MTV getting Web 2.0 with Microsoft, AOL

MTV and Microsoft have created URGE, an online music service, in response to iTunes and (perhaps) MySpace. This news reads like a me-too offering. It is…until you consider that MTV:

• is pushing video search to AOL
• recently purchased IFILM
• launched mtvU with its own consumer-generated media component. Who decides which letters are cap and lower case at MTV anyway?

MTV provides us an example of old media that is trying to stay relevant.

Many are rightly concerned about the future of television in light of the rapid evolution of the video iPod and other video-friendly developments like on-demand cable/satellite. But the theory goes that new technology does not kill the old, it just forces the old to change (hopefully for the better). Back in October, I noted that MTV could become the first media outlet to do more than simply play with CGM but really wrap it into its offering. Read: make money off it.

AOL, Microsoft and MTV trying to get Web 2.0 might seem like the ill-fitting equivalent of your parents trying to talk street. But they are late to the game and cannot afford to grow things organically. Besides, their strengths are their distribution channels/content. URGE “will be integrated into the next version of the software maker's Windows Media Player and offer more than 2 million tracks for sale individually or as part of a subscription package. The service will also offer music over online radio.”

Not to mention, let's remember what the "Garage Set’s" ultimate goals are. Whether they’re trying to be the next Bill Gates or the next Bono, I *guarantee* you that they’ll have no problems moving from MySpace to MTV.

I’m hoping MTV continues to stay relevant and serves as an example to other mainstream media outlets on how to do so.

tags: URGE, MTV, mtvU, AOL, Microsoft, music news, consumer generated media