Filed under: Music, News, Interviews
The days of MTV's 'Making the Band' are over. And who better than legendary music manager Johnny Wright, a man who has helmed the careers of New Kids on the Block, Janet Jackson, the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears, to flip the script?
In addition to guiding the careers of Justin Timberlake, Ciara, The Jonas Brothers and Aubrey O'Day, to name a few, Wright has entered a new entertainment venture with AOL's Cambio.com and AT&T for a new Web-series called 'On the Spot,' where aspiring musicians can submit video auditions to be a part of a new band Wright hopes will be the next Earth, Wind & Fire.
"So, I hope that '[American] Idol' and 'X-Factor' and 'The Sing Off' stay around, but mine is a different kind [of competition] because when the 10 or 11 weeks are up on those shows, that's the end of the season, and my season never ends because with the artist or group, we'll be recording the record, going on tour and there's a constant process that will go on and on."
After narrowing down the competition to 20, the finalists will be put through a series of challenges, complete with guidance from vocal coaches and choreographers, thereby creating a group with artists committed to the craft and understanding that the road to superstardom takes hard work.
"There are a lot of reality TV stars now who are bigger than people who sold millions of records or actors who raked in millions of dollars at the box office. Take a look at the 'Jersey Shore' kids - not that they haven't done anything, but they just created a vehicle for their personalities and have become a phenomenon. Now they're endorsing products and making million of dollars a year from it," Wright said.
He insists on telling his clients to focus on building their musical legacies, and they're sticking by him.
"It's hard on me when you're cultivating a music artist and sometimes that process could take a year or two before it turns into anything profitable when a six-week TV show turns other people into multimillionaires. The first thing the artist turns to me and says is, 'Maybe I should do something more dramatic to get tabloid press because that's gonna make me a bigger star,'" Wright revealed.
He pointed out that Britney Spears and Timberlake as two small-town, Southern kids who would have never been discovered if they hadn't had the means to land auditions.
"I want to give an opportunity to people who don't have the means," he said. "They can do it on a cell phone or Webcam, and as long as you have access to a phone or computer, you can get involved, and I will take a look at you."
The 22 episodes of 'On the Spot' will kick off in January at onthespot.cambio.com, with the final band being revealed in early June.
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