Look at this little spanner hidden amongst the official uk singles chart rules;
“No record company, distributor, retailer, Artist or other party should act or encourage others to act in any way designed to distort, or which has the effect of distorting the Chart by achieving a higher or lower Chart position for a record than it would otherwise achieve.”
Interpret that how you will, but it casts some doubt over the compliance of the Facebook Rage Against The Machine campaign to get their single (Killing in the Name) to no.1 this Christmas.
photo credit: paddyeason
Personally, i just don’t get it. Getting hundreds of thousands of people to pay to piss simon cowell off. Simon Cowell has a share in Sony. RATM are under Sony’s umbrella…. So Simon Cowell ultimately profits no matter what way you look at it.
Plus all of this x factor hatred will just fuel the beast that it is to come back bigger & more controversial next year. That means extra viewers. As Cowell himself said, it’s all just stupid. Secretly, no doubt he’ll be laughing all the way to the bank (or his yacht) this Christmas because this is business & all the extra publicity means more $$$$ for him at the end of the day.
Look at what he did with John & Edward. Slated them constantly and when given an opportunity to get rid of them, he kept them in – proving he’s a businessman first and foremost and that he knows controversy and hype translate in to more cash.
Emm… you do know that Rage Against The Machine and Joe McElderry are on two different labels? Sure, they're both owned by Sony, which Simon Cowell has shares in, so ultimately he will get a tiny percentage of the profits from RATM sales. The thing is though, Joe not getting No.1 will have cost Simon far more than whatever small amount he would have gained from the RATM single.
As far as “Breaking The Rules” go, I guess RATM didn't break any, as the OCC confirmed their single as No.1 on Sunday. 🙂
Merry Christmas!