Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utcsrgv.UUCP
Path: utzoo!utcsrgv!peterr
From: peterr@utcsrgv.UUCP (Peter Rowley)
Newsgroups: net.music
Subject: Toronto video, commercial music and Billboard
Message-ID: <2194@utcsrgv.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 6-Sep-83 02:31:38 EDT
Article-I.D.: utcsrgv.2194
Posted: Tue Sep  6 02:31:38 1983
Date-Received: Tue, 6-Sep-83 03:32:55 EDT
Organization: CSRG, University of Toronto
Lines: 26

NBC may have opened the floodgates with "Friday Night Videos" if a new
local Toronto show is indicative.  "Video Singles", every weeknight from
1am-2am, is produced and shown by Toronto's channel 47 (CFMT) and has a
bunch of videos, hosted by a "Top 40"-style DJ, and a smattering of talk
such as a listing of upcoming concerts and music news.

A cute twist is that channel 47's pseudonym, which they've used for over
three years, is "MTV", standing for Multi-cultural Television (they broad-
cast in over a dozen languages) and their MTV logo is clearly visible in
the VJ's booth.

Not much adventurous video here, though they did show a new Talking Heads
piece.  For adventurous video in the Toronto area, have a look at the Video
show at the Festival of Festivals (early Sept.) and the Video Culture show
(early Nov.).

Sorry for all the Toronto-specific stuff... to redeem myself:
On the subject of music as "product" (ref. recent discussions of 
commercial music), I recently bought a copy of Billboard-- it is a real
shock to see records spoken about like they were tubes of toothpaste or
bars of soap, just as a commodity to be marketed.  And the issue I happened
to buy had an article on record stores selling software... if you thought
using terms like 'user-friendly' is excessive hype, I'd wager you ain't seen
nothing yet...  Do try to spend 1/2hr with a copy of Billboard sometime, tho;
it presents the value system of the record business very clearly indeed and
this certainly does influence the music recorded.