KRIS HARRIS
Staff Writer
On Sunday, Aug. 28, MTV held this year’s Video Music Awards in Madison Square Garden. Always a spectacle, the awards show gives the biggest stars in music the stage. In fact, this year MTV allowed rapper Kanye West to do whatever he wanted for four minutes. No sly Taylor Swift remarks were made though, as West used the moment to comment on fame and debut his new video for his song “Fade” off his latest album, “The Life of Pablo.”
It’s no question that the VMAs have impacted pop culture with its performances and its incidents. However, there’s deeper questions that come with the VMAs concerning the music industry, media and mainstream culture.
One of the biggest criticisms of the VMAs is that people flat-out don’t watch the awards show, and there is a disconnect between the station and their target audience. This year, according to The New York Times, the VMAs suffered a significant drop from last year. “6.5 million people tuned into the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards, a drop of 34 percent compared to the 2015 event’s 9.8 million viewer total,” The New York Times reported. While MTV does offer streaming, a more current method where percentages have been going up, it is actual television viewership that helps the station the most.
It should be noted that the VMAs is not the only awards show facing this problem. According to Entertainment Weekly, this year’s Grammys, which was seen by 25 million viewers, still had a decrease of 10 percent in viewership from last year.
In an age where you get highlights from an event in an instant on social media and performances can be captured in bite-sized videos, it’s harder to capture the attention of a viewer for a whole show. And while people will still talk about the show the next day, is there more MTV and other channels can do in order to get attention where it matters the most?
Going further, without a doubt two of the biggest highlights of the night were the performances done by Beyoncé and Rihanna, two strong women of color who are showing confidence through their work. In addition, both are key figures of the current trend of popular artists taking more control (or appearing to) of their music. From Adele to Chance the Rapper and even America’s sweetheart Taylor Swift, musicians are releasing their music on their own terms, whether it’s giving it out for free or carefully choosing what platform to release it on. Even more so, these musicians are choosing carefully how their music is presented sonically.
Continuing to look at Rihanna and Beyoncé and their most recent releases, both “Anti” and “Lemonade” respectfully find these women more introspective on their own lives. And most of the prominent musicians at VMAs were musicians that were actually trying to make their music more emotional and personal and present themselves as artists.
Corey McCrea, a junior video production major, appreciates when artists or musicians try to control their music more.
“I like when artists take creative control of what they are doing. Pop music and music in general is always changing. When music makes a big change, I don’t care too much about it. I always think it’s going in a good direction and the messages stay the same. It’s always songs about love, or we have to be equal, or hate,” McCrea said.
This brings the question, “what is the difference between a musician and an artist?”
“In the more musical sense, you can be a good composer, study music, and know what will sound really good along studying popular music, but having your soul into it more, being passionate … it’s better. For some people [writing music], it’s a job,” says junior music industry major Jack Kane, who defines the difference between musicians and artists accordingly.
Personally, as I child I remember being excited for the VMAs. Every year it seemed filled with exciting performances, semi- respectable winners picks and promising new music. As I get older, I feel that these shows don’t represent what I find is popular, and I understand more about the inner workings of these shows.
Lily Fischer, a junior video production major, apparently feels the same way.
“Any awards [show] is very skewed. It’s never going to be correct. And now in today’s society, many things are popular since we have access to the internet. People can like many things, from smaller bands to bigger acts. I believe that [an] awards show doesn’t capture what is really popular,” said Fischer.
“It’s a publicity stunt,” said McCrea when further discussing awards shows. “The superstars just get bigger. We don’t really see underdogs coming through, unless they get supported by these superstars.”
Maybe MTV and the VMAs are losing touch with what is current, while at the same time highlighting the most affluent and progressive artists of our times.