Cross-promtional opportunities

Rupert Murdoch will be delighted with this morning's News of the World "breaking news" piece on Lily Allen, which is actually a piece about how great MySpace is:

"(But) the core of the whole digital campaign has been Lily's blog," Parlophone digital media manager Dan Duncombe said. "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 said. "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."

This is all set against the next big Allen push: to take Keith Allen's daughter to the US. Capitol are, apparently, very excited:

The policy paid instant dividends, with "Smile" hitting No. 1 on the Official UK Charts Co.'s singles rundown, and Andy Slater, president/CEO of Capitol Records -- which will release the album January 30 in the United States. The label has a strong recent track record for breaking UK artists.

"If pop music was just about a catchy melody and good musicianship, then Toto would have been the biggest band in the world," Slater said. "But it's not. It's about sex, rebellion and fashion, and all of those things crystallize in Lily Allen's music."

That probably tells you more about the CEO of Capitol than anything - that, faced with a need to choose the best band ever, he'd lean towards Toto. And people wonder why EMI is in trouble.

music lily allen