EDWARD'S LECTURE NOTES:
More notes at http://tanguay.info/learntracker
C O U R S E 
History of Rock, 1970-Present
John Covach, University of Rochester
https://www.coursera.org/course/historyofrock2
C O U R S E   L E C T U R E 
The Rise of MTV
Notes taken on March 4, 2016 by Edward Tanguay
on August 1, 1981, MTV launched its all-music, 24-hour cable TV
nobody had ever done anything quite like this before
an important moment in the history of rock music
as MTV develops, it changes the music landscape
the business of music
the ways people are able to get to music
in a way that the Internet and file sharing has changed the music business in a significant way
second half of 70s
rise of Disco
rise of Punk, which led to New Wave
continuation of bands which adapted to the more homogenous 80s music format
Corporate Rock
often seen as lower quality music
but nevertheless has become a staple of rock and roll until today
the origins of MTV
not in the music business at all
but in the cable TV business
to understand the history of MTV, we need to know the history of cable TV
arose in places where regular television broadcasts via antenna were obstructed somehow
e.g. south of Pittsburgh where there is a mountainous region
a valuable service to run a cable
economic and pragmatic benefit
also useful in cities where there are tall buildings
provided premium entertainment
movies
special sporting events
normally you wouldn't get on broadcast television
we take this for granted today with the Internet
but this was even before people had VCRs
the idea of seeing a movie in your own home without it being on broadcast television and interrupted by commercials, was unheard of
something that was entirely new and a service worth paying for
1972 HBO
one of the first companies active in providing premium entertainment
Home Box Office
already active in 1972
an all movie and events channel
1979 ESPN
all sports
1980 CNN
24-hour cable news
1981 MTV
before you could find video DJs on cable
but this was the first channel dedicated exclusively to music 24-7
Saturday Night Live commercial
a cable TV company
they laughed at the idea back then of a 24-hour weather channel, 24-hour golf channel
cable was only in very limited regions of the country
but people started to realize that if you had cable, you had many more options of entertainment
cities and municipalities were convinced to lay the cable in
so MTV starts with a relatively limited audience and begins to grow
when it was first developed, there were two schools of thought on what that channel should be
1. Michael Nesmith
former Monkees guitarist
MTV should be channel that should show real artistic content
give artists the ability to do things with video that would push the boundaries
2. others
MTV should be like radio with pictures
use videos to promote records, sell advertising, just like the FM stations do
similar to what David Sarnoff did with TV after WWII
went with the commercial music broadcasting route
it wasn't seen at the beginning as a rival to FM radio
but it turned out that it was
first problem
the availability of promo videos
in the UK many bands made promo video
since UK countries were far apart
Australia
New Zealand
Canada
you make a video and send it
in the States, the approach was more to send the band on tour
when MTV launched, they played
Video killed the Radio Star by the Buggles
English new wave band formed in London in 1977 by singer and bassist Trevor Horn and keyboardist Geoffrey Downes
they had a video at the right time
otherwise would never have become popular in the States
the first couple years there were mostly British bands on MTV for this reason
it was difficult to convince bands to invest money to create a music video
few people in the music business thought these videos were going to do them any good or make them profits
not that many people had cable yet