base talk Are non-American artists in a disadvantaged position?

[poki]

2 minutes ago, Vermouth said:

Hmm..

London and surrounds- Elton, Rolling Stones, Adele, George Michael, Dua, the Who,

 

Beatles - Liverpool, One Direction -All not from London, Led Zeppelin - at least half including lead singer from near Birmingham, Pink Floyd- mostly Cambridge, Freddie Mercury was from Zanzibar originally ( ie off the east coast of Africa) but was educated in the U.K.

Bee Gees- Isle of Man, Coldplay - Devon, Ed Sheeran - Suffolk , Eurythmics - Aberdeen/Sunderland, 

 

Spice Girls - two from the North three near London

Oh wow 

 

Most of what I knew was pop stars from the last 20 years and they all seemed to be from London. 

[Vermouth]

6 minutes ago, Vermouth said:

Hmm..

London and surrounds- Elton, Rolling Stones, Adele, George Michael, Dua, the Who,

 

Beatles - Liverpool, One Direction -All not from London, Led Zeppelin - at least half including lead singer from near Birmingham, Pink Floyd- mostly Cambridge, Freddie Mercury was from Zanzibar originally ( ie off the east coast of Africa) but was educated in the U.K.

Bee Gees- Isle of Man, Coldplay - Devon, Ed Sheeran - Suffolk , Eurythmics - Aberdeen/Sunderland, 

 

Spice Girls - two from the North three near London

You can also add the surprising fact that half the very Irish U2 are actually British too. Both guitarists born in the U.K. ( but largely grew up in Ireland).

 

Tom Jones too - the epitome of Welshness. Definitely not London.

Edited 9 hours ago by Vermouth

[byzantium]

I feel like only 2-6 years ago we were talking about how international artists were dominating the charts.  
 

American artists do have an advantage and that is just being within close proximity to the world's prominent music industries/producers/capital…general infrastructure.  
 

Many non-Americans have found considerable success: Drake, The Weeknd, Rihanna, Shakira, Justin Bieber, Celine Dion, Karol G (etc) but they all did so within the U.S. music centers (generally LA or Miami). 
 

London and more recently Seoul are probably the two biggest non-US music centers and that is why the many or the non-US global artists that come to mind are British or Korean.  (Adele, Harry, Ed, Dua / BTS, Blackpink, New Jeans) 

Edited 9 hours ago by byzantium

[Vermouth]

To answer the OP:

 

Yes hugely.
 

As others have said the next easiest grouping in terms of breaking the US are the various English speakers (especially the Canadians I'd think),  and for obvious reasons - interviews, promo, TV, songs all done in same language and with an accent often attractive to American ears apparently

 

Shakira has done incredibly well considering, as has Celine ( who though Canadian does not have English as a mother tongue).

 

The continental Europeans seem to struggle hugely and I guess that the biggest impediment is the language.

Edited 9 hours ago by Vermouth

[Afterglow]

Everyone wants to make it big in the USA, it's the birthplace of Hollywood and that entire pop culture industry tbh. I think that's why American artists don't care to be as huge worldwide and why foreign artists clamor to make it big/debut there. 

 

It is (for better or worse) the epitome of success. I think foreign have a harder time only if they aren't English centric. 

Edited 9 hours ago by Afterglow

[Vermouth]

1 minute ago, Afterglow said:

Everyone wants to make it big in the USA, it's the birthplace of Hollywood and that entire pop culture industry tbh. I think that's why American artists don't care to be as huge worldwide and why foreign artists clamor to make it big/debut there. 

 

It is (for better or worse) the epitome of success. 

Indeed.

 

Though there are plenty of instances of acts that have been really successful or relatively much more successful outside the US even from the Anglosphere who barely touched the sides in the US

 

Oasis, Blur, Manic Street Preachers, Streaophonics from U.K. bands, Take That from boy bands ( a stadium act in the U.K. ) and even, relatively, Kylie,  Queen ( they were seriously seriously huge elsewhere), and oddly Blondie ( who are American) but we're very iconic in the U.K.

 

There's an odd group like Peter Frampton and Bush who were British and pretty big in the US but could walk down Oxford St in London unrecognised just about.

[Shimenawa]

Yes it makes Björk's career as an alternative artist from Iceland even more impressive