MUSIC INDUSTRY BLOG

Extraordinary.  I’ve been poring over new music marketing strategies since I graduated from college, examining everything from joint ventures between bands and brands to iPhone apps and free disc-on-keys, chronicling 360 deals and studying the convergence of digital with traditional.  So complex the music industry has become that I sometimes don’t understand my own diagnoses.  Over the weekend, I learn that Katy Perry has set-up a voice center with SayNow where she calls in from time to time with a personal update and fans can leave her messages (she calls some of them back, apparently).  It seems that the “next-generation” of artists and promoters, myself included, have been swept off our feet by communication and relationship management technologies and forgotten that there’s nothing quite like picking up the phone from time to time.  Praise you Katy Perry!

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Kris Allen Wins American Idol
Katy Perry
Kate Miller-Heidke

To my surprise, Kris Allen was voted as American Idol’s Season 8 Winner, defeating Adam Lambert who was seemingly the clear favourite.  Even Katy Perry, who ravaged the stage during a cameo appearance in last week’s episode, displayed support for Adam Lambert wearing a cape with his name sewed on the back.  Simon Cowell was puzzled by the final outcome but his consistent endorsement of the flamboyant star throughout the season will undoubtedly be reflected in a broader exploitation of his talent, taking Adam Lambert’s career to new heights – but hopefully restraining him from singing any higher.  I expected 16 year old Alison Iraheta, who made it to the top four, to receive greater backing from the voting public.  In fact, I had hoped that she would ultimately go head to head with Adam Lambert.  However, such is the nature of American Idol, and the general public, to play it safe: Kris Allen is cute and personable.  Alison Iraheta is arguably neither and Adam Lambert, I think, makes a lot of Americans uncomfortable.  Who’s the best singer?  That’s secondary.

I was snooping around the International Songwriting Competition website (as you do to keep tabs on your competitors) and discovered a real gem: Kate Miller-Heidke.   Clearly a winner – she picked up the 2008 grand prize – and, in my opinion, the first truly competitive artist to be associated with the ISC, Kate Miller-Heidke sounds like Australia’s answer to Katy Perry.  She will be making an appearance at MUSEXPO in London this summer.  Superb artist.

Katy Perry’s “I Kissed A Girl” spent seven weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 during the summer of 2008 and has sold 3.1 million downloads according to Nielsen SoundScan.  Her subsequent single, “Hot N Cold,” reached number three on the Hot 100 charts and sold 2.9 million downloads.  Although her album sales did not match her singles sales, she enjoyed over 800,000 copies sold since June – and this brings her to A-list revenue figures, even if sales cap off before the million mark.

Perry’s ‘big break’ was when “Ur So Gay”, produced by and co-written with Greg Wells (OneRepublic, Mika), caught the attention of Madonna who mentioned it as her “favorite song right now” on KISS FM and KRQ’s JohnJay & Rich morning show in Arizona.  This, it seems, was enough to capture audience attention and catapult “I Kissed A Girl” as an international hit in the summer of 2008.

When I first heard it, I thought it was brilliant!  The combination of edgy production values and a memorable and somewhat controversial hook and chorus theme captured my attention immediately.  In terms of songwriting – like it or not – it is a masterfully written song.  “Hot N Cold”, her second installment along the same vein, did not do so much for me, perhaps because I felt that I had enough of Perry after the constant rotation of “I Kissed A Girl” but, her follow-up, “Thinking of You”, which just hit the radio, is a watered-down Katy Perry sound and crafted just as superbly as the others.  Notice that she’s not wearing any fruit but her 1930’s undergarments are, as you would expect, omnipresent in this clip.