7. The Power Of MySpace Arctic Monkeys
The story of the Arctic Monkeys is a fascinating one. Four lads from High Green and Hillsborough, Sheffield, start a band; Matt Helders only learns the drums because "all the other instruments are taken", and swaps his DJ decks for a kit. The band start writing songs about the world around them and pick up a following: so far, so normal. But then comes the extraordinary side of things. As the band travelled further afield for gigs, they realised that more and more fans would know the words to their songs. Despite a young Alex Turner telling us not to believe it, the hype grew; the band, who weren't exactly internet marketing geniuses, realised that fans had been sharing their demos on MySpace. It was the fanbase that were plugging the band. When the video for 'I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor' was filmed, they hadn't finished the album version of the track; 'Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not' was hurriedly-finished and released to this huge demand. It wasn't the first example of a band using the internet to their advantage or the band's fans, to put it another way but it was the most successful example. The album became the fastest-selling debut of all time, shifting more copies than anyone else in the top 20 combined, and the rest is history. Arctic Monkeys have flown in at number one with all five albums, received three Mercury nominations, and are one of the biggest bands in the world, nearly ten years after recording that first record.