Manipulative, monopolistic, myopic MTV mars

Remind me, what does Seth Green getting "Punk'd" for illegal gambling have to do with music again?\nYes, MTV's hit series "Punk'd" is back for another season. But MTV doesn't stop there in providing viewers with a glimpse into second-tier celebrities' lives. \n"Rich Girls," starring heiresses Ally Hilfiger and Jamie Gleicher, debuted this month. Ally and Jamie are just like any two girls, according to MTV's Web site -- they like to shop, talk on the phone and go to the prom -- with one difference: they are more loaded than probably all teenage girls watching with drooling mouths combined. \nOf course, all we can do as viewers is turn our attention elsewhere on cable in hopes a ratings drop for MTV will lead to more of what they became the largest network in the world: more music! \nIt's not that easy.\nMTV's parent company, Viacom, is a cable conglomerate, owning not only the MTV Networks but 13 other channels including music television "competitors" BET and VH1. Competition in the cable music market is nonexistent. \nMTV has such a tight grip on mainstream music they can dictate who will be the next big thing (Avril Lavigne's overnight rise to superstardom is a recent case) or the next flop (the great boy-band crash of 2001). MTV plays videos usually under six hours a day, most of which are during the night owl shift, meaning space to debut your label's next budding star is at a premium. \nSo if you want the next Britney Spears on your label, prepare to pony up the cash. If a video costs half a million dollars to produce, you'd better make sure it stays in heavy rotation long enough to move units. \nVariety of videos is another issue that has been addressed at MTV. Because a music video's primary purpose is to sell CDs, MTV announced they would change the way their playlist is run. MTV now plays what they call a "Power 10" in rotation. Ten videos are run over and over, mixing in a video from outside the "Power 10" here and there. This is done, according to label research, because repetition is what encourages fans to buy albums. \nBy not showing videos in prime time as often as they used to, video-thirsty viewers are left searching for other outlets, which is exactly what MTV wants. Over 79 million homes subscribe to MTV, while just 30 million subscribe to music-intensive MTV2. By making MTV2 the only place to find 24 hours of music, Viacom hopes subscription requests for MTV2 will rise. And of course, they have. \nOn a station made famous by "Beavis and Butthead," "Daria" and other sitcoms celebrating the teenage outcast, nothing but a mass of reality drivel exists. Then again, why pay writers and actors to fill primetime TV when you can just follow two extremely spoiled teenagers around and wonder how much they suffered in their previous lives to earn this kind of gluttony?\nVH1 viewers may have noticed a recent shift in their programming as well. VH1 was always known as the music alternative for those too mature for pop and rap. It was a station for Top 40 rock. Their playlist now includes pop, rap and R&B, the former forte of MTV. \nIf anything, VH1 has been turned into what MTV used to be just several years ago. VH1 has carried that torch lately, documenting the '70s and '80s as well as the most recognized people in pop culture. \nAnd who could forget "TRL?" This is MTV in control at its finest. John Seabrook, contributor to the New Yorker and author of Nobrow: the Culture of Marketing, the Marketing of Culture had a chance to get behind the scenes of MTV. \n"What you are seeing on 'TRL' is supposedly being all about what the audience wants," Seabrook said in an interview with PBS. "But in fact, MTV is using that platform as a way of introducing videos they want to put in heavy rotation … What you've got with MTV is this constant relationship between the audience that's constantly getting smarter and more clued into the manipulative techniques MTV is using. MTV must constantly get better at manipulating the audience to get them to watch what they want them to watch." \nNext time MTV has one of those look-how-awesome-we-are-and-what-we-have-done-for-music specials, look a bit closer. Sure, music and videos are art, but every time you see an MTV news break that features Jessica Simpson, and it just so happens "Newlyweds" is on next, remember MTV is one big marketing machine, eating up any artist or label without a bankroll in its path.