Young bands still want to be famous. They still dream of Beatle-like world domination and cultural power. But how do they do it now that TOTP is gone? Now that there’s no NME to speak of and when no one pays any attention to the charts? Radio One still trots out the Introducing thing but what happens once you’ve been ‘introduced’?
Is there a new way to measure fame these days?
Yes. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube follows/likes.
Can’t make money on that though can you?
You absolutely 110% can. Some people you’ve never even heard of, and whose “product” is nothing more than a large social media following, are making millions.
Really? Like who?
Yeah! Tell us who these people are who we haven’t heard of so we can say we haven’t heard of them!
This person. My friends kids worship her – she makes Youtube videos.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoella
The most obvious example is Pewdiepie, but there are thousands of others.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/PewDiePie
He has upwards of 40 million subscribers to his YouTube channel and his videos have been watched more than a billion times. He earns an estimated $12 million per year and all he does is sit at home and talk about video games.
If the measure of fame is you having heard of him then, no – he’s not famous. By any other measure, he’s very famous indeed, and has already made more money and wielded more influence than Slade ever did.
Youtube offer free studio time in LA if you get enough followers.
I didn’t know that Clive. But I did know that if you have a YT channel and enough people watch your stuff you can make a comfortable living. Just look at gamers like Pewdiepie. YT pay per viewing. Only a very small sum but when thousands are watching it adds up.
Having your songs in TV series or films will boost oyur profile and income. Just look at the Hamdsome Family and True Detective.
And despite the fact that MTV seems to be a spent force, a good song with an original video, which hopefully goes viral, will put you on the map.
Iceland’s Of Monsters and Men are a classic example of this. I couldn’t believe the ginormous crowds they had both in Stockholm and Roskilde. And this video had a lot to do with that.
They go back to basics and get out and play live.
But there’s still that pervasive and insistent urge to somehow ‘make it’. And to ‘make it’ on any kind of understandable level you have to be able to earn enough to leave the day job. And to be a proper star you must have more than enough in order to sustain the glamour, or anti-glamour. Or whatever. Strikes me you can have a million likes on Facebook and I still won’t have heard of you. But my Mum knew who Slade were.
There are still pop stars, rock stars and bands and there are still millions of kids listening to them. The difference is that they get their music via YouTube, streaming services, blogs etc – all on phones or iPads, direct to their earphones and bedrooms. All this can happen without any crossover with their parents or indeed anyone over 25 – nothing is overheard on Radio 1 over breakfast as we’re all tuned to our specific demographic station, and of course no TOTP which was probably how your mum knew who Slade were, and my Mum knew who Frankie Goes to Hollywood were.
Bands can sell out Arenas and top the ‘charts’ and nobody over 25 will have a clue who they are apart from the parents who have to buy tickets for their kids to see…The Vamps for example. Who they? No idea – but they’re playing the Enormodome in Manchester on 16 April -there are countless examples like that – The Vamps don’t need me or you to have heard of them to be hugely successful.
A timely piece here on how bands recording and touring in a more traditional way are finding it increasingly hard to make a living http://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/jan/30/rocknroll-stardom-live-music-struggling-bands-slow-club-brawlers
Interesting. I suppose the truth is that bands still play, they still sell out venues, but hardly anyone has ever heard of most of them and that we’ll never see another Beatles.
I think it was pretty clear 30 years ago we’d never see another Beatles. Ultimately these big cultural phenomena and revolutions in music were somewhat media led, and the last revolution was the Internet which exploded everything and tore the rule book up for good but I think there’s a generation of people primed for ‘movements’ and waiting for the ‘next big thing’ – it’s not happening so the best thing to do is go and get stuck into the music you like and make an effort to discover new stuff and go and watch bands playing in your local venues….we won’t get another Beatles you’ll have to make do with thousands of little Beatles instead.
Thanks all. I happily admit my ignorance in these matters. I just get amazed, and a bit saddened to be truthful, that we’re all so compartmentalized and fragmented these days. To go back to Slade for a second, in the early seventies there was a marked shift and division between rock and pop but I liked the fact that, occasionally, there would be a kind of crossover (Supertramp for instance). I keep thinking of Hepworth’s memorable phrase about the music ‘scene’ these days- ‘it’s never been easier to play the game…but it’s never been more difficult to win’.
It’s lovely to think of a thousand little Beatles. But why on earth would I want to waste my time on that when I’ve got one big one? And ‘big’ and ‘influential’ as Pewdiepie may be, I can’t imagine that anyone will still be listening to him/her/it/them in 30 years’ time. Let alone fifty. It’s fine to make a big ephemeral splash, in some ways that encompasses perfectly the true ‘pop’spirit of spiritual and philosophical transience, but my question really has been answered by all the examples above of obscure famous people. Fame in pop music- real overarching fame that crosses generations and genres- is kinda gone.
Pewdiepie is a gamer not a musician, so in even in 2 years, no one will be interested in his commentaries and stuff.
But I don’t really agree with you, Eddie. Let’s not compare with Elvis or the HJHMs: no one can hope to rival their fame. But I’d argue that there are younger artists who have a considerable cross-generational appeal and fame.
Taylor Swift and Adele are enjoyed by both my sprogs and Mrs KFD and myself. And as for Rhianna! I have never seen such a large crowd at Roskilde as when she played and I’ve been there for the Stones and Black Sabbath. And if you’re read Mark Owen’s very amusing book, you’ll know that she has the luxurious lifestyle and the divaesque whims of any big star from the past.
You asked how fame is measured now. The answer is above.
If this is just going to become yet another thread in which we all reassure one another that there will never be another Beatles and their influence will last forever, then I think I’ll check out before I die of boredom. It’ll give me more time to spend on that other thread where we’re all agreeing that the generation gap no longer exists ; )
“I can’t imagine that anyone will still be listening to him/her/it/them in 30 years’ time”
I always avoid using this phrase as I clearly remember when I was about about 13 my dad (and other people of his generation in the media, but specifically my dad) comparing early Bowie to his musical hero, Elvis, using a similar phrase: “Can you imagine people still listening to that in ten years, like they do Elvis? I don’t think so!”.
Indeed. You are probably right Gary. And I may well be wrong.
These are just the musings of someone who hopped off the bus quite merrily in 1978 and occasionally peeps in just to see what’s going on. And then goes back in again.
The problem with the internet age for the budding pop star (and this is something the ‘media’ haven’t remotely cottoned onto) is that they, indeed everything, is completely avoidable.
The whole thing is like an elaborate game of run-outs, ducking and diving, avoiding/consuming etc.
Pop music c. 2016 can completely exist or not exist at all…..it’s totally your call.
Madonna kicks the bucket tomorrow, I’ll hear about it very early (like David Bowie), I’ll completely avoid anything about it for 2/3 weeks. Did it happen? Didn’t it happen?