Andrew Girvan

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Old Media

Glee Rocky Horror Show

I have used my blog to write about Glee before. Seeing the buzz the show was generating in the States I have to say I was intrigued as to whether the show would hit the mark on this side of the pond. At this point there is really no question about it, Glee is huge business. The show has rewritten music marketing and I personally believe is one of the best promotional tools musical theatre has going for it at the moment. So imagine my surprise when I heard the show would be dedicating its Halloween episode to Richard O’Brien’s 1975 cult classic, The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Musical marketing genius. Here’s why:

I would almost go so far as to argue that Glee has rewritten the rule of music publishing. “The Glee Effect” has led to weeks when 25 songs on the Billboard Top 100 Charts have been songs from the show. Not only do recordings of numbers sung by the cast, released straight after that week’s broadcast for sale on iTunes, but original recordings of the songs the show has covered see huge sales.

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BBC Executive Pay and Expenses: Why All The Fuss?The issue of executive pay and expenses at the BBC has become a political football again today and I have read articles in both the Evening Standard and The Grauniad. I assume this middle class outrage is the most reasonable of the no doubt loud public outcry with the Mail and Express probably calling for mass deportations or lynchings over the issue.

I personally feel that the British do rather well out of their state funded broadcaster. Looking to other large scale democracies it is dissapointing to see the level of debate, particularly political, that comes from an entirely free market press. If you have any issues with this statement please see Fox News. In the same way that perhaps only NPR can be held up in The States, the BBC is a bastion of good journalism and public service content.

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