Word: mtv
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Zornow’s journey to the top of the underground DJ battling community begins, ironically, with that most mainstream of musical experiences: watching MTV. Back when the network actually played music videos, young Sam fell in love with rap hits, circa...
Even after rolling out 52 other international versions, MTV is working hard to fit in. The creative team is cooking up graphics announcing the call to prayer--MTV Indonesia already has them--and on Thursday evenings, ladies'-night music programming encourages female viewers who are not allowed to go out to instead organize parties at home with girlfriends. Over in the editing suite, Western music videos are cleaned up according to the "4-3-2-1 rule": close-ups of a bikini are O.K. for 1 sec. but not 2; 3 sec. in a moving shot works...
...While MTV may have popularized the music video, in the Middle East it is chasing its clones. Competitor Rotana has four Beirut-based music channels, financed by Saudi billionaire Prince al-Waleed bin Talal. Melody, out of Cairo, is controlled by Egyptian telecoms magnate Naguib Sawiris. Mohammed Yanez, MTV talent and music director, says his channel will be different. Sure, there will be stars like Elissa, Nancy Ajram and Amr Diab, but Yanez wants a little less melodrama. "We are always weeping in Arabic music," he complains. He plans to mix it up with Arab hip-hop, a genre that...
...channel is just the start for MTV. The launch will swell its reach to 36 million households that get MTV Arabia via satellite, up from 200,000 who now get MTV on pay TV, and MTV will earn an estimated $10 million annually for 10 years in licensing fees from AMG. MTV also has deals with AMG and its parent, TECOM Investments, both controlled by the ruler of Dubai, to launch an Arabic version of Nickelodeon kids' channel next year. A Comedy Central channel, film co-production deals with Paramount (a unit of MTV's parent, Viacom) and a Nickelodeon...
...first, MTV Arabia has to find the right mix of old and new. On a recent afternoon, producers reviewed a commercial featuring a traditional Arabic music ensemble, with one musician on the lutelike oud. Little by little, the oud player went wild and trashed his instrument, Jimi Hendrix-style. The meeting erupted. "You don't just break an oud," said a producer. Another chimed in, "We don't want it to be seen that MTV is coming from America and breaking your oud." An alternate ending is in the works...