So I’ve mentioned before that Muchmusic sucks, and a recent Torontoist article further reminded me of its ‘suckage’. However, the article made me wonder two things: (1) does MM actually suck according to its viewers? and (2) is Muchmusic the one to blame its apparent ‘suckage’?

Yes ironically, there hasn’t been much music on Muchmusic. While I personally don’t care too much of the network anymore, I don’t necessarily agree that with the notion that MM is no longer the “mouthpiece for Canadian youth culture” as Torontoist suggests. We have to remind ourselves that we as twenty-somethings, are no longer MM’s target demographic. I am very interested to know what the target demographic, namely teens, thinks of Muchmusic. What do they think of MM’s programming? If there are any teens reading this blog, I’d totally appreciate some feedback.

At the same time, we also need to consider that the whole nature of the music industry is changing. We are increasingly reliant on the internet for our music particularly among youth, which puts a serious strain on music television networks to provide profitable products to televise.

Think about it, we are increasingly reliant on user-control types of media such as Youtube to view our music videos. Thus it becomes a great challenge for a mass media television network such as MM to remain profitable simply by playing music videos in the way that we (as twenty-somethings) appreciated when we were teenagers.

For that reason, I am not overly critical of the fact that MM is out of the business of broadcasting music videos. They are merely adapting to the changing landscape of the music industry. That being said, however, it doesn’t mean MM is off the hook. I believe there continues to be opportunities for MM to stay within the confines of music programming. How about more artist interviews? How about more programming on up-and-coming artists? How about more VideoFACT programming? MM needs to focus on featuring local talent— just like the times of the Barenaked Ladies, for example.

The never-ending reruns of O.C. and So You Think You Can Dance is just a sign that MM is accepting defeat. If they keep this up, we will soon see MM disintegrate completely from the TV landscape.