Ogaudemar

Voluntary or not? A symbol of the anti-globalization movement meets the face of capitalism on iTunes Store’s US homepage. While the former chief of the Fed is promoting his new book, Manu Chao’s label is trying to make it big in the US by promoting him Single of the Week.

Manu Chao is an icon in France and Latin America, quite popular in Europe, but his popularity in the US is limited to the Hispanic and World Music communities. Don’t get me wrong, Manu Chao has a very strong base in the US, and his recent tour here was sold out. His concert at Coachella, just before Rage Against Machine, was reportedly one of the highlights of the festival this year. I have already described the craziness of his concert last year in Los Angeles.

But Manu Chao is not mainstream. The average American has no idea who he is. And iTunes is no Netflix. iTunes is mainstream. It doesn’t offer smart recommendation engine devices, and its main promotional device, Single of the Week, is totally untargeted. So, Manu Chao is being promoted to all iTunes users as Single of the Week and, as expected, the reviews are awful. A small selection: “bad Spanish rock”, “I don’t understand the words”, “it reminds me of Borat”…

I am not sure if Manu Chao will benefit from this promotion. Sure, it might raise his awareness, but at what cost? My bet is that the only country in the world that resisted the worldwide invasion of football soccer, will also be the only one to resist the invasion of Manu Chao.

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