There’s a little photo of me in today’s Independent newspaper, as part of Rhodri Marsden’s article on DIY pop. Page 2 of the Extra supplement. I’m caught in mid lip-synch on his video shoot, and it looks like I’m pulling a rather silly, Wildean expression. Bought my copy today from Bildeston Post Office.
Can’t quite believe that, according to his article, Rhodri’s video has been watched 250,000 times, yet the thing it’s meant to be promoting, the actual single, has sold barely 60.
I guess it still has to be radio and TV play, gigging, fanbase interaction and media hype that makes the real difference between watching a pop video and buying a pop song.
Making your own music with a computer is easy, we’re constantly told. Getting people to listen to it, and pay to listen to it in its week of release, is somewhat less easy. There has to be an angle, a world, a tribe to belong to. An aesthetic. A consensus. An appearance on a trusted radio playlist. Filters and signposts, yes. But it has to be the right filters, and the right signposts.
