VH1Soul… Some fairly good news for you.
There might be hope.
Hey People. For those concerned, thank you for understanding the reasons behind the time off, and thank you for your support. I needed time, space and quiet, but you know I wasnt going to leave you for too long.
But its time to get right back into it… Progress on VH1Soul and where we’re at right now.
We don’t want to get you excited. And we don’t want to jinx anything or make it seem like our work is done, and the channel is secure. But there is a good atmosphere around here recently.
As of late, talks of shutting down VH1Soul have ceased. They have actually started to pay attention to us on the issue a bit. A contributing factor (we think) was the submission of the petition of 500+ signatures to the higher-ups, as a reminder that people not only know whats going on, but aren’t too happy about it. That, and pointing out some of your wonderful blogs where you guys have poured out your heart about your love for this channel (Thank you for your support). Now once again. We are NOT SAYING THAT THEY ARE NOT TO CANCEL THIS CHANNEL. But what we are telling you is that they are actually listening at this point. And if we can convince them of why this channel have value… then we might have a chance. Again: We MIGHT have a chance.
We’ll be paying attention to everything and let you know if anything changes. But we did want to let you know that things are looking good right now… and we need you guys to keep fighting. Keep the word out on the street. Continue to let your friends know. Write as many blogs as your heart wants. But keep pushing for this, and we’ll keep pushing for you.
Thanks people.
Music Nerdery. 
Glad to hear the (hopefully) good news…
Thanks for the update and the work ya’ll are doing!
joe e
March 26, 2010 at 7:17 pm
thank you for caring. 😀
E
March 27, 2010 at 12:39 am
WOW!!! That’s good news!!! I was wondering why they would cancel VH1 Soul and still keep BET Gospel as a channel!!! I hate to say it, that channel sucks!!! They play the same stuff everyday!
Cassie
March 26, 2010 at 7:24 pm
very GREAT point… will bring this up to them as SOON as i get a chance.
E
March 27, 2010 at 12:40 am
This is good, but keeping it up is part of the challenge. It proves that music videos can still be viable medium, and let’s not forget: music videos (or promotional film clips as they were called in the mid to late 60’s) are meant to promote the single, song, album, or artist. Badu’s video and the buzz behind it (#windowseatvideo on Twitter if anyone wants to check themselves) proves this, and anyone who watches music videos on genres outside of VH-1 Soul’s rotation proves that you don’t (or never) have to be literal with your videos. You can do things on a budget, or just one camera and make it work, there’s a good history of one camera/no-edit videos out there.
I do hope that VH-1 Soul will not only keep going, but also take a look at soul music coming out of Canada, UK, Germany, Japan, and Africa. The tree symbolizes the roots of the music, and I hope it will be able to present itself not only with the new hits and the classics, but also evolve. I remember when Downtown Julie Brown wanted to establish an international show as a means to keep Americans aware of sounds from around the world. While the show didn’t work, I think the internet has had a huge hand in removing the limited boundaries that no longer exist. I’d love to see a Kylie Auldist video on VH-1 Soul, or more Stephanie McKay, show a dynamic to soul music that exists but has only been discussed in closed circles.
John Book
March 28, 2010 at 8:29 pm
thanks john, for those wonderful thoughts.
just to let you know… we do try to keep it as diverse as we can musically on VH1Soul with specific blocks for african music, reggae music, and other foreign artists. I know we could be doing a lot better, but at the same time, a lot of these great artists have nobody to submit their videos to us, and (for some reason) we need to do all that legal crap before we can air a video. as is, were having a hard time getting Erykahs new stuff played… looks like the person who did her submission work was laid off. 😦
I see what youre saying, and were working around that.
E
March 29, 2010 at 7:07 am