Buzz Bin

MTV's Buzz Bin was a select group of music videos by up and coming artists and bands that the network deemed "buzz worthy", "cutting edge", or "the next big thing". As such, the selected videos received heavy rotation on the channel, and were also featured in special promotional commercials that highlighted the latest Buzz Bin selections, which were sometimes known as Buzz Clips.[1]

The Buzz Bin began in 1987, and featured artists and bands from all genres of music (not just alternative rock or modern rock acts, although those were the majority). Many music industry trade publications have noted the direct effect Buzz Bin selection has had on album sales, with some sources stating that upwards of 75% of the selected acts have gone on to achieve RIAA Gold Certification or better.[2] In 1992, The New York Times noted the Buzz Bin label's power in increasing sales and creating hit songs[1] and Entertainment Weekly called it "Alternative rock's best friend."[2]

In an article published in the journal of Music and Science, Osborn, Rossin, and Weingarten conducted a thorough content analysis of 288 Buzz Clips videos to "assess the kinds of people and cultural practices MTV promoted as buzzworthy in the 1990s."[3] The study found high degrees of correlation between gender ethnicity, instrumentation, and genre: BIPOC musicians' videos were often coded as hip-hop or R&B, featuring drum machines and keyboards; white musicians' videos featured more electric guitars; and women were shown playing instruments with less frequency than men.

The Buzz Bin ended in 2004 and was split in half into MTV's "Discover and Download" and VH1's "You Oughta Know".

MTV released two compilation CDs of Buzz Bin tracks, on Mammoth Records.[4][5]