MTV

“There used to be a way to stick it to the Man. It was called rock ‘n roll, but guess what, oh no, the Man ruined that too, with a little thing called MTV!” Jack Black rants in his hit Movie School of Rock in 2003. With their famous sign in in 1981, “Ladies and gentlemen, rock ‘n roll”, MTV has since changed the music industry forever. For the first time in history people could watch their music being played with this new 24-hour music channel. With such promotion by MTV it jump started the careers of many artists like Michael Jackson and Madonna. With only playing videos music now couldn’t just sound good, it also had to look good if you were going to be a major star. What Jack Black and many people complain about with MTV is that they may have revolutionized music but with the promotion and the major profits these huge stars were receiving, it was simply building the power of the major record industries and gatekeepers who control popular music. Since the early 80’s, MTV has continued to shape what music is popular through the emergence of videos, ratings, and big business. In this paper, I will outline MTV’s quick rise to pop culture king, racism, influence by big record companies, and how they developed the ultimate pop star.
In 1980 the United States along with politics, the economy, and music was in an awkward transition. After two wars, numerous Democratic Presidents, and the worst recession to hit America in nearly 40 years, Conservative Ronald Reagan was elected promising to end the recession. Along with politics there was a major transition in music. Disco and punk were falling off the table leaving a huge category of music that was considered“new music” that described everyone from Michael Jackson to Blondie. (Garofalo, 292) After the music industry had hit its biggest spike in revenue in the early 70's, the late 70's proved that even music wasn't recession proof, declining 11 percent between 1978 and 1979, according to Garofalo. The music industry was itching for the next big thing to revive this once booming source of revenue.
Music is as much of a visual experience as it is a listening experience with visualization of music being a key component in its advertising and promotion for decades, bands were beginning to utilize television more to promote their songs and albums. With the deregulation of television in 1980 it allowed the mass expansion of cable services throughout the United States increasing the number of channels, all of which required new forms of programming. (Garofalo 294) Recognizing the opportunity and the new technological advances that were taking place, Robert Pittman, the founder of MTV saw that TV was the new stereo. With an initial investment of $20 million dollars, MTV was born in 1981 becoming the first 24 hour music television station and it grew like wild fire in pop culture in America. According to ABCNews.com, “At first MTV's five original VJ's (video jockeys) were broadcasting to an audience of only one million. A year later, eight million more wanted their MTV and signed on.” The most researched channel in history is what Marshall Cohen, vice president of marketing for MTV claims with an initial viewing demographic of 85% white suburban between the age of twelve and thirty four, they brewed a perfect money making recipe in which they knew what they wanted to hear and they gave it to them.
With music videos being the staple that they have become in the music industry today, it is hard to believe how slow the United States was to pick up on them. With the few American made music videos out at the time, MTV needed material to fit their 24-hour music model. MTV turned to British bands who had developed music videos much earlier than the United States due to seeking exposure on Britain's television program Top of Pops.(Garofalo, 296) With such exposure to British artists such as, Soft Cell, Buggles, Duran Duran, Culture Club, etc. it sky rocketed the success of all of these groups careers who otherwise probably wouldn't have been as well known, if it weren't for the new booming station of MTV. What made these British groups different from American groups that MTV so appealing, was yes, they had great music, but they knew how to make a music video appealing. They poured money into music videos having them made by professional film directors that took a page out of marketing and advertising books but making fast cuts, changing camera angles, and special effects all while the artists were decked out in make up and flowing hair. (Garofalo 296) With the success of these videos, MTV created what many people consider the second British Invasion in 1983 with 18 out of the American top 40 songs were from British artists.
While many of these British artists did have better music videos than many American artists, MTV couldn't deny that they were heavily favoring British artists over American artists, especially African American artists and were publicly criticized for the lack of exposure. According to Garofalo, on July 16, 1983 of nearly 100 videos that were shown that week, no African Americans artists were in heavy or medium rotation and no new ones were added to the list. After hearing ridicule about MTV's denying racism, they came out with a claim that they played “Rock 'n Roll” music and few African American artists fell under that category. Of course the opposing argument was that then your whole model is racist. MTV definitely showed racial bias in their music early on by obviously showing predominately white bands in order to appeal to their main demographic, white suburbanites. Keep in mind that even the vice president of marketing of MTV, at the time, came out and said that it was the most researched channel in history, so they knew what they were doing. Some of the key examples of this racial bias is that MTV would regularly play note for note covers of African American songs that were sung by white musicians.
The key here is to not look at skin color as much as who these artists were signed by. Prince, who was an African American, was aired regularly on MTV as opposed to the Master of Funk himself, Rick James. Rick James had just come out with his new album Street Songs which sold 4 million copies and did not air one time on MTV. So MTV can't really be that racist, right? I would put it more along the lines of greedy. The difference between Rick James and Price was who they were signed to. Prince was signed to Warner, a parent company of MTV, while Rick James was signed to Motown. (Garofalo 298) The fact of the matter is that MTV got most of its revenue from major record labels, such as, Warner to ensure that their clients would be promoted and ultimately turn into cash in their own pockets.
With that said, MTV was still a segregated television show ultimately leading to segregation to the United States because what MTV played, people listened to. With that said, it was until Michael Jackson came out with this epic Thriller album when MTV's format changed, ultimately blowing down the race wall and also changing how labels chose their stars. First, Michael Jackson soon infiltrated American homes quickly earning him the name “The King of Pop”. As great as his album was, what made MJ a true pop legend were his signature dance moves that he showcased in each of him music videos. The British might have started the trend of making appealing music videos, Jackson just brought it to a completely different level. According to Garofalo, at the time, the average cost of most music videos were in between $35,000 and $45,000. Jackson alone spent $150,000 on the production of “Beat it”and $300,000 on the fifteen-minute version of “Thriller” when he hired movie director, John Landis, to direct the film. If there was any question that Michael Jackson didn't quite fit the “format” of MTV, they retracted any prior statements regarding the matter, as Jackson's videos soon became the most sought out videos on the channel.
Second, what Jackson did to the music industry, through MTV, was after the huge response Jackson got and the icon he became, record labels started to rethink how they were signing artists. In lecture, Kembrew went into detail about the subject, record labels, before Jackson, thought one dimensional in that they would take chances on multiple artists in hopes that their album would be a success. With the emergence of Jackson and his cultural status, they went the complete opposite way in that they looked to sign, pretty much, walking billboards. Michael Jackson wasn't just a singer and dancer, he was a marketers dream. Everything he promoted flew off the shelves. From then on record labels were looking for the next Michael Jackson so that they could market the crap out of them. From Jackson, to Madonna (a few times) to Justin Timberlake, to now Justin Bieber, labels are now looking to sign someone who can sell more than just records, but become a cultural phenomenon.
Whether you hate MTV or love MTV, there is no denying the unbelievable impact that they have made on the music industry. When MTV debuted, there was not only a recession in the American economy, but there was a recession in music as well. MTV emerged in 1981, by 1982, record companies could count on 10 to 15 percent increase of sales for videos that debuted on MTV. (Garofalo 302) MTV came at the perfect time, and the bands that utilized the channels potential, benefited immensely, in that, by 1983 17 of Billboards Top 20 had videos on MTV, according to Garofalo. MTV saw a great opportunity being presented in the early 80's and since then has been a dominant force in music and popular culture.

Works Cited
Garofalo, Reebee. "Chapter 9."Rockin' Out: Popular Music in the U.S.A. 5th ed. N.p.: Prentice Hall, 2005. 292-302. Print.

"Hip Channel Changed the Music Industry." ABC News. ABC News Network, 28 July 2011. Web. 02 May 2013. <http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=126802>.

Sepinwall, Alan. "Michael Jackson's MTV Impact."The Star-Ledger. N.p., 26 June 2009. Web. 02 May 2013. <http://www.nj.com/entertainment/tv/index.ssf/2009/06/michael_jacksons_mtv_impact.html>.