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UK Facebookers Rage Against Simon Cowell's Hit Machine

by Caleb Johnson on December 21, 2009 at 11:04 AM

Much like 'American Idol' in the U.S., Britain's 'The X Factor' is a phenomenon. While the winners might not endure (at least, we hope not), they're certainly selling plenty of records in the present. So what's the secret to stopping this vocal juggernaut and to bringing some credibility back to the charts? A guerrilla social networking campaign, of course.

According to BBC News, Joe Morter, a British DJ, launched a Facebook campaign with the goal of blocking the TV show winner's single from reaching the top spot on the U.K. music charts. To do so, Morter urged fans to download Rage Against The Machine's 1992 hit "Killing in the Name," rather than Joe McElderry's "The Climb." At the end of the week, RATM sold 500,000 downloads and held off McElderry by 50,000 downloads -- making him the first "The X Factor" winner that didn't reach number one on the Christmas week charts.

Morter deferred praise to the folks behind the campaign. "It says more about the spontaneous action taken by young people throughout the U.K. to topple this very sterile pop monopoly," he said. Well, toppled for now anyway. There's always next season. [From: BBC News]

Tags: charts, download, hgg, music, simon cowell, SimonCowell, singing, socialnetworking, thexfactor, top, tv

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