40 years of MTV: What was left of music television

“Ladies and Gentlemen, Rock ‘n’ Roll”: With these words MTV went on the air on August 1st, 1981. What started as a small local station became the most influential music station in the world – until the Internet came along.

A countdown and a launching rocket – that’s how MTV started 40 years ago. MTV is about to fly high. A broadcaster that is different from its dreary competitors. Colorful, quick cuts and young moderators who call themselves VJ.

MTV has revolutionized an entire industry and turned musicians into world stars. But nobody believed it at first, says Rob Tannenbaum. He is one of the authors of the book “I want my MTV”. “The record companies thought the idea was stupid, the advertising industry assumed that the station would fail. And the cable providers didn’t want anything to do with MTV either.”

Problems about problems. In order to get MTV into the living room at all, an advertising campaign was started. Celebrities demanded: “I want my MTV!” So pressure should be exerted on the cable providers to distribute the new station at all.

Success came with Michael Jackson

The other problem: There weren’t enough music videos. The first video to be shown was “Video killed the radio-star” by the Buggles. Besides that, there were only a few dozen others.

The great success of MTV only came with Michael Jackson. And especially with his video “Thriller”, says Craig Marks. He is the other writer on “I want my MTV”. “‘Thriller’ is definitely one of the most famous music videos of all time. MTV broadcast it at least once an hour. This is how MTV became successful. And therefore absolutely important for the music business,” says Marks.

The station hit the young audience like a bomb. Stars were made from Michael Jackson to Madonna. MTV became important to the music industry and the station became a financial success too.

How exactly, explains Rob Tannenbaum: “The business model is brilliant: You sell advertising time for a product that you didn’t make yourself. Someone else bears the costs for the video clips. And you get the money for the advertising time.”

And then came the internet

MTV made history. TV history too. For example, through the reality formats developed there such as “The Real World”. “When television makers found out how inexpensive reality television could be, they didn’t want to stop,” explains author Marks.

MTV is still on the air today. But the term “Music Television” was long deleted from the logo. Music videos are no longer shown in the US and UK. And at MTV Germany only in the morning. A special interest channel that hasn’t been really hip for a long time.

The reason for the demise of MTV is the internet. Because all of her songs plus the appropriate video are available there 24 hours a day.