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B-Sides: _TV needs a purely music channel; hopefully Sean “˜Diddy’ Combs’ Revolt will fill this void_

By Daily Bruin Staff

Feb. 27, 2012 10:43 a.m.

“Revolutionary” is an interesting little word. It’s quite the lofty idea, but it seems to be used for far more than it should be. Yesterday, I had a milkshake that was so good it was revolutionary. No I didn’t; a milkshake can’t be revolutionary ““ neither can a new restaurant or method of brewing coffee.

Well, now there’s another revolution in the wind. And this one, in the words of Sean “Diddy” Combs, “will be televised.” And in his case, he may be on to something that is new, exciting, and ““ dare I say it ““ revolutionary.

A few days ago, Combs announced that Comcast had chosen to partner with him to create a new cable music channel, Revolt. According to a press release from Combs’ Bad Boy Entertainment, Combs’ proposal beat out more than 100 others, which already sets expectations fairly high for what the future UCLA parent (Combs’ son committed to play football here next year) can accomplish.

Revolt will, according to Billboard, combine live musical performances, interviews and music videos with social media to create, in theory, yet another way for fans and artists to share with each other.

Combs himself posts a three-minute webcam video saying much the same thing, but in grander, more philosophically inclined terms, including a section where he speaks about his development and desire to bring his vision to the public.

And though there is at the moment a huge gap in the story where any specific details about the channel itself would be, Revolt has the potential to be a great way of listening to and watching music.

Aside from the social media component, Revolt’s essence is not entirely new. MTV used to be exclusively about music, with music videos comprising most of its programming. Not anymore.

In the era of “Jersey Shore” and other similarly mind-numbing shows, the channel has become less about the music and more about the melodrama. Can you even imagine Snooki trying to put together a song for wide release? I’m scared just thinking about it.

Hopefully, Combs and Revolt can bring music television back to the basics ““ a change I think is sorely needed. Now, one potential pitfall in music-based television could be its tendency to replay major hits over and over again to attract the largest audience (a trend that popular radio stations have, unfortunately, fallen into). Combs seems to have taken this into consideration as well, and this may be where the social media component of the channel makes its mark.

Effective publicity campaigns may be somewhat limited to artists on huge labels with massive PR departments, but every band or musician can have a Facebook account or a Twitter account. By making these elements a big factor in Revolt’s programming, Combs can open up coverage to undiscovered artists looking for that first break.

Sure, this setup may not help established artists such as Adele that much, but I think she’s doing OK for herself at the moment.

The network is scheduled to launch in 2013. Sure, anything can happen between now and then. The aim of the channel may undergo slight modifications or change completely. But I hope not because Revolt has the potential to become the purely music-based channel this generation has been waiting for.

“The revolution will be televised,” Combs says repeatedly in his announcement video.

He’s excited. So am I.

How many revolutions have you started lately? Email Bain at

[email protected]. “B-sides” runs every Monday.

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