I am not one to fixate my eyes on MTV, but I do randomly watch certain programs on the music network. In the last six months, I was extremely surprised to see two of my favorite artists highlighted in commercials: Tegan & Sara and The Gossip. MTV used to actually play music videos all day, but now the channel is flooded with reality TV programs. Last week, I spent a total of 25 minutes watching a program called "Parental Control" on MTV. During that time period, there were six commercials promoting The Gossip. In recent years, MTV has offered ringtones on their website and has allowed TV viewers to text a 5-digit number to MTV in order to retrieve a ringtone directly to their phone. MTV has taken this media a step further by offering ringtones from an artists live show...one that cannot be purchased online from another corporation or cell phone provider. The most interesting thing about this is that Tegan & Sara and The Gossip are not artists that you would hear on the radio, nor would you catch their video on MTV. They are the type of bands that you would need to search YouTube in order to watch their new music videos. MTV, however, is taking a step forward by highlighting these small indie bands during their reality TV programming.
MTV is a large enterprise that has influenced community-building through music. While it has since changed its line-up of music video programming to reality television programming, commercials have had a huge impact in terms of marketing up-and-coming artists in the music industry. In regards to The Gossip, an indie-political band from Washington, MTV ran commercials called "Ask Beth" (Beth Ditto is the lead singer of The Gossip). The commercials were all based on political issues including the presidential election. While many people may choose to flip the channel during commercials, young MTV viewers may actually learn something during these "Ask Beth" commercials. It may even influence viewers to get involved and vote in November.
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Your blog is really helpful and informative to those interested in the topic. It gives them great information about different ways to get more music incorporated in their every day lives. In a time in which music seems to be taking over through websites, phones, and television, you give readers information on where to get the newest items and such. You also give a sense of reality where the usefulness of these things are concerned, such as the guitar and piano options available on the iPhone. The topics seemed to flow well together from week to week, which I think I had a difficult time doing.
As a little advice, I would extend each week's topic, maybe branch out a little and talk about closely related topics. In doing this, you can title each section of the post in your blog. By lengthening your blog and further categorizing each entry, readers can have a better idea of what they might want to read, especially if their intention is to skim. I’ve looked at “professional” blogs, if you can even call them that, and they talk very extensively, in far too many words on what ever topic comes to mind. Also, I’ve noticed they occasionally go off on tangents. So, in that aspect I would say you’re doing a great job. You’re concise and to the point with your entries, but sometimes people just want more. Think of those entertainment blogs, such as Perez Hilton and Pink is the new blog, people go on there for pure entertainment and gossip. Both of the writers on those blogs pride themselves on writing line, after line, after line about the same people over and over again from day to day. So, thank you for not being Perez Hilton.
Additionally, maybe to add a little color and excitement to your blog; you could include pictures of what it is that you're talking about. I know with the topics you discussed there weren't many opportunities to include pictures, but it's just a suggestion. Perhaps you could also vary the fonts, colors and backgrounds in your blog. This takes away from the credibility of your blog and makes it seem slightly less professional, but it also makes it more visibly appealing, especially in a generation that is constantly in search of something new and exciting to hold their interest and excitement. It seems that you are like me and have never blogged a day in your life prior to this assignment.
Finally, I would include more links to get more information about the topics discussed. The link to the iPhone and it's musical capabilities was great, but you could include more in the later posts. Of course, that particular suggestion is like free advertisement for companies such as Apple, so maybe not that specifically. Links to the websites or concepts you’re discussing, or even other articles/blogs about the topic give readers more information incase your blog struck an interest in them and they are in search of more information.
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