Bob Lefsetz says:
The first, and biggest American Idol just
fell off her throne. What
did we learn here?
1. That the music business has been fucked
since the early nineties,
when it became about the track, not the act.
First the radio stations
showed no loyalty, then the labels gave up
on loyalty too. I mean if
you're an act, NEVER FORGET that radio is a
bigger friend to the label
than you are. You're gonna come and go, but
the station, the station
REMAINS! And frequently, the same PLAYERS,
albeit at different outlets.
So, if you want to play the fame game, go
for it. But know there are
sharks in the water and you're going to get
bit.
IN OTHER WORDS, there are no Kelly Clarkson
fans. Just fans of "Since
U Been Gone". And that was a hit YEARS ago.
In the entertainment
business, it's what have you done for me
lately. "Since U Been Gone" can't
support a tour.
2. In the seventies, the acts sat atop the
label, now that paradigm is
gone, the execs are in control, just how
they LIKE IT! Clive Davis
failing to support Kelly Clarkson is akin to
a Mafia Don chopping off the
hand of someone who owes him money. It's
not so much about getting
money out of THIS guy as it is letting
everybody know who's boss.
Kelly Clarkson could be the biggest asset
Clive's got. You'd think
he'd want to protect her. Go on the road,
meet the press and say how
wonderful she is, how her album is the best
shit he's ever heard. But no,
Clive stayed silent, and only emerged from
the wings when the Net
hubbub reached a gargantuan level. And then
his support? It was meek and
weak.
That's our Clive, friend to the artist.
3. The Net's rumor mill supersedes anything
seen previously.
The story of Kelly Clarkson's troubled album
has been brewing online
for MONTHS! And the story was only enhanced
by Kelly's label holding the
record back. It's like a movie, miss your
targeted release date and
everybody thinks you've got a turkey.
The only way to combat the Net buzz is to
speak the truth. Something's
that's anathema in this business.
Isn't it funny that the ONLY person to speak
truth in this fiasco has
been Kelly herself. Talk about protecting
the artist... No wonder she
fired the Firm, isn't this the MANAGER'S
JOB? To protect the artist?
Kelly had to go out and tell her story,
after the bad buzz was
DEAFENING!
Then again, the track was not a hit. Kelly
seemed to believe it was,
but most artists are clueless when it comes
to picking impact tracks.
They think EVERYTHING is great. Or the
NON-COMMERCIAL track is the hit.
But I don't blame Kelly here, she was like a
battered wife. When NO
ONE comes to your support, when NO ONE on
your team is in your corner,
you LISTEN TO NO ONE! Sure, she was wrong,
but if there was someone in
her camp she trusted, maybe she could have
been shown that the track
wasn't a hit, and made an informed decision
whether to release it anyway.
4. If you're reliant on radio, you're
fucked. Radio is capricious,
radio is ever-narrowing in what it plays.
Radio has no commitment. Radio
thinks you owe THEM! Come play my SHOW!
But how can we blame 25 year old Kelly
Clarkson. It was NEVER good in
her era. She didn't live through AOR, never
mind free form rock. When
she came of age, it was MTV, all hype, all
the time. Throw it down and
become a star. I mean how much sympathy can
we have. She went on a TV
show to BEGIN WITH! And that's the MTV
paradigm. We can rocket you
into space, but the quickness with which you
ascend? That's just how
fast you're gonna fall back to earth. Can
you say not only A Flock Of
Seagulls and Vanilla Ice but the Spice Girls
and Jimmy Ray and..? If you
wanted a career Kelly, if you wanted to be
taken seriously, you had to
develop a bit more organically. And, if you
were hungry for a hit, you
should have called Max Martin. Or, if you
wanted a bit of credibility
with your hit, you should have called Mutt
Lange, this is the type of
project that APPEALS to him. But no, you
decided to go it alone. You
were out of your league. But, as stated
above, you didn't trust anybody
telling you this. So, you dug your own hole.
5. The seventies model rules. You've got
to build the band, not the
song. People have to BELIEVE IN THE BAND!
If Kelly wants people to believe in her,
then she has to become
three-dimensional. I mean at least she's
now coming out and saying she can't
find a man, but even the spin isn't good.
I'm a STAR! Why can't I
find love? She looks desperate as opposed
to being akin to her audience.
And, other than this seriousness about never
being in love, she appears
to be an airhead. What does Kelly Clarkson
stand for, what does she
believe in, other than FUN? That's what we
see all over the Net, Kelly
Clarkson on vacation in a bikini. That
paradigm didn't work for Paris
Hilton, and it won't work for Kelly
Clarkson. You've got to have
SUBSTANCE if you want people to believe in
you.
The fact that Kelly isn't model beautiful,
and struggles with her
weight, these are endearing qualities. But
who the fuck IS SHE?
6. Gig size. This killed Norah Jones'
career. You're supposed to
UNDERPLAY! But in a business where there
are no new superstars, the
infrastructure, the promoters, they want
arena acts. And, the competition
will deliver those dollars.
Kelly Clarkson should be playing theatres.
You shouldn't be able to
get a ticket. Assuming the act wants to
have cred and a career. You
can't have it both ways. You can't go for
every last dollar on a cleanup
tour early in your career and then tell the
audience you're in it for
the long haul. The aforementioned Spice
Girls played arenas once.
7. For touring longevity, you've got to play
rock. I don't know if
it's the sound, or the culture built around
the acts and their material,
but no one singing pop other than Madonna
can tour arenas on a regular
basis. It's evanescent music. So, you have
an evanescent career. In
order to last, your material must have meat
on its bones. Believe me,
Justin Timberlake is just one stiff away
from being unable to fill
arenas. He's not a star, he's a man of the
MOMENT! Sure, he's humble (good
act Justin!) But the music he plays...it
has no MEANING!
If you're dependent on hits and spectacular
staging then you're fucked.
If it's not about the music first, you're
not gonna have a long career.
I mean what are you gonna do next time, with
no hits. Blow up the
building?
8. Kelly Clarkson now has a choice. She can
either be a popster or try
to be a credible artist. If she wants
immediate sales, both CD/iTunes
and tickets, then she should play it Clive's
way, write guaranteed
hits. If she wants cred, she needs an
acoustic album in the fall. She has
to leave this debacle behind. In any event,
she needs a new hit album,
SOON! Just like Mariah came back on IDJ.
Then again, don't use Mariah as a model,
Kelly. That's all
manipulated. And the babe is loony-tunes.
Your way out is through honesty. Get
on the cover of "People" and "Us". Tell
your story first. Do some
damage control. Maybe hire Michael Sitrick.
This story is out of
control, you need big time PR, not the hack
at the label or your management
company. You've got to be portrayed as the
victim. Otherwise, they're
gonna bury you.
As for this album... The press has already
buried it, even though most
people have never heard it. Maybe there's a
hit on it. But if so, why
didn't you release it FIRST! Maybe you can
work your way back into the
public consciousness with this album, but I
doubt it.
9. Sell the tickets when the act is hot.
When the record is on the
chart, even if it's months before the tour.
If the act is cold, don't
sell the tickets until it HEATS UP!
Otherwise, you're heading for a
bruising.
10. What Kelly Clarkson has got working for
her is her likability.
She's got to play this through the crisis.
Then, she needs quality
material. It all comes down to the songs.
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