Channel
Research
MTV is an American Music Television channel owned by Viacom Media Networks. Launched in 1981, MTV began showing music videos all day every day, broadcasting music by popular signed artists. The first music video aired on the channel was The Buggles’ “Video Killed The Radio Star”. MTV’s original purpose was to air music videos introduced by video jockeys to help artists and bands gain exposure. So far, it has expanded throughout the years to include music-based shows, awards show broadcasts, and reality programs, many of which have become famous in popular culture.
It was only in 1983 when the genre, and colour, barrier was broken by Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean”. Eventually, MTV began to branch out to different genres other than only Rock music. They developed music-themed shows such as 120 Minutes (Alternative Rock), Headbangers’ Ball (Heavy Metal), and Yo MTV Raps (Hip Hop). In the early 1990s, musicians became more focused on their music videos, which in result became more artistic and polished. A number of famous directors started off directing music videos in the 90s. MTV then began to introduce a variety of successful musical acts of different genres, including Metallica (Rock), Boyz II Men (R&B), and Madonna (Pop). Hip Hop soon had a bigger part of MTV, with both popular and unpopular artists such as LL Cool J, Snoop Dogg, and Tupac. Nirvana also came into view, leading the rise of Alternative Rock with their successful music video for their hit song “Smells Like Teen Spirit”.
By 1997, Electronica was introduced to the channel, showcasing artists like The Prodigy (“Firestarter”) and Daft Punk (“Around The World”). At the end of the year, Pop music took over, with the Spice Girls, Backstreet Boys, and Britney Spears. Following this were Hip Hop and R&B acts such as Destiny’s Child and Puff Daddy. The 2000s saw MTV beginning to schedule non-music related programmes, including comedy shows (“Jackass”) and soap operas (“Undressed”). This led to the reduction of music videos and the rise of Reality shows, a few successful celebrity based shows included “Punk’d” and “The Osbournes”.
Today, MTV has networks in over 30 languages, over 160 countries. It has succeeded in becoming an influence in both music and popular culture.
Below are a few examples of the key aspects of MTV.
Music Videos
Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
Daft Punk - Around The World
The Buggles - Video Killed the Radio Star
Artists
Backstreet Boys
Puff Daddy
Boyz II Men
Destiny's Child
Programmes
Jackass
Yo! MTV Raps
punk'd
YouTube is a video-sharing website created in February 2005 by three former PayPal employees Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. Before YouTube, people listened to music on CDs and radio, or watched music videos on TV channels like MTV and VH1. The creation of YouTube allowed 24/7 access to music for anyone with a PC and internet connection. Although there was Napster before it, YouTube’s partnerships with music labels made it to become the first official source of free legal music.
Music videos soon became popular on YouTube, being easily uploaded, watched, and shared worldwide at any time. YouTube greatly impacted the era of User Generated Content (UGC), with users and artists alike being able to use YouTube to create content that can be viewed by many people instantaneously, accumulating views and fans. This method of self-promotion has led to the success of many artists today, for they were discovered through YouTube. A few artists include Justin Bieber, Carly Rae Jepsen, Rebecca Black, and Cody Simpson.
Apart from those artists, there are a number of other artists whose music became incredibly popular through YouTube. Because of YouTube’s options to like, comment and share videos, many music videos went viral practically overnight. A prime example of this is PSY’s “Gangnam Style”. The music video was released July 15th 2012, and it reached 38 million views in 24 hours and became the first video on YouTube to reach a billion views (which it achieved in 160 days). Since then, it has gained another billion. Other artists whose music came into the limelight include Kary Perry ("I Kissed A Girl" - 2008), Lana Del Ray ("Video Games" - 2011), and Ylvis ("What Does The Fox Say?" - 2013) – although Ylvis is a comedy duo, they became widely popular because of this music video.
A successful product of YouTube’s partnerships was Vevo – a video hosting service on YouTube, created in 2009 by Google, Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, and Abu Dhabi Media. Vevo is owned by two of the Big Three music labels (Warner Music Group remains) and they use it to promote music created by their signed artists, with music videos being the best method of promotion of today. Music videos released by Vevo are all fitted with the Vevo logo in the corner of the video thumbnail, indicating that the artist is signed to one of the aforementioned music labels.
Below are a few examples of the key aspects of YouTube.
Music Videos
PSY - Gangnam Style
Katy Perry - I Kissed A Girl
Lana Del Rey - Video Games
Ylvis - The Fox (What Does The Fox Say?)
Artists
Justin Bieber
Rebecca Black
Carly Rae Jepsen
Cody Simpson
Verdict
Between MTV and YouTube, I have to say that YouTube would be the most suitable channel to promote my music video.
MTV has a long rich history and a lot of credibility, but it has since drifted away from music and more towards reality shows and dramas. However, YouTube is much more versatile, yet grounded. YouTube is a video-sharing platform accessible by all and open to many different genres of content, and the music category of YouTube is the biggest. Music is constantly uploaded, updated, viewed, shared and promoted each and every day, thus this would benefit my music video if it were posted on this channel. Due to its unhindered accessibility and widespread audience, promoting my music video would be effortless and profiting.