[LINK] Meet the music industry’s new misinformation puppet and learn how to benefit from her tricks

[Leah Manta]

http://www.upstartblogger.com/meet-the-music-industrys-new-misinformation-puppet-and-learn-how-to-benefit-from-her-tricks


Yesterday, as I browsed through a collection of news websites, 
something caught my eye. Yet another thinly veiled attack on the 
public, and this time on independent musicians also, by the music industry.

The attack was very subtle and, even I have to admit, very well 
played by the spin masters and agents of deceit at EMI as they moved 
their new misinformation puppet to the front line of their private 
war on anything that poses a threat to their dinosaur business model.

As you pick your way through this story I hope it becomes apparent 
just how duplicitous and calculating the music industry can be. And 
how they, and their puppet like employees, will stop at nothing to 
frustrate the efforts of genuine independent musicians and genuine 
music lovers.

In order to fully grasp the level of dishonest trickery at work here 
some recent history is required.

Lily Allen appeared, apparently out of nowhere, in 2005 when her 
record label, a small subsidiary of EMI, used Myspace to push her as 
a faux independent artist.

The majority of Myspace users immediately fell for the trick, 
thinking that Lily Allen was independent.

By appearing to be just an ordinary girl, writing songs and giving 
them away, talking about her poor background and deprived upbringing, 
and generally attempting to appear as non corporate as possible Lily 
Allen soon gained a substantial following.

Of course, in reality her songs were written and created by EMI and 
their banks of battery hen producers. Her apparent poor background 
was soon debunked when it was revealed that she was privately 
educated at some of the most prestigious schools in the country.

Those in the know could spot this a mile away. Lily's father, 
television presenter and actor Keith Allen, had used his ample media 
connections to arrange and orchestrate Lily's fake background with 
the willing help of EMI.

The plan was simple and very effective.

Attract an audience with Myspace by appearing to be a non corporate 
independent, sharing music to ingratiate herself with the typical 
Myspace user, and then, once a tipping point had been reached, 
slingshot the whole package through the traditional record label hype 
machine, which was of course already set up and ready to go.

Lily Allen was spun by the willing media, who were happy to be pulled 
along by the nose as always, as a Myspace success story and was, 
behind closed doors, the ultimate record label creation. A product 
that the Myspace generation would be happy to pay for because they 
felt, stupidly, that they had created her.

Unsurprisingly, given the publics ability to be conned into obedience 
by the music industry, the plan worked.

When you stop to consider who owns Myspace and start to make 
connections you will soon see how obvious this all is.

The EMI, Lily Allen, Keith Allen machine went on to release more 
albums and, with fake popular credibility achieved, it seemed nothing 
could stop her. Social networking connections were maintained. Allen 
and her team regularly post on her Myspace account, suckering in more 
and more uninformed fans. And, as you would expect, Twitter has also 
fallen victim to this unstoppable wave of carefully scripted faux reality.

Regular petulant outbursts and drunken appearances mask the lack of 
any musical ability and ensure that the Lily Allen gravy train 
continues to roll forwards.

But now, in a move that will surely burst this bubble once and for 
all, in poacher turned game keeper style, Lily Allen, or one of her 
team, have released the following statement, taking a swing at file 
sharing and any established artists that dare to use it.

I haven't written on here for a while but I've taken the time to 
write this as I think music piracy is having a dangerous effect on 
British music, but some really rich and successful artists like Nick 
Mason from Pink Floyd and Ed O'Brien from Radiohead don't seem to 
think so. Last week in an article in the Times these guys from huge 
bands said file sharing music is fine. It probably is fine for them. 
They do sell-out arena tours and have the biggest Ferrari collections 
in the world. For new talent though, file sharing is a disaster as 
it's making it harder and harder for new acts to emerge.

Mason, O'Brien and the Featured Artists Coalition say that file 
sharing's "like a sampler, like taping your mate's music", but mix 
tapes and recording from the radio are actually very different to the 
file sharing that happens today. Mix tapes were rubbish quality - you 
bought the real music, because you liked the track and wanted to hear 
it without the DJ cutting off the end of each song. In digital land 
pirated tracks are as good quality as bought tracks, so there's not a 
need to buy for better quality. The Featured Artist Coalition also 
says file sharing's fine because it "means a new generation of fans 
for us". This is great if you're a big artist at the back end of your 
career with loads of albums to flog to a new audience, but emerging 
artists don't have this luxury. Basically the FAC is saying 'we're 
alright, we've made it, so file sharing's fine', which is just so 
unfair to new acts trying to make it in the industry.

You don't start out in music with the Ferraris. Instead you get a 
huge debt from your record company, which you spend years working 
your $%&* off to repay. When you manage to get a contract, all those 
pretty videos and posters advertising your album have to be paid for 
and as the artist, you have to pay for them. I've only just finished 
paying off all the money I owe my record company. I'm lucky that I've 
been successful and managed to pay it back, but not everyone's so 
lucky. You might not care about this, but the more difficult it is 
for new artists to make it, the less new artists you'll see and the 
more British music will be nothing but puppets paid for by Simon Cowell.

And it's not like there aren't alternatives to illegal downloads 
anyway. Sites like Spotify give us access to new music and different 
music without having to rip someone off - you can listen to tracks 
and see if you like them before you buy them. Then obviously there's 
MySpace, that streams music and helps acts like me get enough fans to 
convince record companies to sign us up.

If this sounds like I'm siding with the record bosses, I'm not. 
They've been naive and complacent about new technology - and they've 
spent all the money they've earned on their own fat salaries not 
industry development. But as they start to lose big from piracy, 
they're not slashing their salaries - they're pulling what they 
invest in A&R. Lack of funds results in A&R people not being able to 
take risks and only signing acts they think will work, which again 
makes British music Cowell puppets.

Is this the way we want British music to go? Now, obviously I'm going 
to benefit from fighting piracy, but I think without fighting it, 
British music is going to suffer.

I don't think what's out there is perfect. It's stupid that kids 
can't buy anything on the internet without credit, forcing them to 
steal Mum's credit card or download illegally. It's this kind of 
thing that the record company bosses, artists, broadband providers 
and government should be sitting down and discussing. I'm off to 
South America on tour today, but i'm going to be writing British 
artists, saying just this.

File sharing's not okay for British music. We need to find new ways 
to help consumers access and buy music legally, but saying file 
sharing's fine is not helping anyone - and definitely not helping 
British music. I want to get people working together to use new 
digital opportunities to encourage new artists.

It's unlikely that she wrote that herself but it effectively makes 
Lily Allen the very record label puppet that she claims to despise.

Notice how the language is very carefully constructed, in an attempt 
to turn the public against the established artists who have dared to 
step out of line, who are undeniably rich and an easy target, 
creating a new sub class of major label artist.

The major label artist that appears to not like the old order.

It's a hat that Allen wears well, playing on her fake background and 
fake Myspace roots, trying to make the public associate file sharing 
and free music with the giants of the old industry order.

What EMI and Lily know and hate is that independent musicians depend 
on file sharing as one of the many ways of getting their music heard.

And the major labels hate that because they can't control it. They 
can't control blogs, they can't control file sharing and they can't 
control social media.

Actually that's not 100% accurate. The labels can and do control 
Myspace, but that's an argument for another day.

So the only option left to them is to try and turn their so called 
Myspace hero, Lily Allen, against the file sharing masses, in a 
desperate attempt to make them stop.

Of course, it won't work. The record labels will rub their hands with 
glee as the traditional press reruns the story over and over again, 
slavishly agreeing with every word without daring to question the 
true motive. You can be sure that other industry puppets like Lily 
Allen will come out in support of her, again, no doubt, on their well 
controlled, industry owned, Myspace blogs.

In the meantime independent musicians can capitalize on this 
spectacular act of misdirection by challenging it via social media.

If you agree with what I have written, are an independent artist who 
is sick and tired of the rubbish spewed out by Allen and her owners, 
or if you just want to get some free traffic, take the following 
steps and be heard.

Tweet and Retweet this blog post being sure to insert @lilyroseallen 
in your message. Lily, or one of her handlers, will read your 
message. And, since there are people out there whose job it is to 
read everything with @lilyroseallen attached to it things will start to happen.

The record labels have a basic grasp social media but don't 
completely understand it. In their attempts to back up their own 
credibility they will happily storm in and defend their position 
whenever they feel it is necessary. If your Tweet gets caught in the 
media crossfire the spotlight gets turned on you.

Want some extra publicity? It's all there for the taking.

I'll do my part to push this around as well. Follow me 
<http://www.twitter.com/upstartblogger>@upstartblogger.


Posted : 16 September 2009 by Ashley Morgan