May I repeat - the death of those novelty/one off hits because of a desire for artistes and albums, has really damaged our industry.

I believe 95% of the global population aren't interested in music except for the catchy, nursery rhymes type of hits (that I've always specialised in - I still think the melody of Everyone's Gone To The Moon is a simple rewrite of Three Old Ladies Got Stuck In The Lavatory).

Even those great bands, selling albums now, started with novelty smashes (Creep... Yellow...).

Because downloads of single tracks make so little profit, the dying dinosaur majors won't work the novelty hits. It used to take me real effort to convince EMI for example to work The Hamster Dance Song (Cognoscenti for irritated Cubans reading this!) or Universal to push I Get Knocked Down...

But these are the songs and tracks that billions, not millions, love (and many more hate).

And the publishing, sync rights etc turn them into terrific earners.

WE NEED THEM BACK!

I can't help agreeing with you JK. However perhaps with just a minor difference. I wouldn't say that the one off hit single is always a novelty track but I agree the nursery rhyme element is spot on.
Only problem now is with the prospect of making a lot of money from it non-existent, who is going to be writing these new one off hits ?

I have just watched a programme on telly about the best downloads off the internet and there is a sad indictment on music i felt.

There was a video about a guy surfing on a wave created by a dynamite which had 10 million views on Youtube !

The lack of great songs which inspire this sort of figures is a challenge to us all. Can we do it though ?

We need to eat I suppose and perhaps Simon Cowell has it right. Covers until you get a bleeding monster hit.

Could be time for you to promote some stuff behind the scenes JK;)
A catchy tune can still make money from being used in promotions/adverts etc,and can break a band to a higher level,hence increased revenues.

I think you are right that most people enjoy very simple music. Production values to please the 18-year-old; lyrics to please the 12-year-old; and music to please the 6-year-old. This is what people like.

But I also think people like to believe in the mystique of the Artist (with a capital A, LOL).

People want stars.

The equation of pop music with novelty records is, I think, more true in Europe than over here.

The 45 rpm single was produced for technological reasons. After the invention of the CD, things changed. The marginal cost of producing an 80-minute CD is the same as that for producing a 3-minute CD. And with the internet, things change yet again. The marginal cost of a download is reduced to fractions of a penny.

For ten thousand dollars anyone can turn their home PC into a recording studio and produce broadcast-quality recordings.

In such an environment, music becomes a commodity. The charisma of the star becomes not less important, but MORE important. To be a star, an Artist, becomes everything.

Yes you are right JK - Bring back the one hit wonder

My ambition is to have one of them myself - a hit of course - just the one would be plenty for me!

I love the fact that people either love them or hate them, it gets people talking about music, championing songs or slating them as passionately as they can!

So...

If anyone would like to help me in my quest to 'sing for my supper', please have a listen to me here -

www.myspace.com/paisleypattendensings
www.garageband/artists/paisleypattenden

Please do get in touch if you think I can help you with any vocals, I would be very happy to!

I quite like them Paisley and you seem to have a pretty good voice.

Well if you really want to be a one-hit wonder you have to do something really different and really silly. WHO LET THE DOGS OUT. CHEEKY SONG. Stuff like that.

Liked "Just Can`t Wait" a lot.

Hi there Mart,

Thanks so much!

I wrote the lyrics to that song so am very pleased that you like it! The music is the 'Theme from Popjustice', they ran a competition a while ago for the best song to be written to their track, so off I popped to a studio to record my lyrics. As far as I know the comp winner still hasn't been decided so I could be in with a chance!