Saturday, September 26, 2009

Thesis: MTV should make music videos freely available

Does anyone watch MTV for music videos anymore? Can you even see them on MTV? They can't sell you albums if you never see them. And shows like TRL (which I don't think is even on the air anymore) relied on people knowing what videos they wanted to see before they called in. MTV ought to just make it all available online, like a Hulu for music videos. It can't possibly hurt viewership and it would sell more albums (if videos have ever had that effect). I'm sure the music industry would hate it and want royalties, but the networks have their own man-eating lawyers. Plus, you know they'd have ads and banners like everyone else, so they'd make more ad revenue that way. It would also give new bands a chance at a larger audience, the way MTV used to at its inception. When it played music.

2 comments:

Seph said...

Aren't they all available on youtube anyway? Why MTV? MTV's so 90s.

Joe Streckert said...

They are on YouTube but are occasionally of dubious quality. Also, you've sometimes got to sort through lots of fan shit (which can be fun) to find the genuine article.

This is a brilliant idea, Syd. In fact the music companies are idiots for not doing it.