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Sean “Diddy” Combs has returned to the public consciousness to heavily promote the limited release launch of his new music network, Revolt. What is Revolt? Well, we’re still not sure.
It seems that Diddy and the Revolt team have mastered the fine development trick of talking a lot without really saying anything. Revolt will be “ESPN for music.” Okay. “We’re just going to do it better.” Sure. “No rules. Anything can happen.” Mm-hm. “The first channel of the social media age.” What?
The channel, now available on TimeWarner and a few Comcast outlets, plans to target the elusive Millennials. Through what kind of programming? What kind of music? “If young people bang it,” CEO Keith Clinkscales says, “we’ll cover it.” The vision is so wide and blurry that it’s almost impossible to bank its success. “Music Television” may have been enough of a network pitch in the ’80s, but not now. One channel can’t possibly compete with the unimaginable scope of music and music news on the web. Wouldn’t it make more sense to focus and specialize?
Diddy’s been talking up Revolt’s social networking integration, the details of which we’ve yet to see, and claims that it will bring back the music fans that reality shows like Teen Mom have driven onto the internet. The Twitterati usually rebel when the suits attempt to control the social media conversation, so it will truly be a feat if Diddy and Clinkscales can Pied-Piper the young ones into doing their grassroots marketing for them.
So far, the fledgling network has failed to make any waves and the first few hours of broadcast were plagued by technical issues. The first video played on Revolt was 1994’s “Juicy,” so anyone who had bets on Diddy’s continued reliance on Biggie’s legacy can collect now. Have you been watching Revolt? Do you think it has a shot at making a mark? Discuss in the comments.
