Internet-based television platform Pluto TV just announced an agreement with MTV Music. Is this the start of something bigger in music?
The deal brings with it three new music-video channels for Pluto users to choose from.
These channels — a general ‘MTV’ (for music videos from multiple genres), ‘MTV Pop’ (for pop music), and ‘MTV Spankin’ New’ (for new releases, especially from up-and-coming artists) — were made available directly after the agreement was revealed publicly. Pluto TV users can access the music videos on channels 927, 924, and 930, respectively.
Music fans responded positively to this addition to Pluto TV’s already-sizable library, which includes more than 150 live channels and an abundance of on-demand movies. Moreover, many of these fans apparently made the decision to download Pluto TV after learning about the music videos. And given that Pluto TV is available for the ultra-affordable price of free, there’s little to hold one back from enjoying the service.
Moving forward, it’ll be worth following Pluto TV’s additional investments in the music industry, which, by and large, seems to be untapped by the majority of television platforms.
YouTube obviously has music videos, though it’s also corralling fans with free live-streams of Coachella. But what exists on the paid side? One could only imagine the potential revenue associated with, say, affording fans an inside look at multi-day music festivals — for a cost, that is.
What’s more is that concerts are unique enough to dissuade fans from skipping them in favor of watching on TV; the broadcasts would cater exclusively to those who, for whatever reason, cannot make it to the associated live performances.
Others are sniffing the opportunity. That includes Mark Cuban, the billionaire CEO of AXS TV, a television station that broadcasts, amongst other things, concerts performed by well-known artists. Some smaller-scaler music festivals have been showcased on AXS, but none have been especially popular.
It’s possible that AXS’s considerable success — it has grown yearly for nearly two decades, since it was founded — inspired MTV and Pluto TV execs to make an agreement.
Only time will tell just how committed Pluto TV is to delivering the newest music videos. In the meantime, there’s a lot of appealing — and free — content to enjoy on the platform.
There is no deal here… Viacom who owns MTV also owns Pluto TV. No need for a deal as stated in this article. Viacom can freely add whatever channels they want from their library to Pluto TV.