Is Another British Music Invasion Coming?
Billie
LONDON (Reuters) - Music bosses singing the blues because of Britpop's dismal
sales in the United States have designed a battle plan to boost the profile of
British talent, an industry spokesman has said.
The music officially died on a grim day in April when not a single act in the
U.S. industry barometer Billboard chart was British for the first time in
nearly 40 years.
But music mavericks will release a study and hold discussions on Tuesday on how
to revive the golden years when British artists -- from the Beatles to Duran
Duran -- ruled the American charts.
"It's not about reinventing Britpop or trying to promote types of music like
rap or metal favored in the United States," said Sam Shemtob of the Association
of Independent Music (AIM).
"What we want to do is look at establishing a UK music office in New York and
to establish a business infrastructure in the United States to help reverse the
dramatic slump in sales of British music there," he said
British market share in the United States has plummeted from an all-time high
of 32 percent in 1986 to a paltry 0.2 percent in 1999, according to AIM.
Pop pundits blame the disappearance of UK acts from the American charts on a
number of reasons, including a widening gap in musical tastes and the abundance
and popularity of country and rap artists produced in the United States.
Robbie Williams is often cited as a superstar in Britain who remains a relative
unknown in the United States. Music critics also point a finger at bland,
manufactured UK pop groups, saying they don't blame American audiences for
turning a deaf ear.
AIM, a non-profit body that represents independent record labels across
Britain, also cites a fragmented radio market and increasing marketing costs as
stumbling blocks for British artists.
"With distribution deals harder to find, UK labels have been tempted to opt for
the short-term benefits of licensing to the detriment of sustainable business
success," AIM said in a statement.
Tuesday's meeting will bring together representatives from across the British
music industry, including the head of the British Phonographic Industry,
although major record labels will not be directly involved.
"This is a broad initiative and an ongoing process involving government
officials and music industry chiefs as a first step to address the decline in
sales," Shemtob said.
"STUPIDITY IS NOT A HANDICAP. Park elsewhere!"
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John Savard
part:
>Music bosses singing the blues because of Britpop's dismal
>sales in the United States have designed a battle plan to boost the profile of
>British talent, an industry spokesman has said.
Certainly they might try to keep British artists visible in the U.S.,
but a real "British Invasion" can only start when some British artist
or musical style happens to catch the fancy of the American public.
This can't be controlled or predicted.
John Savard
http://home.ecn.ab.ca/~jsavard/index.html
Jon
>"What we want to do is look at establishing a UK music office in New York and
>to establish a business infrastructure in the United States to help reverse the
>dramatic slump in sales of British music there," he said
>
How depressingly corporate has the music industry become? It's just a
bunch of MBA weenies cranking out soundalike product. From the way
they talk, they might as well be selling toothpaste.
Sara
Jon wrote:
I think it's funny that they think they can plan a British invasion like a marketing
campaign. They don't seem to get that these things happen through an unplanned
process of social and cultural evolution.
Miles
As one of those MBA weenies that used to be on the movie side of the
entertainment industry, the reason for the sad state of affairs in the
music idustry has much more to do with talent than push marketing. The
crap you hear these days is a result of sales driven demand. I have
several friends in the music industry and I get to listen to a lot of
the demos they receive - 99.9% of them are crap. There have been very
few bands that I've heard (out of thousands of demos) that I really
like or feel that have viability as recording artists. There's just
really nothing out in the popular music world that is very exciting
right now and the crap is moving cd's.
Jon
> There's just
>really nothing out in the popular music world that is very exciting
>right now and the crap is moving cd's.
True enough, on major labels. But indies are packed with artists
making great music. Frank Black, The Hives, Guided by Voices, The
Makers.... the list goes on and on.
The fact that Reprise said "no thanks" to Wilco's brilliant record
"Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" tells you all you need to know about how the
majors evaluate talent.
There are plenty fo great artists out there. Unfortunately, if they
don't sound just like Pearl Jam/Dave matthews/Limp Bizkit, no one at
the big labels -- and even more dpressingly, radio -- is interested.