[Onelabel]

I notice this has been in the press a lot over the last few days.The background to this is Leanne was the 2012 "The Voice" winner and has just released her debut album with lead track "pride".

As a precurser to this let me just say that I'm not taking pot shots at anyone, Leanne is a very talented singer, signed to a great label, Island and I am sure whoever wrote "Pride" is a very accomplished songwriter... However...

A LOT of people seem to be saying that "Pride" is VERY close to Emeli Sande's "Next to me". Not just the song itself and subject matter but also the production and the tone of Leanne's voice. It suggests it was a very conscious decision to emulate a hit. Its not the first time anyones done this (far from it) but to me its surprising to have done it so overtly

The overall marketing for Leanne seems to either have been under cooked or else just has not worked. I think she was BBC Radio 2's record of the week last week, there's been a few TV spots etc.etc (including BBC Breakfast etc.) yet album sales appear to be dreadful (outside top 100 according to the Independent today), her Youtube hits are as bad if not worse. Basically no traction at all.

I think my main concern is that EVEN with all that exposure, a decent artist and a decent song it hasnt moved the public. Hell maybe i am overthinking it and the gen public think the lead track is too much like Emile Sande too and are voting with their wallents (and mouse clicks)!

Thoughts?

[Boydie]

I haven't listened to the track yet but I think it is safe to say that Leanne was a "surprise" victor on the voice

Some of the other singers on the show had a much better "presence" - Bo springs to my mind and that is after a year! - there was also a young "pocket rocket" singer with a rock voice that was great fun

One of the problems IMHO is that the gap between winning the show and getting a release out has been HUGE - the label are basically working from scratch

Compare this to the X Factor when the song is released straight away and usually #1 within the week

I guess the BBC need to be careful about launching careers/working with labels but I am sure this has much to do with it


Song choice is also key - I have heard some artists release really bad songs and thought "that is going to bomb" - Alexandra Burke's "Elephant" springs to mind and the Nicole "Shirt Swinger" track "Boomerang"

I will give the Leanne song a listen later and add some more comments if any spring to mind...

[KEROUAC1957]

I haven't heard the song but will check it out. I'm not a big fan of The Voice where I think the quality is quite low and the programme is a bit of a joke. The other day I heard Will I Am say to a contestant "You will have a long career whatever happens". Excuse me? Even the winners of these programmes struggle to get a career out of it. Also getting a career as an artist in the music business is not just about having a good voice (unfortunately) which kind of defeats the point of the programme.

Actually on a related note. I noticed that "Next To Me" won an Ivor Novello which kind of surprised me. It doesn't strike me as a song that will have much longevity. Do you think the bar has been set lower in recent years when it comes to Ivor Novellos?

[flossie]

One year later the momentum has died and her chances of establishing herself  dramatically decreased.

Stupid idea and massive loss of sales.

The song is too reminiscent of 'next to me' for Leanne to stand out with her first single as well.  Very lazy choice by the label. What this single says is she hasn't got her own sound which I'm sure isn't true.

I like The Voice! 

[Onelabel]

I'm glad it wasn't just me who thought it was VERY similar. I noticed that on her album cover they'd made her up and photographed her to look like Adele. Seems the 'marketing' of her has been based around merely emulating other artists out there, whichis understandable to a point - but not to this extent.

Not sure if she's with Island directly or a sub-label off them but they can't be happy with what's going on!

I agree with the point about the time lag but then often X Faxtor does the same thing (APART from the winning song released immediately). One of the big issues in the industry must be the lag most artists/bands go through after being signed. I looked a t a few recently and it averaged a year - I agree that's waaaay too long if you're trying to capitalise on a 'hot' news story.

[tone]

My opinion is that the public isn't really very interested in supporting a long career from talent show artists (with a few exceptions)

The entertainment is the TV show. That's what they get excited about, the part they have an emotional response to. Once somebody is promoted to actual recording artist, the dynamic changes. People like to support the underdog. But a combination of marketing and industry grooming so often makes potentially interesting artists completely dull. I'm not surprised they struggle to sell records.

[Sing4me88]

I know nothing about the 'industry' but I think things are hugely weighted in favour of X Factor contestants/winners over the Voice. X Factor have the weight of Cowell etc behind them, the winner song is always released just on the cusp of Christmas and that show has a much bigger appeal, market and audience than the Voice. It was the first in the market and still the big boy in that playground.

It is odd that they've seemed to go for a 'lets do what works' almost to the letter in this case. I can't imagine the X Factor for example trying to pull an act like this with their winner. I think it might be due also to the marketability of Laura Mitchell. X Factor have turned out hugely marketable acts like JLS, Litlle Mix, 1D, Olly Murrs etc and IMO Laura Mitchell isn't even in the same stratosphere when it comes to marketability. I'm not saying she doesn't have the talent but at the end of the day I think most people have come to accept that the music industry is increasingly moving away fro success based on musical merit alone.

[seriousfun]

I just thinks it is such a shame when the success or failure of an artist comes down to marketing.

It used to be that a group or individual with a good song and some raw relent could attract the attention of a lable and create a following through touring and releasing quality music. Now it seems that the prerequistite for a labels backing is how well they think they can package you and get the return paying out quickly so they can move on to the next big thing. Maybe not with older acts but certainly with the ever evolving youth market.

[S.T.C]

It is similar ....but still a reasonable pop song,in it self...

She`s got a good voice.....maybe she needs to just do a lot of touring and build her fan base ............based not on TV hype..but the fact she`s a good live act...

All said and done.....she could have been eliminated in the early rounds and not even have enjoyed the success she has.......theirs an awful lot of people who can only ever dream of a record deal ....TV and knocking about with Tom Jones for a bit..


For those of us that have been around a while and listened to a lot of music ,,,i`m sure hear melodies and riffs etc from older songs mixed in to modern ones.......the other day i was in a shop listeningmto a song ,,and i thought ,i know that guitar riff....couldn`t put my finger on it at first ,,then i realised it was ,David Bowies.... Andy  Warhol 

[Boydie]

I think what you have said is spot on SF BUT this is a symptom of the music industry revolution we are currently going through

Now an artist can (and should) release their music independently via Facebook, YouTube, iTunes etc.

This was not possible in the past where a label was needed to release music on a global scale

Those with real talent and "something special" can then "go viral" or get picked up by a label that has the security of knowing the artist already has a following

I don't think that artists or labels have fully got their head around this revolution yet

Not only do artists need to be good "artists" but they now need production and marketing skills to boot (things a label would have traditionally done)

These are definitely interesting times for the music industry

[Jess]

I hadn't listened to her song until I saw this topic and personally I think it's way too similar to emeli sande but then again like others have said, most people thought Bo was going to win. It's a shame actually because Bo had an amazing song released in April called 'save me' but it didn't really get enough publicity to 'make it'.
I don't really like 'the voice', I only really watch it for the judges. The auditions are quite cool but I think it's a bit of a pointless programme because realistically it's never going to be just about the voice, like with Leanne now they're doing full hair and make up and making her look like Adele- so it obviously does matter about their appearance.
I also agree with the timing issue: by the time the winner's released their song, someone's already won the next series.
I guess the misleading 'quick fix fame' label on talent shows is a lie...

[Onelabel]

I'm just reading all the posts and nodding my head to every one of them.

A definite surplus of sense and sanity here - thats very welcoming these days!

[James Nighthawk]

When I heard the song I thought it *was* Emilie Sande. I quite like it, but it suffers from over singing syndrome (aka Mariah Carey syndrome  ) towards the end of the song. It was so clearly chosen to ride the Sande wave - a wave that was on overdrive last year re Olympics - where her onmipresence became a joke on the coverage!

Emilie has a good recording voice. But Lord does the album drag. Three good songs, the rest unhummable!

And re my thought on talent shows, I have covered this in my blog -

http://jamesnighthawk.com/#/2012/09/x-factor-the-whys-and-wherefores/

Pretty much echoes others here