We were winding ourselves up for a lengthy post about this very subject, as well, although we were also going to make the point that huge download sales of Crazy hardly make it an Internet sensation (and it had been played to death on Radio 1 and their much shown trailer in advance too). We wonder what the proportion is of people who found out about Lily Allen on the net and people who found out about her through articles about Lily Allen Off The Net really is. Funny how Arcade Fire - built from the ground up by bloggers, mp3'd all over the place, given a massive push by Pitchfork - are never referred to as Internet sensations, isn't it?
This would seem to be an appropriate juncture, however, to remind casual visitors of our own Myspace and its weekly (apart from this week, because we forgot) shadow blog. Come on, we've only got 32 friends, and we cravenly added most of those ourselves.
EDIT: As someone has pointed out to us, Sandi Thom's I Wish I Was A Punk Rocker... is a re-release, and the original got to 55 on a tiny indie last October after saturation play from Johnnie Walker on Radio 2 drivetime, five months before the webcam gigs started and almost a year after her first Daily Record feature as an up and coming singer. Oh, and according to online sources Thom's manager did much the same Walker-promoting trick with Gordon Haskell, who nearly had the Christmas number one in 2001, and Thom's first first webcammed gigs took place before the date the idea occurred to her that is now listed in her publicity.
2 comments:
I was even considering a post myself (and I've been touching on the subject on Usenet). But basically I'm too lazy, so here are a few points I think are worth adding:
I didn't see that TV programme, but did they really have Simply Red on it? In 2006? I was never all that convinced that they were much of an Internet success anyway, just because he happened to call it Simplyred.com - but for all that it worked at first, he's now reduced to rerecording his old songs and his last single missed the Top 100.
Also, I'm very surprised that the Grauniad of all publications hasn't picked up on the MySpace/Murdoch connection. Whilst I stress that I don't read the Sun regularly, I did spot quite a good I-Sky in there a few months ago when that horrible band Protocol were in there exclaiming that they wanted to be the next Arctic Monkeys because they'd got a Myspace.
Lily Allen is Keith Allen's daughter, which would surely make it a bit difficult to play the outsider card under any circs.
"In short, said bloggers, rather than a bottom-up viral campaign, the whole affair was a PR stunt for which the mainstream media had fallen hook, line and sinker."
- Is a bottom-up viral campaign really any better anyway?
Ian Brown (presumably not that one) says "You have to be with one of the four majors to make it succeed. Or be like Domino and get a round of applause, and people like Domino with Franz Ferdinand and the Arctic Monkeys deserve a round of applause. They're an exception to the rule, but lesser beings like me need to be with a major." Is it just me, or does that make no sense?
Also, isn't that song unbelievably disingenuous?
Oh, and boy that George Michael loves himself. Not related to the article, I know, but I had to say it.
And another thing: I hate to mention Steve Wright again, but he had the Hamiltons on his show on Thursday promoting their World Cup single. Oh yes. Apparently it's download-only, but asked whether they planned to issue it on disc, Neil Hamilton announced that he was planning to "go the Arctic Monkeys route". Ouch!
Also, isn't it a pity XRRF doesn't do "We Name The Spam Bands" anymore?
Post a Comment