Gawker
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music videos
What If We Don't Want Our YouTube TV?
The record labels like to think they built MTV — and have been punishing every new idea for promoting music since. That self-defeating dynamic could destroy a nascent YouTube partnership between Google and Universal Music. More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by SandhayaHammer: Wrong wrong wrong. MTV is irrelevant, not the form. As someone who's been involved with music videos for the past... 2 Responses | Other threads
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jackpot
Rock Band creators get $300 million rock-star bonus
Eran Egozy and Alex Rigopulos, the MIT-educated creators of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, have earned a $150 million bonus from Viacom, whose MTV unit bought the game. The pair are on track to earn an even bigger bonus in 2009. (Photo by Newsweek/John Huet)
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By Paul BoutinComment by sample032: Fuck this shit. Some of us can actually play a guitar. 4 Responses | Other threads
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online advertising
Viacom turns MySpace bootlegs into an advertunity
A year ago, Viacom sued YouTube for one billion dollars, claiming YouTube was not blocking uploads of copyrighted Viacom material from Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, MTV, VH1 and others. Today, MySpace will join YouTube in running ads targeted to Viacom-owned clips, instead of deleting them. Auditude, a Palo Alto startup, provides the software that identifies Viacom-owned content. Remember when musicians believed all advertising was evil? Now, I'm looking forward to seeing a Big & Rich ad targeted against another Big & Rich ad, overlaid by another Big & Rich ad for a Big & Rich ad I haven't seen yet. Collect them all!
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By Paul BoutinComment by Uncle-Sam's Littlle Helper: Thanks! I tried to write you back on MySpace, but my network is running so slow because of all... more » | Other threads
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digital music
MTV Music too little, too late — except for one thing
Imagine a website where you can view every music video known to man. Yes, that's what MTV.com should have been 10 years ago. Now that MTVmusic.com exists, what is it good for? Oh yes: A whole new way to rickroll your friends.
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By Owen ThomasComment by irrational-exuberance: since when has MTV had anything to do with music? 1 Responses | Other threads
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acquisitions
With plans for Flux, MTV dreams of restored relevancy
Viacom subsidiary MTV Networks acquired the rest of software company Social Project, which runs Flux, a platform for social networks. Flux links together sites and gives them social features like messaging and video sharing. MTV already owned a large stake in the company and had 35 sites on the platform. MTV plans to turn Flux into an ad network because "the Web is fragmented,” says Mika Salmi, MTV's president of global digital media. “People are attracted to niches. We have a history in the cable business of going after niches.” True enough: Online, MTV has a history of turning what should be successful, mainstream ventures into mere niches. -
Next Establishment
Once again, Vanity Fair leaves geeks at the kids' power table
Preeminent among the magazine world's kingmaking power lists is Vanity Fair's New Establishment, which appears in the October issue — on newsstands in L.A. and New York today, but not in the Bay Area for another six days. Silicon Valley gets similar short shrift: The names who make it there are predictable bigs like Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison, or Hollywood-crossover types like Jeff Skoll, eBay's first employee turned movie producer. Walt Mossberg, now employed by New Establishment perennial Rupert Murdoch, also squeaked in. The consolation prize Vanity Fair offers: Its "Next Establishment" list, reserved for the likes of Twitter's Ev Williams. It's a marvelous piece of New York media trickery — flatter the geeks by making them feel included, but corral them into a side room so the real power brokers aren't offended by comparison. True, the "Next Establishment" suggests that these are people who might matter in the future. But in saying that, Vanity Fair's editors are also sending the message that right here, right now, its "Next" nominees are nobodies. On this year's list: More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Robleh: I doubt they would put Murdoch's wife on a list of nobodies. more » | Other threads
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digital music
MTV launches another surely doomed music service
MTV is continuing its push into digital music, despite its long litany of failures in the past, by introducing a music recommendation service and social network called Soundtrack. Most of the song recommendations will be based off of MTV's list of shows such as The Hills, Shot at Love, and G's to Gents. RealNetworks' Rhapsody, which recently dropped copyright protections on its music files, will help MTV sell those songs, as well — though a tipster reports Rhapsody been having customer service and outage issues for weeks.
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Comment by marcsiry: If iTunes was having outages for weeks, it would be a New York Times story. Rhapsody, you need a 'tipster'... more » | Other threads
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great moments in pr
5 questions Viacom doesn't want Valleywag to ask Philippe Dauman
Touchy Viacom flack Jeremy Zweig called Valleywag up to let us know personally that we'd been disinvited from next week's press-only screening of Tropic Thunder. Such a pity! Because we had a list of questions we were going to ask Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman: More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Shadowlayer: @raincoaster: you're asking me? I thought they made crappy teen shows... more » | Other threads
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David Verklin
Meet the man who has to save cable
Ad money is flying onto the Web. While it hasn't hurt cable TV yet — that business is still seeing a migration of ad dollars from the broadcast networks — Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cox, Cablevison, Charter and Brighthouse Networks are worried it could. So together, they've created Canoe Ventures, and hired ad-agency veteran David Verklin as CEO. His mission: Convince cable programmers like Walt Disney's ESPN or Viacom's MTV to adopt advertising technology that will automatically place cable commercials, like Internet ads are targeted today. More »
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Comment by G2GdoB2B: But I'm confused. What they are creating is something that goes against their revenues. Or are they being pressured by... more » | Other threads
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your privacy is an illusion
Hacker steals 5,000 MTV employees' private data
A hacker infiltrated MTV's computers and accessed data included 5,000 employees' names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers and salaries. "We are taking every appropriate action to investigate this incident and to protect you and the company in future," read a companywide email obtained by the WSJ. One-word version: Punk'd!
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Comment by belltolls: @Nicholas Carlson: Gawker is that other site in this grand blogger nation which took the time to grab screenswhots so... more » | Other threads
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exclusive
CollegeHumor and MTV make like Jake and Amir
The deal isn't official yet, but CollegeHumor and MTV plan to launch a TV show together. In the finished pilot, the Tumblr-popular Jake Hurwitz and Amir Blumenfeld host, rolling clips between skits like the one in the clip below. Sam Reich plays College Humor cofounder Ricky Van Veen. Word has it CollegeHumor insisted on getting online distribution rights and that MTV readily complied. More »
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Comment by HelloBrooklyn: Wouldn't MTV be better off just syndicating old episodes of The Office? At least then the characters and jokes will... more » | Other threads
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online video
Viacom execs tempted by Hulu dance?
A NewTeeVee report suggests Viacom and its subsidiaries may be moving closer to licensing content to Hulu, NBC Universal and News Corp.'s Web video joint venture. "We've been talking to them since the beginning, and we like it a lot," MTV exec Van Toffler told NewTeeVee. He described Hulu as "sleek and simple." We hear MTV is as likely to syndicate content on Hulu as it is on Amazon Unbox or anywhere else. Another MTV exec, Courtney Holt, said, "We're really bullish on syndicating our content." $1 billion says they're not thinking of YouTube. (Photo by L.x. Fringes)
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Comment by Alexander Constantin Diego Fringes: Thanks for using my picture - I completely forgot that I had that on the web somewhere. I feel very... more » | Other threads
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digital music
Yahoo unloads music service on RealNetworks and MTV
The weekend saw the long-rumored sale of Yahoo's paid music service go through. Rhapsody America, a RealNetworks and MTV joint venture, purchased Yahoo Music Unlimited for an undisclosed fee, paidContent.org reports. Word has it Yahoo plans to supplant the service with a free, ad-supported service. To that end, it has purchased the maker of FoxyTunes, a plugin for the Firefox browser which searches for music online. More » -
loser-generated content
Does MTV channel's failure signal trouble for Current?
Barely a year after its launch, MTV is shutting down Flux TV. The U.K. channel was the network's attempt to bring social media to the telly. Users determined which music videos the channel would broadcast, as well as upload their own media. But alas, the audience, used to sitting back and being fed entertainment, didn't care to lean forward. Which brings us to Current, the San Francisco-based cable channel founded by Joel Hyatt and Al Gore. More »
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Comment by katwag: Have you ever watched Current? this is hilarious: [current.com] more » | Other threads
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videogames
Jerry Bruckheimer to bring more bang to MTV games
MTV Networks has signed an exclusive deal with blockbuster producer Jerry Bruckheimer to develop original videogame titles for MTV Games. MTV's parent, Viacom, has aimed for success in the video game industry with a commitment to spend $500 million on game and interactive entertainment within the next two years, but past attempts to break into the gaming world have been unsuccessful thus far. Unlike the purchase of game developer Harmonix, the makers of "Rock Band," a good fit for MTV, a deal with Bruckheimer is full of all the wrong kinds of risk. More »
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By Tim FaulknerComment by Patricia2: I think he has a lot of potential with the gaming market because of his type of films, but I... more » | Other threads
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jackass
Is Web video the new "direct to DVD"?
Viacom is determined not to fall into the music industry's technophobic trap. Instead, it's embracing the online-video frenzy by releasing Jackass 2.5 directly onto the Web next week. Initially offered as a free streamed video on Blockbuster's Movielink, it will eventually move to pay outlets like iTunes and, yes, DVD — which is where this on-the-cheap knockoff probably would have landed just a couple years ago. More »
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Comment by Mary Jane Irwin: @iAmSparticustic: America's Funniest Home Videos, Survivor, and Bam are lame too. more » | Other threads
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mtv
MTV announces plan to succeed on the Internet
Maybe there's something to this World Wide Web fad after all. Well, anyway, the old boys at Viacom seem to think so. They've got this SVP Jason Witt fellow leading a new group called Digital Fusion. It's devoted to selling ads against MTV content on the information superhighway. Credit Sumner and the boys this much: They know their trends when they see them. But maybe they went too far out on a limb on this one. As Viacom studio execs keep telling striking writers, there's no money in online advertising. (photo by Joe Crawford (artlung))
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Comment by sample032: Be fair; there's no money in "music videos," either. It's in reality TV. more » | Other threads
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social networks
Tila Tequila explains why MySpace is still more popular than Facebook
Riding the momentum of her hit single, "Fuck Ya Man," MySpace's most popular member, Tila Tequila has a new hit on her hands. MTV's A Shot At Love, which pits 16 lesbians against 16 men in a contest for Tequila's affections, is now the No. 1 show for its time slot among people ages 18 to 34, according to the Sydney Morning Herald. More »
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Comment by a3x1: where can i get the tila tequila spam bot? i wouldn't mind infecting a couple of my not so... more » | Other threads
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mtv
The next top virtual model
MTV has partnered with Elizabeth Arden and the Ford model-management agency to scour the Virtual Hills, a world based on reality show The Hills for a new model. Her gig? Serving as the virtual face of Mariah Carey's new, theoretically real fragrance, M. Those who create an avatar for the competition will be rewarded with a virtual version of the fragrance. What, so they can mask all that virtual body odor? The top virtual model, as voted by her peers, will be proclaimed the "Ford Models' first-ever virtual world model." One hopes the money Ford pays for this stinker of an idea will be virtual as well. -
online video
Yahoo Web show to appear on MTV
Yahoo is distributing its Nissan Live Sets, a Web hi-def Web show that mimics a live concert viewing experience, on MTV's high definition channel. Despite the popularity of Web shows like Prom Queen and LonelyGirl15, studios are so busy trying to get onto the Internet that they don't pull content from it. As the Motley Fool points out, this is good news for Yahoo Music. Recent reports of Yahoo's financial doom put its music service on the guillotine. Perhaps some MTV eyeballs will spare it from the block. -
viacom
MTV reaches out to bored geeks on Twitter
The channel that, in our youth, played music videos, is attempting to get hip by signing up for a Twitter account. The point of MTV's "mtvmoonman" updates seems to be to promote the upcoming Video Music Awards. But are they reaching the right audience? Just wait until MTV discovers that Twitter's audience consists almost entirely of dweebs, not tweens. Same vowels, mostly different consonants. An understandable mistake for MTV's out-of-touch overlords at Viacom to make. (Full disclosure: They wouldn't be the first.) Add the Twitter flitter this to MTV's list of failed new-media experiments.
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By Owen ThomasComment by Jeremy: I dunno Owen. Go watch Twittervision, and you'll see that it's not just the dweebs that are on Twitter. There's... more » | Other threads
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quotable
"It was rather of surprising for us that Urge didn't gain the kind of traction that we thought it would gain, given MTV's huge and very attractive demographic." — S&P analyst Tuna Amobi, whose analysis of MTV's failed music service seems as unlikely as his name. [CNBC.com]
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By Owen ThomasComment by sample032: I wouldn't put much faith in a demographic that actually finds "reality shows and teen soap operas" entertaining. more » | Other threads
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timeline
MTV's history of digital-music failure
How long will it take the corporate suits at Viacom to realize that MTV Networks will never, ever, ever succeed in digital music? The latest move, folding MTV's Urge online music store into RealNetworks' Rhapsody service, is just another example of its fumbling. One could point out that MTV doesn't actually broadcast much in the way of music these days; to the extent it's holding onto its youth demographic, it's doing so with a TV schedule packed with reality shows and teen soap operas. Do its viewers even know that the "M" in "MTV" stands for "music"? But never mind that. The reality of MTV is a decade-long history of complete and utter failure in digital music. The timeline of missed opportunities, botched deals, and general cluelessness, after the jump: More » -
videogames
MTV commits $500 million to games
Videogames are the new Internet, or so we're told. Viacom is among the big media companies renewing a flirtation with the market for developing games — and swearing that this time, the love's for real. Viacom's MTV Networks is dumping $500 million into developing videogames for its various TV properties over the next two years — hot on the heels of a similar $100 million pledge by Nickelodeon, another Viacom-owned cable channel. The company already runs virtual world Nicktropolis and digital pet-nurturing site Neopets, and recent acquisition Harmonix will launch the highly anticipated music game Rock Band. Kids may no longer want their MTV on cable — but Viacom's hoping to hold onto them as their attention shifts to PlayStations, Xboxes, and Wiis. Consider the investment a half-billion-dollar console-ation prize.
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Comment by lookzgood2me: Yeah, they're doing it only because they missed out on buying MySpace. Theyheard this interweb thing's gonna be HUGE. more » | Other threads
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jonathan schwartz
Morning notes: Now if only he'd blog about his hair
- MTV, in an effort to prove that the level of discourse in a virtual world can indeed get stupider than World of Warcrafters asking "how i mine for fish," will launch "Virtual Laguna Beach" for boob-tubers who can't be sexy and carefree beach-goers in the real world. [NY Times]
- It was wrong to doubt that Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz (pictured), proud owner of a house "on the edge of the Mission district" and wearer of a "look how different I am" ponytail, was anything but a hipster. He tells the Associated Press that he asks colleagues if they've read his blog. Yep, just like every trustafarian in San Francisco. [Washington Post]
- Telecom Italia buys the German division of AOL for $855 million. The company thought it was bidding on a rare AOL 1.0 floppy disk. [NY Times]
- "What does it say about the boom in social networking Web sites that the latest one to attract outside investors is devoted not to singles or indie bands but to dogs?" It says Dogster's users don't realize the point of getting a dog — to meet people in the park, dammit, not on Internet message boards. [NY Times]
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By Nick DouglasComment by Jeremy: @NYT I think it says that the NYT has never taken a look at the amount of money people spend on... more » | Other threads
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andy samberg
Andy Samberg is Ron Google
Remember how Andy Samberg from TheLonelyIsland.com was funny in SNL's "Lazy Sunday" and then just kinda showed up in that Natalie Portman vid? Here he is, playing Ron Google ("the inventor of Google") at last night's MTV awards, googling Jessica Alba. Turn up the speakers at work and hit play. More »
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