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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 6, 1984)
MTV provides new outlet for music industry, artists Top to bottom: Billy Idol, Simon Le Bon and Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran and Adam Ant have all been guest VJ’s on MTV. By SARAH OATES Senior Staff Writer First there was radio, a novel in vention that for the first time brought entertainment — espe cially in the form of music — into the American home. Radio could only be listened to, forc ing audiences to create mental pictures to go along with what they heard. After radio came television, an entirely new phenomenon combining the sounds of radio with pictures previously seen only in movie theaters and bringing them both right into the American living room. Rock'n roll came along, mark ing a turning point in radio his tory. TV was also a part of rock 'n roll, providing an occasional showcase for new artists. It was only a matter of time before cable TV introduced vi deotapes to radio music and married them not long after. That union has resulted in one of the most profitable infants in television history, Music Tele vision. Actually, profitable is an un derstatement, considering that the Warner-Amex Satelite- owned network, still a baby at two and a half years of age, is broadcast into 18.4 million homes and commands the highest 24-hour rating of any basic cable network, according to the Neilsen Home Video in dex. The channel's formula for success is astonishingly simple: it mixes conceptual and concert rock 'n roll videotapes by va rious artists with interviews, music news and musical mov ies, all smoothly presented by MTV's five energetic hosts — coyly dubbed "V.J.'s" or video jockeys. Add to that the fact that MTV is an inexpensive, basic cable service, that it's in stereo and that it's on 24-hours a day, and you have a revolution in the television and music industries. The network has created a cu shy arrangement for itself and artists presented, but sources at the channel refuse to qualify it as a mutual and advantageous dependency. However, the situation speaks for itself. Artists with enough money to create high- quality videotapes can present their songs in a conceptual, fan tasy format, or simply record concert footage. Both types of videos are popular and provide extra exposure for the individ ual artist or group. Although the careers of rock luminaries may not soar or fal ter depending on MTV expo sure, aside from submitting vi deos, many artists wisely have* agreed to participate in the channel's unique promotional stunts and appear in commer cials touting MTV. Rock personalities such as Pete Townshend, Billy Idol and The Police have graced the small screen, declaring "I want my MTV!," and contest winners can be seen and heard pro claiming that "People really do win on MTV!" Audience involvement is an obvious key to MTV's success. The network's many extrava gant contests and promotions include: a Hawaiian Holiday with Devo," in which the win ner and a few friends vacation with the band, or MTV's "Lost Weekend with Van Halen," in which the winner travels with the band for two days. Winners of MTV's "One Night Stand" are flown to concerts by big- name groups, such as the Roll ing Stones, and back home again the same day. Other audience participation stunts include the "Friday Night Video Fights," where two popular videos are screened and the audience can call a spe cial number to vote for the most popular one. Naturally, all of this keeps the targeted audience, the 12 to 34 age group, watching MTV. So far, MTV has been cred ited with almost single-hand edly ending a four-year record industry slump be creating a re surgence of radio airplay and record sales. An MTV source who requested anonymity, in sists the network is not as great a force in determining the suc cess of new groups as some would have it, but industry sta tistics prove otherwise. For example, when Duran Duran's debut album came out in the summer of 1981, it just barely made it onto Billboard magazine's Hot 100, but after the band's videos appeared on MTV the following year, their two albums leaped into the Top 10. The rest is music video his tory. Other recent discoveries such as singer Cindy Lauper also can be considered MTV "creations." Pauper's video, "Girls Just Want to Have Fun," currently is one of the most popular videos shown on MTV, the single is in the Top 10 and Lauper is the center of a whirlwind of media coverage, with a recent article in LIFE magazine referring to her as "Rock's Red Hot Red head." From all of this is is apparent See Music Television page 12