SWIPE: Popstars: The Rivals backlash has begun already

**Divine!** · December 9th, 2002, 07:01 AM

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Hello

Please read this short and important message if you love music and live in the UK.

This isn't sales, doesn't cost anything - it's regarding this years Christmas No.1, and the Popstars: The Rivals Bands - One True Voice and Girls Aloud (for those outside the UK, yes they ARE the real names!)

If you agree with the message below, please forward this message to everyone you think loves music too, and post on as many internet bulletin and message boards as you know.

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OPEN LETTER TO ALL MUSIC FANS IN THE UK
Re: Popstars: The Rivals Bands and the UK Christmas #1
07.12.02
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Ever since this TV series was announced, the premise of the show was to be which of the two manufactured groups could reach Christmas #1 2002.

Are we, the public, so gullible, that we will let these record and media conglomerates tell us months in advance of any auditions for these bands that one will be #1, and we will be racing out to buy both to do them battle on the charts?

The songs chosen for these bands were decided on months in advance from any final line-up of the bands, as were, presumably, the names of the bands. So basically it didn't matter which identikit young adults joined the band, the groups were already created long before anyone was chosen, all they needed were a few gullible kids with dreams of fame.

The kids in each bands are probably good kids, and are only guilty of wanting what is promoted to them through todayís media: A quick route to money, fame, happiness and ever after.

Itís quite clear the record companies donít care about the groups or their music; all the details were decided before anyone even joined the bands.

ìItís just harmless pop musicî I hear you say. Well think about what they are actually doing here.

The record companies, in league with the TV companies, are creating these groups and performers for one reason only ñ to make money.

The programme generates TV advertising revenue, the record companies are selling the final end product to the audience of the TV show like some conveyor belt made product.

We all know that these bands have a very short shelf life - HearíSay are now considered a national joke ñ imagine how the kids in that band feel, all they wanted was to be famous, and they sure got it didnít they!

They donít care about the groups, or if they fail after the first year or two, they can just run off another TV show, get a bunch of starry-eyed kids to audition, and BANG! They got another way to make money from old rope for another 2 years!

The worldwide conglomerate record companies on the other hand have, for far too long now, dictated to the public what to buy.

Methods they have used to increase profits, and viciously kill any artistry involved in the music record making process include:

>>> Merging and take-over madness: To the point where you can count the number of major record companies on one hand.

This has lead to them being able to do whatever they like really with concerns to pricing, quality, releases, and promotion.

With fewer record companies, they now have less competition, and less need for more diverse artists. A lack of competition is never healthy for a market, and the music business is no different.

>>> Dropping artists and not extending their contracts because of minor set-backs and setting of near-impossible expectations.

In a chart system where first week sales are all-important, it isn't surprising that the marketing machines kick into overdrive the weeks running up to and of release. This leads to high first week sales, and a drop off afterwards for all but a few releases.

Record companies still demand longevity in chart sales, but they usually lay the blame with their competitors, artists, their producers and management, never with themselves for creating such a paradoxical system.

Newspapers are full of stories about pop music performers leading up to a single or albums release. This isn't investigative journalism, this is promotion, a mere advertisement dressed as news.

Acts, groups and bands, especially the ones created by record companies to make money and sell merchandise, are dropped from their careers, often with unfinished legal and copyright issues, not to mention financial debt and psychological distress.

>>> Reducing music to a simple commodity or disposable product.

It doesn't matter to the record companies that they legally strangle or drop acts that, with direction and artistic freedom, could be very profitable for them, and produce worthwhile enjoyable music for us.

The quality of music has gone down considerably since the late 1980s, and so has the value of CDs and releases.

Singles are now restricted to a 3 format release, usually 2 CDs and a tape/DVD/12" - CD singles, to be chart eligible, must contain not more than 20 minutes of music, and a limit of 3 individual songs. The average CD single price is £3.99.

Go back 5 or 6 years and we were able to purchase CD singles with 8 or 9 tracks on for 99p each.

CD albums are now being released several times, with so-called "special editions" appearing a few months after the original release, usually with a couple of extra remixes or tracks, most of which are pulled from the CD single releases, which most fans will already have purchased.

If record companies are complaining of dropping sales, they should look at their own practices before blaming occurrences such as internet file downloading and mp3 trading.

By reducing the music the release to a mere commodity, a disposable product comparable to buying a new T-shirt or a magazine, they are squeezing out all artistry, and not giving us a reason to purchase their products, since they don't even value them themselves.

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IN SHORT (TOO LATE!) HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN DO:

- BUY ANY SINGLES AT CHART ELIGIBLE STORES (HMV & VIRGIN) *EXCEPT* THE POPSTARS: THE RIVALS BANDS' SINGLES - One True Voice & Girls Aloud.

- SEND THIS MESSAGE TO ANYONE AND EVERYONE, COPY AND PASTE IT TO AS MANY MESSAGE/BULLETIN BOARDS THAT YOU FREQUENT.

LET'S SHOW THE RECORD COMPANIES THAT WE REQUIRE REAL MUSIC, NOT MANUFACTURED TRASH THAT HAS MORE TO DO WITH REVENUE AND TV VIEWING FIGURES THAN GOOD MUSIC.

The League of Music Lovers.

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**QUINNY** · December 9th, 2002, 09:25 AM

I make it 22 years too late. Video Killed the Radio Star...... How true and nothing since has been so prophetic.
So far as what's going to be #1 and record company politics, I really couldn't give a hoot, but I would say that record companies and the public must take the blame equally. They wouldn't dish it up if we didn't lap it all up. Although, times are a changin'.