I absolutely adore Kylie Minogue. It has to be said that she is still the original and ultimate pop princess even though she has been in the music and media spotlight for over twenty years. Kylie has the ability to get everyone into the party spirit as soon as they hear her pop classics like Spinning Around and Can't Get You Out Of My Head. Even though the world may love her, love for an artist doesn't always translate into album sales.
I came across this interesting piece of music journalism last night which made me question the motives of some record labels today:Of course, we all realise that the media has the bad habit of reporting news completely out of context and the story might not be correct, but in this instance, it has given me the the opportunity to analyse the state of various records labels and how they choose to manage their artists.
I have always thought that labels should treat their artists as equals and that every artist should get just as much marketing and publicity as any other artist signed to the same label. I am definitely not an expert, but it is quite clear that some labels focus on the stars who are going to create the most media attention, normally by the use of creating a bold persona, instead of solely nurturing the pure vocal talent of an artist. It is not hard to understand why labels choose to go down this route.
In a world where everything can change within seconds due to to new technology like Twitter influencing the public, it is obvious that record labels are going to take the opportunity to grab hold of the media's attention to gain as much success for the artist and themselves as possible. It's all about The Next Big Thing these days. You may have had a Number 1 selling debut album and song two years ago, but if your label doesn't do a good job of promoting you when your next album gets released, the public will have already forgotten about you and moved on to the latest pop icon. It's a simple strategy which creates new stars and fortunes, but leaves the old musical talent to struggle for themselves.
Publicity is everything. Records don't get bought by the consumer without some kind of hype attached to it. Obviously, I have to emphasise that record labels are the key driving force behind most artists and that without a label, some artists will find it hard to keep afloat in the music industry today. Labels really are a vital source of information and guidance for the artist but this doesn't always mean that the artist and the label are going to see eye to eye over important matters.
I have always thought that labels should treat their artists as equals and that every artist should get just as much marketing and publicity as any other artist signed to the same label. I am definitely not an expert, but it is quite clear that some labels focus on the stars who are going to create the most media attention, normally by the use of creating a bold persona, instead of solely nurturing the pure vocal talent of an artist. It is not hard to understand why labels choose to go down this route.
In a world where everything can change within seconds due to to new technology like Twitter influencing the public, it is obvious that record labels are going to take the opportunity to grab hold of the media's attention to gain as much success for the artist and themselves as possible. It's all about The Next Big Thing these days. You may have had a Number 1 selling debut album and song two years ago, but if your label doesn't do a good job of promoting you when your next album gets released, the public will have already forgotten about you and moved on to the latest pop icon. It's a simple strategy which creates new stars and fortunes, but leaves the old musical talent to struggle for themselves.
Publicity is everything. Records don't get bought by the consumer without some kind of hype attached to it. Obviously, I have to emphasise that record labels are the key driving force behind most artists and that without a label, some artists will find it hard to keep afloat in the music industry today. Labels really are a vital source of information and guidance for the artist but this doesn't always mean that the artist and the label are going to see eye to eye over important matters.
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