REVOLVER:THE FLOODGATES have opened. Last week Jessie J won the Critics' Choice prize at the Brit Awards (the gong given to who the industry think will be the Next Big Thing next year) and the longlist is now out for the BBC's Sound of 2011 Award (see bbc.co.uk/music/soundof/2011).
After wading through these tips, predictions and pointers, it can feel like you’ve already experienced all of next year’s new music already. Because of the way record companies now organise their promotional budgets and prioritise certain acts over others, these predictive lists have become incredibly accurate over the last few years. Which, paradoxically, is not a good thing.
The three nominees for the Brit Awards Critics’ Choice gong (previous winners have been Adele, Florence & the Machine and Ellie Goulding, so it knows its stuff) also appear on the 15-strong BBC Sound of 2011 longlist, which has also been spot-on over the past few years. So there really can be no hiding from the aforementioned Jessie J, James Blake and The Vaccines over the next 12 months.
This Next Big Thing feeding frenzy is threatening to take all the fun out of music. By the time these acts get their debut albums away in March or April they will already be award winners and will, weirdly, feel a bit old hat. Jessie J (a sort of clubland Björk), Blake (a dubstep/ electronica virtuoso) and The Vaccines (who already sound as good, if not better, than Glasvegas) are all undoubtedly huge talents, but the fun of discovering them for ourselves has been removed.
Both the Brits Choice and The BBC’s Sound of awards are presided over by “key industry figures” (print media, radio, TV and record-label punters, etc), who draw up both shortlists. There is nothing wrong with their choices, except for the fact that anyone with access to their insider knowledge already knows which acts are going to get the big push/already have media exposure planned/are already booked on the festival circuit.
Bands no longer just arrive out of nowhere, even we’re asked to believe so. By the time “a fresh new-sounding act” has product ready to go, there’s already been hundreds of thousands of euro pumped into them. Front-cover features have come and gone and the obligatory appearance on Jools Holland’s show has been ticked off the To Do list. Producers, video directors and stylists have already done their job before the band emerges “from nowhere”.
The uniformity of all these predictive lists is down to the fact that no one wants to be seen to be out of step or to have missed the boat with a particular act. Thus the rock critic, the radio playlist arranger and the TV show booker all jump on the same merry-go- round, and the hype is inter-bred across all media platforms.
If you’re on a smaller label, with a smaller budget and without the right music networking capabilities (and the music scene is tiny), there’s little chance you’ll even be considered for mention.
And not all genres get an equal hearing. The types who draw up these lists favour indie/urban/ hip-hop and electronica.
If you fall outside of those “happening” categories you haven’t a chance.
Consider the case of Rumer, one of this year’s major breakthrough acts.
The first thing going against her was her age, which at a frightfully old 31 was way out of the generally under-25 demographic of the predictive lists. Her videos didn’t look like they were directed by some excitable art school brat, and her music didn’t sound like it would win over the floppy-fringe, skinny-jeans brigade in some dump of an indie venue.
But with a voice so amazing it draws favourable comparisons with one of the best female vocalists of all time (Karen Carpenter) and a songwriting talent that is more Burt Bacharach than Pete bloody Doherty, Rumer came up quietly on the inside.
Despite being spurned by the "right" people, Rumer still got her debut album – the marvellous Seasons of My Soul– to the top of the charts. She's proof that you don't need the right type of leather jacket, haircut or speed-dial industry contacts to make an impression.
