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- Must Be the Music is more than just an X Factor clone
Originally written off as a cheap X Factor spoiler, Sky 1's talent show has fooled critics by propelling its acts into the top 10
In the years since Top of the Pops took its last journey to the merciful veterinarian, British TV's quest for a Simon Cowell-free prime-time music format has assumed the unlikely character of Ferdinand Magellan's search for the north-west passage. And if you were looking for likely sources of a radical restructuring of the relationship between TV and original songwriting, an early evening Sky talent show presented by Fearne Cotton would not be the first one you'd think of.
Yet over the past couple of weeks, Sky 1's Must Be the Music has surpassed low expectations of a blatant X Factor spoiler just as dramatically as the same channel's Pineapple Dance Studios transcended its provenance as a barrel-scraping copycat show. But the nature of Must Be the Music's central innovation is so different to that of its illustrious terpsichorean predecessor. Superficially traditional in structure – recorded audition shows, whistle-stop home visits from expert judges (a sincerely ebullient Dizzee Rascal, a classically austere Sharleen Spiteri and/or a deceptively stringent Jamie Cullum), live semi-finals, proud parents, endless recaps – Must Be the Music eschews the deliriously camp fourth-wall demolition of Louie Spence, Andrew Stone and co in favour of a single revolutionary novelty.
At first, the decision to make semi-finalist's tracks available for download immediately after broadcast "so they could start making money from their music straight away" – with neither Sky nor the judges taking any cut of the artists' profits – seemed like a neat way of cocking a snook at The X Factor's more mercenary motivations. But when the first semi-final's stand-out performers – hilariously overwrought keyboard and vocal duo Pepper & Piano – leapt straight into the next week's top 10, to be followed seven days later by plausibly plaintive Edinburgh busker Emma's Imagination, with synaesthesia-assisted piano prodigy Kyan topping the classical download charts in the meantime, it was clear that something far more significant was going on.
One of the many heartening things about the contestants on Must Be the Music is how reasonable their ambitions seem – especially when set against the delusional dreams of fame and fortune that The X Factor's cannon-fodder are encouraged to harbour. Ickily named 11-year-old Celtic songwriting prodigy Hero wants to be able to afford her own harp. And the most oft-stated ultimate goal of her older rivals is "to make a living from our music" (only recklessly self-assured Irish fiddler Daithi dares to set his cap at "a comfortable living"). With landline phone-votes costing a mere 5p (a tenth of what Big Brother used to charge) and downloads set at a reasonable 59p, viewers get the opportunity to make such dreams sustainable. And – confounding conventional wisdom about public willingness to pay for music – they're doing so in huge numbers.
An approximate 2% take-up rate might not sound like much, but with an audience of approximately half a million, that adds up to 10,000 downloads. And after this week's show-stopping performances by both the aforementioned pre-teen Joanna Newsom devotee and improbably well-drilled Essex rude-boys Missing Andy (who are a bit like Hard-Fi or the Ordinary Boys, only good), these figures look set to rise substantially by the time of Sunday's live final.
Joining Hero, Missing Andy, Emma's Imagination, Pepper & Piano and Daithi in front of a 10,000-strong packed house at Wembley Arena will be Arcade Fire-channelling indie boy-band the Pictures. What kind of impact such a vertiginous leap up the pop food chain will have on this fresh-faced lineup's capacity to build long-term careers remains to be seen. And it will be interesting to see how the music business responds to a development that must have chilled the marrow of Britain's hard-working A&R fraternity. But there is one asset each of these acts has in common (aside from their uniformly terrible names). When the time comes to utter that most reliable of reality-show finalist consolation phrases – "We're all winners, really" – this usually bogus claim will actually have some financial substance to it.
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Переслать - Behind the music: Moguls and musicians thrash out filesharing
U2's manager and Gama Bomb's frontman enter the debate over whether to fight filesharing or embrace it
The filesharing debate that's been raging for close to a decade often tends to deal in absolutes from both sides: "filesharing is killing the music industry", "filesharing is good for artists", "filesharing is bad for record labels, but good for artists" (which turns into "record labels are evil" or "record labels are necessary for artists"), "filesharing is inevitable so get used to it", "filesharing should and can be eradicated". The reality, of course, is a lot more complicated.
The latest people to weigh into the debate are U2's manager, Paul McGuinness, and Philly Byrne, the frontman of Irish thrashers Gama Bomb. McGuinness wrote a piece called How to Save the Music Industry in the August issue of GQ, saying that demand for music to be free is unsustainable. He acknowledges that it's not as big a problem for his band as it is for others, but "indigenous music industries from Spain to Brazil are collapsing". While stating his opposition to lawsuits against filesharers (a tactic record labels are now largely moving away from), he endorses the gradual response initiative set out in the recent Digital Economy Act, which also suggests the music industry develops partnerships with ISPs for music subscription offers.
In an open letter to McGuinness, Byrne calls the manager's article "well-reasoned, well-informed and commendable in its aims – though it's crazily short-sighted".
Byrne's main argument is that it's impossible to police the internet, hence fighting filesharing is futile and artists will have to rethink how to profit from it. "Endorsing the idea of free content is the route to profit, creating a 'goodwill' industry," writes the singer. "Usenet groups currently charge users around £18 per month to download unlimited material. This is the best model for the future, with corporate tie-ins and advertising monetising the interactive space in which people will swap material." Which, I guess, means that he agrees with McGuinness, to a certain extent (though McGuinness does not believe ad-funding is a valid solution).
In an effort to put their proverbial money where their mouth is, Gama Bomb released their album Tales from the Grave in Space as a free download via Rapidshare in November 2009, with the blessing of their record label, Earache. Their aims, they say, were to increase their fanbase and promote their CD, which was officially released in January 2010, as well as concert ticket sales. They also hoped the exercise would give the album some media attention.
So has this experiment worked? The album has sold almost exactly the same number (7,653) of CDs to date as their previous album, Citizen Brain (7,665). "Not a spectacular result, but an interesting one," says Byrne.
"We expected a big increase," says Digby Pearson, founder of Earache. "Didn't happen. Our reading of the situation is the free album – downloaded over 40,000 times – undoubtedly helped the band's 'profile' with casual fans."
It appears US fans were less open to part with their cash than European fans, as sales in the US were down 36% compared to the previous album, while European sales were up 26% – a gain the label attributes to the "overall cheap price of a CD". "Overall the sales, while decent, are also nothing spectacular, compared to similar bands in the new thrash scene, some of which sell 35,000-plus," says Pearson. "I don't think the experiment of sharing a free album on the internet has been the runaway success it promised to be, but I'm glad we tried it."
Here we see a perfect illustration for my view on the subject: creators should be allowed to choose what happens with their music, and if the artist has decided to sign a deal with a label, getting investment in return for the copyright ownership, then it should be the choice of the copyright owner. If they want to use a Creative Commons licence, for example, then that is their choice. If they don't want their music to be given away for free, that should also be respected. It's important to distinguish illegal downloading from filesharing.
It's also worth noting that what may work in the thrash metal scene may not work for artists in other genres, as live shows and merchandising are a big part of metal culture. The bands also tend to write their own music, so there is no question of compensating songwriters who can only make money from the actual song, and don't share any ancillary income. However, there's usually a producer who needs to get paid for their work. As producers traditionally get an upfront fee, plus royalties from the record, this would mean that the upfront fee should be higher if the album is given away for free (though, according to the producers I've spoken to, the upfront fees have gone down considerably in the last five years).
Is there any right answer in the filesharing debate? And what's in it for the record label? "We've got a 360-degree deal with the band," says Pearson. "We share in the income from records, publishing and merchandise – but not live income. So it's probably more like a 270-degree deal. But this is basically why this label can spend money on making an album to give away ..."
Of course, we won't know for sure if their gamble has been a success or not until the band goes on tour. Will the 40,000 people who downloaded the album for free turn into paying concertgoers? And will that be enough for the band to continue and their label to keep investing in them?
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsПереслать - Manic Street Preachers – Postcards from a Young Man: exclusive album stream
Your chance to hear Manic Street Preachers' 10th album before it's released
We're a long way from Journal for Plague Lovers here. Where the Manics' ninth album saw them using lyrics by Richey Edwards and returning to a starker sound, this time they have their sights set on the mainstream. James Dean Bradfield describes Postcards from a Young Man as consisting of "big radio hits" – and that certainly applies to these 12 tracks.
Opener and lead single It's Not War (Just the End of Love) sets out their stall – theatrical drum rolls, soaring strings and a chorus that scrapes the sky. The title track might claim, "This life it sucks your principles away, you have to fight against it every day", but it's peformed with the verve of a band winning that fight.
If Journal for Plague Lovers saw the Manics clearing out their creative pipes – and putting some demons to rest – then Postcards rings out like a group having the time of their lives. So what do you think?
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More FeedsПереслать
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