At first it had all the makings of another story in which the power of the internet, Youtube, word of mouth and a video viral conspired to give a struggling New York City band a break. The scenario, so we are led to believe and which has been sucked up hook line and sinker by many media outlets, is that a band with a shit name called Atomic Tom had their instruments stolen and therefore decided to perform a song using instrument apps on their iPhones and a laptop with speakers and a few spare leads they just conveniently happened to have on them while on a Brooklyn subway.
Sounding like a slick mix of The Killers and every other commercial stadium rock act you care to take your pick of, the video has gone viral, with 1.2 million Youtube hits. So is every A&R in America pulling out their cheque books to sign them? Uh, no.
You see, they’ve already garnered significant backlash in the music biz in the States because many people smelt a rat. It has been revealed that they are signed to Universal who have been unsuccessfully grooming them for success and even more curiously, they’re managed by an A&R rep at Jive Records.
This A&R Rep/manager has also been revealed as a leech who charges bands up to $500 to listen to their demos through a dodgy internet site. Many commentators have suggested that it’s a good thing their ‘instruments were stolen’ if that’s the music they produce and it appears that their career – while gaining them notoriety – is already over before it began.
It’s a salutary lesson in the importance of a band being ‘real’ and showing how internet hype can not only make a band’s career but also destroy it in the space of days.
If your ears can take it, check out the video here:
