Being an avid reader of the news, I couldn’t help but notice that some of the stories – at least three, in fact – relate to pop stars giving their opinions on things, or talking about their music, in the week that their respective albums are being released.  

I’ve read stories just this afternoon on Christina Aguilera, Muse and Olly Murs.  Murs had this to say about the show that discovered him, The X Factor:

“I’d hate to see a show like The X Factor not be on TV any more, because it’s still one of the best.”

Source: BBC News Music News LIVE

Yes, from his perspective, I would have to agree with that, especially since that show gave him the opportunity to release the album, just last Friday coincidentally enough, which he is now shamelessly whoring.  

Muse, on the other hand, were actually talking about the album Simulation Theory which, coincidentally enough, was released just last Friday and which they are now shamelessly whoring. 

With this album there was quite an effort to sort of look beyond, to look both to the past and future simultaneously.

Matt Bellamy; Source: BBC News Music News LIVE

I won’t write about the Christina Aguilera incident because that’s just embarrassing; both for her and for the rest of us. 

And of course, I fully understand the irony that, even if one person only ever reads this post, it has promoted both of those artists’ albums still further.

Furthermore, I also understand that the entire motivation behind the music industry is to promote their artists’ wares, how else are you going to sell the albums in the shedloads required to make everybody filthy rich?

The entertainment industry as a whole has this whole promotion thing down to a fine art.  If a major new TV series is coming on the telly, you’ll get news stories featuring those actors, or simply about the show – of course, why not?  

It’s because people are fundamentally lazy, and the internet has done little to change that – indeed, it’s made it significantly worse.  Nobody goes looking for music or other entertainment any more; they’ve got to have it dropped in their laps.  I’ve got absolutely no problem with people promoting their latest record, book, movie, whatever; it’s just the cynical way that each artist is dealt with and told to do, to perform said promotion. 

Movie promotion works slightly differently.  I’ve seen it documented that actors and directors (typically) will sit in a hotel room all day while journalists from all periodicals, TV, radio and the blogosphere will file in and out and be given, I don’t know, fifteen minutes with the person in question. 

It’s no wonder that, by the end of the day, actors will get fed up with being asked the same questions in the same way and the journalists think that they are the first to do it.  

When the likes of you or I go to a job interview, it is the questioner who holds all the cards, who is in charge, basically.  But for TV and entertainment interviews, the questioner often sits timidly while the actor rants and rages at them, acting like the world revolves around them, which in a lot of cases, it does.  It’s funny how the dynamics of life works.

As I said, I’m not averse to it, I recognise that, if you have a book, movie, album, TV show out, you’ve got to let people know it’s there, or else they will not go looking for it.  I am having to do this myself, because I have an album out – EarthRise by Spiral Planet, out on Friday November 30 – which I produced.  So, because I am not in the public eye, I expect I shall have to come up with all sorts of crass ways to promote the album and to try and persuade people to part with even more of their hard-earned pay to buy it, despite the fact that those people will already have bought the new Muse, Olly Murs, Mark Knopfler, Take That, or Beatles albums already.  I don’t know, I expect I’ll have to write one of my smug little blogs, or put unfunny little messages on Facebook, that sort of thing.  

The album, EarthRise by Spiral Planet, out on November 30, is a double album that I produced that isn’t very likely to sell in the gazillions that Muse will, but if it sells one copy as a result of this blog, or perhaps through Facebook, then that will be job done.  I don’t have expensive press agents at my disposal, when you’re at the top you get everything done for you, but here at the bottom, you’ve got to do it all yourself.  You get away with it if you’re Take That, but for us, it looks like crass, arrogant, egotistical self-promotion.  Have a listen to the album and see what you think.  x