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The Medway Broadside Issue Three Autumn 2011


Don’t take our name in vain:


The Rhythmix charity takes on the X-Factor


I try to ignore the X-Factor, I really do. The sterile pop chaff that it propagates is the antithesis of real music, and reason enough to steer well clear. But this week I find myself unable to ignore it. This week,


the X-Factor is bullying a charity that can only fight back if it scales back its valuable work, and that has left me twitch- ing.


The Rhythmix charity, based in Brighton, but operating


all over the south-east region, including Kent, has been told by an X-Factor spokesperson to get a lawyer. The problem began when four girls who had auditioned


as solo artists and were "passed on", were resurrected and lumped together to create a new girl group, and given the name, ‘Rhythmix’. The charity notified the X-Factor of their mistake imme-


diately, expecting them to apologise and use their own im- agination to think up a new name. But it turns out it wasn't a mistake at all. The X-Factor was


aware of the charity and its purpose, but chose the name anyway, in a deliberate gesture of brutal arrogance and un- derhanded nuisance. The charity has asked repeatedly for the name of the girl


group to be changed, after all, they can hardly claim to have invested much in the name. In a direct and purposeful statement to X-Factor boss-


es, Rhythmix said, “If you thought it wasn't going to be a problem, now you know it is. Professional people who work in this field are telling you it is. The media are telling you it is. The public are telling you it is. So make a public state- ment clearly laying out your reasons why you need to keep the name.... or change the name.” But apparently the X-Factor doesn't see that it should. In


the only available statement, a spokesperson said, "the charity in question have trademarked the name 'Rhythmix' for educational purposes only, which is not in conflict with the band or the show".


Surely, nobody should be surprised that a charity would


not wish to waste valuable funds trademarking a name for any and every eventuality.


A moral dilemma A charity intent on encouraging the creative development


of young and vulnerable people; the bereaved, the disabled, and those failed by the state, shouldn't expect to come up against an aggressive juggernaut with deep pockets and no sense of decency in their line of work, but life is a bitch like that. I suppose, by the same token, nobody should expect an organisation as mighty as the X-Factor, with no perceiva- ble moral compass, to recognise a moral dilemma when it sees one. And that is just what this is; a moral dilemma. The X-


Factor, however, has seen fit to turn it into a legal one. It is quite clear to everyone else that this is not about the law. It's about doing what's right. The charity quite reasonably expects it, because the right


thing is what the charity does every day. In the twelve years since its inception, Rhythmix has helped 40,000 young peo- ple to feel good about themselves, to express their creativity through music, in an understanding and appreciative envi- ronment. In contrast, the X-Factor exists to make money for itself


by churning out unmelodious pap, contradictory in that it is both bland and irritating, and forces people, through methods that I can only guess at (hypnosis? bribery? threat of violence?) to parade themselves in front of mocking au- diences in the name of entertainment. Ironically, this little sideshow has probably heightened


the profile of the charity, and I'm sure the X-Factor will point this out if it ever feels the need to account for its ap- palling behaviour. But why should a charity have to compete for internet space and google hits with such an uncharitable organisa-


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