N Dubz make a point

Now it is no secret that I am, infact, not N Dubz biggest fan or that I enjoyed more than a spot of 2009's The X Factor, but the blond N Dubz vocalist, Tulisa, well that girl has a great point regarding the nation's favourite reality TV show. The 'singer' was quoted on MSN.co.uk, saying: "It's annoying watching X Factor contestants just come up there and become worldwide acts selling millions of records after just standing in a queue for an hour." Adding "It's annoying but because I'm selling records without the power of The X Factor...if they came out off their own bat and not X Factor wouldn't sell ten records so then you've got to remind yourself of that." Because she may just be right. Had anyone heard of Leona Lewis or bought a JLS CD before the shot to fame on X Factor? No? Me neither.

Tulisa joins the likes of Sting and Rage Against The Machine, via Jon Morter, in being just a handful of the artists speaking out against the Simon Cowell karaoke kings dominating our charts and, arguably, strangling our beloved British music industry. On November Sting treated The One Show audience to snacks from his latest album and notede that the 'real music' was made in pubs around Britain not on the cover-band stage of The X Factor. He has a point. Add the contest from other bands, from SiCow 'stars', the obstacle of loopholes in Spotify and illegal downloads and pitfalls of single-song downloads on iTunes. New artists have a tougher time than ever to get noticed, be heard and make their talents lucrative. In our internet, have-it-now, Primark generation, artists have to be so much more than just relevant and excellent lyricists. It seems musicians must be collumnists and fashion designers; both All Time Low's Alex Gaskarth and Slipknot's Corey Taylor have collumns in Rock Sound where Bring Me The Horizon's Oli Sykes and You Me At Six's Josh Franchesi both have clothing ranges, and whatever else gets thrown their way.
In short, something's gotta give to get our home-grown, raw talent seen and heard. RATM's Christmas number 1 was definitely a great start in this much-needed protest and Spotify admitting they made a mistake in thinking happy record label = happy artist (read Pete Waterman's article on the Swedish streaming superhouse Spotify from The Times Lifestyle supplement from last Sunday). Has anyone downloaded the brand new music from industry babies for free from Frostwire or the like? Yes? Yikes, me too -New Years resolution number 3 was to not download any music for free this year unless the artist distributes it so. See Angels and Airwaves Love release on Feb 14th.

Rant over. Comments below.
BBPD