 20 video countdown and mtv unplugged but it wasn't enough so in 1996 on their 15th anniversary they launched m2 later becoming mtv2 which was then going back to their origins of just playing music videos 24 7. if you only wanted music you could go over to their second channel and consume just that which is basically what i did with my second youtube channel it's all music related content mtv2 would play an hour long day long sometimes even one weekend long segment dedicated to just one band music videos from all different kinds of artists in all genres they even attempted to play every music video in their catalog in alphabetical order to no surprise mtv2 was not a huge hit music fans love to point the finger at mtv and blame them for broadcasting non-music shows but failed to tune in when the network created something music related or maybe it was just the casuals that didn't tune in so the actual music fans represented such a small percentage of mtv's viewership that it wasn't enough to keep the network profitable from 1997 to 2008 mtv debuted 151 non-music related shows and 56 music related shows now only 25 of the network was music content at the turn of the century mtv played and a half percent fewer music videos mtv president van toffler stated clearly the novelty of just showing music videos has worn off it's required us to reinvent ourselves to a contemporary audience can we really blame mtv which at the end of the day is just a business for simply listening to the data and investing into the content that their audience is watching music is deeply rooted in all aspects of pop culture it was becoming evident that people would rather listen to music in their headphones on their way to work in school or at a party not on tv however we are about to enter in what my generation would argue as the best mtv era trl aired september of 1998 the 10 most requested music videos of the day as voted by viewers via phone and later the internet would be played in a top 10 style celebrity guests would also make appearances and have short informal interviews with the host carson daly the energy was always high on trl due to it being broadcasted live in front of a studio audience you could hear the cheers of the crowd as the next celebrity guest was introduced the studio was located in times square large crowds would gather outside the studio hoping to catch a glimpse of their favorite artists by 2000 it was one of mtv's most watched programs due to its popularity it became an important promotional tool for artists i think in the dead center of the music industry trl is certainly maybe the most important thing at the moment for these top 10 artists the backstreet boys were at their peak in the early years of trl they made an appearance may 18 1999 to promote their new album millennium which was released that day the album would go on to be certified 13 times platinum we can't accredit this success to trl entirely but it certainly helped so many fans showed up outside the trl studio during their appearance that the nypd were forced to shut down the roads in times square one of the world's busiest intersections a number of other culturally iconic moments would happen on trl over the next couple of years may 2000 eminem would host his own version of trl dubbed mtv where he referred to music videos from the backstreet boys nsync and britney spears as trash yesterday on crl we saw britney spears nsync the backstreet boys and a bunch of other trash he played his own top 10 rather than a typical fan voted as well as parodying popular mtv shows making fun of the trl vjs and dissing popular musicians 2002 beyonce and jay-z would seemingly make their first public debut as a couple performing o3 bonnie and clyde 2003 p diddy and britney spears made an appearance where diddy ran on a treadmill for an hour in preparation for the new york city marathon while britney dabbed the sweat from his forehead with a towel drill in the early 2000s was a cultural moment that i don't think could be recreated the early 2000s was also booming with iconic and creative mtv shows the tom green show boiling points jackass viva la bam wild boys punk'd making the band true life date my mom room raiders next parental control high school stories my super sweet 16 pimp my ride the andy malinaka show made robin big cribs and so many more mtv was absolutely crushing it with ideas it was these shows that would be the foundation for content creators on youtube who still to this day are basically making the 2022 version of an old mtv show the shows that weren't about music i will admit were drifting further and further away from having any music relevance however they still had shows like runs house which was a reality show about run dmc his life keeping viewers in touch with hip-hop culture the osbornes which followed ozzy osbourne his family heavy metal culture meet the barkers which followed travis barker punk emo culture ashley simpson show pop music culture a lot of these shows were unique they were weird very cringy and most of them didn't age well but they took elements of different music cultures and brought them together to one network you could even argue that the most diverse time for popular music in general was in the early 2000s mtv was the entertainment industry and was this beautifully chaotic representation of so many different kinds of personalities and cultures the generation before it hated it of course because they remembered mtv as just music videos and the occasional boring biography about how kenny loggins grew up in washington and started his first high school band that was boring music has always been about personality about style it's more than just melodies and instruments mtv may have been playing a small percentage of music on television but they defined a generation of musical artists how they act how they dress how they relate to the youth all by giving them a platform to millions of global viewers every day they were doing so great with non-music related stuff but they almost gave up entirely from 2008 to 2016 mtv debuted 101 non-music related shows and five music related shows now only five percent of the network was music content music videos were featured on mtv up to eight hours per day in 2000. the year 2008 saw an average of just three hours of music videos per day trl's relevance dwindled and the ratings were at an all-time low some people say it's because of carson daly leaving but it's tough to really pinpoint why some things just become less cool over time the kids who used to stand out in times square for three hours to get a glimpse of the back of justin timberlake's head grew up they are now in crippling college debt and working in a cubicle hating their lives while kids like me were hooked on the disney channel nickelodeon and cartoon network in 2008 they officially canceled trl with a special three hour episode on the non-music front mtv still had popular shows in fact they were the only shows keeping the cache flowing for the network robin big fantasy factory nitro circus america's best dance crew silent library bully beat down the hills my super sweet 16 maid jersey shore teen mom the great social media emergence was happening and truthfully tv in general was struggling just before everyone jumped ship mtv had a couple shows with record-breaking numbers jersey shore aired december 3rd 2009 to 1.38 million viewers eight housemates would live together at a vacation home in seaside heights new jersey which is also where my first job was the show would often focus on the cast going out to clubs getting way too drunk the occasional fight plenty of drama and the tumultuous relationships between cast members it wasn't an instant hit but after the first season drew huge viewership season 2 premiered to 5.25 million viewers and by season 3 8.4 million viewers turned in for the premiere making it mtv's highest viewed telecast ever it would break that record again with 8.87 million viewers for season 3 episode 4. throughout the six seasons they would average about 5.8 million viewers across the whole series four of the cast members would go on to receive their own spin-off series on mtv and the anonymous letter to sammy would go on to become one of the best memes ever sam the first night at bed when you left ron made out with two girls and put his head between a cocktail waitress's breasts also was grinding with multiple fat women teen mom december 8th 2009 aired to 2.1 million viewers this would follow the lives of several young mothers navigating the hardships of being a teen mom with a focus on their complicated family and romantic relationships the series would grow to pull in 5.6 million viewers for the finale of the second season teen mom would actually have a positive impact on the youth mtv 16 and pregnant and teen mom led to a 5.7 reduction in teen births this series would also endure the test of time with its original series renamed t-mom og and its many spin-offs still being aired on the network till this day catfish is another program that since its first episode in 2012 is still being shown on the network today this series focuses on the deception of individuals making fake profiles on social media sites and essentially lying to become romantically involved with an unsuspecting victim the producers would then set up a meeting between the catfish and the victim who had never met in real life previously this would often lead to great disappointment because the catfish was not who they presented themselves to be online they would look entirely different not live the lifestyle they described and sometimes not even be the sex they had presented as obviously you're not a man obviously this obviously led to some pretty good tv with very real reactions ranging from disbelief sadness anger and the occasional you know what we can make this work excuse me one thing right now one thing you're gonna like you're gonna learn to love it too what the hell are you talking about what's going on i'm gonna be the one wearing the pants and this one understand that dude you're being come here we're gonna talk we gotta win willy wing guys do we don't talk are you kidding me you could still be my chocolate kiss too you don't forget about that baby the 2011 vmas would become the most watched broadcast in mtv history pulling in a whopping 12.4 million viewers beyonce famously announced that she was pregnant with her first child during the awards this announcement would break the record at the time for the most tweets per second recorded for a single event with 8868 tweets per second from a numbers standpoint everything seemed all good with mtv vmas were booming the reality shows were at an all-time high but mtv lost their identity in 2010 they dropped the music television branding so now mtv didn't actually stand for anything before the network appealed to music listeners sure the reality shows brought in the dollars but the music videos and the music shows kept that reminder that we are a music-based network that also dips into other areas of pop culture after 2010 it was the opposite they only appealed to a mainstream pop culture audience and didn't have any music related stuff to fall back on which is all good but keeps this insane amount of pressure for the network to constantly be cutting edge producing the hottest show that kids around the world are identifying with you see before social media whatever mtv put on was what defined us now with instagram twitter youtube and every teenager having access to the entire internet at their fingertips kids became influenced by so many other things teenagers are now more individualistic not just identifying and buying into whatever is fed to them instead of adapting it seems like mtv just kind of wrote out what was working they strung along together another season of catfish another teen mom another jersey shore spin off they stopped innovating not even trying any music related shows since they dropped the branding plus the world was moving at a much faster pace by the time they came up with an idea cast shoot edit and release a show it could be irrelevant to the kids tv networks weren't taking youtube and instagram seriously enough in 2016 mtv finally reached an all-time low and decided okay we're gonna bring the music back they announced 14 new series that are inspired by a renewed focus on music and youth culture on top of that trl is back the series we once love is going to be at the forefront of music once again it seemed like their hearts were in the right place and they were listening to the commenters on the internet begging for music to be played on tv but it was too late they had already given up on music for about 10 years at this point it's not a shock that trl didn't last none of the new programs stuck plus the need for mtv is gone why would an artist want to put effort into mtv showing their video when they could potentially get hundreds of millions of views on youtube if they played needed me by rihanna on mtv in 2016 for 24 hours straight for a week it still wouldn't have gotten the 300 million viewers that it has on youtube plus mtv isn't paying you so why not just put effort into social media marketing which will bring people directly to streaming services where you can make money from them listening to your music artists can directly reach their fans by just uploading to their own personal account and fans just search for any artist they want to listen to whenever they want we just don't need mtv for music anymore but now even their money maker shows were running out of gas by 2020 the only thing that seemed to work for them was ridiculousness ridiculousness is a good show for the moment because it has that comfort food appeal across multiple generations it's seen repeat viewers jump from twice a week to six times per week and the network has increased our time spent viewing by 21 with our stacks of ridiculousness rob dyrdek sold them the idea for this show back in 2007 because he saw america's best home videos sell for 500 million dollars in global syndication this show was able to last 900 episodes because it is the perfect thing to put on when you want to turn off your brain after a long day providing the same mindless thoughtless and unstimulating value to your cluttered brain it's also the best thing to put on in the background at a barber shop or bar restaurant mtv has fully given up all hope they have been losing money for over a decade and have gave up their identity as well even on the 40th anniversary of the network they didn't play a documentary no throwbacks no nostalgia just 24 hours straight of ridiculousness they aren't trying to tap into the youth culture they aren't investing in social media or today's musical landscape maybe they're working on some paramount plus originals but since it's behind a paywall 90 of us won't see it mtv had an amazing run provided so much for music and for pop culture sadly we can't love mtv anymore because there just isn't anything there to love

Channel: Patrick Cc:

Views: 1,724,876

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Id: FjjVxAptZrI

Length: 23min 35sec (1415 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 07 2022