The Disney Invasion of the Video Music Awards

The celebrities showcased at the MTV Video Music Awards on September 7, 2008, had me scratching my head. The Jonas Brothers. Miley Cyrus. Drake Bell. Josh Peck. A host of other faces I recognized from channels my little cousins watch.

Had I accidentally tuned into Nickelodeon's Kid's Choice Awards? Was I watching Disney?

What did any of these kiddy stars have to offer to what I had always considered the MTV demographic: teenage and twenty-something pop music fans?

Whenever MTV puts on an awards show, much criticism is given to the station's lack of relevance in today's music scene. Britney Spears' "Piece of Me" won three awards at this year's VMAs including "Video of the Year," the top prize, although most news centering around Spears in the past year had to do less with her "amazing," new single and more with a custody settlement.

"After all she's been through, this was Britney's year," an MTV commentator said after the show, suggesting the real goal of the 2008 VMAs besides honoring artistry: the resurrection of an MTV icon.

But if MTV failed to acclaim the best music videos of the year on Sunday, the station may not have been as ineffective in capturing the state of the music industry when it promoted the cast of High School Musical and the other Mouseketeers.

In July CNET News reported that Walt Disney Records saw a 60 percent increase in sales from 2006 to 2007, a rise attributed to the "tween and young-teen music craze led by Disney star Miley Cyrus." Overall music sales dropped 17 percent during the same time period.

Reporter Stefanie Olsen quoted Damon Whiteside, senior vice president of marketing of Walt Disney Records, as saying: "It's thanks to the tween and younger teens that the music business is staying alive."

With older music listeners abandoning traditional mediums for illegal online consumption, the record industry have shifted focus to a base that continues to dole out money for tunes. MTV has spotted the trend, and that is why the network's programming is continually becoming more youth-oriented.

MTV's connection to Disney entertainment is nothing new (Spears started her career on the Mickey Mouse Club, for example.) Tuning into the VMAs, however, I was surprised, by how close Disney's turn to rock music and influence on MTV has melded the two television stations.

If the Jonas boys and their Moffatts meets Beatlemania performance at the VMAs had you wishing for the MTV of old, start buying some albums. The tween and pre-teen girls that rushed the stage in a "Lovebug" frenzy are, and MTV is taking note.

Source

Olsen, Stefanie. "Disney bucks music industry downturn." CNET News. July 15, 2008