MTV, record label debate ‘Despacito’ video
NEW YORK: MTV says the uber-popular video for “Despacito” did not earn a nomination at its Video Music Awards because it was not submitted for consideration, but Universal Music Latin Entertainment says MTV did not ask the label to submit the video until last week — two weeks after the network announced its VMA nominees.
“Despacito” has not aired on MTV or MTV2, but it is being played on MTV Tres, the company’s Latin channel. As for the VMAs, MTV said “the ‘Despacito’ video was not submitted for consideration” in a statement to The Associated Press on Monday.
“Until last week, MTV had not solicited UMLE to submit the video for consideration,” a spokesperson for the record label said in a statement to the AP after it published a story on the reason for “Despacito’s” exclusion from the awards show.
It is unclear why the network solicited the label for a submission after the nominations had already been announced. MTV did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Monday afternoon.
MTV announced its VMA nominees on July 25. The network said Monday that “Despacito” — the song not the video — will be acknowledged at the VMAs as a nominee in its song of summer category. That category and its nominees will be officially announced the week of Aug. 21.
The label said it hopes MTV will air the video at some point.
“UMLE is surprised and happy to learn that MTV plans to recognize ‘Despacito’ in the VMA’s ‘Song of Summer’ category,” the label said. “We hope the nomination will lead to MTV airing the full video on their main channels.”
MTV did not explain why it has not played “Despacito” on its main channel when asked by the AP. Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s hit song has become YouTube’s most viewed clip of all-time, surpassing 3 billion views.
“We are proud to work with MTV to expose new audiences to our artists’ music and we would welcome MTV’s decision to recognize Spanish-language videos on its main channel and the Music Video Awards program,” the label said.
The VMAs will air live on Aug. 27.
MTV, which mainly airs reality shows like “Teen Mom” and “Catfish” throughout the day, rarely plays music videos on its main channel. MTV2, MTV Classic and other spin-offs air videos regularly.
“Despacito” is the rare Spanish track that has become a massive success in the US and around the world. The hit song, which recently became the first video to hit 3 billion views on YouTube, has become the most streamed track of alltime and is spending its 14th week at No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
It is the first mostly Spanish song to top the Hot 100 since Los del Rio’s “Macarena” in 1996 and has sold more than 7.7 million tracks based on digital sales, audio streaming and video streaming.