It was this time three years ago when the release of a song sent shockwaves around the world, from Ibiza to the Norfolk broads. David Bowie marked his 66th birthday by giving his fans ‘Where are we now?’, a mysterious but somehow so familiar new single, his first in a decade… http://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2016/01/11/david-bowie-reclusive-master-self-promotion
It seems that pop’s darling of the decade has turned diva this week as it was announced that Taylor Swift had pulled her entire back catalogue of music from Spotify. Through all the initial hubub, it seems that everybody’s missed the point: this is a publicity scam, and it’s one that she’s already rehearsed. The […]
The zeitgeist of the modern age is firmly rooted in social networks and crowdsourcing. This has manifested itself in several instances within the music industry in recent years with artists like Radiohead and Amanda Palmer turning to their fan bases for direct support. This trend has crystalised today with the publication of a recent study […]
As HMV calls in the administrators, spare a thought for the indie retailers who are now more exposed than ever to the wave of internet megafauna that have come to dominate the retail landscape. I’ve been involved with the music retail industry for a number of years, and represented Virgin Megastores for almost a decade […]
The tremendous response this week to the launch of Viva Forever! The Musical(manhandled by my esteemed colleague Dee McCourt and her team of pixies) probably came as a surprise to many in the higher echelons of the arts and media world. Yet the tremendous outpourings on twitter, not to mention the reams of coverage and […]
My old friend, the maverick director Tony Kaye, best known for American History X and a slew of fine music videos for Johnny Cash and the Red Hot Chili Peppers amongst others, is looking to bring the strange and unusual back into music by holding an open audition in Los Angeles for any musician this […]
Here’s an unedited version of the piece I wrote for yesterday’s Independent, on My Edinburgh. Trawling Edinburgh Festival for the sites of my old publicity stunts, celebrated in the #Twithibition I have just launched, has been a contemplative experience. The stunts celebrated 25 years of mischief, but that was then. What is now? I thought […]
I have asked my old mate Roger Edwards, who used to be marketing director of Wembley Stadium, to provide me with his own reminiscences on the Michael Jackson circus from the time he worked at Wembley. It is still surprising to consider that fifty nights at the O2 would have translated as five nights at […]
Despite the rumours, the accusations, the lawsuits, the increasing physical weirdness, the King of Pop’s return to the stage in London promises to be ‘the biggest comeback since Lazarus’. And he hasn’t even got a new album Elizabeth Day The Observer, Sunday 8 March 2009 Article historyIt seemed strangely appropriate that on the same day […]
This is from CMU Daily, a daily email round-up and one of my favourite sources of info – this nib exposes PR at its worst with journalism as it should be… great stuff PLAY.COM ENTER THE DOWNLOAD MARKET Etailer Play.com yesterday announced it was launching a new UK download platform that will make music available […]