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12 MusicWeek 08.06.12


BUSINESSANALYSIS THE VOICE EDITORIAL


The Voice has still to find its feet – buts its impact has been positive


MATT CARDLE’S RECENT EXIT FROM SONY less than 18 months after winning The X Factor was another harsh reminder how in reality TV land you can quickly go from national hero to yesterday’s man. This trend, though, is hardly unique to the ITV1 show and at least Cardle enjoyed some respectable commercial success, including a debut single that has sold around 1 million copies in the UK and a first album nearing 300,000 domestic sales. In the US The Voice, for all its fanfare, has come nowhere


close to such sales numbers for its contestants during the first two seasons with 2011 winner Javier Colon’s subsequent album limping to a peak of 134 on the Billboard 200 and, ahead of a first album, the best this year’s victor Jermaine Paul has managed so far is his R Kelly cover I Believe I Can Fly fluttering to 83 on the Billboard 200. In fact, The Voice US’s biggest commercial hit has not come from any of the contestants but from its star judges with coach Adam Levine and his band Maroon 5 enjoying a career renaissance with Moves Like Jagger, which they premiered last June on the show with fellow judge Christina Aguilera.


As the dust settles on the first series of The Voice in the UK,


it is far too early to determine how any of the discoveries will fare, although any such launches will have to take place against a backdrop of media coverage dominated by the show’s schizophrenic ratings, having initially “thrashed” Britain’s Got Talent to becoming a “flop” as overnight audiences fell from a peak of 10.7 million to below 5 million. The programme’s very impressive start was clearly helped


by extensive pre-launch publicity and distinguishing itself from rival music talent shows as being purely about “the voice”. But after the opening few weeks when the coaches’ rotating chairs created real tension and drama, it ended up looking like any other reality music programme but with perhaps less excitement and glitz and a set of coaches who rarely came near to criticising any of the performances. Politeness and good manners are all very nice, but they


do not create great TV. As a result, at times the show got quite boring.


And, while with The X Factor some contestants can be in people’s living rooms week after week for several months, so building up a real connection with the viewer, the decision to have The Voice’s hopefuls performing only every other week and the elimination process happening much quicker made it harder for such a relationship to develop. However, during the earlier part of the series in particular,


the programme clearly resonated in a meaningful way with many viewers, evidenced by the number of back catalogue sales generated of some of the songs performed. For that alone The Voice has had a very positive impact on the UK music industry, creating hundreds of thousands of additional sales. The harder challenge now will be to transform that enthusiasm from those watching into real excitement about some of the contestants as stars in their own right. Paul Williams, Head of Business Analysis


Do you have views on this column? Feel free to comment by emailing paul.williams@intentmedia.co.uk


4m 6m 8m 10m 12m


THE VOICE OVERNIGHT RATINGS Live Show and Results, April 28 - May 20


Battle Rounds April 21-22


Blind Auditions, March 24 - April 14


Semi-Final and Results May 26-27


Source: BARB


THE VOICE BACK CATALOGUE TOP 10 POS ARTIST/ TITLE / LABEL


1 JOHN LEGEND Ordinary People Sony 2 THE SCRIPT The Man Who Can’t Be Moved Phonogenic 3 TRAIN Drops Of Jupiter (Tell Me) Columbia 4 JASON MRAZ I’m Yours Atlantic 5 BLACK EYED PEAS Where Is The Love Interscope 6 THE TEMPER TRAP Sweet Disposition Infectious 7 KINGS OF LEON Sex On Fire Hand Me Down 8 STEREOPHONICS Dakota V2 9 PLAN B She Said 679/Atlantic 10 OTIS REDDING Dock Of The Bay Atlantic


Source: Music Week research/Official Charts Company data


THE VOICE MUSIC GUESTS DATE


ARTIST & SONG


APR 29 LANA DEL REY Blue Jeans MAY 6 EMELI SANDE My Kind Of Love MAY 13 SCISSOR SISTERS Only The Horses


IMPACT


ALBUMS SALES UP 42.7% ALBUMS SALES UP 78.6% SINGLE DEBUTS AT 12


MAY 20 PALOMA FAITH Picking Up The Pieces SINGLE DEBUTS AT 7 MAY 26 CHERYL COLE Call My Name MAY 27 KYLIE MINOGUE Timebomb JUNE 2 MAROON 5 Payohone JUNE 2 ED SHEERAN Small Bump


SINGLE OUT JUNE 10 SINGLE DEBUTS AT 3 NOT RELEASED YET


UP 58 TO 24 ON MIDWEEKS


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VOICERECOGNITION Has The Voice delivered on its ambitious mission statement?


Final June 2


AUDIENCE


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