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Putting the M in MTV ROCK CLUBS AND BOARDROOMS ARE PART OF A LONG DAY’S WORK FOR AMY DOYLE (COM’92) BY TAYLOR MCNEIL “The way the audience experi- Most corporate senior vice presidents don’t roll into ences music has changed, and so the offi ce about 10 a.m. — but then, most senior vice we’ve evolved according to how they are consuming and experienc- presidents aren’t hanging out in rock clubs until all ing music,” says Doyle. “Videos are still a part of that, but it isn’t hours of the night, listening to the latest bands. Amy all of it. The audience now has this insatiable desire for all things Doyle is, and she’s accustomed to the eye-rolls she music. Not only do they want to see the video, they want to see an gets when she talks about her work with her New interview with their favorite artist, view a live performance, and be York pals, who often arrive at the offi ce before 8. able to rate, rank, and comment on just about everything.” Nice work if you can get it, they think, and she agrees. These days, MTV is better known ■ Doyle (COM’92) heads MTV’s music and talent for reality shows like The Hills than it is for music, but the beat is still group, which means it’s her job to put the M in MTV: the heart and soul of the channel. Watch The Hills, for instance, and fi nd new talent, get it on one of four television chan- you’ll hear songs strategically placed at high-profi le moments, nels, push it electronically through the Web and with a soundtrack list at the end sending you to mtv.com to hear wireless, showcase bands at MTV events, and do more. It’s all part of the strategy to keep one step ahead of the com- everything else possible to keep the music and pro- petition, something that is not easily done in an age when any gramming fresh for her target audience, those easily fi fth-grader can watch a music ■ video on YouTube or MySpace. jaded twelve-to-twenty-four-year-olds. MTV has In fact, in addition to those late- come a long way from its early days of the mid-1980s, night concerts, fi guring out how to stay ahead of the competition keeps when it played music videos nonstop and even the Doyle awake at night. She may be young, she may love the rock scene, cheesiest New Wave band videos seemed so cool. but she’s every ounce the execu- 36 BOSTONIA WINTER 2007–2008 336-376-37 DDoyle.inddoyle.indd Sec2:1Sec2:1 112/8/072/8/07 11:06:02:06:02 PMPM tive — MTV is, after all, a subsidiary of media conglomerate Viacom. She talks about “brand image” and “stra- tegic music placement,” and she has some thirty people reporting to her at her glass-walled offi ce in the middle of Times Square. Exposure on MTV — or the lack of it — can still make or break a group, and Doyle knows it. She can play musical Svengali, and does, for artists she thinks deserve the attention. Fall Out Boy, for one, was signed to a small indie label when Doyle ran across them. She and her crew noticed the band had a growing online following and went to see a show. “We fell in love with them,” she says. “In that moment, we decided this was a band we were going to do everything we could for.” They added the band’s video to mtvU — the company’s college channel — and then started book- ing them on mtvU shows. As the group grew in popularity, they were bumped to MTV2, the next level up the MTV food chain. “What- ever MTV2 opportunities existed, performing live or hosting the rock show, we fi t them in,” she says. When Fall Out Boy made it to MTV itself, “it busted wide open.” Doyle’s work these days, espe- cially pushing the digital enter- tainment side of things — making videos available on cell phones, for example, and creating virtual worlds where fans can mingle with their favorite rock stars — is a long way from her origins in the business. Her fi rst gig was an intern- ship at a Boston radio station that had just fl ipped its format to rock and whose manager let her jump into different sides of the business, from sales to programming. Out of college, she landed a full-time job at the station and soon moved south to launch a start-up alternative radio station in West Palm Beach, Florida. After stints in Dallas and Detroit, she got a call from an old contact, Tom Calderon at MTV, who offered her a job in the music and talent department in New York. “The way the audience The joy of her job, she says, “is experiences music has that literally since the day I walked changed, and so we’ve in, it has continued to evolve, with evolved according to how new challenges and new platforms they are consuming and — it’s not the same job every single day. As long as it continues to be experiencing music.” unpredictable, and the role evolves, — Amy Doyle and it feels different on a regular PHOTO BY SCOTT GRIES/GETTY IMAGES GRIES/GETTY SCOTT BY PHOTO basis, I’ll be pretty satisfi ed.” B 37 BOSTONIA WINTER 2007–2008 336-376-37 DDoyle.inddoyle.indd Sec2:2Sec2:2 112/16/072/16/07 99:11:51:11:51 AAMM.

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