Watched a documentary last night about her and the build up to her recent court case.

All in all I felt sorry for her, what she went through and the amount of time she had to suffer was appalling. Quite why Mazher Mahmood isn't being charged for entrapment and lying under oath is beyond me.

But, my point of this post is that she really didn't seem to be about music at all. Her main concerns were about losing her money, not once did she say she would miss writing, recording, performing etc. When asked what her favourite room in the house was I was expecting her to have an amazing studio but instead it was the pool.

It could well be just how it was edited but I personally felt a bit sad about it.

Ah, the new modern youth. Since it's now so easy to make and release music, they care far less about it. It is now a luxury not an essential. To our generation it was up there with breathing, eating and drinking as a vital necessity.

Now it's on a par with video games, films, sport, books - mildly diverting.

I guess it's always been the same but these days music seems like the most difficult and long-winded vehicle to fame and fortune, unless you get lucky with a show like X-Factor.

I'm not aware that N-Dubz took any of those kind of shortcuts though.

What's needed K, and I've said this for 15 years, is an online TV and radio station that is so good, and picks up on such great music long before anywhere else, that it gets massive support and attention.

A sort of MTV for Online - but like MTV was when it started. Or an Internet "pirate station" like Big L and Caroline were in the 60s.

Sounds good to me, not sure if it would be that popular though.

Ah but that's the point K - it would HAVE to be popular or there would be no point. Just like when I started No Limits - I knew it needed millions of viewers to have any impact; it did; over 5 million every week (on BBC2) and broke dozens of hits that would have sunk without trace otherwise (just heard Mary's Prayer by Danny Wilson - one of our successes - what a terrific track).

JK2006 wrote:
What's needed (...) is an online TV and radio station (...) A sort of MTV for Online (...) Or an Internet "pirate station"

It's already there since AD 2005. It's called YouTube.

"it would HAVE to be popular or there would be no point"

YouTube (and some other new plattforms) have the potential "to be popular", to get a really big audience, but there is no way to get back to the 80s (and before) when there were only a few channels (like BBC2).

Here's a good article about the over-exposure to all kinds of music today (which leads to " environmental tinnitus"):

The dangers of secondhand music

"Like secondhand smoke, the consistent exposure to music everywhere has resulted in a slow poisoning: the invalidation of music as a uniquely singular event (...)

There’s a lot of blame to spread around for our music appreciation downgrade: illegal downloads, corporate record companies missing the digital curve, overly compressed music resulting in fatigue and “digititus,” and the low-res quality of mp3 files, to name only a few factors. All of these things contribute to the devaluing of music as a distinct primary experience. But I think there’s a single phenomenon that’s working harder than all the others: The constant bombardment of music functioning as an aspect of an environment, in spaces from restaurants to government offices to bars to shopping malls, reducing music to just so much sonic wallpaper."

No, that's the trouble - You Tube is a distribution vehicle like television was - but it needed Top of the Pops to have an impact (no other country had a similar success series). Whether it's carried via You Tube or Twitter or Facebook - a brilliant series will only succeed if the format and music is superb and mass appeal.

I still think a radio or TV online channel with really great music - new and old, every genre, classical mixed with rap, country with gospel - would rapidly, through word of mouth, get millions of listeners just like the pirates or Radio One did at their peak only far bigger as it would be global.

The problem is - finding someone with that superb pair of ears to programme it.

The problem is - finding someone with that superb pair of ears to programme it.

Nick Raphael.

Sorry JK but you are really showing your age.
You need to be forward thinking rather than trying to recreate the past.
Your idea is a good one but it is fatally flawed.

Let me start with the X-Factor and the Voice. Arguably the most watched
music shows on TV, yet they can't break an artist's career. In Australia
for example this year's winner of the Voice barely sold 2000 album despite
being on prime time tv for weeks, not to mention Will-I-Am's prescence.
We have to face facts that today's music industry and tomorrow's industry
are going to be very different to the past.

The hit driven model is gone, over finished. Only a select few will succeed
with it. It is like uncle Gordon's proclamation "No more boom and bust".
Music has changed and the music business needs to change from bottom up.

I will give you my solution in a sec but the biggest nail to the coffin of
your idea is the fact that there is too much music in supply. Any filtering
will be biased because no one and I mean NO ONE is going to be able to listen
to every new record. So they will either favour the majors or cherry pick
artists who are trending online (not always accurate and very corrupt indeed).

My Solution
===========

Do away with the charts.
Do away with measuring sales, popularity etc
Learn from football.
End the concept of a promotional record. Licence everything and get paid.

We need to follow the football model. TV pays huge sums for Liverpool, Man Utd,
Chelsea, Man City etc but have to broadcast the Stokes and Sunderlands of this world
as well.

Each artist or label is tiered according to its fan base.
Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus etc are in the Premier League.
Joe Bloggs and his Merry Men, are in the Conference League.
TV pays for the big artists but have to also feature some
new acts as well. Money filters down all the leagues and
the quality goes up and up and up. Special shows shall be
dedicated to major acts, another for indies, and another for
unsigned or emerging act.

This is where The Voice etc have it so wrong. They should be
selling access (subscription) to the artist and not try to
extort 99c from viewers.

Finally, the primary product for an artist is access to the artist.
People subscribe to your app or website. From there you can sell
them what you like: merchandise, records, tickets, tshirts etc

Look at how football went from a shambles to this multi billion
behemoth it is today. Quality over quantity.

End the concept of a promotional record. Licence everything and get paid.

Hear hear. Should have been done years ago, ideally from when the BBC took over from the pirates in 1967.

Jaded and Bored wrote:
Sorry JK but you are really showing your age.
You need to be forward thinking rather than trying to recreate the past.
Your idea is a good one but it is fatally flawed.

Let me start with the X-Factor and the Voice. Arguably the most watched
music shows on TV, yet they can't break an artist's career. In Australia
for example this year's winner of the Voice barely sold 2000 album despite
being on prime time tv for weeks, not to mention Will-I-Am's prescence.
We have to face facts that today's music industry and tomorrow's industry
are going to be very different to the past.

The hit driven model is gone, over finished. Only a select few will succeed
with it. It is like uncle Gordon's proclamation "No more boom and bust".
Music has changed and the music business needs to change from bottom up.

I will give you my solution in a sec but the biggest nail to the coffin of
your idea is the fact that there is too much music in supply. Any filtering
will be biased because no one and I mean NO ONE is going to be able to listen
to every new record. So they will either favour the majors or cherry pick
artists who are trending online (not always accurate and very corrupt indeed).

My Solution
===========

Do away with the charts.
Do away with measuring sales, popularity etc
Learn from football.
End the concept of a promotional record. Licence everything and get paid.

We need to follow the football model. TV pays huge sums for Liverpool, Man Utd,
Chelsea, Man City etc but have to broadcast the Stokes and Sunderlands of this world
as well.

Each artist or label is tiered according to its fan base.
Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus etc are in the Premier League.
Joe Bloggs and his Merry Men, are in the Conference League.
TV pays for the big artists but have to also feature some
new acts as well. Money filters down all the leagues and
the quality goes up and up and up. Special shows shall be
dedicated to major acts, another for indies, and another for
unsigned or emerging act.

This is where The Voice etc have it so wrong. They should be
selling access (subscription) to the artist and not try to
extort 99c from viewers.

Finally, the primary product for an artist is access to the artist.
People subscribe to your app or website. From there you can sell
them what you like: merchandise, records, tickets, tshirts etc

Look at how football went from a shambles to this multi billion
behemoth it is today. Quality over quantity.

This reads really well, some great ideas here.

No J&B - the reason those TV shows haven't broken an artiste is the same as Eurovision - most "artistes" are only one hit wonders, very few become long term career stars - Abba did, Celine did - both out of Eurovision - and an artiste would emerge from X Factor Got Talent if someone could give them more than the one hit.

Everyone under estimates the value of REAL HITS - the absolute essential in music.