Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Gennaro Castaldo Watch: We owe it all to Simon Cowell

The small shedloads of albums sold by Coldplay has seen the Telegraph contacting Gennaro Castaldo to find out why British acts are apparently doing so well:

HMV spokesman Gennaro Castaldo said that the success of British acts may be related to the impact of Simon Cowell in the US while the "outstanding success by Amy Winehouse has also acted as a catalyst."

He added: “The global music industry tends to operate in cycles, and right now British artists are very much in the ascendancy - both creatively and commercially. British acts dominated the recent Grammy awards, and they are enjoying the kind of influence over the US music scene that their American counterparts once used to enjoy over the UK charts.”

Poppin Corny, who brings this to our attention, points out:
Hate to disagree with HMV's "Chief Quote Executive" but not sure Coldplay, Radiohead, Adele etc would put their success at the Grammys down to Simon Cowell. That insight brings a whole new meaning to 'Britain Got Talent'.

It does also make you wonder how watching Amy Winehouse teeter about helps other British artists - is it like when you go to the seaside and the pier's closed for repair, so you go to the aquarium instead? "The Amy Winehouse is broken, kids, so we're going to try the Duffy instead"?

Still, however ridiculous Castaldo's claims might be, at least he's not the bloke from the IFPI:
A spokesman from the IFPI said: "British artists had a great year in 2008, reflecting the continued investment in talent in the UK. Acts like Coldplay, Duffy and Leona Lewis have managed to find an audience worldwide because of their first-class music and the support their labels have been able to give them internationally."

Shouldn't that be the BPI saying that, rather than the global body? And does this mean that in the leaner years in the past for British acts, it's been because the labels have been underinvesting? Does that mean labels overseas haven't been ponying up as much cash as before? Aren't they exactly the same companies?


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