What Dies First, Twitter Or The VMAs?

I'm not gonna watch it. I figure if anything happens worth knowing about, I can see it on the Internet tomorrow. That's how far we've come, used to be you DVR'ed it and fast-forwarded through not only the commercials, but almost all of the musical performances. Now you don't want to waste the hard drive space.

And if it weren't for Twitter, the show's ratings would be so low they'd think about canceling it.

You see now it's no longer about the show itself, but the snark. The people on stage don't realize they're fodder for those playing the home game, making fun of everything happening on stage and off. Search Twitter, it's not pretty. Even youngsters are sneering. And every oldster with a modicum of followers is live tweeting, which proves that the paradigm is done, once you're afraid of being left out, once you're leveraging your fan base for personal aggrandizement, we know the whole shebang is history.

How did it come to this?

Well, we know that television kills musical artists. Oh, it jets them to the moon, but sans mystery, they end up like sitcom stars, people with one moment of fame we end up laughing at, wondering if they're off robbing a 7-11 now that their royalties are gone.

This was true during the heyday of MTV.

Now it's even worse.

Well, let me explain that. Television does not have the power it used to, and needless to say MTV's a shadow of its former self. But everybody trying to sell a record, everybody looking for a bit of the cultural zeitgeist, makes sure they appear on this show where the awards are meaningless but the zingers and the performances made it legendary.

I already know Justin Timberlake resurrected his Grammy performance. And if you didn't know that 'NSYNC appeared with him, you probably don't know there's going to be a gold iPhone.

But at least you can do something with an iPhone, it's got legs, unlike this show and even most of JT's music.

As for the Twitter comments, that's all about the participatory society. If you think it needs to take place on Twitter, you're still using MySpace.

Speaking of which, if Justin Timberlake was so powerful, how come he couldn't resurrect that service? This is kind of like the people who bought the story that BlackBerry could be resurrected by the 10, who are these idiots without discriminatory powers, who ignore facts and print the press release?

That's what the VMAs have become. A marketing exercise with no core.

At least there's a game at the center of the Super Bowl.

But really, we watch for the commercials. Without them, ratings would suck.

But this is such a tired show. Kind of like SNL. Ain't that America, you create a formula and then milk it to death.

As for the "stars" who appear... Once upon a time video was important and we all were watching. Now nothing's that important and we only watch shows like the VMAs to feel a member of the club.

So I'm predicting this live tweet bowl will die. Kind of like long hair. It meant something once, then the nerds grew out their hair and it lost all its power, it was no longer a statement.

Kind of like tattoos. Once upon a time they were taboo. Now even teachers have them. To rebel is to not only get rid of them, but to never ever have them.

Once upon a time, the music business was built on hip. When Top Forty was something you wanted to run away from and saying no was an option.

But now we're all beholden to the corporate conglomerates. Brands are king, not bands.

So what will the future bring us?

Outsiders who triumph.

It's easy to snark on Twitter, it's much more difficult to create art worth snarking about.

Culture abhors a vacuum. And that's what we've got right now. Circus performers who act in a bad play straight out of the WWE.

Everyone's afraid to say no because they're afraid to be forgotten.

Don't want to be forgotten? Write a great hit.

So pat yourself on the back for believing you're better than the VMAs. It's true, you are.

But if you're joining the scrum of snark to make yourself feel good you're already part of a dying paradigm, sorry.

P.S. Apple's 9/10 announcements will trump this popular culture travesty in both impact and longevity.

P.P.S. We're more interested in the war between Samsung and Apple than any rap war.

P.P.P.S. As soon as an outlet starts trumpeting its social media marketing you know that it's truly got no idea where the culture is headed. Once upon a time MTV led, now it follows, poorly.

P.P.P.P.S. Since the kiddies spend money on it, the oldsters are wary of decrying it.

P.P.P.P.P.S. Hall & Oates have more hits than all of these nitwits and are continuing to sell a vast number of tickets. Proving that it's truly about talent and musicianship. And it's the hits that put people in the seats ten years out, not the evanescent appearances on these self-congratulatory cheesefests. Furthermore, hipsters hate Hall & Oates, laughingly call it "yacht rock." Forge your own path, don't be a follower. Because the true followers are people live tweeting this show.

P.P.P.P.P.P.S. Vice is the new MTV. And their show on HBO is riveting in a way MTV hasn't been in fifteen years. Because it assumes those watching are intelligent. Today smart is hip. The key is to bring your attitude with your intelligence to the cutting edge. Vice investigates dating in China, their Dennis Rodman stunt made more news than the compendium of stars appearing on this telecast. Success is all about thinking. Doing something different. If you're not breaking the mold, you're gonna be discarded when the revolution occurs, and it won't be televised. In other words, tomorrow's movers and shakers aren't even watching this show, they're about disrupting this world, not being a part of it.

P.P.P.P.P.P.P.S. The fact that Vice's TV show has little traction does not mean it's irrelevant, quite the contrary. Today everything that lasts builds slowly off the radar screen, which only catalogues the comets that come and quickly go. Then suddenly, it's ubiquitous. Kind of like Twitter itself. Did you already forget that the younger generation was last to the 140 character service? Yes, Justin Bieber and his adoring pre-adolescent fans are not changing the world, older people are.


--
Visit the archive: http://lefsetz.com/wordpress/
--
http://www.twitter.com/lefsetz
--
If you would like to subscribe to the LefsetzLetter,
http://www.lefsetz.com/lists/?p=subscribe&id=1

If you do not want to receive any more LefsetzLetters, http://lefsetz.com/lists?p=unsubscribe&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25

To change your email address http://lefsetz.com/lists?p=preferences&uid=0eecea7b60b461717065cbde887c8e25




--
Powered by PHPlist, www.phplist.com --