In almost twenty years as an A&R person in the record industry I've seen plenty of Battle Of The Bands competitions come and go. Did I ever think to show any interest in any of the artists that came through these competitions, not really. Was I unusual, certainly not. So why is the music industry so disinterested in these brands initiatives, at a time when shows like X Factor are making their creators millions?

By focussing purely on the competition angle in 'Battle Of The Bands' style competitions brands enter the arena at one point and often leave soon after. While the bands seem to enter a revolving door where they are spun around for a moment and then left either back where they started, or in slightly different place. Dizzy with raised expectations, but in reality no better off.

Timing is key to a band or an artist becoming successful, and yet there is no judgement of where a band is at in their early stage of development in any of these competitions. The music being good should be enough, everybody thinks so, but in reality it's not. History is littered with amazing artists who never sold many records in their careers, only to be revived decades later as a cult artist. Music is not alone in this, as it happens in all avenues of culture from authors to painters, many of whom die before they are discovered. 

But all is not lost, its a question of looking at strategy. The competition is only a small part of the equation.

It's not just winning a competition that matters. What matters is what other things are going on for the band, and in particular how the media perceives them - be it the press, radio or TV. None of the Battle Of The Bands competitions are respected by these institutions, or for that matter by the music industry, all of whom are critical to any ongoing success for any artist. In fact winning a competition can sometimes impact negatively on the winners credibility. It doesn't seem to matter if you win Pop Idol, but how would that change if it was Rock or Rap Idol, would you still be taken seriously? 

It's the same in the MySpace world, where millions of bands, both signed and unsigned, are easily accessible at the touch of the button. How do you distinguish between them all? What makes one band successful, and not another? It's partly down to the music, but its also about the ideas that surround the band and more importantly the infrastructure. Without this a band can win as many competitions as they like, but their careers wont go anywhere, because they don't have the basic tools they need to develop their careers.

citizensound says:

Nowadays there are different ways of developing an infrastructure, but any competition that pays no attention to this, and lacks any form of follow through will fail in the eyes of both the bands and the fans, and become valueless. It's like trying to build a house by starting with the roof, without ensuring that it has the foundations to support it.