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Plan B
Gentle Anglophenians, forgive us for what you are about to receive. It seems an artist that we all thought was poised to do the business on the fair shores of the US, namely Plan B, has been speaking out about his struggle to gain recognition and support. And he’s chosen to do this using some rather graphic language, in a way which perhaps overstates his case.
And when I say perhaps, I mean definitely absolutely and totally. Underlined, in bold, block capitals, period.
It all started so well too. Mr B (Ben Drew, to his mum) was at the Ivor Novello awards yesterday, where he picked up three trophies, including Best Album for “The Defamation of Strickland Banks”. When quizzed about his chances of cracking America with his new soul sound, he explained that getting his songs played on the radio has been a bit of a struggle.
He told Metro: “I’m too white for the black radio stations and I’m too black for white radio stations so nobody knows where to place me.”
Here’s “She Said,” which should help matters somewhat.
But then, as if suddenly possessed by an evil spirit (or overtired and a bit tetchy), he said this: “It just seems to be a lot of c**k sucking that has to go on in order to get your music to get played to the masses and I’m just not prepared to suck c**k really.”
No, I’ve no idea what to say to that either: “Well done”? “Hear hear”?
Might just settle for “righto!” and have done with it.
Thoughts, PLEASE! Tell us here.
16 Comments
As long as he isn’t suspected of a crime, hasn’t been indicted by a Grand Jury and isn’t under house arrest until a scheduled court date where his appearance is required he is free to leave the United States at any time. The door is always unlocked from the inside.
What he doesn’t understand is that when you are in someone else’s court, you play by their rules. If you won’t learn their rules and so can’t play to win, you have nobody to blame but yourself.
Awda! Awda! Awda! in the court!
Got a donation for his plane fare…a whopping 2 cents!
I think that he’s really starting to understand the music industry here in the U.S.A. Industry rule # 280. Hopefully he’ll realize that he does have appreciators on this side of the pond, even if “pop radio” isn’t currently one of them. Keep ya head up man!
Sometimes the truth is offensive, although I don’t find his assessment so. Americans in the music industry say the same thing, usually in the same words.
Maybe he’s just not as good as he thinks he is.
He’s absolutely correct. Independent artists have a *very* difficult time in the US, because of corporate control of media outlets. Record labels make deals with distributors and promoters, and those latter two don’t do much for an artist unless the label is a big one – and so can’t break into the bigger media. It’s not about the quality of the product, it’s about who can make them money.
A growing outlet (and one that strikes fear into the RIAA) is independent distribution and promotion. The internet is a terrific place, and anything that “goes viral” has the potential for that big name recognition without involving the RIAA and similar organizations. Selling direct to the consumer is also a way to get the music out there without selling your soul (and your music) to another’s controlling interest. Once an artist becomes big, becomes a presence, the artist can start to make deals that are *mutually* beneficial rather than ones in which they get screwed – or forced to fellate.
Yes he is right … and…I would not assume he is going to be treated any different from American artists, many of who have the same problem. I can name many artists you may not have even heard of whos music does not fit easily into categories and they have problems too. Jason Mraz (hits top 40 in and out), Coffey Anderson (opens for Boyz to Men but should open for Country except he is black and there is still serious racism in that area.) are two of my faves on that list.
Well, he’s right that there’s a lot to the music business. But the part about him being too white for black stations and too black for white stations would imply that a white soul act could never make it in America. We might believe that, if Hall and Oates wasn’t the best-selling duo in music history.
Listening to that song, I will say part of the problem is this: American ears have a really hard time understanding non-rhotic accents when spoken fast. To put it plainly — a fast British rap is hard for most Americans to hear and make out the words. And if we can’t understand what you’re saying, your records won’t sell here.
So, yeah, it sucks, but he has a really great sound musically. If “She Said” is representative of his work, then he could have a shot with an album that doesn’t have rap components to it. “She Said” is really catchy, and could easily catch on here if most of the radio audience wouldn’t be left behind at the rap part.
He is right to a point. Its incredibly difficult to get on the charts over here, especially for an indie group or for someone overseas. Top 40 here trends big time. It goes in phases of what “the man” says is popular in the mainstream. Since the motown-sound was hip a few years ago, they wont really give it a second look right now, even if it has some hip hop influence. Americans have also never really taken well to British rappers, plain and simple. Im not really sure why. Frankly, I think he could do really well over here if a Top40 hit or mainstream radio airplay isnt his main objective. I just heard him today, due to this blog post, and think he is phenominal! Many these days turn off the radio and listen to the web. He would do well here with more visibility and publicity on the US social networks. Most of my music & friends are found through sharing… and our generation listens to such a melting pot of genres. HIs sound is hugely popular in growing scenes around the country. He would make a bigger impact by touring those hip clubs, or hitting the alternative music festival scene. Drop a catchy song in an episode of a hit show or even better its commercial/promo, or that of a movie, and he’ll have a home run!
I agree with Greg Trotter ^ about the British rap… he kinda nailed where I was going with that. ^
I think he is ok but there are better artists out there and they are all vying for the same radio time. Ok so he won some awards but American audiences are overwhelmed with “good” music all the time unless he has something spectacular or has a gimmic other than a silly name then he needs to be happy with what he has.
That’s fascinating, cos he actualy started out as a rapper. “Strickland Banks” is his second album, the first being a far more hardcore hip hop affair (albeit delivered to the accompaniment of his acoustic guitar).
It’s all soulful, like “She Said”, but I don’t think he’ll ever leave the raps out of his songs, cos that’s very much where he came from.
I don’t personally see anything wrong with c**k sucking. Maybe he ought to try it.
I like Plan B and I like how his songs have different sounds put together that just happen to work. Here in my town the pop stations don’t really play him (although they do play Jessie J and Tinie Tempah) but the new rock and alternative stations do. He shouldn’t want to be played on pop stations with all the crap they play.
You may be right, Fraser… but if he’s so hell-bent to remain “where he came from”, then he shouldn’t be griping about not arriving at where he’s trying to go.
There’s no reason he can’t do both. I do think that if he released some pop-soul albums, without rap, he could sell them in the US. And there’s no reason he can’t also cut rap albums for his UK fans.
But I think I am right about the accent on the rap. I mean, like most people who read this page, I imagine I watch more Brit TV than the average American, and have for decades now, but there are parts of that rap that I can’t make out due to the accent. And I think if I can’t make it out, there’s little hope for mainstream American listeners, and almost zero hope for American hip-hop fans.
The only place I’ve heard Plan B here is on XM, on their Alternative channel for about a week. American radio doesn’t know exactly where to place him. He’s not straight R&B, he’s not teen pop, and he’s not adult contemporary so he’ll be totally marginalized here no matter how hard he tries.
As a whole I enjoyed “Strickland Banks” as an album. It’s not often you get a full narrative like that and an artist who’s willing to go outside his comfort zone to pull off something really unique.