Pre-Empting BBC Sound of 2010
As you know, each year the BBC publishes a list of 15 artists who their panel of experts have decided are going to be haemorrhaging gold bullion by this time next year. Unsurprisingly, these longlists are always incredibly, even suspiciously, accurate. Take, for example, last year’s list; all of the artists who were named have gone on to have incredibly successful years. Of course, the exception to this rule is Master Shortie, who has gone on to make himself the target of unfair, but very enjoyable, jokes. Poor bloke. And why is this? Well, to a certain extent, these lists are a self prophecy; of course, if the UK’s music press and music labels think you are going to be successful, then they’re very likely to spread their money covered tentacles and make sure that you don’t prove them wrong! Unfortunately, what this all points to is the predictability of the music industry . If label bosses and press can get together at the end of any given year, and accurately (with the exception of Master Shortie again, sorry bud) predict what’s going to sell well over the next year, then it seems to demonstrate that it is the music industry itself that is deciding what music millions of people are going to be listening to.
Of course, if you are reading this, then, as someone who actively seeks out new music that isn’t being peddled to you by one of our Saab driving executives via their connections with radio or media, then you are already a step closer to circumventing the whole thing. That said, many of last year’s top 15 were artists who had been introduced to you by blogs a long time ago… But you are not in the same category as the class of music consumers who do just that… they don’t listen to music, they consume it. They consume anything that’s presented to them; the thing that a record company A&R has told Radio 1 is going to be huge, that Radio 1 has played to death, that all of their friends are talking about. In many cases, there’s little discrimination involved; they’re presented with bland, inoffensive, but vaguely likeable music, and they go for it. No effort, no risk involved.
I’ve already said that music blogs are by no means exempt from this condemnation in that the hype often outweighs the material. Sure, listening trends in the virtual world are from from perfect, and far from the influence of hype, but at least people who read blogs are being critical and considering the music that they are listening to. Where’s this all going? Well, a couple of places, really. Firstly, it’s just to urge you not to be one of those puppets and not to assume that 1000 hearts next to a track on hypem.com is undeniable proof that you are in the presence of 2009’s answer to “Stairway To Heaven”. More likely, Simon from Kent illegally downloaded Ableton Live, munched on some Class C drugs and had a hell of a time messing up MGMT’s hair. Secondly, I felt very much like it was necessary for my own ego to establish why I feel superior to people who, in my opinion, listen to awful music. Mission accomplished. And it feels good.
Thirdly… Thirdly and most importantly, though, was to try to see how predictable this whole predictable process is! I’ve been carefully concocting an immaculately organised Excel spreadsheet for a while now, attempting to predict the artists that the BBC are going to predict are going to be big. Crazy, right? Sort of, but if this list turns out to contain some of the BBC’s choices, then it will go some way to pointing out the insane pre-determined nature of the music industry. If it doesn’t, well, then I’ll be genuinely glad that the whole thing isn’t so predictable. In this effort, I also sought the enlightened opinions of Pretty Much Amazing, Sheena Beaston, The Stu Reid Experiment , Breaking More Waves and Too Many Sebastians who have made some additions to the list. I can’t ignore Neon Gold either, since this entire list is based on their seemingly endless wisdom. In a way, I guess, this is like a musical experiment, that could quite possibly go wrong. And if the names below are completely off target, then all you will be left with is one unfathomably brilliant “ones to watch for 2010” list. Everyone wins? Yeah, everyone wins unless I come out looking like a massive cock… (In this eventuality, I blame all of the other blogs, useless idiots!)
The criteria for the BBC’s list is simple: the artist must not have had a top 20 hit in the UK, have released an album yet or be well known from a reality TV show. I’ve divided the candidates into three categories: Outside Chance for artists who have created some hype that has not yet really been consolidated into much success yet, Good Possibility for the talented and hyped artists who have started to deliver great songs, and (Almost) Dead Certainty for those artists who the BBC are very likely to include.
Outside Chance:
| Yes Giantess |
| Swimming |
| Mirrors |
| Magic Wands |
| Violens |
| Theophilus London |
| Wale |
| Drake |
| Sleigh Bells |
| Esben & The Witch |
| Penguin Prison |
| Performance |
| Hurts |
| Zarif |
| The Cocknbullkid
Clock Opera |
Good Possibility:
| Music Go Music |
| Delphic |
| Rusko |
| Little Comets |
| Two Door Cinema Club |
| Detroit Social Club |
| Sound Of Arrows |
| Everything Everything |
| Samuel & The Dragon |
| Soft Pack |
| Alex Metric |
| Magic Wands |
| Ou Est Le Swimming Pool |
| Fyfe Dangerfield |
| Local Natives |
| Monarchy |
(Almost) Dead Certainty
| Marina & The Diamonds |
| Fenech-Soler |
| Wolf Gang |
| The Drums |
| Ellie Goulding |
| We Have Band |
I’d love to expand on the brilliance of many of these artists, but that’s for another time… If you’re completely unconvinced then have a (critical) listen to this lot!
Plus, whilst we’re vaguely on the subject, I’ve been dying to get these two brilliant Ellie Goulding remixes out somewhere.
December 4th, 2009 at 11:01 am
Hello. Thought you may be interested to know that several UK blogs were asked to vote in this years Sound of 2010 list. My blog was one of them and I believe Von Pip Express and Faded Glamour was another.
You may be interested to know that when you are asked to vote you are not asked who you expect to be haemorrhaging gold bullion this time next year, but simply to vote for 3 artists that you consider to be the best and most exciting new artists, irrespective of record label deal, hype etc.
Inevitably the acts who get on the list have had some degree of exposure (such as on blogs) because they have to gather enough votes to get on the list. Hence when panel members vote there is bound to be an element of thinking about acts that are likely to receive votes from other panel members, because if you vote for an act that no one has heard of your vote will be wasted (it’s a bit like voting a minority political party in a general election….)
Hence there is a an (almost) inevitability that acts such as Ellie Goulding and Marina and the Diamonds will get on the list (who were featuring on blogs ages ago, I first posted about Ellie last February and put Marina in my own blog’s Ones To Watch list this time last year). However, having said that two of the artists I voted for are not on your list at all, and I am keeping my fingers crossed that at least one of them gets on it.
Irrespective of what you think of the BBC Sound Of List it is a great way for new acts to get mainstream exposure in a world dominated by X Factor blandness, and for that we should be grateful to the BBC for running it. It may not be perfect, but it has to be better than the Cowell run music state that the UK is becoming.
Some good names on your list there though, I’d love to see Samuel and the Dragon, Mirrors or Yes Giantess get voted on the list, but as you say, outside chance at best. (I didn’t vote for any of those, although did consider them)
For clues as to who I voted for I’m currently listing my Ones To Watch for 2010 on my blog Breaking More Waves – 1 a day for the next week or so, we’re up to number 4 at the moment.
December 4th, 2009 at 7:14 pm
Cool story bro. You’ve obviously got some cool hook-ups. I’ll be voting for all of you in the ‘WTF? NEVER HEARD OF THIS BLOG’ poll for 2010.
December 4th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
Thanks for your comments Robin! I can’t emphasise enough that I wasn’t criticising “BBC Sound of…” at all – as you rightly say, it helps introduce some really talented artists to the mainstream. Last year’s list got me listening to Empire of the Sun and the Big Pink, and it was a great selection of artists! To be honest, I was criticising the music industry as a whole, not the “BBC Sound of”, anything but! I’ll definitely check out your blog as well, see if I can work out who you voted for.
And… thanks very much Coward, I’ve been aiming for recognition in that category for years.
December 7th, 2009 at 3:54 am
Hi. Think I’ll throw my tuppence in too on this well written post…
The BBC producing a list like this is a little like the Mercury Award I guess; nothing to do with the underground, nothing to do with Simon Cowell either, but ultimately a massive lift to all those who receive it’s publicity-creating boost.
I don’t take it much more seriously than that to be honest. It’s no promise of quality either.
Our blog’s selections, and yes they did officially ask The Recommender too, are covered in your Dead Certainty and Outside Chance lists, although I’m pleased to say that one of my three selections isn’t on any of your above categories, so we will see. At least they’re asking blogs this year.
Like it or not, I suppose these things get all of our attentions when they come out, whether we like it or not. I guess that’s my point…
Mike
December 7th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
Well 2 of my votes have got in on the Top 15, and one didn’t so I’m pleased.
December 7th, 2009 at 10:21 pm
Having read your blog for a while, Robin, I’m guessing that your two votes that got in were Stornoway and… Hurts / Ellie Goulding / Marina? I have to admit that you tipped me off about Stornoway and I completely ignored you… but you were right! Looks like they’re this year’s Mumford & Sons.
Thanks for commenting Mike! Haha I guess you’re right. These sort of lists are just like end of year lists – all we do is complain about other people’s, but we can’t help reading them!
You are right though, the BBC has brought a lot of exposure to great bands. Especially in a society where charts and listening trends are increasingly influenced by a glorified karaoke competition on the telly, we should definitely be grateful for the BBC Sound Of competition getting great artists like Marina, Hurts, Everything Everything et al listened to.
I’d also be interested to hear who you voted for, Mike?
December 8th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Not a bad attempt – you guessed 6 of the 15.
I am guessing you have mixed feelings about the list – in fact, you should be genuinely pleased it’s not as contrived as you suggested.
Anyway, I scoured your list (not a big music blog fan – no time!) and discovered a shit load of great music I’ve not heard before. Thanks for your pre-emptive list, and I hope you make another one next year
December 12th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
[...] week I posted this, an attempt to pre-empt who would appear on the BBC’s annual longlist for the “Sound of [...]
December 15th, 2009 at 11:16 pm
thanks for leaving a comment dallas, it’s really great to hear you found so many songs that you like! Feel free to drop back anytime
Yeah, I quite enjoyed this whole slightly crazy, slightly correct experience and I’ll definitely be trying again next year. Until then, I guess we’ve just got to see how this year’s artists turn out….
January 14th, 2010 at 7:49 pm
PS, now that the top 5 have been revealed, we should probably say something. We got 7/15 which wasn’t bad, although the list had some pretty surprising choices this year.
However, the top 5 artists were announced a few days ago; all 5 were on the list above. I’m not going to read into it too much, but it seems to have at least pointed out that this was worth doing, whatever conclusions you wish to draw from it.
February 3rd, 2010 at 3:45 pm
In einem Forum wurde dieser Artikel verlinkt und dadurch bin ich auf deinem Blog gelandet. Eigentlich bin ich nicht so der Blogleser sondern lieber in Foren unterwegs, aber wie ich es jetzt bei deinem Blog gesehen habe koennen Blogs doch auch ganz infornativ sein. Vielleicht aendere ich ja irgendwann meine Meinung und bin dann lieber auf Blogs als auf Foren unterwegs
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