Pop is big business right? The likes of Cowell and his cronies link arms with advertisers and roll out a grey carpet of blandness worth a fortune, inticing yet another young mind to want a slice of the fame cake.
Rock on the other hand with declining CD sales and burdgeoning tour costs walks into a slow decline right?
Wrong !
A report called "1,000 Companies to Inspire Britain" published by the London Stock Exchange have named Iron Maiden LLP (limited liability partnership) as one of the fastest-growing music companies in the UK, would make Cowell froth at the mouth to get himself a piece of this action.
*The Guardian reports Iron Maiden fall into the £10-20m earning bracket, using billions of real-time data from sources such as email traffic, financial transactions, PCs on the web and office space.
According to Musicmetric, in the 12 months ending 31 May 2012, the band attracted more than 3.1 million social media fans; during the course of their Maiden England world tour, which ran from June 2012 to October 2013, their fanbase grew by 5 million online fans, with their popularity increasing markedly in South America.
Iron Maiden's BitTorrent data suggests Brazil is a huge driver of fans – and given Brazil is one of the biggest file sharing nations on the planet, this is a strong indicator of popularity," said Greg Mead, CEO and co-founder of Musicmetric. "With their constant touring, [the] report suggests Maiden have been rather successful in turning free file-sharing into fee-paying fans. This is clear proof that taking a global approach to live touring can pay off, and that having the data to track where your fan bases lie will become ever more vital.*
As the iron machine rolls on with the economy of a small country no one in UK popular culture talks about the hidden giant that is heavy metal. The TV has little to broadcast about it. The pop shows steadfastly ignore it's relevance. The knighthoods and the plaudits land elsewhere.
Here at their last date of the 2013 Maiden England tour at the Estadio Nacional Chile, thousands watch the tiny figures on a distant stage and chant every word of the song. The resulting clip will be posted amongst a thousand others and have an advert placed on it. Just like every clip does of Iron Maiden.
It is a new age of heavy metal finance.
