MTV’s Playlist to Focus More on Popular Acts

MTV, the dominant purveyor of music videos, is planning once again to shrink the number of clips on its network.

The Viacom Inc.-owned cable channel -- which already has drifted away from its trademark videos in favor of staged, unscripted shows and other programming -- said it was trimming its playlist, while focusing more heavily on top-tier stars. And the channel’s programmers say acts now must prove that they can generate a buzz among fans before the channel will air their video clips in heavy rotation.

The move is the latest bump in the sometimes rocky relationship between record labels and MTV. Labels, which spend tens of millions of dollars to produce the mini-movies featuring their artists, once viewed the cable channel as an extension of their own marketing departments. Over time, however, MTV has evolved into an independent force, wielding enormous clout over record executives.

The network said it decided to tweak its video programming after examining audience research that showed viewers want to see the channel’s biggest stars even more often. This week, for instance, the change means more exposure for such acts as Avril Lavigne and Busta Rhymes.

“When our audience asks for something, we have to deliver it to them,” Tom Calderone, MTV’s executive vice president for music and talent programming, said Tuesday. “What we’re trying to do is manage the list a little better, so we’re playing things at the right time” in an act’s development, he said.

MTV plans to concentrate on a weekly list of 10 video clips, the so-called Big 10, each of which will be played more than 30 times a week -- in some cases doubling the exposure that videos in heavy rotation had before. Other videos on the channel’s playlist will get at least 10 plays, or “spins,” a week.

To make room for the extra plays, the channel will play fewer videos overall. The idea is to increase ratings by playing popular videos, while allowing some room to introduce developing acts.

In addition, programmers said they are seeking more evidence of an act’s popularity before its video can receive heavy rotation. Calderone said he had begun examining artists’ concert ticket sales and Internet activity, for example.

Record executives offer mixed reviews of the strategy shift.

Some say that, for the clips chosen for MTV’s “Big 10,” the extra video plays could provide a crucial push among music fans.

But others say tightening the playlist suggests the channel is abandoning its history as an outlet for developing bands just as album sales are slumping by an estimated 11% this year and as the industry is desperate for marketing support.

“For MTV to limit our exposure like that is really bad,” said one label chief who has landed numerous hits on the channel this year. “For a company that’s really built its success on the back of the record industry, it’s ridiculous.”

Calderone insisted that he remains committed to using the channel’s influence to introduce new acts.

He noted that the channel included young rock band Good Charlotte in its first Big 10 under the new policy.

“If we don’t have baby bands and new bands on our channel, then we have no future stars,” he said.

Overall, MTV has reduced the number of total video plays by about one-third over the last decade, according to Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems, which monitors airplay. But MTV programmers and label executives agree that big blocks of music videos don’t draw the same ratings they once did.

MTV says it continues to market artists through such programs as “Diary” and by playing videos during key hours.

MTV executives say that serves record marketers better than blanketing the channel with too many videos or relegating many of them to low-rated spots in the middle of the night.

Calderone said MTV moved to toughen its requirements for heavy play on the channel because labels too often had pushed music videos without any other plans to market their acts.

“You just can’t expect us to play a video four or five times [with no other marketing] and all of a sudden the world comes running,” Calderone said. “It just doesn’t work that way.”