Aidan Curran posted on January 29, 2008 08:12
One of the newer pleasures of being a music lover is following in greater detail the goings-on in the business side of the industry. Who'd have thought that record company execs, with their end-of-the-world-is-nigh public statements and their loveably deluded sense of what their target punter might actually like to consume, would be such gas fun to watch? And often just as entertaining as their employees, pop stars?
But there they are, jumping from the arts to the business to the news sections of our press like clowns working a children's party. Meanwhile, the likes of Jim Carroll keep a Skibbereen Eagle-eye on the evil empire's every move and interpret it for our entertainment. It's great stuff altogether.
Anyway, this week Guy Hands (we can't read that name without thinking of Guy Smiley, greatest gameshow host EVER) and his colleagues have gathered in Cannes, conference capital of France, for the annual MIDEM music industry conference. As the event's brochure succinctly puts it, "delegates from the recording, publishing, live, digital, mobile and branding sectors will gather in Cannes to do deals, network, learn and check out new talent."
Jim recently gave a typically perceptive commentary on what may go down on the business side of things. But that last part of the event description above, the bit about 'new talent', made us very curious. What exactly will the music executives be listening to? And are these the acts they are no doubt plotting (with a mad cackle and hand-rubbing gesture) to foist upon our daytime airwaves and commercial breaks in 2008?
Well, the concert programme features an admirable geographical spread of pop, rock, electronica, classical and jazz acts. Irish and UK music fans will recognise the names of Richard Hawley and Reverend And The Makers, playing in a special British showcase concert. Despite the welcome development of Music From Ireland, the brandname for the Irish contingent at this year's SXSW festival, there's no Irish showcase concert at this year's MIDEM.
But if we were to pick one act from the line-up who's probably going to receive a massive corporate push to global stardom out of the MIDEM, it'd have to be Yael Naim (left). The Franco-Israeli chanteuse's photo is splashed all over today's Paris papers (yes, even edging out the Sarko/Carla photo-romance) as being the smash hit of the conference.
Our regular readers will remember that we featured her back in November 2007 and asserted that her marketing-friendly single 'New Soul' would be the soundtrack to ads the world over. We thought this happy-clappy new age folk-pop tune would be ideal for a bank or building society, but we understand that Apple have picked it as the jingle for their new MacBook Air.
The track is taken from Naim's eponymous debut album, and both have been chart-toppers in France. While she can certainly write catchy choons, she tends to spoil it all with her innate drippiness: 'New Soul' sounds great on first listen but quickly gets all icky and naff, especially on the fade-out when she gurgles and babbles like an infant. Perhaps that's a shout-out to France's lucrative infant demographic.
Still, there's little doubt that the song and its photogenic singer will be hugely successful worldwide in 2008. The music execs are no fools. Here's the video for 'New Soul':
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