The joke that MTV doesn't dabble as much in music videos as it used to is kind of passé. Although the video is far from old fashioned, the network is looking to adapt with the new wave by taking to streaming. Vicacom—which owns MTV, VH1 and Country Music Television—entered into a marketing partnership with Spotify as a further method of curating music.
So far only two of the programs on MTV have latched on, but the plan will be the same for all: Shows such as Love and Hip Hop on VH1 feature a significant number of songs as part of its soundtrack. The channel will now feature official playlists on Spotify that showcase music from the episodes as a way of taste-making to fans. Viacom plans on operating more than 100 playlists on the site.
Spotify, in turn, gets its face on all of Viacom's relevant websites. Every one of the three sites mentioned features "artist pages." Now whenever users visit these pages, the music featured will be streamed directly from Spotify. The more listens the site gets, the more it can bring in for ad revenue, meaning it will theoretically cash-in big time with the MTV deal.
No word on whether Viacom will have any access to Spotify's numbers in terms of curating new material. Although it's great that the company can play the role of a tastemaker, the real benefit could come in tracking what performers have seen upticks in activity and then promote them on the various music networks before another company can.
