For the last several years, MTV’s Video Music Awards (now the mask awards) has been trying to bolster its viewership and recapture the glory it once had over the public. The execs were hoping they would announce a spike in audience viewership, instead they walked away with a 5% drop. In fact, only 1.3 million watched on the MTV channel. To put this in perspective, America has a population of 330+ million people. The other channels (MTV2, Country Music TV) that broadcasted the award show averaged around 222,000 viewers.
The show was very predictable with no surprises. It barely made headlines, not uncommon for the times we are in now. The acts that performed got the trophies which makes sense. I can’t blame them, I would want a trophy, if I’m going to rehearse, hire some choreographers, a stylist, and a makeup artist. Lastly, the show had no effect on the music charts, but that’s not to say the artists didn’t benefit. Just the fact that some parts of the show with Gaga wearing a mask was a Twitter trending topic makes it all worth it. I suppose…
Wellness apps are a hot ticket right now and they’re getting artists to partner up. What made them so popular? Hmmm…maybe hurricanes, natural disasters, pandemic, political polarization, 24 around the clock negative news? Yeah, that’s it.
So the meditation business has turned into cash cow with millions of subscribers and streams. The Calm app made deals with Atlantic, Capitol and Interscope. For instance, Harry Styles partnered with the meditation app and talks through a 40-minute sleep story titled “Dream With Me.” Sam Smith recorded an hour-long “Sleep Combine” of their hit “How Do You Sleep?”.
Of course not everyone is sold on the idea of mega stars putting them to sleep.
Do you want a bad boy Harry Styles putting you to sleep having you imagine holding hands and snuggling on a raft?
Or what about this line?
“Flanked by fields of sunflowers, hand in hand we walk, as the gentle sound of nature, surrounds us while we talk”
I like the portrait of Harry Styles that lives on radio and the videos. I’m not sure about his voice putting me to sleep.
Listen, I’m all about artists cashing in, but sometimes it’s good to say no. I would probably say no to this.
Legendary artist Van Morrison came out swinging the way the government is handling covid. You’re probably like, “Who is this guy”? He’s the singer-songwriter that sings Brown Eyed Girl. So the guy that wrote the song that will live on radio forever had enough of covid and is rallying musicians in a campaign to restore live music concerts with full capacity audiences.
The 74-year-old singer based in Ireland launched a campaign to “save live music” saying socially distanced gigs were not economically viable. “I call on my fellow singers, musicians, writers, producers, promoters and others in the industry to fight with me on this. Come forward, stand up, fight the pseudo-science and speak up,” he said.
Morrison will play socially distanced gigs in England next month, but says this isn’t a long term strategy.
“This is not a sign of compliance or acceptance of the current state of affairs, this is to get my band up and running and out of the doldrums. This is also not the answer going forward. We need to be playing to full capacity audiences going forward.”
Did you see the that The UK held its first socially distant concert? People were placed in chicken-styled pens hoisted by a metal platform. Check out to here.
Are you surprised by the headline? I’m not. Of course they have formulated pop songs and coordinated dance routines down to a science, but The K-Pop boy band has an army that helps them conquer charts.
The BTS army is like a paramilitary group with advanced equipment. They have the ability to mobilize large number of fans from making banners and buying ad space in Times Square to coordinating streaming parties to spike numbers on Spotify and YouTube. This leads to media headlines like “BTS gets the most views in 24 hours”
Surprisingly, the army also targets radio and award shows. When it comes to indicators and boosting rankings, they’re on it. Heck, BTS is mentioned an average of 600,000 times on Twitter per day, reports Brand Watch. They won best social media artist, but how could they not?
I’ll be honest, I’m not sure how fans could pull this advanced weaponry off and turn this k-pop boy band in a cultural phenomenon. For a second I’m thinking does the South Korean government have a play in this?
I mean, BTS is worth more than US$3.6 billion to the South Korean economy every year — on par with the contribution of 26 mid-sized companies.
But no. The government is not. In fact the BTS Army launched an appeal to have the members spared for serving in the army, but the PM isn’t having any of it. Despite an appeal by the BTS army, the PM ordered the members of BTS to serve in the army which is a requirement for all citizens. In fact, the oldest member of the group Jin who is 27 would be the first to go off and join the army. All members will have to serve in the near feature which means BTS has peaked and the clock is ticking. But don’t worry, a new group is on the way. Let’s see if they come with a well organized army like BTS.
He’s a true phenomenon, Harry Styles that is. Broke off from a boy band, made a psychedelic rock album, and became the hottest artist of the summer. Who would’ve ever thought? Not me. Why? Because former members of boys bands generally have it rough. Although they achieve mainstream success and all the accolades that go with it, still, history doesn’t look favorably upon boy/girl bands. They are faced with a stigma of being manufactured – songs written by a committee of songwriters, image created by fashion consultants, and to top if off, the association with Simon Cowell’s The X Factor.
But Harry Styles pulled it off. His voice is superb, the songs are excellent, and he’s a born performer. Harry made a rock record and it’s huge, he’s played on every radio format, except for rock radio of course, speaking about backwards. Can someone give those guys Darwin Awards?
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