11
'Glee' gives glee to digital-music outlets
"Glee" logo
To view this content, Javascript must be enabled and Adobe Flash Player must be installed.
TEXT OF STORY
Bill Radke: Have you seen the new Fox TV series, "Glee?" It's about a high-school glee club, and the cast is always breaking into song -- other people's songs -- Beyonce, Kanye West. The show is having quite the effect on digital-music sales. As Ashley Milne-Tyte tells us.
Ashley Milne-Tyte: With album sales falling, artists are only too happy to license their songs for use on-screen.
Ann Donahue of Billboard Magazine says shows like "Grey's Anatomy" produce the occasional iTunes hit. But the songs from Glee are consistently popular. She says that's partly because the show has a strong feel-good factor. But the music industry as a whole is relying more and more on small-screen exposure.
Ann Donahue: TV's incredibly important to music sales and part of that is the response that the viewer can have.
Donahue says a lot of viewers watch Glee on their computers after it's aired. And it's a top-rated show among women from 18 to 34. They're keen music buyers.
Donahue: While they're watching TV, they will have their computer right in front of them and they can buy the song if they want it. It's really an immediate way of kind of connecting kind of the art and the commerce.
By the time the first four episodes aired, viewers had downloaded more than a million of Glee's songs from iTunes.
I'm Ashley Milne-Tyte for Marketplace.
Pages
100% pure genius!
It took a meltdown of traditional media to get the creative juices flowing but the cast, writers and producers of Glee have hit it out of the ballpark - and given the recording industry a stay of execution too.
Can't wait to see the awards clean-up - best North American show in my 38 years.
Ken- you were looking for other things that Lea Michelle has done? Well she was in Spring Awakening. That would probably be your best bet because she played a major role in that. She was also in Fiddler on the Roof and Ragtime. Hopefully that helps.
I, too, am one of the million who have downloaded songs from Glee. I can't get enough of this show. Does anyone out there now if Lea Michelle has any CD's or downloads available outside of her work with Glee. That girl has a set of pipes like no other!
I must say I am not in the 18 to 34 age group try more like 13 to 17 age group and I am in love with this show =) I heard about it through Kevin Mchale's former boyband NLT. If it wasn't for NLT I would have never of known I LOVE ARTIE!!!!!! =D
After hearing Terri Gross's interview with "Glee" creator, I watched the show on-line. I'm hooked and I too went to Itunes to download the show's versions of songs, as well as the original artist. I was always a record store buyer, but this evolution that breaths life into songs and exposes new listeners like me is a joy. Thanks.
Pages
