Fuck you I won’t do what you tell me (except buy this song)
Facebook campaign slams cheesy UK Xmas number one
Rage Against the Machine's Killing in the Name is Britain's Christmas chart-topper, thanks to a Facebook campaign. Photo / Kelvin Teixeira Rock band Rage Against The Machine ended Simon Cowell's four-year domination of the Christmas charts last night after a hugely popular Facebook campaign helped the Los Angeles nu-metallers snatch the Christmas number one slot from X Factor's Joe McElderry. More than half a million people downloaded the band's famously anti-authoritarian and expletive-laden track Killing in the Name in what was seen as a grassroots protest against the omnipotence of manufactured pop music. It is the first time a non-X Factor song has made it to Christmas number one since 2004 and represents a major snub to the show's creator Cowell who angrily described the campaign to deny him another number one slot as "very Scrooge".
It’s nice to see a genuine desire to promote music that means something above the artificial manufactured corporate pop machine, but seeing as Simon Cowell last year manufactured the dissent against Halleluiah while owning all versions of the song I wouldn’t be surprised if he was still profiting from this in some manner but in a media world where the corporation wins, it’s nice to see a little rage against that machine can over turn the apple cart.
posted by Bomber @ 7:44 am
7 comments
7 Comments:
Fuck you I won’t do what you tell me (except buy this song)
Were those downloads free?
Or did RATM just make themselves a profitable little christmas?
go rage go, do what you do best! one of the last remaining political unswerving bands.
Mate, Sony owns the rights to that Xfactor song. Guess which other song Sony own the rights to? Killing in the name of.
All this little exercise did was double the ammount of mony Sony made from the UK singles chart this chirstmas.
Nice of RATM to give their share of the profits to a homeless peoples charity but no one stuck anything to "the man" here, they just gave him a nice fat christmas bonus.
Why so many articles/people have to keep pointing out the Sony link like it's a big deal is a bit silly.
- yes, Sony may make a little extra pocket change, but when I say pocket change, in the grand scheme of things, that's all it will be. Besides, we were never out to boycott Sony, if we wanted to do that we'd have to remove all their Playstations, electronic goods, TVs, DVDs etc from the shelves... (fat chance!!) - a few measly grand for a few additional MP3 sales @ 29p a pop is nothing more than a drop in the ocean to them.
Obviously it would be great to do this all again for an artist/band well away from any major labels, but unfortunately, this time, in the limited time available, to be able to compete with the financial might of X-Factor and their exstensive (& very expensive)media brainwashing campaign at Christmas, Rage Against The Machine was the perfect choice for many reasons.
The man being stuck here was Simon Cowell and his X-Factor monopoly, he certainly didn't make anything from sales of Killing In The Name. (SyCo is Cowell's label that rleases the X-Factor material, Epic is the label that releases RATM's material. Both labels are subsidries of Sony BMG, but Cowell only benefits from releases on SyCo)
Apart from not being number one Simon Cowell wasn't stuck.
All the people who were going to buy the X factor song bought it. Do you really think he made any less money just because some additional people - people who wouldn't have never bought a single anyway - that it somehow hit Cowell in the pocket?
Your little "protest", which was an exercise in capitalism by the way, just gave Cowell a whole shitload more publisity that even he couldn't have bought.
Bet your arse he'll be back next year, doing the same thing raking in loads of cash.
Besides, we were never out to boycott Sony, if we wanted to do that we'd have to remove all their Playstations, electronic goods, TVs, DVDs etc from the shelves... (fat chance!!)
You mean you would have to boycott all the toys the kids play with?
So, you have principles, but "hey lets not get silly here, kids gotta still have fun" principles.
Kids today huh.
Lets bring down the man, just don't touch the playstation/mp3s/ipods/cellphones....
The man being stuck here was Simon Cowell and his X-Factor monopoly
And Simon Cowell would like to thank you for the free publicity.
As anon said, his song still sold, probably more with all the coverage, and so he still gets paid.
He may not have no. 1, but his newly acquired millions will soften that blow.
I do find the fact that they've backed the campaign a little embarrassing on RATM's part.
Rather than produce ANY new material since reuniting, they've been more than happy to coast along (cash in?) on past glories. As mentioned above, let's not over look the fact that this is a competition to needlessly consume. Regardless of who reaps the profits, it hardly seems in keeping with their ethos.
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