After a last-minute approach to NBC, the reality mogul heads back to Britain as insiders debate his “grumpy uncle” appeal in a changed TV landscape.
A version of this story first appeared in the Feb. 21 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.
Weeks before Fox officially lowered the curtain on The X Factor, sources say its creator and star Simon Cowell quietly reached out to NBC to find a new home for his TV baby. “Simon himself was involved in this process,” says an executive familiar with the approach on behalf of Cowell’s Syco production company and partner FremantleMedia. (A Cowell source vehemently denies a pitch was made, adding, “Fox and Syco/Fremantle looked at plausible other options in the U.S. without him but decided these weren’t viable.”) But NBC already has The Voice and the Cowell-produced America’s Got Talent — and, more importantly, X Factor was damaged goods.
In fact, now that the show was canceled Feb. 7, observers are divided on Cowell’s future on U.S. television as well as the steps Fox will take to replace its failed franchise. CONTINUE READING
From MTV:
Want some music suggestions from your friends but don’t really want to talk to your friends? Well, Facebook has you covered: The social network has added an “ask” feature that makes it simple to garner entertainment recommendations from your friends.
When you click onto a friend’s profile, scroll down the left side of the page to his/her music, books, movies or TV shows section. Underneath his/her picks, you’ll see a button reading “ask” next to the line “Ask [friend] for a music recommendation.”
When you press “Ask,” you’ll be able to fill in a text box specifying what kinds of tunes you’re looking for, as well as add more friends to the query. When your friend receives the request, they can either answer with recs from their own Likes, or search for a specific band.
After clicking on the recommendation, you can add it to what appears to be a new section of your profile titled “Listen Later” for music, “Want To Watch” for movies and TV and “Want To Read” for books.
There are still some kinks to be worked out with these features — each section also boasts suggestions, and all my music suggestions are bands I’ve recently listened to on Spotify — but the “ask” button could be a cool way to crowdsource new tunes.
Try it out and tell us in the comments below: Did you get any worthwhile musical suggestions from your friends?
Fox has pulled the plug on The X Factor. The Hollywood Reporter has learned that there will be no fourth season of the singing competition.
The writing has been on the wall, given the expensive series’ significant ratings declines in the second and third years, but executive producer and star Simon Cowell had been quite vocal about negotiations to keep the show on Fox in some limited capacity.
News of X Factor’s cancelation comes the same day that U.K. broadcaster ITV announced that Cowell is returning to the original iteration of the format in fall 2014. The conflict would have kept him from functioning in anywhere near the same capacity on the U.S. version.
As NBC has seen a ratings resurgence thanks to The Voice, and Fox’s 13-seasons-old American Idol has fallen from its flagship status, The X Factor did nothing to stem reality losses for Fox. The third season saw its performance show average just a 2.2 rating among adults 18-49 and 7 million viewers. The December finale closed the season down a devastating 45 percent from the previous cycle. CONTINUE READING
By Robert Evans, Spose via Cracked
Article Reprinted
J
My first hit song blew up on the radio first. “I’m Awesome” got picked up by the local alt-rock station in my town, the radio station I’d grown up on. It quickly became the most requested song there and then jumped to the local pop station. Keep in mind I’d only self-released two albums at this point. I was very new to the game, and suddenly the two biggest local radio stations were playing the shit out of my stuff, which was unprecedented. No local artist had ever broken through at pop radio in my area (Portland, Maine, is not exactly known for its burgeoning rap game).
PhilipC, via Wikimedia
We lost a lot of guys during our East Coast/West Coast beef with Portland, Oregon.
The way the world works now, if you’re blowing up on the radio, you’re killing on iTunes, too. I think there’s an intern at Universal who goes through the regional iTunes charts every week, from Des Moines to Albuquerque, and looks for outliers.
“We know all the other guys on here. Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars, Ke$ha … who the hell is Spose?”
So this intern looked at the Portland sales and saw that I had the #1 song. I doubt I cracked the top 200 nationwide, but that was enough to get their attention. At this point, I was 24 years old and totally broke, delivering pizzas and raising a newborn. The day Universal sent me a $35,000 check for signing on with their label, my bank account was at -$800. I couldn’t even buy gas for my car without overdrafting my account again — one generally doesn’t hear Jay-Z rapping about bank fees and bus passes. CONTINUE READING
By Radio.com
Soon after Bruno Mars and special guests the Red Hot Chili Peppers rocked last weekend’s Super Bowl XLVIII halftime show with a impressive medley of songs, images began circulating the internet highlighting the fact that RHCP bassist Flea and guitarist Josh Klinghoffer were performing with their guitars not plugged in to a darn thing.
Photos and GIFs highlighting the Peppers guitarists’ lack of plugs generated a firestorm of criticism directed at the Red Hot Chili Peppers
. Many fans felt betrayed by the band for not performing live at the high-profile event, which generated America’s largest TV audience of all-time with 11.5 million tuning in for the game between the Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos.
Given the enormity of the event, and the logistical nightmare of doing live sound in the center of an open-air stadium for a 15-minute performance, utilizing some backing tracks is a common occurrence, although many artists would make an attempt to appear live with dummy cords for their instruments. There is also the issue of the detrimental effects the cold weather can have on guitar and bass strings, particularly in regards to tuning.
It’s been suggested that Flea so openly flaunting an empty plug was his way of revealing the prerecorded aspect of the halftime performance, a sentiment supported by Flea himself, according to a recent tweet:
No trickery. No choice, but no trickery
— Flea (@flea333) February 4, 2014
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