Perhaps we should look to the British for suggestion on how to keep music poppin.
Cases in point…
Evidence #1
Online music sales reached 2.9 million tracks in the last week of 2007, more than double that of the corresponding week in 2006 and the largest one-week sales tally recorded to date in Britain, according to the Official UK Charts Co., which tracks music and video sales in the U.K.
So British music fans seem to be more apt to buy music than their American counterparts? Maybe it’s in the water, or perhaps, it’s in the music. Which leads us to…
Evidence #2
As I’ve been having various conversations the past few weeks about who could be “next,” Adele’s name has popped up, her Myspace linked & her name receiving a check on my ballot. Her smoky but sultry voice, evidenced on “Hometown Glory,” is proof positive that her voice is powerful enough to stand with the best of them. And given Britain’s recent ability to produce better female soul singers than Motown or any U.S. locale, I think it’s safe to say that she’ll get her chance to blow.
“Best For Last”
“Daydreamer”
“Hometown Glory”
“Melt My Heart”
“British music industry boosted by online sales” [ZDNet]
“Adele and Duffy are products of the age of X Factor” [Guardian Unlimited]
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Lessons to be learned…
First, Amy Winehouse, now Adele….how come all these jazzy, soul-drenched singers are coming from the UK and not the D? It’s mystifying….can’t think about it too much tho, just got my Wu ticket for the Philly show…jeah
“First, Amy Winehouse, now Adele….how come all these jazzy, soul-drenched singers are coming from the UK and not the D? It’s mystifying”
Not really, US record labels just don’t take many chances outside of young pop artists. On top of that, you have millions of sheep that only listen to what they are told. I mean Nicole Willis had to go to Europe to put out (an excellent) Soul album.
^ Good call w/NWillis.
great post. its all related to that whole “digital” movement we are in rite now.
europe has always been open to more variety in their music and their quicker acceptance of “the digital model” doesnt surprise me. my guess is by the early 010′s (2010, 2011) we should be stabilized into the digital model (in all forms of media).
I’m just saying it seems like with the digital music movement, you would be seeing more young soul singers from America, where the form originated and where there is such a bigger pool of talent. Record companies sleepin or not, good music tends to find a way into the light, especially with myspace, itunes, etc.
“Not really, US record labels just don’t take many chances outside of young pop artists. On top of that, you have millions of sheep that only listen to what they are told. I mean Nicole Willis had to go to Europe to put out (an excellent) Soul album.”
Exactly. Just as there are underground Hip Hop acts whose skill level and delivery far outweigh any of the newest acts “blowing up”, there are also Underground Soul singers. They just don’t get much burn here.
I guess really it’s just strange (at least to me) to see young, white British women singing soul-type music. I guess maybe it’s a new version of the Beatles, Stones, etc. taking Black-American rock-n-roll and blues music and making it their own.
I don’t think digital sales are going to help the ailing music industry, that ship is slowly sinking. Everybody isn’t on the internet, some people are in the street 24/7 and the only way they hear new music is from their friends’ whip, i-pod, or copping that fresh mixtape from the local bootleg spot.
god bless tss. for it not for u i would not have been put on to chromeo, amy winehouse, emily king, and lilly allen.
as such, i look forward to checking out ms. adkins. good looking homies.
tru thoughts & BBE & relentless are perfect examples of what happens when you take the chance with quality artists. in the uk if these artists are good there are still some well known DJ’s that will play their music. in the US this doesn’t happen unless the music fits a certain stereotype.
& from the moment quality and supremly talented artists have to come to europe to put out music. radio in america is well & truly dead
More creativity and less cookie cutter commercial songs is the answer to hip hop’s low sales, Kanye & Lupe being an example.
HTTP:ICEDOTCOM.BLOGSPOT.COM/
hopefully labels will start to reward contracts that are based on talent instead of marketability….a pretty face and popping cooch only gets you so far..
One of the biggest reasons why the US won’t release good ish like this, is because Americans are so image-centric. If you’re a chick that sings soul music or R&B, but aren’t a young, hot, MTV-type marketable sex symbol, then no one wants anything to do with that. I mean obviously if you’ve got talent and ARE a young hot, MTV-type marketable sex symbol (Hello Beyonce, rawr!) then you’ve got it made, otherwise, you need to look elsewhere than the States. It’s sad. (And hello college education giving me stats and figures!)
sorry cruz but that’ll never happen. and thses young white chicks aren’t tryna change the music their singing the same stuff. it’s just that theyre bloody good at it, some record execs realised this and were willin to take the chance. money will always win over talent. if you have a bit of both (Kanye) then it obviously helped. but even kanye needed a car crash to take it to that next level
The drug dealer business models always ends bad
All the Big chains ate up the small corner record stores. I used to go to the music store becuase it was fun to dig and get out of the house. Even four yearas ago you had to go out and find a bootleg cd or mixtape but now it finds you becuase we live in the true digital age. If artists and record labels stop thinking everything is a hustle and stop feeling like everybody needs a posse or his own label to better market themselves we wouldn’t have all of these average talent at best flooding the music scene.
Has anyone considered thier maybe too many trying to be professional rappers and singers. In the NBA they dont put you on the team because you roll with lebron. No matter how much you love it or how you can get money you aint in the league unless your on that talent level. record company’s need to evaluate who they hire as A and R’s, staff, or label heads becuase just your a dj orrapper that dont make you a great talent evaluater. Just cause you flip some bricks dont mean you should be negoitating transcations between record distributers. The get your hustle on mentality doesn’t last in the streets or in the boardroom for the long run.
The buying public doesn’t really seem to support stateside soul artists, but at the same time, there aren’t many American artists putting out the same caliber of music as their U.K. counterparts. Those Adele songs were dope, just another example of why this new crop of “jazzy, soul-drenched singers” from across the water are winning right now.
pop cooch pop pop cooch pop cooch..lol i feel you nofrillz. Again the ugly head thats mtv gendertrification and peoples insatiable tastes for sex-i-fication of pre-pubescent audience has ruined many possible careers and experimentation. Having to be part of the image creation machine I sometimes feel like the problem. i just zen out and keep paying rent..
I think there are quality soul artists stateside if you look for them. Alice Smith had a pretty great album in ’06. Sharon Jones, Alicia Keys, Rahsaan Patterson. Jilly from Philly was doing the jazz flip thing from 2000. I have heard good reviews of Ryan Shaw.
There are a few exceptions, but for the most part, the soul music that does come out isn’t able to breakthrough to a mainstream audience like an Amy Winehouse or a Lily Allen. Does race have something to do with it? Maybe. But IMO those were two of the best non rap albums of 07.
Agree with you on the Amy Winehouse. Disagree strongly on Lily Allen. She does not have a strong voice. The songs are not particularly inventive in melody or lyric. I just don’t get it.
Also there are talented black british singers who do not get half the spotlight as these tabloid chicks. Beverly Knight, Corinne Bailey Rae.
I think some of you are blowin things outta proportion with regards to UK soul music. Apart from Amy Winehouse there’s noone else gettin any recognition on a mainstream level. Lily Allen makes straight pop music, a far cry from what Winehouse does. Who else is there ? Joss Stone ? she had her lil go in the spotlight now she’s just wierdin out with Saadiq.
I’d argure that what Alicia does, is in the vein of soul music and shes bigger than all those artists. It’s just movin in her own style as opposed to gettin the Dap Kings on it and tryin to sound like an old 7 “
I’m a CBRae Stan.
part of the problem (small, but relevant) is the urge to always lump sounds into rigid categories, so what ends up happening often is – when the genre (neo soul) gets labled as played, the baby (artist) gets thrown out w/ the bath water as radio jumps off the bandwagon. Doesn’t help that american radio consists of only a few coporate entities w/ ‘hot’ & ‘power’ful names.
Nice! I actually found another singer with a similar vibe the other day, a canadian girl called Basia Bulat. Check it out if you like Adele
http://www.myspace.com/basiamyspace
She also happens to be really cute, in fact the contrast between her face and smoky voice is almost weird…
As for comments about UK and soul music, I think the americans are being trumped at their own game, both because of the industry and the ignorant masses. But I don’t think Lilly Allen should be mentioned alongside Amy Winehouse!
And someone mentioned Rahsaan Patterson as a US artist. Well he’s actually another artist who moved to the UK, presumably because of lack of support.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7169307.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7163404.stm