I must admit to being just a little bemused by what’s going on in the popular music industry at the moment. It’s as though there’s some kind of revolution – and Simon Cowell is apparently nowhere to be seen.
Ordinarily you’d expect the record companies to be pushing the latest releases from a stable of new, enthusiastic and perhaps slightly naive wannabe stars. That’s because there’s an almost grail-like industry quest to be seen to sign and promote the latest talent, regardless of its age, experience or long-term potential. It’s fuelled by new performers who are generally more prepared to sign a contract at any cost with the promise of fame and fortune that doing so brings. New performers also tend to be rather more compliant when it comes to legally-binding recording contracts and the like – which in turn means that the record companies can negotiate themselves a better long-term deal, with opt-out clauses and protection at every turn. And yet, despite this, the industry now seems to be branching out into new territory... or returning to an old one.
Every week a plethora of new songs gets promoted to the broadcasting industry. Regardless of what you might read or hear, the record companies DO need exposure for their performers through radio and television – it’s always been that way. It’s true that downloads of songs via the internet are now a substantial part of the propositional for getting an act’s work into the mainstream consciousness of us, the purchasing public. But airplay on radio or television can still make all the difference as to whether a given artist or artistes can cut it at the point of sale.
It is for this reason that I am intrigued by the recent vogue for releases by artists of “the third age” which has begun in the last few months. From the start of the year we’ve seen new releases by artists including Prince, Petula Clark (who’s been in the business for no less than seven decades), Joe Cocker, Donald Fagen (Steeley Dan) and, of course, The Thin White Duke, David Bowie. On the day that “Where Are We Now” was released I was intrigued to hear a number of respected broadcasters describing Bowie’s new work as “ an event ” – not exactly a ringing endorsement of the work of the man. Instead it sounded as though the media didn’t know what to make of his return to producing new music. Were they treading warily in case they gave too enthusiastic a welcome to something that then didn’t achieve success in the wider world? They should have been braver.
If Bowie’s return was an event, the current crop of releases by older artists looks like a wave of established talent breaking new material to an industry that needs reminding what these people can create.
Collectively they are proving that far from being gone and forgotten, they have fresh work to offer a music-buying public ready to hear again from old favourites; favourites who can still cut the mustard and who have already surpassed the “one-hit wonder” tag that sums up so many newcomers.
Perhaps it’s also this. Older, established artists can reach more fans more easily and are therefore less of an industry risk over the longer term.
More are due to return soon – among them Agnetha Faltskog, formerly of ABBA, now working with Gary Barlow. Her comeback single sounds good, I wonder whether the musical DNA of ABBA and Take That will unify the music-buying generations.
And then there’s the prospect of Bonnie Tyler at Eurovision..!