daisy-chain

Yes I'm afraid that's probably true. They say they are aiming for the summer for Shayne's album but it seems a bit late for that now as he's still recording. If he releases in the autumn he'll clash with both Leona and Alexandra who will get priority as Leona did over him last time, so I'm a bit baffled as to their strategy (if they have one).

Yes perhaps i was being unduly pessimistic about Shayne. But they really need to get a move on with his next album. I think Leona has been so successful because of the involvement of the American label as will Alexandra probably. I'm not convinced that Syco on their own are particularly good and marketing and developing contemporary pop stars. They're OK on ballads (Westlife) and popera (Il Divo, Rhydian) but not much else. But we'll see. Shayne does have the potential but they need to get the songs right and improve his promotion.

Yes the signs were there. You always know if a Syco website hasn't been updated for more than about 10 days they're on their way out. Next Syco act to be dropped George Sampsom I think although they might wait until the next Britain's Got Talent. I suppose they might give him one more song to 'perform' on this year's series, other than that he must be on his way. Next after that Shayne Ward I think (unfortunately) - with a third album that looks unlikely to see the light of day. Perhaps they'll wait until Alexandra and Leona's albums are out and doing well, and then quietly 'let him go'.

Well they didn't really. Their name was removed from the SonyBMG website months ago along with Andrew Johnston the 'Britain's Got Talent' choir boy. Syco have just staggered the announcements to try and make it look less embarrassing I suppose. And their album was released in December - dropped in April, Leon released in October - dropped in March.

Yes I agree with all that. He wasn't/isn't star material, but it's cruel to announce this prior to his tour. OK he wasn't selling well, but I think they should have made a little more of an effort with him - five months from album release to dropping him seems very half-hearted. They used it as an opportunity to promote Rhydian at the same time, who appeared on a number of TV shows complete with (for a want of a better word) overinflated sales figures. It's sold around 400k not 500k.

Well the winner's single is released first. After that it doesn't seem to matter. Series 2, Andy Abraham and Journey South released in March, Shayne in April. Series 3, Ray Quinn and Ben Mills released their albums before Leona. As for Eoghan bad song, vocals, and as for that album cover......

At the moment it's all PR hype and publicity - I'd be very surprised if she is working with Timbaland or P Diddy. But who knows, I didn't think she'd get a US deal! She does seem to have a very efficient PR team behind her, not a day goes by without some revelation being leaked to the paper. She was my favourite contestant last year, but I dont think she's that special really. Good voice, good looks, good stage performer but nothing exceptional. Her voice certainly can't compare with Leona's. In truth she didn't really stand out on x factor until towards the end. She seemed to be a lot of people's second or third favourite, and notably she didn't actually win the vote in any week until towards the end, when Cowell started praising her to high heaven. I would imagine there are hundreds of equally talented performers in the US. So the US deal is a bit of a mystery. I imagine Simon Cowell has pulled plenty of strings (and twisted a few arms).

I honestly can't imagine who would want to buy this other than his immediate family.

Well Done to his fans, but HMV download sales make up just a small percentage of overall chart sales. He's not in the itunes main chart, and it looks like he's been taken off the Radio Two playlist. No doubt Simon Cowell and Syco will be grateful for the extra income though (however small), especially as they didn't have to do any work or spend anymore money. But sometimes if you're a fan you've just got to try I suppose.

I admire his fans for trying to get behind him, but things are stacked against him. No video, limited radio play, and as far as I know no planned promotional performances or physical release. So unless things change dramatically a 'flop' I'm afraid. It's a good song as well, and would do well if it got reasonable airplay. It's just a little old fashioned and most radio station won't touch it as he's already been written off by them. With his tour rearranged to include Same Difference (!) things are not looking good for him.

Yes I agree she should go away for a few years and - 1) Get some vocal training 2) Practice her songwriting 3) Learn guitar/piano (if she hasn't already) She just isn't strong enough vocally at the moment. That's OK if you are a songwriter in a Lily Allen way, but not if you're singing other people's songs. Her image is good but fairly one dimensional. I mean can you imagine going to one of her concerts? Staring at the camera waving your hands around a bit isn't enough in my opinion. She's just about OK in small doses.

Let's hope that Louis Walsh has nothing to do with their career. The man is old fashioned, and clueless when it comes to managing and promoting a contemporary pop act. He will try to turn them into a black Westlife dressed in suits and matching 'casual' outfits. Shayne Ward has had a certain amount of success, despite (what it seems at times) Walsh and Cowell's best attempts to scupper his chances. As they have been signed to Epic and not Syco I assume Simon Cowell will have nothing to do with them, and that's good because Cowell loves his dreary ballads. They need to go in the Urban/R& B direction, but their success will depend on getting the right songs and promotion as it does with all acts. I'm sure I've read Bryn Christopher has written a song for them, if so, that should be good.

You might want to add male to that post. :) The Top 5 singles are all female, albums are female or groups. It seems the only way forward for a UK male singer is to join a group or duet with a female singer a la James Morrison. :D

As I understand it the Best British Single nominations include a combination of the best selling UK singles and those with the most airplay (charity singles are excluded). So the nominations will probably include Alexandra Burke, Duffy 'Mercy', Estelle 'American Boy' Leona 'Run', Coldplay 'Viva La Vida' Girls Aloud 'The Promise' The Ting Tings - those being the biggest selling UK singles (and all received lots of airplay). After that it gets a bit more difficult to predict as it depends on how they work out the sales to airplay ratio. Possibly Dizee Rascal and Adele as well? I'm sure there is a certain amount of *cough* flexibility as well to exclude less favoured artists and include those favoured by the Brits panel.

People have very short memories. Series 3 was widely seen at the time as quite poor (apart from the winner). The competition was not particularly strong, it was apparent who would win from around the third programme. The final was a foregone conclusion - Ray singing 'A Moment Like This' obviously had no chance, and he just wasn't that good a vocalist, plus he irritated many. There were some truly awful performances (Abba week was car crash TV), and many average or plain awful contestants (although not as many as Series 1). Series 4 was bad, and produced a fairly poor winner. Foe me the strongest for overall standard and genuine competition were Series 2 & 5.

Yes British males aren't doing well at the moment. Maybe next year! The launch of Bryn Christopher and David Jordan flopped. Taio Cruz has had lots of airplay but hasn't sold that many albums, Leon Jackson is struggling, Will Young doing OK but not great. James Morrison is doing well, but needed a woman to help increase his album sales lol. As for Lemar and George Sampson well...... It seems difficult for males to be 'cool' enough for Radio One and mainsteam enough for commercial radio. Female singers seem to manage this with ease - Leona, Adele, Duffy, Estelle, Kate Nash, Lily Allen etc.

But it's almost bound to be isn't it. Downloads have only in the last couple of years become dominant over physicals, and it's increasing every year. As long as there is a reasonably good winner with a goodish song and a 14 million audience there will be an inevitable 'fastest selling download' result, no doubt next year's winner (if they're any good) will also get the same accolade. I guess the overall sales will be the real indication of the success of the song.

Things seem to be going from bad to worse! Record Companies must be worried at the moment. So many retail and distribution problems.

Not for a while it's not good PR for the programme. He's got another single coming out so that might increase sales. When you look at previous winners Steve left by agreement he said (whether true or not) because he didn't want to record another covers album. Shayne they've simply not bothered to release further singles despite his 2 albums selling a total of around 1 million. He's meant to have another album next year, but I'm not sure that will ever happen.

I've said in an earlier post that it isn't right that Simon Cowell has said he wanted Rhydian to win last year - it puts Leon in a difficult situation. But to be fair I think Leon has had some very good promotion for this album, with 2 prime time TV appearances (audiences 10m+) reasonable airplay for his first single, two good videos, and his website, bebo etc is kept relatively up to date. There maybe could have been a few more adverts, but I would imagine that's down to budget. Simon Cowell sounded very enthusiastic about Leon's album before it came out saying it would be one of the biggest sellers of the year *cough*. I'm just not sure Leon makes a convincing pop star, and his image and music is very old for his age. Living down the bad x factor appearance will be difficult, and he doesn't always come over well in interviews - a bit dour and gloomy. However he does look more confident in the lastest video, so there's still hope.

Lemar NE at 41! I don't understand why this was released at such a busy time. He's never been the type of artist people rush out to buy in their thousands, he was always going to get lost in the rush. He's had plenty of radio airplay though, so I thought it might have done a bit better.

Hmm if we go along with the reported story (on George's website and The Sun) that George Sampson wasn't appearing high in the midweeks due to a 'technical fault' and wasn't added until Tuesday night - why isn't he appearing now? Unless of course it's because nobody's downloading it, because it's not any good.

Diana was awful. Two bad performances in a row, one no-show - she should be out. She really is one of the weakest performers they've ever had on x factor. She doesn't move much, is barely in tune, awful tone - gives the same perfromace every week. It was actually quite funny to watch. If she was a cute 17 year old male there would be complaints that she is only there for her looks and the teenage vote. And Simon Cowell says he's going to sign her anyway, so why bother voting.

How do these sales compare with previous years, they seem low to me? Only the top 9 over 400k. I know we've got big sales weeks coming up in the next few weeks - but still seems low. Amazing that some artists that have been all over the radio haven't really sold that much - Sam Sparro, even The Script not yet platinum and I would have thought others would have been much higher. Ne-Yo just over 200k! Anyone know where Taio Cruz is surely he's sold more than 100k? So many are 2007 albums as well.

It's awful - the 'rapping' is embarrassing, and even his dancing doesn't look as good when he's surrounded by professional dancers.