PollThePeople.com is a site set up by Glenn Cooper (head of Digital at Island Records UK) and his wife Kirsty, after an argument they had. The site encourages users to add lists of their 'top 5' albums, films, and books.

The site plays on people's desire to list / tell everyone else their favourite things, and includes social elements that let you find similar lists, browse other user's lists, and invite your email contacts to view your lists.

Being a music geek, it took me no time to get signed up and post my top 5 albums. Although I did have to wrestle with myself over 5th place - it always causes me trouble. You see, picking number 5 always brings with it an amount of guilt, because there's more than one album worthy of such a position. Luckily you can log-in and change/update your lists whenever you feel like it, so such decisions don't have to be set in stone!

I've not added my top 5 films or books yet, mainly because I don't tend to watch films more than a couple of times (it's just not the same as listening to an album over and over), and I don't read enough/regularly to compile a list of favourites, but maybe I'll do this in the future.

The site also includes celebrity top 5 lists (including Nick Horby who coined the top 5 phrase in 'High Fidelity') and a 'suggest a future poll' section where you suggest your own poll, or vote for one of the most popular suggestions.

There's also a neat little widget that lets you post your top 5 lists on your blog, website, myspace profile etc. This site is a must for list makers, so check it out now.

My Top 5 Albums @ PollThePeople.com (in no particular order):

1	Outlandos d'Amour (The Police)
why?	"So Lonely", "Roxanne" and "Can't Stand Losing You" - name me another debut album that has 3 songs to rival those! Great lo-fi production too. My favourite Police album by far.
2	Yield (Pearl Jam)
why?	The perfect mix of Pearl Jam's many styles, great production and most definitely the finest drumming of Jack Irons' career. Highlights include "Given To Fly", "Faithful" and "In Hiding", but every track is great. Picking a favourite Pearl Jam album is like picking your favourite child...you just shouldn't do it!
3	Third Eye Blind (Third Eye Blind)
why?	Without a doubt one of the best debut albums of all time. Great songs, great playing, great production. Most people remember them only for "Semi-charmed Life", but this album has a whole lot more - they never stood a chance of topping it. Perfect. Stand out tracks include "Graduate", "The Background", "How's It Going To Be" and "Motorcycle Drive By" (not to be confused with "Motorcycle Emptiness" by the Manics!)
4	There Is Nothing Left to Lose (Foo Fighters)
why?	The only Foo Fighters album recorded as a three-piece and the first recorded in Dave Grohl's home studio, and boy it shows. Really warm production, the first album Taylor Hawkins ever recorded (until then he'd only played as a live session drummer) and the drumming is outstanding. I love the sound of this record - and once again the range of songs make it another perfect album. Narrowly beats "The Colour & The Shape" as my favourite Foos record. Every track is a highlight on this album.
5	The Used (The Used)
why?	Another band who created a brilliant debut album, and could never top it. Despite the slick production, I love the raw energy on this record, it really sounds like a hungry young band at their best. This was my favourite album of 2002/2003 and still remains in my top 5 several years later. Highlights include "The Taste Of Ink" and "Blue & Yellow". It's a shame they've gone downhill so rapidly since.

I've been working with Jack for a while now as he's been preparing to release his debut album 'Either Side of Midnight' which is out on Polydor Records on May 5th and is preceded by debut single 'Bang On The Piano' on April 21st. Many people are comparing Jack to a young Billie Joel or Elton John and I can see why. He's got some great upbeat hook-laden pop tunes, the kind of songs that you can't but help tap your foot to, sing-along to, and battle to get out of your head for days after you've heard them! When I first heard the un-mastered version of his album I found myself singing the songs round and round in my head for days afterwards - surely a good sign? I caught Jack playing live in November when he was supporting Scouting For Girls and I think his live show will be equally as good as his recorded efforts once he begins touring properly.Check out the video above of Jack performing album track 'Fine Time' on his trusty piano, and download another album track 'Not The Hardest Part' from Jack's website.

Recognition is always nice, and working for myself whilst I am often thanked by the people I work with/for, it's not as if I get an annual review or 'employee of the month' award, so I was very chuffed with myself when I stumbled upon an article about 'QDOS', a system that measures an individual’s 'digital status' in the UK. According to a recent QDOS report 9 out of 10 of the most digitally prolific personalities in the UK are musicians, and whilst you'd be forgiven for assuming someone such as Bono would be number one, you'd also be wrong! According to QDOS, the number one most digitally prolific person in the UK is non other than Imogen Heap! (Tony Blair and Gordon Brown came in at numbers 12 and 25 respectively).

A QDOS score is comprised of four main components – popularity, impact, activity and individuality. Each component is scored separately and these are combined to form a total QDOS score. Popularity measures the number of people one engages with online and the size of their personal network, impact is based on the number of people who listen/read/view/comment when an individual blogs/posts online, activity comprises the total of one’s digital activity including shopping, blogging, banking, chatting etc, and individuality is how unique one is in the digital world based on their name, age and lifestyle.

So as Imogen's webmaster and gate-keeper of all things online, I am patting myself on the back for a job well done! Although, I'm not the only person that deserves recognition here - there's Imogen herself for always being up for trying something new, Mark Wood (Imogen's manager) for letting us try things and always supporting us, and Tiffany 'the axemaiden' Le, our 'myspace housekeeper' who does a superb job managing Imogen's MySpace profile and it's 300,000+ friends. Having spent the last 5 or 6 years working with Imogen and it's great to see our efforts being recognised - I'm looking forward to retaining our 'title' in 2008! Read the full article here.

This depresses me:

Today Syco Music (Simon Cowell's label which is part of Sony BMG) are celebrating holding the No.1 spot in three of the UK sales charts. They have the top 3 albums in the artist album chart with Leona Lewis, Shayne Ward and Westlife. They are also numbers 1 and 3 in in the DVD charts with the X Factor DVD and Shayne Ward longform DVD, and they have Leona Lewis now with a six week reign at No.1 in the singles chart in the UK. Leona Lewis' record breaking Spirit album sold a further 164,433 copies last week. Shayne Ward made a fantastic debut at no.2 with sales of 95,801 for the Breathless album, and Westlife had another massive sales week with 83,692 copies sold of Home. In the singles chart Leona Lewis achieved a sixth week at No.1 with Bleeding Love, which has now sold 662,225 copies, continually extending its lead as the year's biggest single. Further to this, SonyBMG had four of the top ten singles last week and in total 17 of the top 40. "This is an historic achievement for Syco and my congratulations go out to Leona, Shayne, Westlife and of course, Simon Cowell, Sonny Takhar and the whole Syco team," says Ged Doherty, Chairman and CEO, SonyBMG Music Entertainment UK & Ireland. "Their drive and ambition have once again delivered a great result for the entire company at the busiest time of the year."

I have nothing against these people personally, but what does it say about the state of the music industry and public at large when this is what's dominating the charts? Simon Cowell should not be single handedly bending over the UK music industry and having his way with it like he is. Where did all the good music go? Surely there's got to be something better than this out there? And if so, why are those artists not ruling the roost in such a way? Maybe the internet has finally created a sub-culture where all the real music will be consumed in a free digital format, whilst the throwaway tosh of 'Pop Rivals The Academy Factor' will continue to be bought in the form of annoying ringtones that are played loudly on the bus? Maybe the Roddy Woomble quote I posted back in October hit the nail on the head:

...it’s not true that people have stopped buying albums, it’s just that they’re still buying the shit ones. People that tend to be into good music tend also to be into downloading it, and therein lies the problem.

Where did all the good music go? My next post will try and answer this question - it's time for the annual 'Albums Of The Year' post!

"Why I should be made the Internet Tsar" by Charles Arthur of Guardian Unlimited is as good a reason as any for me to start blogging again. Not only am I sealing my place in the blogosphere for another month (reference 1), but I'm also effectively "copying and pasting entire stories from mainstream news sites" (reference 2). This article is a rather amusing read, check it out here.

An excerpt from Idlewild frontman Roddy Woomble's diary at www.idlewild.co.uk:

"It's true that the music industry has been brought down to it's proverbial knees in recent years, but it's not true that people have stopped buying albums, it's just that they're still buying the shit ones. People that tend to be into good music tend also to be into downloading it, and therein lies the problem."

I'm not sure I agree 100%, but he's got a point!

Little did Bob Dylan know back in January of 1964 when " The Times They Are A Changin' " was originally released how aptly those words would describe the state of the music industry (the industry that gave us Bob Dylan) over 40 years later. I've spent a lot of time during the last few weeks reading and trying to figure out how the music industry (in which I work) is changing. I've spent a fair amount of time wondering exactly what is going on...and about how I myself, along with many others are contributing to this change within the industry. There can't be a music lover alive who in recent years hasn't heard something about how music sales are plummeting the world over, and that the industry is placing the blame squarely at the foot of illegal downloaders. The rise of legal download sites such as the iTunes Music Store has helped the major labels cling on a little longer, but everyone knows that their days functioning as they do now are numbered. No longer does an unsigned artist need major label money to produce an album worth of music, it can be done in your bedroom for a fraction of the price of an established studio and still sound as good. The days of artists relying on labels to get their music 'out there' are fast become those of the past. The internet has become the ultimate music distribution tool, so powerful that nothing short of Armageddon can stop it. With all of these positives must come some negatives. The ease of distribution means that there's very little anyone can do to stop the free flow of music, whether it's been paid for or not - so where does this leave the music industry and the bands? Last week Radiohead joined the growing list of established artists (not forgetting all the less established ones) who chose to essentially give away their new album. In short, they are letting their fans choose how much they want to pay for the record, and the majority will most likely pay little or nothing. Does this mean that recorded music no longer has any value? And if so, how will labels and artists alike create revenue? Where will this multi-billion dollar industry make it's money in the future? Will concert ticket and merchandise prices continue to rocket? There are many different theories on how to 'save' the music industry - some claim the subscription method is the way to go (something I am personally in favour of) with everyone paying a flat monthly fee in order to download as much music as they can handle (similar to how we pay for cable television), others think that labels will insist of taking a cut of concert tickets and merchandise sales in order to regain the revenue lost from declining record sales (something artists will fight vigorously), and there has even been some absurd discussion of a mandatory music tax enforced by governments. Whatever the outcome is, one thing is for sure - the music industry as we know it is having to change fast, it has to change in order to survive. Who knows what will happen in the next 5 years, let alone the next 10 or 15, but one thing is for sure - it's a pretty exciting time to be involved and old Bob Dylan was right - the time they are a changin'! Reference articles: The Times Online: The Day The Music Industry Died Tech Crunch: The Inevitable March of Recorded Music Towards Free

Monday night was the long overdue return of The Deciphers to the London toilet circuit - I went down with Stat to see the boys and we arrived nice and early, in time to grab a drink and chat with a few friends before the show. Despite being on stage at the very early time of 8pm there was a really good turn out and the reception the band got was great. The last two shows they've played have without a doubt be their best so far and I'm pleased to report that Monday's show continued that trend. Everything went swimmingly well - the sound was great (good work Gareth!), the boys played really well, they looked great and the whole thing came together perfectly. BBC Radio One DJ Edith Bowman was in attendance, along with Razorlight drummer Andy Burrows, and there were a few industry types skulking at the back, so hopefully they were impressed! Edith certainly enjoyed the gig and she gave the band a plug during her Radio One show the following day, calling them "a brilliant band...with really great pop songs" - not a bad bit of publicity for an unsigned band! Check out the audio clip below... [audio:edithbowman_deciphers.mp3] [tags]The Deciphers, The Barfly, Camden, London, BBC, Radio One, Radio 1, Edith Bowman, Andy Burrows, Razorlight[/tags]

Well, the Guardian website at least! The Guardian Media Diary picked up on the Doug Walker story and were kind enough to link to The Middle Of Yesterday and my recent blog post about the music video that Simon Willows shot with Doug outside BBC Radio One. A slightly edited screen shot is above and the original article is here. With this in mind, I'd like to say thanks to the Guardian for covering Doug Walker's story and "hello" to any Guardian online readers who are visiting my blog for the first time - 31 of you so far according to my webstats! [tags]The Guardian,Newspaper,Press,Media,Doug Walker,Radio One,The Middle Of Yesterday[/tags]