Crowd Sourcing Stardom -- MTV Rolls out New Opps for Artists to be Seen and Heard - Hillary Atkin

More than three decades after its debut created a seismic shift in the pop culture landscape it can be very easy to forget that MTV still stands for music televisionThat also makes it surprising to learn that 1200 hours of music videos are aired each week across the Viacom family of networks including MTV CMT and VH1 that reach 100 million homes in TVland and 60 million online via digital and social screens It39s a universe that encompasses MTV Hits MTV Jams MTV Buzzworthy MTV Hive VH1 Soul VH1 Tuner CMT Pure CMT Edge and PalladiaThat is the framework upon which the network is trying something new amp8211 by going back to its roots and focusing on musical artists across a broad spectrum of genres and levels of experienceIt39s a concept called the artist opportunity hub that has been percolating in soft launchbeta mode since the VMAs last fall Basically artists could come in and create platform pages for themselves on artistsmtvcom artistsvh1com or artistscmtcom an quotinsidequot network that has already received significant traffic and engagement with videos without any real marketingamp8212to the tune of 23 million visitors in April according to comScoreBut now the model is kicking into a new phase and includes access to many other largescale opportunities to reach a broad audience and to generate revenueFirst and foremost there is the opportunity for artists to get their videos aired on the networks which has always been a tricky process in the past involving record labels managers publicists or other music industry connections who have traditionally operated the starmaking machineryMTV VH1 and CMT39s music teams will evaluate videos based on the number of eyeballs and fan interaction on each artist39s page Selected artists will receive an email that their video has been viewed and then notified when and where it will go into video rotationMuch like the blind auditions on NBC39s quotThe Voicequot where it39s all about unfiltered talent the process is much more egalitarian than quotwho you knowquot It means that music fans especially tastemaker fans that rally around emerging artists will play a critical role helping identify artists that are strongly resonating within different fan and genre pocketsIn a digital sense it still is about who you know as Shannon Connolly the SVP of Digital Music Strategy for Viacom Music and Logo Group explained to usquotThe more you drive people to your content the more we listen to you and that39s how you get into our programsquot she says quotIf you can mobilize your fan base that39s how we notice youquotAnd it39s not just about playing music videos It39s about having songs chosen that go into popular shows like quotAwkwardquot thus providing another platform from which emergent talent can growIf that sounds like what happened with some unknown bands whose music was featured in commercials and elevated their careers yes there is also an advertising element that will come into play as the concept evolvesquotWith the launch of this hub we have the potential to work with brands to help find the artist that best suits their needs and goals and then create custom campaigns with tremendous scale that could play out across all of our platforms and screensquot Connolly saysAlthough the hub launched without a sponsor she says having the quotrightquot brands connect and you can imagine there are a slew of them amp8211 is a huge part of the strategyquotWe believe it will be a primary part of the revenue stream for artists in the next 510 years We have the platforms and scale to integrate artists into campaigns and it becomes a really powerful opportunityquot says ConnollyAt the same time she says that Viacom wants to stay focused on the artists wanting them to feel there39s someone behind the curtain that they39re not submitted into a black holeThe corporate philosophy Connolly explains is that artists should get paid and participates in the revenuequotThe rev share model percentage of Spotify YouTube and some of the others doesn39t really yield payouts to artists that are meaningful The industry purposefully is taking a rev share approach that isn39t sufficientquot she says quotBecause we39re advertisingbased we have other ways of making money We will have a tip jar that allows fans to leave tips to artists As for commerce they39ll be able to sell merchandise on our page For us it39s about creating success storiesquotAs for the fans they will have several participatory opportunities coming up shortly that will demonstrate the digitally democratic nature of the new ventureThey will get to determine two musical acts who get a slot to play at the threeday Hangout Music Festival in Gulf Shores Alabama which runs May 1719The festival39s lineup includes Tom Petty ampamp The Heartbreakers Stevie Wonder the Black Crowes the Shins Public Enemy Macklemore and Ryan Lewis the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Kings of LeonquotWorking with ArtistsMTVVH1CMT we39re giving music fans an unmatched voice in giving two emerging artists this onceinalifetime opportunity to play the festivalquot said Shaul Zislin founder of the Hangout Music Fest in announcing the two winners as Americana group Banditos and folkbluespop duo JohnnyswimReps for both bands say they39re incredibly grateful to the artist opportunity hub for providing the support and the opportunity Banditos came in through CMT and Johnnyswim through the VH1 platformSimilarly the opening act for country music artist Hunter Hayes at his New York City show in June will also be crowdsourced The list of potential opening acts will be narrowed down to ten with the Grammynominated Hayes then personally selecting the opening act artistquotThe vetting process may change but the intent is to be very valuable to the artistsquot Connolly says quotWe39re going to learn as we goquotA mobile app for the artists39 platforms is planned to launch this summer Sounds like sweet music to the ears of artistsand their as yet untold audiencesHillary Atkin is the editor and publisher of The Atkin Report wwwatkinreportcom and has written extensively on media and entertainment for USA Today the Los Angeles Times Daily and Weekly Variety The Hollywood Reporter TelevisionWeek Entertainment Weekly The New York Observer and LA Confidential She is an awardwinning journalist who began her career as a television news writer reporter and producer As a broadcast producer at KCBS in Los Angeles she won numerous Emmy Associated Press and Golden Mike Awards for live coverage and entertainment special events programming and then produced and directed biographies on Robert Duvall Elizabeth Montgomery Linda Darnell and Nicolas Cage for AampampE and E She can be reached at hillaryatkinyahoocom Read all Hillary39s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Hillary AtkinCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentaries

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