And thus the clarion call is sounded, yet a-bloody-gain against this man.
The story goes, every late-November/early-December that "everyone" gets sick of the "tyranny" evoked by the winner of the X-Factor selling a huge number of singles with their debut release and, every year since 2005. In order to "stick it", "get one over on" and show Simon
Cowell "who's boss" the
Internet 'unites', picks an arbitrary piece of recorded music and tries to get everyone to buy it...
This year it's Rage Against the Machine's turn. You'll all be delighted to hear. The original release in 1993 reached the dizzying heights of number 25, and the
Internet has apparently decided that it's time for this all to be rectified.
Hmmmm... right.
Competitions like the X-Factor may have their flaws (I stress the use of the subjunctive here), but these campaigns to try and 'stop' the winning act from getting the Christmas number 1 are united than more than their blind ignorance as to how the popular music industry does, and indeed, bloody well should work.
But the best thing, the genuinely brilliant thing about these ridiculous campaigns is typified best by last year's "effort". The winner of the X Factor,
Alexandra Burke, covered the
LEONARD COHEN classic "Hallelujah". If the caps lock confuses you, it's simply a safeguard to remind you that the original version of the song was actually his creation.
A plethora of individuals have covered this song over the past three decades. Some have done it admirably. Some have struggled. Some have been
Bono. Lest we forget. But the argument proceeded that the seminal performance of "Hallelujah" belonged to
Jeff Buckley. An argument, which, by the way, Simon
Cowell has agreed with.
So when the Christmas number 1 race came around, a campaign was launched to try and get Jeff Buckley's version to the number 1 slot. It was perhaps more
successful than most, but ultimately it failed.
But let's take just a second to consider the alternative. Let's say that Jeff Buckley did get to number 1. What precisely would that have proved?
Firstly, let's immediately dispel the idea that the Christmas number 1 wasn't brought about by Simon
Cowell. The only reason Jeff Buckley has
EVER had a number 2 hit in the UK is as a direct result of Simon
Cowell and the X Factor. In trying to provide an 'alternative' the authors of these campaigns are a) contributing to the debate and the hype which the X Factor provides and b) being JUST as cynical and 'manufactured' in their approach to the pop charts as the big bad nasty record labels.
Secondly, and this,
this is the real kicker. In the modern television landscape, in this post-Top Of The Pops world, there is no dedicated platform for popular music, the UK singles/albums charts and for studio performances of the current popular acts, or, crucially, any up and coming acts who may be looking for an opportunity to gather some momentum as they attempt to make their name in a notoriously competitive music industry. The X Factor is the only TV show in which music performances by contemporary artists can be seen on live, prime-time TV. If the cynical campaigns to 'destroy' the X-Factor were to succeed, do they REALLY imagine that the UK music industry would be a better place? Do they not rather think that the whole structure would become even more
disparate and divisive and therefore even more overcrowded and difficult to achieve sufficient exposure upon which to base a successful and financially lucrative career? You may feel the X Factor isn't a perfect platform; you can't deny that it's just about the only one there is.
Thirdly, and finally, the campaign to get Jeff Buckley to the Christmas number 1 was flawed in a very key respect. Jeff Buckley's back catalogue is owned by Colombia Records which is a tributary of Sony
BMG. Sony Music Entertainment also owns Simon
Cowell's record label
SyCo. In a campaign which effectively drove up single sales for Alexandra Burke and Jeff Buckley, all it achieved was inflated record sales, and therefore inflated revenue for Simon
Cowell's parent companies. Now, if the influx of revenue from those sales went to
Cowell's employers, I wonder exactly who might have gotten a bit more cash sent their way in the upcoming year.
Who indeed?
And as for this year's campaign, who owns the rights to "Killing in the Name" I hear you cry.
Why that's right, Epic Records, an offshoot of, you guessed it, Sony
BMG.
So I think ultimately, we can all agree that that went well. Congratulations. Applause.
Posts
