nMTV = Non-Music Television
Chad Jarnagin wrote in his ‘Mtv = Joke?’ blog entry dated September 9th, 2008, “Mtv, next year try to get back to the MUSIC. Does Mtv still stand for MUSIC television? Cause we’re all a little confused at your lameness.“
I stopped watching any kind of music television about five years ago. MTV hardly plays music videos anymore, and its shows are very, very lame in my opinion. What happened to the cool shows of the 80s and the 90s? I used to stay up late to tape MTV’s Headbangers Ball, and chilled to Yo! MTV Raps with friends. I was so upset when MTV abruptly cancelled Headbangers Ball in January 1995 and Yo! MTV Raps in August of the same year.
When my former band Monsterbazz started getting attention from the Swiss media in 2002, I was watching MTV and Viva on a daily basis. It was like studying to me. I wanted to know what other bands create and what opportunities there are to either get our videos played on TV or which shows might want to interview us. Okay, it was hard seeing videos on MTV, but Viva still played music videos. Monsterbazz got two of its videos played on national television and interviews followed. Nonetheless, in 2003 with broadband Internet penetration rising and the music business falling more and more apart, Viva had to rethink its strategy. Independent bands got cut out and music videos in general were substituted with lifestyle shows.
I think that was actually a great moment—really! If that hadn’t happened, many independent bands would still try to land an obscure slot on MTV and the likes, instead of using new technologies that are way easier and cheaper to handle. Lesley Aeschliman wrote in her ‘MTV: What happened to the “music” in music television?’ blog entry, „Sadly, I don’t see MTV returning to a focus on music anytime soon.“ In a certain way, I agree with Chad and Lesley and am as well confused by the lameness of MTV. On the other hand, I hope that MTV will not get back to music anymore. The Internet and all other new technologies are the wave of the future, and we better embrace the New Marketing, which is a blessing for newcomer and established bands.
