Seemingly Intractable Questions In Pop, No.1 in a Series

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

How do you make pop work on TV?

Comments

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

I disagree here. Where telly comes in is giving popstars the opportunity to tell us there's more to them than this bunch of noises, which may/may not affect how much I like those noises and thence my inclination to give them some money.

I watch Popworld* not because I want to hear new music, but because I want to see popstars doing ridiculous things in order to plug their new single, e.g. the inspired Pop A Cap On Yo Ass, where Brian Harvey or someone had to pin a hat on a picture of a donkey...

*Only I have stopped watching Popworld in the last 2 months because a) the telly is no longer in the same room as the bed b) it's increasingly full of rubbish personality-free buskers eg The View, in whom I have no interest.

[bengraham.livejournal.com]

Where telly comes in is giving popstars the opportunity to tell us there's more to them than this bunch of noises, which may/may not affect how much I like those noises and thence my inclination to give them some money

Yes, but there's nothing to stop artists either
a) taking advantage of this opportunity by posting videos of themselves doing ridiculous things to plug their new single online (either as a standalone video, or as a trailer before the video for said single begins playing)
b) ensuring that their appearances on such TV shows as Popworld get uploaded onto ver web as individual clips. That way, if I am a Fergie fan, I don't have to watch 25 minutes of The View and James Morrison to see the Fergie segment of the show, I can just pick to watch the Fergie segment and then segue into something by another artist of my choosing.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

But what if I'm not a Fergie fan YET? How am I meant to know where her website is or what the video clip of her dressed as a giant pineapple is called on youtube?

Also getting artists to do this off their own back is v tricky (unless you are Britney Spears, hahahah), they're too busy touring/recording and worry about their respectable/badass image. Popworld had a dedicated team of dudes thinking up ridiculous stuff for their guests to do in order to get them to relax a bit and show their true personality (for better or for worse!).

This is why websites like Popjustice are enjoyable - I know where to look for regular popstar piss-take entertainment. However despite plenty of video clips and audio samples, it's not the same as seeing Fergie in a pineapple costume.

[bengraham.livejournal.com]

Hmmm, point taken, although from my experience, the format of TV pop music shows has always been 95% artists I've heard of to 5% artists I haven't. I think most people hear new artists on the radio, but don't see new artists on TV until they've already heard of them. When do you ever see unsigned artists on TV? You don't because TV show makers are worried that their viewers will channel hop if an artist comes on that they've not heard of. On radio, the same is true to an extent, which is one of the reasons why radio has daytime playlists.

Are you telling me that Fergie and the like don't have entire teams of image experts advising them? Artists spend ages recording videos, and there's no reason why inventive artists couldn't fit in time for a video shoot to do "something silly" to promote their music.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

> entire teams of image experts advising them

If they don't then they definitely should. A popstar's image makes such a difference to whether I am happy to fork out cash to support said artist or just steal their musics off the interweb er ignore them. That sounds quite shallow but DUDES this is ENTERTAINMENT we're talking about here. I want the full package from my pop.

> When do you ever see unsigned artists on TV?

Rarely, because unsigned artists are usually not on telly FOR A REASON. To make a reasonable impact on telly takes £££-a-plenty. Employing a good plugger for a start: £10k for 3-4 months' work; choreographer: about the same; hair/makeup/clothes budget:£400-£1500 depending on how many tv shows you do/no. of band members; promo video budget: £2000-£20000...I could go on. Remember, I'm talking about Entertaining Pop artists, not the next big indie singer-songwriter who only needs her guitar and a hairbrush to make it big - they can use the internet to stream their music & radio to reach a wide audience, and wouldn't really benefit from the investment required to exploit telly as a means of publicity.

[bengraham.livejournal.com]

Exactly. 'Unsigned artist' was a bad choice of words, but your comment was "what if I'm not a Fergie fan yet?" The point I was trying to make is that if you want to see artists you've never heard of, mainstream pop TV is not the answer, because they fill their airtime with artists people have heard of and want to hear again i.e. successful ones. A segment on Evil Twin Silver Springs dressed as pineapples is pointless. How do you find out about an act that you're not already a fan of? I imagine that the answer is very rarely "on pop TV" unless you basically ignore all radio, TV, print media for a year and then watch some pop TV.

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

> they fill their airtime with artists people have heard of and want to hear again

Perhaps that's where mainstream pop TV is going wrong!

But I see what you're getting at. However just because I've heard of Fergie doesn't mean I'm a fan of hers. I might have ignored all previous reference to her and her music. Then whilst waiting for my favourite established artists Silver Springs to come on screen dressed as pineapples, I catch a glimpse of Fergie being interviewed about her love of small dogs wearing hats. I realise I was wrong to dismiss her without giving her a chance & go and seek out her album...

I realise that not everyone's opinions on popstars can change so wildly as mine can, and this is probably the actual reason music telly doesn't work.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I don't like seeing popstars do ridiculous things though! I think I would like Fergie a little bit LESS if I saw her wearing a pineapple costume.

I like it when popstars are guests on things like Have I Got News For You and read scripted jokes.