Sugababes v4.0 - Branding A Band

So the Sugababes line up has changed once again, but this time a significant factor is that the lasting original member is the one to quit – or be politely asked to leave, depending on which red top papers you prefer to read.

Now with no founding member but a collection of 'replacements', can the new look girl group still technically be the Sugababes or are they just now trading under a brand name.
For an avid fan surely the change shouldn't matter, unless it was your favourite member who left, the fact the group are continuing would keep chins up.

Unlike bands before them, when a member leaves and is not replaced it normally takes a few months before the group finishes regardless, with Take That and the Spice Girls as examples. But why didn't these bands replace their members?

You can't deny the musical talent of the Sugababes members but they are clearly far easier to replace then your Robbie's and Geri's of this popworld.
This time it may be different, as Keisha was the founding, original member and therefore must have played a large part in the sound we now associate with the group.

The fans may come out in full support, after all, it's a little bit like your football team bringing in new players – it doesn't make you support them any less, it's normally a change for the better. And as before, depending on which stories you believe, replacing a member may rekindle some team spirit which may have been lacking in previous months.

All of this of course is not a new thing, Bucks Fizz toured the country in two versions with half of the group in each but under the same name, The Three Degrees performed with various line ups but it's the name and the music which brings in the crowd. The trade name, if you like.
But at least in these examples, some original members remained. The Sugababes now have none of these attributes, just the songs which made them famous – but not as infamous as their ever changing line up.

The Spice Girls were probably the ultimate brand band of recent years, like a Grand Prix team, they had numerous sponsorship deals with everything and anything from crisps, drink and bodyspray to cameras and lollipops. Attach their name to your product during the mid to late 1990's and profit would increase ten fold.
But this soon turned sour and the group were criticised for associating themselves with so many products, selling out and using their brand power, forcing their young fans to part with a lot of money (12 years on I'm sure I'm still counting the pocket money spent!)
Endorsements started to detract from the music and more to what they were trading and trading under.

The music business isn't called a business for nothing and unfortunately so many things apart from the music sell these days.

Whether the new line up of the Sugababes will prove as popular as the previous three changes, only sales and interest will tell. If the music remains and they maintain the sound, there should be no reason why the train shouldn't keep rolling – regardless of who is singing each line.
But for the business of show business, I think the Sugababes would be more interested in the music selling over any sort of branding.

However, with no long standing members and what could be a seen as a totally new group, they may have to rely on the Sugababes brand and maybe future endorsements to help with income. Only time will tell if branding Suga like Spice keeps sales nice.

Would the real Banksy please stand up?

Banksy fascinates me, and judging by the queues gathering outside his Bristol exhibition currently, it seems he intrigues more than just the usual art critics.
His art form for the most part involves spray paint and walls and whether you see this as expressionism, graffiti or crime, the fact that he keeps his identify from those who love him and those who loathe him is in itself a talking point.

No-one really knows who Banksy is, the only known fact is that he's from Bristol – hence why he returned to his roots for his first permitted artwork showing.
His funny, political, controversial or just beautiful creations would simply appear in the morning to bleary eyed commuters in London who had to double take at the thought-provoking stencilled work. Stencilled because that cuts the time down he has to stand there and do it, always minutes from being caught – for both defacing property and his personal identity being discovered.
Of course there have been 'sightings' of the man in the mac with the spray cans, websites have been set up where people can post their camera phone pictures but none have ever been proven to be Mr. B.

Such a concern to him at being unearthed, he even requested in his contract at the Bristol gallery that the CCTV footage leading up to the event would be destroyed so that no-one would see him viewing the items before it opened. Only four people at the gallery knew his exhibition was coming, all other staff were told not to come into work the week they were setting up, with just the explanation that filming was taking place and they weren't needed.

Most of his artwork is 'free', now to the point where companies consider it a privilege to have his art on the side of their buildings, unlike your average graffiti it isn't removed - especially when you consider his very few pieces of canvas art have sold for £260,000 plus.

It's one of those situations where the mystery remains and yet if you fulfilled your desire to find out the reality it would probably wreck the fascination of his enigma.
Put your hands over children's eyes, but in my age of 26 I think Banksy is my Father Christmas. Maybe if I replace leaving out a glass of milk with a can of spray paint he could do the honours on my front gate?

But with such a 'gimmick' of not being known, an almost superhero like existence whereby his calling card is his art, thankfully unlike other gimmicks, he actually has the talent to equal the hype – a two mile snaking queue outside his first and I don't expect last exhibition can't be wrong.
Public art and what is considered 'art form' has come a long way and for Banksy and that reason alone, I'm thankful.

Zzzz

Wowzer, a year since my last blog?!

*slaps wrist and gets re-writing my Banksy piece for your enjoyment asap*