The rise and fall of MTV

this video was brought to you by the sliping founders edition get help from our team in your pitch deck your financial models and your fundraising sign up with the link in the description it's february 8 2010 and something subtle happens so discreet not many people notice but it confirms the end of an era and while mtv continues to exist that small change is critical this is a brand's capitulation to new tendencies mtv marked generations set trends and gave us new ways of enjoying music it also helped launch some of the music industry's biggest names but now music theorists repeatedly say that the brand is dead but what does that really mean let's talk about mtv in this episode of company for instance the origins mtv's predecessor was sight unsound a warner cable product that consisted of a music channel with concert footage and music oriented content but no original music videos in turn this channel was part of the cube system warner amex interactive cable television system prototype viewers could vote on their favorite songs and artists win prizes and interact with djs think of it as a predecessor to interactive media altogether but mtv as we once knew it was robert w pittman's product a visionary executive thanks to his expertise in the music industry he had come up with an idea to create a network dedicated only to music it wouldn't be any music channel the total opposite actually pitman knew he had to aim to be anti-establishment anti-authoritarian and have the under 30 audience at his grasp mtv wouldn't be afraid of playing rock songs with the latest and craziest music videos its vjs would be young and cool and the stages would have delirious backgrounds pitman even hired the manhattan design studio to create the iconic logo and it was the first step towards making history but a rocky one mtv is born ladies and gentlemen rock and roll and thus mtv was born just after midnight on august 1 1981 it premiered with the song video killed the radio star by the bugles those who remember the earliest mtv days could have thought it was a successful start but besides an impactful first impression which it was mtv struggled music videos were scarce because no one made them because they weren't a thing so they weren't many to pass around and the network had to repeat all of its inventory the vjs often spoke for long periods between videos and yes they talked about music but it wasn't fun and let's remember that mtv was a cable channel which was a luxury back then not only that its special personality threw off many of the more conservative cable networks craig marks co wrote the book i want my mtv the uncensored story of the music video revolution and here's how he summarizes society's perception of mtv they thought that mtv was a bunch of coked up rock and roll fiends and they were right in a way facing a lack of public approval pittman began the i want my mtv campaign it was a fiery set of ads featuring rock and pop stars like the police and mick jagger demanding their rock channel if that wasn't enough the channel expanded its catalog to include more artists and genres like rhythm blues and disco and among these was michael jackson with his trend-setting videos jackson was obviously a hit followed by other huge names like madonna and guns and roses executives loved the numbers and fans loved the music but it was more than that it was a culture change record stores near where mtv was broadcast notice an increase in these new artists sales in contrast stores far from mtv saw a little movement because radio wasn't broadcasting them marx even credits mtv with helping bill clinton gain political traction with younger audiences as he made frequent appearances on the channel but though mtv had become a beacon for new talent the network would only be dedicated to music for a short while subtle and not so subtle changes thanks to pikmin's ideas and the network's turnaround mtv became the first basic cable channel to become profitable brands were glad to pay for advertising as long as the sales were rising and they were but there's a caveat we're going to explore later attempted mtv success in 1985 entertainment giant viacom bought it from warner and that's when everything started changing videos were now segmented by genre like headbangers ball for heavy metal yo mtb wraps for hip-hop and 120 minutes for alternative rock these segments did work after all they were the platform for other upcoming artists think nirvana pearl jam and rap icons like dre but it marked a shift in mtv's identity by 1997 the birth of other programs like mtv news remote control house of style and club mtv showed that the network was willing to venture into dance fashion and games even pittman the one who helped mtv transcend couldn't cope with these changes he left in 87 after being unable to buy the network viacom's aggressive and tv expansion continued with its own awards the video music awards a spin-off called the mtv movie awards and the europe music awards so mtv was unstoppable but looked beyond music to do so mtv goes mainstream and hits the pop charts in 1992 mtv launched its own reality show real world it was a real depiction of young people's struggles with sexuality drugs depression and partying the show took the world by storm and further cemented mtv's identity as a vehicle for social topics and the occasional controversial episode and occasionally music let's be clear there was music and it was huge with artists like allison chains and soundgarden it also featured metal bands like pantera and white zombie and gangster ripe like tupac and biggie smalls theaters had become events in themselves artists wanted to outdo each other and renowned directors were eager to direct them by the mid 90s most of mtv's content wasn't about music it was so distant from music that the network launched mtv2 in 96 to go back to its roots mtv2 began just like the original version but changed to genre-specific vlogs and eventually yielded to reality shows and gossip just like mtv take the teen pop craze of the late 90s mtv knew it had to be a part of it the spice girls the backstreet boys and sink these were huge so pop video rotation increased and other genres saw less exposure mtv opened its time square radio studio and launched total request live thousands of screaming fanatics flooded the streets but the show transcended music carson daly its likable host delved into celebrities lives and made the show more like a talk show than a music show and it drew millions of viewers but it also outlined the debate were music networks really about music after all mtv was doing all it could to survive as a brand not as a music network and the numbers showed by 2008 mtv played only three hours of music per day down from eight hours in 2000. billboard magazine wrote mtv has these non-music shows on for the sake of immediate ratings there will always be that tension between the music industry and mtv when mtv doesn't support music reality is the new music in 2008 mtv was losing its grip on music trl was cancelled with some blaming it on carson daly's departure but in reality trl had degraded itself to pranks celebrity interviews and unlikable hosts that more than anything reflected mtv's entire identity and that was because younger viewers had found somewhere new to enjoy their music instead of their tv it makes perfect sense music now came from computers ipods and downloading albums so mtv rushed to replicate some of its successful products like real world in game shows like teen mom the hills and even car shows like pimp my ride by the way up until 2017 this was one of the longest running shows in tv history the reality show era had begun former mtv vj adam curry told cena that it was the best decision mtv ever made plus he revealed some interesting facts remember when we said that in the 80s mtv was the first cable network to show a profit well music wasn't their primary source of income it never was but cringy reality shows seemed to work in 2011 mtv was a 4 billion a year business but it was fighting a losing battle mtv had very little to offer against the new wave of consuming content instead of waiting for celebrity fashion and controversy at the vmas fans follow their favorite celebrities on social networks and then of course there was the rise of youtube as a platform for consuming music let's take sweet child of mine by guns and roses a video made famous by mtv in guns and rose's youtube channel it has 1.2 billion views no standalone platform could ever come close to competing with this mtv's evolution had just been up to this point a struggle to survive they had tried it all from rock to teen pup from reality shows to more reality shows and whatever jersey shore is but could it continue surviving the death of music television if you tune into mtv you'll see hours upon hours of its star show ridiculousness and other reality shows but it can bore you quickly and that's the problem every generation is different some remember mtv for nirvana's legendary unplugged concert while others for fear factor and trl i remember it because of jackhams every once in a while it's logical that someone asks is mtv dead and the answer is in its own history as a music concept it died in the 2000s as a brand that epitomizes cool some say it died around 2009 2010 when it failed to reinvent itself especially when we see that mtv has tried several times to create apps revamp its social networks and capture more fans but which fans it's certainly not the 16 to 24 year olds they have tick tock in the attention span of a goldfish so when you see this brand try to remain cool we can't help but cringe the revived mtv news hopped in the youtube music news way too late and it only has a hundred thousand subscribers on youtube so less than us overhauled ideas like teen mom and crips have a moderate following but they fight against giants like youtube and netflix and so we return to where we started in this video it's february 8th 2010 and mtv removes the words music television from its logo now it's just mtv a brand desperate to stay alive and to stay cool maybe that's the problem mtv can't do everything at once while trying to be cool it must decide what's it going to be and cool certainly isn't it now if you as a founder are facing a similar challenge when it comes to handling more tasks that you can make sure to check our founders edition plan at slimepin founders edition is a one-stop shop for startup founders and it will accompany you in this journey from getting your ideas on paper to approaching potential investors you can just go to slidebean.com founders edition to find out more what do you think does mtv have to go back to music to survive can it go back to music to survive or is it just a zombie now let us know in the comments and we'll see you next week [Music] you

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Id: 0przkoCpxV0

Length: 11min 22sec (682 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 23 2021