TV Plays Music in New Ways

Since the beginning of TV, music programming has been an integral part of the success of the medium, from “Your Hit Parade” to “American Bandstand,” “The Ed Sullivan Show” and “Soul Train,” and finally to MTV, a network initially predicated on marketing music in short-form video bits 24/7. Music Programming TV Plays Music in New Ways . . . More » BET Looks Ahead . . . More » A Rich Musical Tapestry on TV . . . More » But it’s been more than two decades since MTV’s launch, and today’s music programming on TV has undergone dramatic changes. The advent of “American Idol,” the digital transformation of music across multiple platforms and the interactivity of television thanks to video-on-demand have challenged programmers to use music in new and exciting ways. “In the ’80s, music videos were a brand-new vehicle for music and TV. Through the ’90s, MTV found that they could get better Nielsen ratings for long-form ... (link)