The VMAs are one of the most talked about music awards for the current generation of teens and young adults. The awards have been occurring for about 30 years now and every year there is something new that occurs. Typically, the awards spark debate about controversial issues based on specific artists performances.
Whether it be Miley Cyrus twerking on stage or Kanye West interrupting Taylor Swift. It is usually during the show that these debates begin, however, this year, the controversial debate on the show began a week before it even occurred. Recently, news came out that MTV does not provide tickets for the show for everyone. This is to be expected as having well known celebrities will only boost the ratings of the show. But what about the directors? The very directors that are nominated to win some of the most prized awards from MTV. Yes, as you may have heard MTV does not give the directors of the videos that receive nominates tickets to the show. Instead MTV sells the directors these tickets for a price close to $450. That is $450 for the farthest seat of course. Taken from The Daily Beast, the ticket prices range from $450 to $800. The mezzanine seats are $450, loge seats are $450, and orchestra seats are $800. These directors do not make a lot of money as it is, now MTV does not even want them there to receive their award.
So what is the deal MTV? It certainly cannot be seating being that Microsoft Theater seats 7,100 people in its theater. Obviously MTV wants the stars to be front and center and that is certainly okay. But what about all of the other seats in the theater? Why should these directors have to pay to get into their own show? Maybe MTV needed the money since they decided not to let the public into the venue this year? However, this is probably false as MTV is a huge company who will make millions based solely on the amount of people viewing the awards on Sunday.
The real issue is that MTV and so many others do not recognize the directors and the production assistants that make the video a reality. Typically the band or the artist are the only ones who receive the fame and money. Brian Hernandez a reporter at Mashable tweeted Jeff Nicholas, director of the music video "American Oxygen" by Rihanna, asking if he was contacted to pay for tickets after the videos nomination. Nicholas reply is startling based solely on the fact that MTV did not even contact the director.
Why do we refuse to look at what occurs behind the scene of the music videos and the songs. Artists have whole teams of people that get left out of their speeches at award events and who do not receive tickets to the show. Is it just America who does not give the creators of the content we watch enough credit, or is it an issue all over the world? Is it just our generation who does not care to look past the colorful images and the stars we know so well, or is there more to the story? It is time that we take a closer look into ensuring that credit is given where it is due.
