Lily Allen knows precisely where she was when she first realized her ''Smile'' single was taking off in the United Kingdom, where she was for most of the landmarks in her pop career: on the Internet.
January 30, 2007 (Press Release) --
''I was in America and Jo Whiley played it on Radio 1 back home,'' Allen says. ''My MySpace [page] just went insane. It was first thing in the morning where I was but there were hundreds of comments and I thought, 'This is it now.' "
Since that moment, 21-year-old Allen has become the poster girl for social networking sites in the United Kingdom, reaching platinum status (which is 300,000 units in Britain) for her Regal/Parlophone album, ''Alright, Still'' -- finally being released Tuesday in the United States -- on the back of a hugely innovative digital campaign. And, with more than 97,000 MySpace friends, small wonder that the biggest cheer of the night on her last U.K. tour always came when she inquired: ''Anyone here off MySpace?'' Never mind the claims of Arctic Monkeys and Sandi Thom, Lily is the United Kingdom's first natural born digital superstar.
''MySpace A&R'd my record,'' she says. ''I'd do songs, put them straight up and if people liked them they went on the album. The record company didn't think my musical direction was right at all until I set up the site.''
While Allen's ska and reggae influences attract older consumers, the U.K. marketing campaign focused firmly on youth, with many digital firsts clocked up since the July 2006 release, including groundbreaking tie-ins with MSN and online media player Nabbr.
''[But] the core of the whole digital campaign has been Lily's blog,'' Parlophone digital media manager Dan Duncombe says. ''That's what's created the interest and brought people back.''
''I spend two to three hours a day on MySpace and in my Web site forums chatting,'' Allen says. ''Fans need to have some emotional connection with an artist. All you have to do is look at the [flop] All Saints album to see that if they aren't connecting with you as a friend then it just doesn't work.''
The policy paid instant dividends in the United Kingdom, with ''Smile'' hitting No. 1 on the Official U.K. Charts Co.'s singles rundown, and Andy Slater, president/CEO of Capitol Records says he is confident a more broad-based approach in America will see Allen add to Capitol's recent strong track record for breaking U.K. artists.
''If pop music was just about a catchy melody and good musicianship, then Toto would have been the biggest band in the world,'' he says. ''But it's not. It's about sex, rebellion and fashion and all of those things crystallize in Lily Allen's music.''
Source: http://www.msn.com
Posted BY MARK SUTHERLAND
Since that moment, 21-year-old Allen has become the poster girl for social networking sites in the United Kingdom, reaching platinum status (which is 300,000 units in Britain) for her Regal/Parlophone album, ''Alright, Still'' -- finally being released Tuesday in the United States -- on the back of a hugely innovative digital campaign. And, with more than 97,000 MySpace friends, small wonder that the biggest cheer of the night on her last U.K. tour always came when she inquired: ''Anyone here off MySpace?'' Never mind the claims of Arctic Monkeys and Sandi Thom, Lily is the United Kingdom's first natural born digital superstar.
''MySpace A&R'd my record,'' she says. ''I'd do songs, put them straight up and if people liked them they went on the album. The record company didn't think my musical direction was right at all until I set up the site.''
While Allen's ska and reggae influences attract older consumers, the U.K. marketing campaign focused firmly on youth, with many digital firsts clocked up since the July 2006 release, including groundbreaking tie-ins with MSN and online media player Nabbr.
''[But] the core of the whole digital campaign has been Lily's blog,'' Parlophone digital media manager Dan Duncombe says. ''That's what's created the interest and brought people back.''
''I spend two to three hours a day on MySpace and in my Web site forums chatting,'' Allen says. ''Fans need to have some emotional connection with an artist. All you have to do is look at the [flop] All Saints album to see that if they aren't connecting with you as a friend then it just doesn't work.''
The policy paid instant dividends in the United Kingdom, with ''Smile'' hitting No. 1 on the Official U.K. Charts Co.'s singles rundown, and Andy Slater, president/CEO of Capitol Records says he is confident a more broad-based approach in America will see Allen add to Capitol's recent strong track record for breaking U.K. artists.
''If pop music was just about a catchy melody and good musicianship, then Toto would have been the biggest band in the world,'' he says. ''But it's not. It's about sex, rebellion and fashion and all of those things crystallize in Lily Allen's music.''
Source: http://www.msn.com
Posted BY MARK SUTHERLAND
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