
Facebook 1: 0 Simon Cowell - Rage Against The Machine is UK #1 single for Xmas - handelaar
http://www.sheamus.co.uk/ratm-xmas-number-one
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handelaar
Why we might care: for the last several years the winner of Cowell's reality
TV show has been propelled immediately to #1 in time for the culturally-
significant-for-Brits Xmas Top 40.

This year a backlash campaign to shove 'Killing in the Name' above it took off
on Facebook and, in an unlikely outcome, the people who joined the group
actually followed through and bought the RATM track during the correct time
window.

(The link was posted before the programme aired on BBC Radio 1 and turned out
to be completely accurate.)

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Batsu
Strange how this explanation changes a flagged post into a genuinely
interesting one.

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algorias
If the submission can't be understood within its own context, then the title
should indeed have been more explicit.

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dc2k08
Sometimes it's difficult to be succinct in < 80.

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motters
Personally I don't care about the views of Simon Cowell. I doubt that the
music charts accurately reflect what people are actually listening to, due to
the diversity of ways in which music can now be obtained and played.

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lukifer
The musical angle is secondary. The real story is that a centralized cultural
influence (Cowell) was overshadowed by a distributed cultural influence
(Facebook).

~~~
gaius
There is slightly more to it than just centralized vs distributed. Consider
the demographics. X-Factor viewers as a group are probably poorer, older and
less educated* than Facebook users. The recent cold spell, the BBC speculates,
meant fewer people who would have bought the X-factor single could get to a
store to do so - even if a Facebooker wanted a physical CD, he or she would
simply order it from Amazon and not care when it arrived, since the sale would
be logged. At 79p for a single on iTunes, Facebook users could fix the UK
charts _every week_ without even noticing the expenditure in time or money.
However what the X-factor has is people who really will loyally buy its single
every year; the Facebook crowd has a very short attention span.

* I don't mean this in a disparaging way at all.

~~~
Blasa
What are you estimating as the demographics for each?

As a 30 something alternative music type the RATM campaign was big on my
facebook page. At least back in 2007 the xfactor was big with the 16-34 age
group. So about the same age group, I'd have thought.

[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1560802/X-Factor-
back...](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1560802/X-Factor-back-with-
record-breaking-audience.html)

Poorer, I'm not sure. The Xfactor crowd does seem less geeky/bookish than the
ratm crowd, from the people I have met.

What this all means I'm not quite sure. Perhaps we will see the start of micro
payment campaigns. 40p to support some cause is not much. You just have to
make it have wide enough appeal.

~~~
gaius
I'm talking about the single-buyers. Lots of people watch these talent shows
just for the trainwrecks. The people who take the X-factor seriously are the
sort of people who'd watch a show just because it's presented by Ant and
Dec... The people who buy whatever mass-produced focus-grouped auto-tuned
rubbish the singles chart is normally full of.

I'd imagine the other sort of person who'd buy a single by "Joe" is the same
demographically who'd buy one by say Cliff Richard.

~~~
Blasa
Weird, I always though of xfactor single-buyers as young people (future pop
wannabees) hoping to catch a bit of the star factor of the people they had
been voting for.

Looking for more data I came across this

[http://www.bpi.co.uk/members-area/article/bpi-statistical-
ha...](http://www.bpi.co.uk/members-area/article/bpi-statistical-handbook-
members-downloads.aspx)

It suggests that in 2008 95% of singles were downloaded. So I doubt the
weather had much to do with it. Still no demographics on who actually buys cds
normally though.

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cruise02
I'm sure Simon is crying all the way to the bank over this.

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axod
I think the real point is that it puts the next series of xFactor in jeopardy.

It's a signal that a lot of the public are sick to death of the formulaic
rubbish tossed out by these reality shows.

So if I was Simon, I'd be pretty worried now.

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DougBTX
It still sold about 10 times as many as the single at the number three spot...

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axod
People don't make money from singles sales anymore :/ The money from sales is
petty cash.

Compare that with the Tour, the advertising income from the next series of
xfactor, etc.

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msie
Facebook:1 Simon Cowell:0 ?

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scorxn
The syntax in the headline is common outside the US. eg:
<http://livescore.com/>

~~~
DougBTX
It's used in score listings, so that you can read down a colum of numbers side
by side, but I don't remember ever seeing it used in prose. I'm quite sure it
is normally "foo: 1, bar: 0"...

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perokreco
You're wrong. Here is another example:
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_prem/8377195.st...](http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/eng_prem/8377195.stm)

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mtrimpe
Still, stuff like this makes me excited again about seeing the next 40 years
unfold ...

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Quarrelsome
Why we might care: We now have every right to put on "Killing in the name of"
in response to tired, vacuous and bland xmas songs that are a pain to tolerate
every year.

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colbyolson
I'm in favor of anything relating to RATM. Brings me back, infact, I think
I'll listen to some right now. :-)

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rms
Rage performs live on the BBC, including a surprise ending that shouldn't have
been a surprise to anyone. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lx19x9xPB8o>

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lionhearted
You know, I thought pop music might've turned a corner a few years ago when
producers were starting to use more electronic elements in pop. I thought
there'd be some decent, slightly innovative pop music coming out in the
future. I was mistaken.

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gabrielroth
I'm a little confused by this comment. Electronic elements have been a
mainstay of pop production for a quarter of a century.

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TheSOB88
You and me both, sexy cakes.

~~~
gabrielroth
Upvoted for calling me sexy cakes.

