Nosey

Rufus Wainright's version is better than Jeff's! I bet his people are now regretting not allowing it to be downloaded as a stand-alone track. If you like Jeff's version and want to own it, buy it. But if you are doing it as some kind of stupid protest then you are a bigger sheep than anyone who loves Alexandra or her version downloading her rendition. The sad thing is most of those who are making these protest downloads will think they are much better than those who buying something they like. :rolleyes:

I've voted for number 2. I think it will sell really well, but not well enough to beat X Factor. The sales will probably depend on who wins X Factor. If it's someone the general public thinks is a worthy winner (ie Alexandra) then the people buying Geraldine will be people who like the song, and like Peter Kay/Geraldine. There will also be a few people who just hate the whole idea of X Factor or them hogging the Christmas number one slot who buy it, but there will be a lot more tactical buys of the song if it's someone who is generally less popular, such as Eoghan. In fact, if Eoghan wins, and it's obvious he doesn't deserve it, I can see there being a big battle. Not that Simon will care too much, because the publicity from the chart battle will increase the sales for his winning act too.

My copy arrived today! It's a really good CD and it's great to hear Gareth's voice in a good quality, live recording like this. The quality isn't masked by too much production. I like a lot of the other songs too. My least favourite is the first one, because it's too warbly and old-fashioned musically, but there are a lot of good tunes in there as well as plenty of humour. I wouldn't be surprised if Soho Cinders is announced to open in the West End soon, and I can't help but think they are nurturing him for it, as they say some very nice things about him in the sleeve. It would be a natural progression from Joseph.

He seems to be throwing himself into it. In for a penny and all that. :yahoo: That's one of the things I love about Gareth. He embraces everything he does and seems to have a ball. Did you see him on Loose Women last week chatting to Emma Bunton? I see she too is very excited about him taking over from Lee next year in Joseph. :dance UfpXBAHmSik Any excuse to touch him too! :wub: :lol:

They could begin to make more of a difference. A lot of people already have an account with amazon and so if they get a new MP3 player for Christmas they might prefer to stick to the company they are used to. I'd guess that their demographic will be a bit older and more casual music fans than iTunes regulars.

The Girls is one of my least favourite Sugababes singles too. I tried so hard to like it at first, but it's just too gimmicky and the verses they added sound like the demo version that should have been sent back. It's a shame because there are some good songs on the album, but all in all they've suffered from rushing it out. I don't blame the girls for blaming promotion for the poor reception of the album. Something went wrong with their promotion, but I don't think it's lack of exposure. They just aren't as cool as they used to be, and they haven't been able to adapt to the lack of tv shows such as CD:UK and TOTP. If a band were to admit after just one single that the album wasn't that good after all, the record company would be furious with them. It's better all round to use the 'promotion' excuse, even though a lot of people can see through it. I hope this single picks up, and the album with it, but it might be too late now. Is Every Heart Broken definitely scheduled to be the next single? I love it and it's got plenty of Sugababes character stamped all over it.

Thanks. That's ages away! They're doing so well. My only fear is that the downloads might peak too soon, but I dare say it's much more about pushing the album pre-Christmas and the record company must be happy.

You did a great job. I'm really happy with this choice of single. The original shows another side to the girls and the album, while the remix keeps fans of that style happy. It's win-win. What's the release date for this?

Back on topic, thanks for posting those video clips Val. They make me even more keen to get the CD.

It's OK for the big acts that manage to release with a bang, but the lesser ones, or those with a slightly disappointing lead single disappear so quickly that there isn't much chance for word of mouth about the quality of the album to pay off. If an album takes a few listens to get into, you might not bother to make the effort if you bought another one that week, and are buying another one the next.

Such a shame for them after a promising start. Has it had much promotion other than the X Factor performance? I've not heard it on radio at all and without airplay it was doomed to sink through the week.

Perhaps this is more musicals than pop, but Gareth has four songs on a new CD A Spoonful of Stiles & Drewe. You can get the full track-listing on Amazon, but it is essentially the highlights of a live recording of a show put on over the summer to celebrate 25 years of a songwriting duo, including a preview of a forthcoming musical Soho Cinders, which was the bit Gareth featured in along with the brilliant Leanne Jones, who won all the awards for Hairspray. http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/511zAobwgPL._SL500_AA240_.jpg Here's the promotional blurb ... SPOONFUL OF STILES & DREWE GALA LIVES ON IN LIVE RECORDING TO BE RELEASED 08/12/08 Following its sell-out success as a gala West End concert in July, A Spoonful of Stiles & Drewe will live on in the form of a live highlights recording, released on CD on Monday 8 December 2008. It features Olivier Award winners Stiles & Drewe themselves, fellow Olivier recipients Joanna Riding, Clive Rowe and Leanne Jones, pop star Gareth Gates and musical theatre stars Julie Atherton, Helena Blackman, Daniel Boys, Richard Dempsey, James Gillan, Alison Jiear, Shona Lindsay, Lisa O’Hare, Caroline Sheen, Scarlett Strallen, Rebecca Thornhill and Oliver Tompsett. Celebrating 25 years of songwriting by composer George Stiles and lyricist Anthony Drewe, A Spoonful of Stiles & Drewe includes a wealth of material from their shows Honk!, Just So, Peter Pan and Mary Poppins, as well as previously unrecorded material and six exclusive tracks from their upcoming show, Soho Cinders, an alternative gay fairytale based on the Cinderella story. A Spoonful of Stiles & Drewe was produced by Neil Eckersley and Paul Spicer for Speckulation Entertainment with creative direction by Paul Spicer, musical supervision by George Stiles and artistic supervision by Anthony Drewe. Recorded live at Her Majesty’s Theatre on Sunday 6 July 2008, the recording is released by Speckulation Entertainment and produced by George Stiles. Thanks to generosity of all involved in A Spoonful of Stiles & Drewe, all profits from the recording will go to Mercury Musical Developments, a British charity nurturing new musical theatre writing. For further details and to purchase at the special pre-release price of £10.00 plus postage and packing (RRP £12.99), visit www.spoonfulcd.com no later than Sunday 7 December 2008. It will also be available on Amazon at www.amazon.co.uk and Dress Circle at www.dresscircle.co.uk

I saw him on GMTV this week. He looked embarassed by the whole thing. I felt sorry for him.

It's been happening for a few years, but this year seems worse than ever. It's not just bad for the not quite big enough artists, it's bad for us as music buyers. The first part of the year is a good time for new acts to release, but without established artists bringing out new releases, there isn't the same incentive to go to a music shop, or even browse the CD section at the supermarket. Big releases in time for Mothers Day seems to be a newish thing, which provides another intensive period, but only for a certain sort of music.

Do you know where it will be played on Monday?

I'd say they are more interested in having the track prop up album sales than to chart high in its own rights. But if they play their cards right it could do both.

The instant reaction of the iTunes chart to events like CIN shows how much the industry is still crying out for decent music tv. If they don't think the audience is there for a weekly music show, such as TOTP or CD:UK, someone should try to put together a monthly event like they have/had in Germany. The Dome I think it was called.

That's the version I got. I'm planning on getting the album, so I can't bring myself to buy the version that'll be on the album because I'm tight! :unsure: But the remix is aces. Been listening to it all day. :cheer:

I don't consider it to be a charity single as such. It was never planned as one, nor has it been promoted as one. Boots approached the band when they heard the single and asked if they'd like to support their campaign and to use the single as part of that. It provides publicity for Boots and their charity, provides a little bit of extra publicity for the single and making it more available in physical format, and as part of that, some of the proceeds will go to the charity.

I think this has a lot to do with it. It has become traditional for big British acts to wait until around about now before releasing the lead singles from new albums. The nature of the charts means that only the lead singles tend to sell very well, so that means that it is inevitable that it will be mainly new acts, or the ones that are worried about releasing against competition that have released so far. I also think we are seeing the impact of there being no shows like TOTP, CD:UK, SM:TV and Popworld any more. New and medium level British acts could take advantage of their promotional opportunities more than international ones. The same could be said for the magazines such as Smash Hits. The result is that everyone is heavily dependent on whoever it is that decides the playlists, which are becoming increasingly uniform as the independent radio stations are bought up by the networks. Playlist people can play it safe by looking to what has already been popular on the radio in other countries, such as America. It used to be that being overlooked by playlists could be compensated for by tv appearances, or a radio tour, or a good relationship with Smash Hits. But all that takes money, and it's hard to compete with artists who are promoted on the basis that they will sell in the biggest markets.

What about making a few million pounds for UNICEF like they did last time?

He has done a few musicals, and appears reasonably successful at that, but I don't think he'd have ever got the first gig if it wasn't for being Robbie's best friend. But to be fair, I don't think he'd keep getting the gigs if he wasn't any good. He seems like a nice enough bloke and handles having a much more famous friend better than a lot of slightly famous people do. Ben Shepherd just said that they are starting their training properly today. Seems a bit slack!

After watching last night's show and what Robbie was saying, I think he'll be getting the gig.

Robbie is talking about the 2006 version at 10:35pm on ITV1 tonight.

Yes, of course it is. It was a perfectly valid point for why it can be good for bands to give their music away to build a fan-base in anticipation of future sales, which was my point. It wasn't a valid reason for you to have never paid for any music for the past ten years or so. No. I suspect you have missed the point. Do you understand the difference between someone deciding to give something away for free and you deciding to take everything for free? That's all well and good, but how does that make it OK to steal whole albums? Would you go into a department store and shove bundles of perfume and make-up and moisturiser into your bag on the basis that some brands give away free samples in magazines? I know full well that the availability of a free download (or CD 'free' with a newspaper) can do wonders for getting music heard, and a little bit of illegal file-sharing probably helps to get some new music heard and talked about. Your arguments aren't new, just flawed.