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Conventional wisdom has it that the path to pop fame is instant and easy, thanks to the explosion of reality TV shows such as pop Idol. In fact, it's more difficult now than ever before.
1) underline the key words in the questions. The first one has
been done for you, together with the answer in the text.
2) For each of the questions, choose form extract A-E
Which pop act ...........
B
D
C
C
D
C
E
B
D
E
E
A
E
When will I be famous Questions When will I be famous vocabulary
In Colchester; teenage girls stand shivering beside the roadshow truck of local radio
station SGR. It's a Saturday afternoon and an unsigned boy band by the name of D-Rail are
performing a bizarre version of 'Maniac', from Flashdance. They follow with what will be
their first, self-released single - a charity ballad called 'How Do I Say Goodbye?'.
Afterwards, D-Rail hang around to sign autographs, all part of trying to promote themselves,
and so it seems as if Chris, Robert and Matt are famous. But hardly anyone here today knows
or cares who D-Rail are. D-Rail won't even be paid for their efforts. It will be a miracle
if they sell one extra record as a result. Three months on from this date and D-Rail have
released 'How Do I Say Goodbye?' under their own steam, but it has sold only 1,300 copies,
hitting No 63 in the charts. Despite this indication that their music is simply not good
enough, they have left their manager and are ploughing ahead(1) with a new single, whose
video they shot in March for £3,000 after Chris negotiated the production company down
from their quote of £25,000.
There's also 27-year-old Baz, who has been in the pop game for six years now. In Baz's
experience, record companies can be unforgivably cruel. A few years back he approached one
label whose records he had collected in childhood. When his former manager called to ask
their thoughts, he was told: 'No, we're not interested in him at all.' Baz is looking now
for a p&D (production and distribution) deal, to pay for his releases. 'If it hasn't happened
by the age of 29, I'll look into(2) doing something else,' he says, unconvincingly. If being
a pop star doesn't work for him, he might manage other artists - lofty ambitions for a
man who has put together several singles but not yet released one, let alone got one inside
the Top 40. Baz, meanwhile, is gearing up for the release of is first single 'positive
Reaction'. He's signed a p&D deal covering the manufacturing of 1000 CDs, distribution
and plugging. 'I'd like the single to go Top 10,' Baz says, 'but I'd be happy with top 20.'
Making more progress is 24-year-old Sneha Mistri, known as Mistri. She's looked into(2)
p&D deals, but when she wanted to release her first single herself last year, she realised
that if she paid for the manufacturing and distribution, she wouldn't be able to afford
a video, or a publicist. Instead, she contacted OD2, a download operator, who agreed to
sell her track online, which freed up(3) cash for advertising. To pay for 'Intoxicating',
Mistri took out an £11,000 loan, £5,000 of which went on a video. 'I hate to think
how much it's cost over the last five years,' she says, 'but it has been an investment.
You see people on pop Idol shooting into the charts having only been trying for six months
but they disappear just as quickly. By doing it this way I know that if - when - I make
a success of this, I'll be able to keep going.' Mistri has now signed to a management
company and has live dates lined up throughout the summer.
Then there's Bloke - aka Sophie, Abbe, Faith and Gina - whose prospects seem rosy because
after the success of teen boy bands Busted and McFly, lots of record companies are hovering
around(4) girl groups who can play their instruments. But their manager, Jeremy Nargi, is
realistic, knowing that landing a deal with a label is just the first rung on a very shaky
ladder and doesn't necessarily mean that a single will get made. One of his other acts signed
to Sony a couple of years ago, had £800,000 spent on them before their first single and
parted company with the label not long after that single got to No 12. So the recording
companies are cautious. Keeping costs down, getting Bloke above the radar will, he reckons,
cost £100,000. 'It's good that there is a perceived market for this type of group, but
it's become like the space race,' Nargi says. 'It's "first man on the moon" stuff. people
are signing acts like this now - so we've got to make sure we get attention and that people
know, we're here, even if we don't have a deal.'
Also there's an unsigned girl trio, Genie Queen, in Liverpool. They first came to light
12 months ago, when one of their songs popped into people's inboxes as an Mp3. 'Just One
Of Them Days' sounded like a hit, the rest of the songs turned out(5) to be amazing, but
even they had been dismissed by almost every major label. The band is managed by Andy
McCluskey. 'We've seen some unsigned local pop groups,' says Anna from the band, 'and the
more we see them being messed around by their managers, the more we realise how lucky we
are to have Andy.' One of them, Laureen, has now quit, but the band have just recorded a
techno epic and there's a chance they'll make it to the bigtime. Last year, McCluskey took
a holiday. Standing on a beach in California, 'It hit me that if I stood on that beach for
the next two years, rather than continuing with Genie Queen, 'I'd be £250,000 better off.
I thought to myself, "Why am I doing this?"'3) Look at the numbered verbs in the text and decide which definition is best in the context