The Urge

  Once again, MTV is revolutionizing the way that we discover new music.  Last week, the network announced its most ambitious music distribution service yet, a partnership with Microsoft called Urge.

  Essentially, Urge is a service that can fill your iPod with a professionally programmed mix of music in any genre you choose, from alt-country or hip-hop to rock or zydeco.  It also provides podcasts of MTV content, like news and editorial features, and celebrity-chosen playlists.  The download of the Urge program includes the beta version of the new Windows Media Player 11, which was specifically designed to work in concert with Urge.

  Its features are almost too numerous to mention.  It’s like Pandora, MTV, Napster and Windows Media Player all rolled into one.  It’s like sharing your computer with the person who programs your favorite radio station.  And speaking of radio stations—yeah, they’ve got those too.  They’ve got 130 of them, to be exact, all in CD quality and every genre imaginable.

  Urge puts more than two million songs at your fingertips.  The service has incorporated the music library of MusicNet, the world’s largest catalogue of digital music.  With the fast download time of the requisite broadband connection, sometimes it’s hard to tell if the song you’re listening to is from your own library or from MusicNet’s.  If you listened to every song in MusicNet’s current library, averaging four minutes per song—and you listened around the clock—it would take you fifteen years.  And the library’s growing by the minute.

  But while Urge allows you to listen to almost any song, anytime, it’s not a free-for-all, and it’s not free.  There are three pricing tiers.  The first (and cheapest) allows you to play or download any of the songs in MusicNet’s library, as well as access to the 130 radio stations and more than 500 playlists.  It costs about $10 a month, but you can only listen while you’re sitting at a computer.  If you want to transfer any of your newly acquired music to an iPod, you’ll need to subscribe to the “All Access To Go” package, which will run you an additional $5 a month.  And if you want to burn any of the songs to CD, it’s going to run you 99 cents per track, which is pretty much the going rate for digital downloads.

  In my opinion, it’s not the access to the music that’s impressive; it’s the editorial content and the compilation of the playlists.  It’s the downloadable and automatically-updating feeds from MTV, CMT and VH1.  Urge will also feature genre-specific blogs about new music, fully integrated with the MusicNet library, allowing readers to instantly hear the music that they are reading about.  The “This Week In…” feature will cover almost every genre of music, provide an accompanying blog that tells you about the tracks, and continuously updates on your computer, allowing you to stay up-to-date with the latest music.  I mentioned celebrity playlists earlier; the service is already boasting playlists compiled by Green Day, Rihanna, Roseanne Cash, Tony Hawk, T.I. and more.  Where else can you listen to the same music your favorite celebrities are listening to?

  With the long weekend coming up, you may want to surf on over to urge.com and get started.  MTV is currently offering a free two-week trial, with unlimited downloads and no credit card is required.  See how many of MusicNet’s songs you can get through in three days!

 -From Pulse
   May 25, 2006

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Think

Who says that MTV has fostered a generation of slackers?

Viewers of the network have without doubt recently seen a little logo pop up in the middle of their favorite shows, urging them to “think.” Critics will argue that “thinking” is the last thing MTV viewers want to do, and that it’s a shame they have to be told when to do it. But—like it or not— MTV’s new “think” campaign is helping to create a more proactive, socially aware youth population.

The new “think MTV” campaign was launched on May 17th of this year. It’s not a new concept for the network. It’s merely taking the “Choose or Lose,” “Vote or Die,” “Fight For Your Rights” approach one step further. Through interactive programming and a website committed to engaging viewers, think MTV is trying to cultivate a youth culture that is actively involved in the issues that affect them.

Initially, the campaign is focusing on five broad areas: discrimination, education, environmental issues, global issues, and their own sexual health. Through the website, think.mtv.com, viewers are encouraged to volunteer in their own communities, providing information on local charities by zip code.

Think MTV has been integrated into the network’s programming on several levels. First, entire shows that deal directly with think issues are being aired regularly. For example, the network recently aired an episode of “Diary” which followed Angelina Jolie and Dr. Jeffrey Sachs as they traveled through the poorest parts of Africa. While watching it, viewers were urged to log on to the think website to find out how they can help end extreme poverty on a global-wide level.

I recently visited the website and found that there are currently ten different features posted. Hurricane Katrina relief is prominently displayed, providing downloadable tracks from the ReAct Now concert. (All proceeds from the downloads go to relief projects.) There is also a feature in which “Real World New Orleans” cast members talk about the impact of Katrina. But effort to generate interest and support for charitable causes doesn’t begin or end with Katrina relief.

Visitors to the website are urged to learn about discrimination and take a stand against it. They are taught how to get health insurance, and exposed to the problems in civil-war-torn Congo. They are given tips on how to pay for college and how to protect themselves against HIV and other STDs. Web surfers can watch dozens of public service announcements that the network runs, and get more information on how to get involved.

It really is a good thing.

But does it work? Yes, for many reasons. First, MTV has, since its inception, been the barometer of “cool.” With the new think campaign, viewers are bombarded with the message that it is not just cool, it’s critical to proactively do something to help the world around you. The message is that educating oneself on the issues is only the first of several steps necessary to make a difference. And apathy is unacceptable.

Sometime in the next week or so, spend a little time at think.mtv.com and see how philanthropy just became cool again.

-From Pulse
September 22, 2005

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