Why doesn't Mtv stick to music?

I have wondered the same. Let me know when you figure it out:)

They weren’t making money with that model, which was more like “visual radio” than television. You want to make more people sit and watch TV to justify your ad rates, then you’ve got to make a compelling program that more people (with money) want to watch on a regular basis, and preferably, make a cheap program.

I think the last band that shocked everybody with the speed of how widely popular they became from word of mouth was Nirvana. That was 20 years ago. I’m not sure that will happen again. For a network like MTV to be viable, they would need a Nirvana in each genre that people would be willing to sit down in front of the tube and watch. Bands that get that big don’t last that long. They’d need 10 Nirvanas or Biebers just about ever year to make the money they make now.

A hit reality show that “tells a story” each week makes back multiple times more money than it costs to produce and is a consistent form of programming with a wider range of viewers than any musician would garner, which makes advertisers more comfortable and more willing to pay the rates MTV sets.

Wait, I got it! Prince does a reality show every week at his big purple mansion outside Minneapolis with Wendy, Lisa, that guy who dressed like a surgeon, different light-skinned, half-naked chicks as love interests and cameos by Morris Day! Then he sings one of his old hits at First Avenue at the end of every episode! Who doesn’t like at least one song by Prince? It’s money, I’m tellin’ ya’!!

You’d think a station with the first name of Music would play…well…MUSIC

MTV lost me a loooooong time ago. Right about the time they had more “shows” and music played only on “TRL” (which at the time was still known by it’s actual name)

This must be perplexing to people visiting from other countries.

Music is boring compared to shows like Jersey Shore.

Sorry, but most people think that.

Who needs MTV anymore, there’s Youtube! :)

@gm_pansa1 True, but you have to sit there and keep picking/playing. I used to be able to leave MTV on and clean, study, chill and know there’d be tunes playing.

I haven’t watch it in so many years I just figured it was off the air. I think VH1 still plays songs or am I wrong there?

@woodcutter VH1 plays some music——mostly when even me, an insomniac, is in bed. ;) They have more movies/musicals/rock-umentaries than actual music now.

I think this just proves that MTV never really cared about the music, they just cared about money.
It’s just a huge advertisement.

@Michael_Huntington, not only does MTV not care about music… but they actively do things to destroy music.

There used to be an amazing music streaming service, totally programmable with millions of songs, each with a rating of 0 to 100, depending on how much you wanted the song in rotation, relative to other songs. It was Sonicnet.com They had everything, and even introduced me to hundreds of new great artists by intuitively learning my tastes (like Pandora, but far more accurate and programmable.)

Then along comes MTV/VH1/Viacom. They buy the website Sonicnet.com and they gut it. They completely gut it of everything. Then they install a search engine, and that’s what’s there now. A shitty search engine, courtesy of MTV, Destroyer of Music.

I stayed in a hard rock hotel a couple months ago in florida. They had a hard rock channel that was exactly what MTV used to be. Just nothing but awesome videos…. I wish i could still get that station…..

I’ve had cable TV for almost 20 years now, and I’ve watched MTV about twice, because it seemed like most of their programs were “reality” shows featuring dramatized roommate crap.

About 70% of VH1 Classic’s programming is music videos, including 80’s stuff, rock concerts, one-hit wonders, etc., so I go there or You Tube if I want to hear them.

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2010/02/mtv-changes-focus-and-logo-removing-music-emphasis.html

I don’t think MTV has been relevant as a music station in a very long time. As for hurting the music industry, I don’t believe that either. You have radio to blame for that, but even then there are so many avenues to find music now with the internet and everything.