Surely No1 next Sunday? Johnny Walker played it. It sounds great on radio. BUT...

I don't know which major owns the rights in the UK but I'll bet you anything the wankers in charge haven't even thought of promoting it.

It's there up on iTunes. 99p. Have the OCC been informed it is available? Are tabloid ads booked to run tomorrow? Is there a huge push in place with the Greatest Hits album ready to go to stores this week?

I doubt it.

There's no imagination any more.

I just drove past the Univarsehole building. Closed. Not a light on. Nobody works weekends in music these days.

We worked 24/7 at UK Records, holidays included.

Please say I'm wrong. Please Major Exec tell me the plot for the next 6 days.
I expect The Sounds Of Silence (another huge hit from MY era, when we cared about music).

I believe "The Gambler" was originally on United Artists records which was sold to EMI in the late 70s or early 80s.

With EMI having recently been sold, I'd guess their affairs are in a state of flux so its unlikely they'll even be bothered or aware they should be promoting this song.

It is disturbing how laid back these corporate assholes have gotten and thats what is wrong with the current day music industry - its become faceless, complacent, and has no heart and doesn't remotely care anymore. That's the impression I get anyway.

Back in the heyday of the 70s I believe there was much competition and passion - you'd have Mickie Most and RAK Records competing with Bell Records on the teeny front and look at the amazing amount of hits they produced alongside those of UK Records. All that seems to be lost now because the corporates by swallowing everything up has eradicated all form of Identity from the music industry. For instance, A+M would usually market a certain style of music, Island would market and champion Reggae, Ska and Underground... no Identity, No passion, No push...

We live in dire times.

JK2006 wrote:
It's there up on iTunes. 99p. Have the OCC been informed it is available?
Does the OCC need to be informed?

For example, if a song sells extremely well on iTunes isn't it automatically included by OCC.

Just wondering as it seems a bit rum if a surprise "hit" was ignored.

Those who run the OCC regularly read and post - some answers would be good but no, several titles do get ignored.

Would have posted this earlier, but the pesky security thing failed, so now an abridged version of what I typed earlier:

Indeed OCC do know about this record, otherwise it wouldn't be sitting a No. 70 in yesterday's fabulous chart. ((with 1800+ sales).

That's rather encouraging - could someone at EMI let us know if this IS a top priority or is the "he's old... no album sales... no future... why bother?" ethos in place?

Fist heard this track about 20 years ago when he made the TV movies. It was Don Schlitz who wrote it and recorded the first version, but I think Kenny's is better.

Not sure that it was ever released as a single in the UK, but it's up there with "Coward Of The County" and "Rueben James".

What's caused the sudden interest in this track after all these years? Has it been used on TV?

The English rugby team chose it as their theme Al ("You've gotta know when to hold it... know when to fold it...") and it's had massive TV, radio and press since we started looking like possible winners.

It was always a great track, never a UK hit, ripe for huge sales (or downloads) BUT...

do the label know how to maximise the demand?

Ah .. that's how I missed it. Not been following the Rugby.

Kenny up to 29 from 80 on digital alone; now let's see how EMI do in the effort to shift it to No1 over 5 days (not hard unless you're clueless of Brook Green).

JK2006 wrote:
Kenny up to 29 from 80 on digital alone; now let's see how EMI do in the effort to shift it to No1 over 5 days (not hard unless you're clueless of Brook Green).

Bit unfair, considering EMi have done a great job capitalising on the Phil Collins In The Air/Cadbury situation - getting both the single and the Hits album back into the chart with zero expenditure.

I suggest EMI ensure the digital single does more of what it's already doing, and promote a Kenny Rogers Hits album. But that means getting physical retailers on board, which takes a week or two to get sorted. But they will.

Whilst on, Good luck to England on saturday. We can do it!!!!

The Gambler should have been a UK #1 in the '70s. How did United Artists let that top song slip through their fingers? Sure, the LP did very well in the UK among country music fans, but it could have done so much better if only that single got promotion and enough commercial airplay. Kenny did have two major #1's in the UK pop charts "Lucille" and "Coward of the County", so why "the gambler" never did as well is a mystery. It's not as if he didn't have a fan base, proven by the fact his albums have sold millions in Britain and Ireland over the last 30+ years.

Not helped by The Hits TV channel describing it as 'melancholy' and skipping over it in their chart rundown. They'd had a week to prepare the show, so they could have found plenty of clips of Kenny Rogers to put together - unless there's some rule preventing that.

I recall one time TOTP played a David Soul track and had neither him or any film, they threw together some photos from Starsky & Hutch.

With more and more oldies available via I-Tunes, etc. TV channels could find themselves in this situation quite often.

As well as berating the record company, we could also have a got at the publisher and/or the current mgt that should be able to put calls through to the relevant ppl if something unexpected happened.

If it was one of my tracks, I'd be whipping up the troops.

Yes it's been a prime example of how the entire industry has lost the plot.

All over now, of course. All over a week ago.

Momentum is so fast and can be missed so easily.

Five days really efficient work could have earned back some of those massive losses.

But you cannot turn a juggernaut around. Or a dinosaur.

By the way I hear all the top EMI guys are about to get chopped. Certainly before Christmas. Including the USA.

Quote:By the way I hear all the top EMI guys are about to get chopped. Certainly before Christmas. Including the USA.

Does that include JF and Wadders?

Let's put it this way; I gather Guy Hands is less impressed by some executives than they think.