Yesterday the news broke that MK will be discontinued as a TV channel on DStv from the end of July.
The upset was immediately palpable and rightfully so, but as I’ve come to realise over the years, South Africans can be overtly precious about something they hold dear and guilty of not looking at the bigger picture. Hey, I know I have.
In light of this, I decided to throw a few questions around to see if this online pilgrimage is really as heinous as some are making it out to be.
When MK launched in 2005 the musical climate of our country was very different and there were min commercial media outlets that were making an effort to cultivate a youth culture through the arts. MK (or MK89 back in the day) filled that gap perfectly, getting progressively more “youth-savvy” as the years went on. But most importantly, what MK did was give musicians something to strive towards and challenge them to do better, going so far as to introduce the MK MVP competition which gives up-and-coming bands and filmmakers a cash injection and a chance to showcase their skills.
Fast forward 8 years. MK announces that they will be transformed into South Africa’s first online music video streaming channel. All hell breaks loose. But why??
Apart from MK Onderground, MK Top 10 and those awful Skole Top 10 (which aren’t presenter-based shows anyway) when was the last time you actually WATCHED a program on MK? One-by-one the shows started to fall to the wayside. Jip, MK Electro, Studio 1, all casualties…
Okay let’s deviate for a second and unpack bits of M-Net’s official statement as seen here yesterday:
M-Net says: “this move will open up countless exciting possibilities for both the brand and the music featured on MK.” Hmmm. I’m not a musician, but I can imagine there’s nothing quite like that musical boner you get when you see your video on TV for the first time. That piece of shit that cost 4k and a few sexual favours to make that actually made it the TELEVISION. And they’re playing it. ON KRAAKVAARS. YEAH MOTHERFUCKERRR.
YouTube kills that feeling.But herein lies my point. What stops me from going straight to YouTube? Why do I need MK to tell me what to watch? Al Bairre’s new video for their single ‘We Move On’ is doing just fine without the help of MK. 19 000 hits and counting. Fluke? Ai but that’s a whole other article…
Now listen, I know that the MK Live Streaming of certain Rocking The Daisies sets last year did stupidly well and MK do that Couching Session once a month that they stream live, but besides one CrashCarBurn gig, two sets from Daisies and a Coachella set or three, I’ve never streamed anything live. So for me it makes this quote a little disconcerting: “It’s mindblowing to think that internet users across the globe would be able to enjoy MK’s content and that you only need a smart phone, tablet or PC with an internet connection to be exposed to the great South African bands and musos that rock MK.” Fair enough, but while the name Black Keys is globally acknowledged, the name Desmond and the Tutus is not. How are overseas users going to know that MK is a platform they can visit to check out SA talent? Is there going to be more done to promote MK and local bands overseas and if so, how?
As someone who has just taken up a job heading up a brand new online streaming music service in this country, I think that MK going digital is truly phenomenal. But I still think this is all way too early. South Africa is still quite a way behind when it comes to the digital sphere, internet usage and the costs thereof. But props to MK for embracing the changing times and deciding to roll with the punches instead of against them.
Just so we’re being clear… MK IS NOT DEAD. It’s merely changing its format.
But in times when print circulation, gig attendance and sales of physical CDs are on the decline, MK has taken a bold, pioneering step in their online shift. Whether or not it is severely premature remains to be seen.
