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au

The IDOL Phenomenon

By Daniel K. Robinson
(2008)

If youve been watching Australian IDOL this past season, youre one of the dwindling numbers who are still tuning in to what many have described in the past as a Phenomenon. IDOL has caught the attention and imagination of TV viewers and contestants across the globe including Australia with hundreds of thousands fronting up to audition each year. What is the attraction? The nave punter might respond simply, The singing! But this is only a small ingredient in the melting pot of IDOL. If singing were the main attraction, then many of the contestants would not make it through due to their sub-standard vocals and many of the unsuccessful auditionees who never make it to the final rounds and onto our televisions would be welcomed with open arms because of their singing prowess. The fact is that singing rates very low in the overall stakes when it comes to what the people running IDOL (including SONY BMG) deem important in the overall delivery of the program. We no longer live in a society dominated by audio alone. Since the invention of movie theatres and television, our western existence has become more and more dependent on visual stimuli. Many would argue that with the arrival of MTV in the 80s, popular music underwent the same transformation to the extent where it might be suggested that people no longer listen to music, they watch it! The producers of IDOL know this. So when vetting who stays and who gos the final ten will generally have very distinct looks. As you reflect back on your IDOL viewing Im sure you can allocate the stereotypical Punk Rocker, Pretty Boy, Girl Next Door, & Alternate Dude to your observations of contestants. Of course this is all necessary when engaging a visual audience, but must we perpetuate the suggestion that those contestants involved are Australias best Singers? If they are it speaks poorly of Australias talent pool. Each time you vote for your favourite contestant (and I hope you spend your hard earned dollars on something more worthy) you are paying SONY BMG to do their market research. You pay them for the privilege of saying, I would go out and buy that persons CD. The record label is taking a double dip into your pocket with your permission. The only long term winners in all of this are the big corporates. As a vocal coach I spend my time building singers, so to watch helplessly as an amateur singer (and many of the contestants are just that amateur) is stripped of their artistic dignity in front of a national audience seems senseless. Meanwhile we the viewers sit in our colosseum lounge chairs raising or lowering
Daniel K. Robinson - 2010 Page 1 of 2

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our thumbs till we are left with a single victor. Needless to say we arrive at the final decision of winner via the bloody task of killing off other developing artists in the process. Have we lost site of the individual in our consumer driven society? Young developing singers do need a platform on which to form their craft. I had hoped, like many of my colleagues that Australian IDOL would provide that platform, offering talented youngsters schooling in all facets of the industry, including singing and performance. What we have mostly received is a bickering panel of judges whose comments often defy professional logic. IDOL has been a phenomenon, but has it been so for the right reasons? By all means continue to watch, but dont do so mindlessly. As you continue in your entertainment ensure that you can reconcile that a human being is before you giving it their best shot with very little help in the honing of their craft.

Daniel K. Robinson - 2010

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