When you know how to make money, making more is never difficult! Sean “Diddy” Combs‘ new Revolt channel launched adding a new outlet for music to television. He wants Revolt to be to music what ESPN is to sports, with well-curated playlists and a strong focus on industry news.
“I want to know, who is Taylor Swift?” Combs said. “Why is Miley Cyrus twerking? Why did Jay Z and Justin Timberlake go on tour? Why did Kanye West call his daughter ‘North’? The industry of music is just as important, or more important, as the industry of sports. Sports is covered in a serious manner and we want to follow in those footsteps.”
“We’re just going to do it better,” said Val Boreland, Revolt’s chief programming executive. Combs said he wants a network where people program from the gut instead of sales charts, citing legendary DJ Frankie Crocker and “Soul Train.” His executive team is heavy on industry experience, with former ESPN executive and Vibe magazine president Keith Clinkscales, former Warner Bros. and MTV executive Andy Schuon and Boreland, who worked at Comedy Central.
Boreland said Revolt will stay in contact with viewers through social media. Revolt is available only on Time Warner and some Comcast cable outlets. Combs encourages fans to contact cable and satellite operators to urge them to begin airing Revolt.
The online launch opening video was Biggie’s 1994 song “Juicy,” a song Combs produced in his Puff Daddy days, where the artist looked back on an improbable journey that began with big ambitions.
From there, Combs and former MTV VJ La La Anthony played tracks from the French DJ and producer Gesaffelstein, the California hip-hop duo Audio Push and the British electronic music duo Disclosure.
“People have made an assumption, because I’m a hip-hop artist and I’m African American, that I’m going to try to make a second version of BET,” Combs said, “which I’m not.”
“It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” Combs said, “and it’s the most exciting thing I’ve done in a long time.” –joi pearson @joiapearson
