Borkowski Weekly Media Trends

Rolling Stone 500 (Audio Trend)

 
Here some of the Borkowski team discuss whether Rolling Stone Magazine's refreshed 'Best 500 Albums of All Time' list was a useful PR exercise for the legendary mag. 

LISTEN HERE

Longplayer vs Spotify SEO-rigging

 
This week Longplayer, a piece of music by Jem Finer, produced by Artangel and designed to last 1,000 years, belatedly marked the beginning of the third decade of its lengthy performance. It’s an iconic and endlessly creative installation, made out of Tibetan singing bowls, living in a lighthouse and now with an app through which the composition is streamed live, its poignance and artfulness have allowed it to transcend the bitesized hyperdigitalisation of our lives throughout its lifetime.
 
If Longplayer is a testament to the timelessness and inspirational power of music, another story this week was equally symbolic of how our high-tech consumerism is seeing the artform relentlessly commodified and could even destroy it.
 
A Medium post by OneZero’s Peter Slattery revealed the extent to which people are using SEO techniques to essentially game Spotify into paying them revenue by choosing names designed to show up in generic searches. ‘Artists’ like Relaxing Music Therapy whose only tracks consist of cheaply produced sound effects get hundreds of thousands of accidental plays each month simply due to the ubiquity of their names.
 
It’s a smart trick, but it’s also a worrying sign that, in a world driven by AI and marketing algorithms where real artists are already barely scraping a living, it’s the music that gets left behind. At this rate Longplayer might end up being the only piece of music left long before it plays its final note.
 
 

Starmer's Half-Term Report Card

 
Keir Starmer’s speech last week was a brilliant box ticker. It put enough distance between his offer and that of his historically unsuccessful predecessor. Under New Management is a great line, because his personal approval ratings are way above the Prime Minister's, but the name of the Labour Party is still tainted by Corbynism. He is right to explicitly tie the party to his own standard. He was wise to push themes of security, opportunity and compassion in his speech because those are all buzzwords of the centre ground. It was also extremely wise to wrap himself in the flag - and apart from undermining his British patriotism by seemingly committing to another Scottish referendum (in the event of an inevitable SNP victory in Holyrood) in a particularly good interview by Beth Rigby, he made no mistakes. A year ago, any sensible Labour member would have taken your arm off for that.

But, with 80 seats to make up, making no mistakes is not enough. The Starmer brand of understated competence might work very well against the haphazard Johnson and in a crisis, but he is so vulnerable in the charisma stakes. His speech: ‘I can see it. I can describe it. But it’s all just a dream unless we win back the trust of the people.’ is hardly ‘I’ve been to the mountain top … I have seen the promised land.’ Great politicians know how to bend the party to their will, but they also know how to sell a vision to the masses. So far, Starmer is doing brilliantly in smoke filled Zoom calls, but he has to invest in a speech writer and media trainer if he wants to stand a chance at Number 10.
 
 

Don't Feed the Trolls

 
What is the best way to combat trolls? Jia Tolentino’s cult 2019 essay on internet culture made the much-shared point that the more one responds to trolls, the more they define themselves in reference to them: The bid to out the trolls only serves to fuel their fire, and the whole sorry cycle continues ad infinitum.
 
Jameela Jamil, troll enemy number one, is not deterred. The actress and feminist activist has long made a point of outing the hypocrisy and injustice of the hate and criticism she receives. Her Instagram is peppered with screenshots of headlines about her that she methodically disproves in the caption. Yes, she in some way legitimises the hate by giving it air-time. And, yes, she also runs the risk of looking like she is on the attack, being pushed further into demonization (more on that here). But it is refreshing to see an individual so doggedly seeking to vindicate herself.
 
Jamil’s latest response to a Daily Mail article reporting trolling on a recent Instagram post was notable for small shift in tactic. She chose to begin with highlighting the ‘hundreds of thousands’ of supportive comments that she had received. This necessary perspective is what has been missing from troll disputes. It is perspective that explodes this otherwise totally implosive cycle of hate. Never before 2020 has ‘tackling trolls’ been a valuable skill. Jamil may yet be the first to master the craft.
 

Borkowski Weekly Media Trends

Ageing Musician ‘Shock Jock Tactics’: A Unifying Theory

Noel Gallagher, Ian Brown and Van Morrison this week became the latest to join the cavalcade of ageing and high profile musicians adopting ‘shock jock’ tactics. They join a long recent line including Eminem, Green Day, Wiley, Morrissey and arguably Kanye (putting to one side the mental health situation potentially driving it).

Messrs Gallagher, Brown and Van at least gave their curmudge-agoguery a topical twist by making it COVID-related. Gallagher targeted masks, Van Morrison lockdown, and Brown both and more.

There’s a unifying theory here. Every musician of a certain age is resorting to these tactics for a variation on the same reason; as they go further past their commercial peak and towards becoming what at the top end we’d call ‘legends’ and in the lower divisions we’d refer to as ‘heritage acts’, these artists a) are absorbed ever deeper into the ‘establishment’ as they and their fans live more comfortable and less eventful lives and b) understand the zeitgeist less and less.

This means two things; firstly, being part of the establishment against which they once railed, they lack natural enemies against which to rebel thus fuelling their enfant terrible image. And second, and relatedly, their ability to make headlines is declining. This combination of events calls for desperate

measures and so, to keep rebelling, to keep making headlines, to rage against the dying of the cultural relevance, and to belie the quotidienne luxury of their middle-aged, upper-class existence, they resort to shock tactics.

But it hasn’t helped a single one of their careers, and actually right-on displays of virtue, or ‘purpose’, are much more effective – look at Cher gaining a refreshed cult following with her anti-Trump diatribes in America.

As another example, the daily churn of UK Twitter debate this week has seen only one past-it musical act gain anything in the reputation stakes, and that’s Jedward. Their newfound hero status goes to show that as a musician, your reputation past your heyday doesn’t really depend on how good or diabolically trivial your music is, it’s whether new generations can relate to your values. Noel, Ian, Van et al could learn a thing or two (not musically obvs).


Tories bring Cocaine into the Culture Wars

If you want to see the warping power that the culture wars have on political debate, you need to look at the new Tory policy proposition for cocaine tests to be carried out in major corporations. How is it that the pro-business, anti-intervention, pro-freedom (and frankly, pro-cocaine) Government the UK elected just last year has flipped so drastically?

A month or so ago, Tory London Mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey hauled the proposal out as a way for businesses to catch staff committing a crime - but stressing that they aren't supposed to report the crime to the police or even sack them. It self-evidently doesn’t make sense in either an operational or a legal way.

It only makes sense when you understand that the Conservatives want to expose the hypocrisy of the middle-class Guardianista vote, who are happy to talk at rapid and stimulated speeds about their moral purity as they directly finance Mexican drug gangs.

Now Priti Patel is also publicly mulling this strange, contradictory policy over, it’s clear that this is a government more interested in fuelling the culture war than uniting the country. Seen in those terms - it suddenly makes sense.


Kanye West's 'PR campaign'

This isn’t the first time Kanye has been in the middle of a royalties dispute – back in 2013 he ditched Nike to join with Adidas having produced two shoes in five years because he “needed” the royalties. He said "there are 1470 billionaires in the world. There are only seven black billionaires." Kanye believed the Adidas deal would "get my money up to another level.”

Earlier this year it was announced that Kanye was officially a billionaire.

This week, in a series of Tweets, Kanye demanded to be released from his recording and publishing deals whilst likening the industry to slavery and uploading a video of someone urinating on a Grammy award.

He claimed Universal and Sony were afraid that he had the money to buy his royalties.

Despite Kanye’s erratic style, when you start piecing threads together there’s a semblance of a throughline in all his actions, from his presidential candidacy to his delayed album releases and his public comments about his marriage. Worrying symptoms of mental ill health suggest otherwise but the effectiveness and consistency of his actions does raise a guilty question: Is this all one massive publicity stunt?

No one really knows what is going on with Kanye, with most attributing his behaviour to a breakdown and/or substance abuse, but is this all for some kind of album drop, a fashion announcement or some bigger?


ITV show strength through Diversity

One of Britain’s Got Talent’s flagship acts – Diversity – received 25,000 Ofcom complaints following their Black Lives Matter routine earlier this month stoking ‘debate’ on whether the performance was appropriate and necessary for Saturday night entertainment.

Interestingly, it has been reported that 96% of complaints followed news about the original complaints – an example of the snowball effect turbo-charged by contentious political issues amid one of the biggest culture wars of our time.

ITV, and Ofcom, have essentially ignored these complaints despite the sheer volume and mitigated the situation expertly. In a statement, ITV said “BGT has always been an inclusive show, which showcases diversity…” praising the street dance troupe’s talent and creativity.

They have judged the situation well, understanding the context and nuance of the issues that have fuelled the complaints.

The BBC should take note. After countless reputational meltdowns over the recent years keeping your values simple and sticking to them is usually to be the golden ticket during media and public scrutiny. Yes, they are a publicly funded body but showing a bit of bravery and nous when the pressure is on will usually be the winning play when attempting to portray a solid public image.

Borkowski Weekly Media Trends

Reinventing the reality TV show

This week it was announced that Keeping Up With the Kardashians is ceasing filming. You could say that the 14 year, 20 season mainstay defined a era of reality TV: Distinct from the Big Brothers of the world (Love Island being the most recent incarnation of this beast), KUWTK typifies the glossy ‘through-the-keyhole’ format, the same concept that spawned the likes of Made in Chelsea and The Only Way is Essex.

But KUWTK is ending amid soaring ratings for Netflix’s smash-hit Selling Sunset: it seems viewers are hungry as ever for a bite of the most surreal real-lives you can get. Do we simply have Kardashian fatigue, then? After all, our social media feeds, high streets, vernaculars - even faces (lip fillers, contour, I’m looking at you) - have been saturated with their influence for years. It is no exaggeration to say that the Kardashians have defined Western beauty standards for an entire generation of women. But our collective taste has moved on – hyper-filtered millennial fakery can stay in the 10s, we say, and the Kardashians can stay there too.

Unless, that is, it’s on our TV screens. Because reality TV has carved out a very special place in our lives. It is our daily dose of escapism, the trashier and flashier the better. The age of the Kardashians may be over, but, for now, reality TV isn’t going anywhere.
 

Sustainable celebs

 

Every week there’s more evidence suggesting that we’re seeing the birth of a new kind of celebrity and how important a social conscience is to this new generation of public figures.

Arsenal defender and London Fashion Week regular Hector Bellerin has become the second largest shareholder in Gloucestershire-based Forest Green Rovers – the world's first carbon-neutral sports club.

A powerful statement – Bellerin is known for being a socially conscious footballer and sets the bar high for celebrities and colleagues alike trying to use their platform for positive change.

It’s not just celebrities either. Adidas has launched a new vegan and 100 percent sustainable trainer, the Clean Classics. Whenever an international corporation makes an environmentally friendly statement it’s difficult to shake that cynical voice inside your head shouting “greenwashing” but it’s not the first time Adidas have pulled a sustainable stunt.|

As climate change becomes a terrifying reality, (you only have to look at the explosive fires we’ve seen this week on the West Coast of America), these stories are popping up left right and centre. 

Finally, sustainability is fashionable. Let's hope this is a trend that becomes permanent
 

Some light hearted content

And finally, a nod to the Museum of English Rural Life’s social media team - some stellar work including a friendly ram helping us to socially distance and a hilarious thread announcing their reopening following lockdown.
 
Despite a low budget, it shows that striking the right tone on social media combined with good timing and wit is vital in today’s uncertain times for public spaces. It’s now more important than ever to cut through the noisy, cacophonous landscape of social media to bring some much-needed light-hearted content.
 
Corralling the public to get out and visit attractions will be essential for brands to stay afloat in today’s world and preparing a solid social media strategy, despite uncertain government plans could be a lifeline for many businesses.