I Want My MTV
I’m reading an oral history of MTV. I find these off-putting, good for bathroom reading but disappointing as books, but maybe the hit and run nature of "I Want My MTV" works because that’s just like the station, it lacked depth, it was in your face, it was the opposite of classic rock.
MTV changed music. I’m not talking about the music business, but the music itself. Suddenly how you looked was important. And you had to fit the genre the station was promoting. Which went from Brit art school to flash to rap in a decade. Suddenly, music was all about the heavily-promoted, the heavily-marketed, it was made by beautiful people for everyone, and the people who weren’t beautiful, who’d lived a life of rejection, who considered music their own private playground, tuned out. It’s like you discovered baseball when everybody was playing cricket, only your friends and you hit the diamond, then it went on TV and everybody was playing the game and no new sport could get traction. Either you were on MTV or you were history. Either you were monstrous or you were irrelevant.
The Web is gonna change the kind of music we listen to. As a matter of fact, it already has. Lady Gaga is the first Web star. She wasn’t broken by radio, but by videos online, she established that paradigm. But even more important Gaga was the first social network superstar. She realized it was about the relationship with the fan first and foremost. You could create that kind of bond online, the customer wasn’t the label or the radio station or the TV outlet, it was the end user. As for the music itself, that came last.
In the MTV era the music came first. If it wasn’t an approved genre, you were SOL. Sure, you had to look good and have money behind you, but if you didn’t sound like what MTV was playing, you had no chance. Now just the opposite is true. The way you connect with your fans comes first. The bond is the initial attraction. The music comes last. The point is the music can sound like anything, there are no limits, no rules, no genres you must fall into. You’ve just got to have a relationship with your fans and consistently honor it, put them ahead of all other interests.
Concomitant with the rise of Lady Gaga, we’ve seen the decline of the mainstream. Despite what the players and the media have to say, a mainstream hit means less than ever before. You couldn’t be alive in the eighties and not know Culture Club, you’d seen the video for "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me". Either you had MTV and watched incessantly or whenever you went to a friend’s house with cable, you turned it on and wouldn’t turn it off. But today an album can go to number one, never mind a single, and a great swath of the public can have no clue who the performer is, never mind the kind of music this person makes.
This is a big change.
We might still have mass artists. That’s what Gaga is. But there will be fewer of them. And until there’s an MTV of the Web, one outlet we all gravitate to, and that could be in the offing, we’ll have the niches. Niches guarantee you a small audience. But crossing from niche to niche is like trying to convince a Jew to become a Mormon, almost impossible.
So instead of being a follower, music online is all about being different. If you’re me-too online, no one wants you. There’s only one Amazon, one Google, one iTunes and there’s no room for number two. But if you’re brand new and capture people’s fancy, you can become Facebook. Maybe not that ubiquitous, but Facebook is nothing like Amazon, Google or iTunes, certainly not up to now, and people clamored for it.
1. Dream small.
This is the opposite of the MTV era aspiration, when it was about getting on television and reaching everybody. Today your goal is to reach somebody, a single person, and then have the word spread from there. You can build something completely new or tap into a niche, but if you’re playing for everybody online doesn’t want you. Online is about the site that only appeals to you. Mass is a lucky accident after the fact.
2. Success is bidirectional.
You must know your audience and listen to it. If you’re playing to everybody you’re gonna reach nobody. Try to excite one listener who will spread the word. And it doesn’t matter what age you are, oldsters are the fastest growing demo on Facebook, they’ve got iPhones too.
3. The music is important.
But it’s not the only thing. If you’re waiting for someone to write you a check so you can stay at home and create and they can sell, you’re missing the point. You rehearse in public. People weigh in on you along the way. You grow with your audience. And money comes at the end of the game. Instead of going for a big advance, be your audience’s friend, they’ll end up giving you all their money via Kickstarter and concert tickets and merch sales thereafter.
4. The music must be available.
Never say no to your music being exposed online. Unless it’s tied in with a product or pitch. Yes to YouTube, yes to Spotify, yes to iTunes. With so much information out there, it’s hard to get noticed, don’t be your own worst enemy.
5. Creativity is king!
It’s the sixties all over again. The era of Frank Zappa has returned. You want people to check out your music to see what you have to say, to marvel at the insight, the outrageousness. One striking concept is more important than tens of thousands of dollars in promotion.
6. Different is a badge of honor.
People embrace the outlier. Music has become foreground once again. Unlike the hits du jour which are used as dance club fodder and workout inspirers, people are now paying attention to what you have to say. You can’t do skin deep unless you’re purveying irony. You’ve got to go for the heart and mind.
7. Growth curves are different.
In the MTV era you were a hit overnight. If you’re a hit overnight today, you’re gone tomorrow. That’s what a YouTube phenomenon is about, that’s Rebecca Black. If you’ve got millions of views, you’re on your way to irrelevancy. You’re better off with fewer hits generated over a period of years. Your stuff is always available online, you never know when a new fan will encounter you and decide to check out your entire output. They don’t have to sit in front of the TV and wait for your video, it’s all sitting there online, like a land mine.
The reason records sell fewer copies today is more about the above rules than theft. Most people just don’t care about what you’re selling. If you’re striving to become a rich rock star, the Web audience is laughing at you. What makes you so special? Your pure desire? And you want to leave us behind? We’re right there with you, the more you promote yourself, the more we’re gonna make fun of you.
As for television music competitions, they’re the last exponent of a dying game. And since the acts break all of the above rules, they don’t break, and if per chance they do, they don’t last.
Don’t forget that the music business was in the doldrums prior to MTV. It was rescued by something the established players did not understand.
The same thing is happening today. Not tomorrow, but right now.
If you want to have a career, play to the Web audience, don’t care what the mainstream says, don’t release music based on holidays and other arcane data. If you wrote it at midnight, have it out tomorrow. Even if it’s Sunday. Your audience is online. Ready.
Do it for them.
They’ll do it for you.
