Freakonomics in action
It’s curious the way news spreads over the Internet. One bona fide news site reports an event correctly. Nine more web sites quote the first site verbatim. But the tenth adds a little wrinkle of its own to the story, a white lie. The next twenty sites that report the story include the white lie. And all of a sudden, the white lie has become a fact.
That’s what happened to me this week. MTV News published a story, ostensibly about a row between me and another musician. At the end they mentioned that I am about to go out on tour, which is true. At least a dozen web sites and blogs picked up on the MTV story, and quoted from it directly. So far so good.
Then Steven D Levitt, brilliant author of the bestselling ‘Freakonomics’, mentioned in his widely-read blog that he had lunch with me in Oxford last summer. As a footnote he stated that I’m back with my first album in 15 years.
Hold on–did someone say ‘album’? This is the first I’ve heard of it. But since Steven’s blog, I’ve seen at least 5 mentions of my new album–and in fact two of the journalists I did interviews with this week asked me whether I’ll be playing songs from the new album in my live show.
Next my agent called and said he has two labels interested in distributing me. I’m not kidding.
All this has happened in the space of three days. I think I like this accelerated way of working! At this rate I’ll be able to skip the laborious part where you have to actually write and record the songs, and fast forward to the bit where I’m sitting on a white sand beach with a long drink, reading all the great reviews and admiring my fat royalty check.
“Internet-time” is a wonderful thing, ain’t it? By the way, I was listening to your song “Hyperactive” today — never fails to put a spring in my step!
Pretty funny
But you’re not seriously referring to k-fed as a “musician” are you?! 
The music industry today is full of albums recorded overnight
Surely you can just throw something together, it doesn’t have to be good, just promoted 
I only discovered your blog yesterday, but your albums seem to be coming up a lot more often than randomness would dictate in my iPod since then
Almost like it knows about your new double secret album and can’t wait to get ahold of it…
(between starting and finishing this short post I’ve managed to shatter a glass and cut my hand and a dozen other minor catastrophes, I think I’ll just sit quietly and not do anything for a while…)
‘Skip the hard part and get right to the money’ — It’s working for K-Fed so far. ‘Til he ran afoul of TMDR, anyway.
Thomas,
Thanks for giving your fans a first-hand look into a world we will never know, but one that is nuttier than we believed with every new bit of information about it we receive.
So when do you start working on the Christmas special?
hey! i just heard that thomas dolby is retiring to the tropics due to his alcohol problem! spread the word!
Hay mate wot can you say, good press, bad press miss-read press it’s all about getting you back out there and this after all is what the blog is all about.
Yes it’s pressure to get a new album out but that is your intention anyway (unless this is a hobby!). If you rush an album out and it’s rubbish, the press will pan you. If you take too long, they’ll forget you. Tough job!
I think if you can come out with a layered album with a little of the old samples with some fresh ideas (bit like Astronauts), the press will say ‘Return to form’.
Now is the time, bands like Goldfrapp and Depeche prove that your sound is ready to be heard.
I hope you have a plan for the UK press and maybe a warm up gig before the big one. All the best and may the cube be with you!!
How about getting EMI to release a remastered ‘Golden Age of Wireless’ (with added extras naturally!
) for us to be getting along with? Any chance?? ….he asks cheekily. 
~ Jeff
[...] So when Levitt posted that Thomas Dolby has a new album coming out, I believed it. It turns out that Thomas Dolby doesn’t believe it. And now Levitt doesn’t either. [...]
Mr. Robertson needs to make a new album. The fourteen year old nerd, who used to walk around with a clunky tape recorder playing ‘Budapest by Blimp’. She didn’t have a clue what the song was about, but she understood musicianship. Her favorite musician to that date had been John Lennon. She knew what experimental was. Hey, she could even get down with a bit of what Yoko was doing… which by the way, is LIGHT years beyond this K-Fed kid. As much fun is poked at Yoko Ono, she is still an artist. We won’t bestow such a title Ms. Spears current, unfortunate, choice of spouse. Maybe choice is too strong a word… maybe what fate sought to bestow, given one’s content of character… but I digress. Not many Americans know Thomas Dolby… unless you hum a little for them. Let’s bring another generation along, so if we hum a little for them then the vacant stare can be replaced by a big “OH”, and then they can look vacant again. You’ve got to know it’s bad when Chuck D, from Public Enemy, says the rap played now days is consumerized drivel. Give the thirty and fourty something audience something they can blare at the punk kids next door. Give us something to revisit, that’s all new at the same time. Something akin to Midge Ure’s putting out albums, even if America never listens, and he’s just doing it for the release it gives the soul.
I’m amazed you didn’t already have offers before.
If you really want to see what the internet can unleash, then let a bunch of girls do it. Plus, it’s kinda funny.
If anything, while you’re sipping your drink, remember who got you there! K-fed! Maybe as a thank you gift you can send him some brains. At least some common sense.
I think the “misguided” press read the closing few “album” statements about Federline and thought the article was still talking about you. Wishful thinking I suppose.
Thomas Dolby vs. Keven Federline….
Mr. White Trash just got nailed by our man Dolby for using an uncleared sample of She blinded me with science on his shitty new song. Thomas talks about the experience and how the story got distorted. By the way,…
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Thomas Dolby is not only touring again, he's blogging!…
Gotta learn to control my excited outbursts here in the office. Shouting out "holy shit" in surprise at learning that my all-time favorite music performer is not only back on the road after 15 years, but is also blogging about it kinda up…
Just release the old Bruce Wooley & the Camera Club album under a new name. Add some alternative sounding guitar chords, re-master it and away you go. The journalists will never know the difference and I could get that album as a CD. What do you think?
I downloaded the new album via BitTorrent and it’s great.
She Is Love Ringtone…
Theres A Place Ringtone Theres A Place Ringtone Here There And Everywhere Ringtone Here There And Everywhere Ringtone Open Arms Ringtone Open Arms Ringtone Committed Ringtone Committed Ringtone Hey Baby Ringtone Hey Baby Ringtone Smoke Wit You Ringtone…
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Hope to hear more new music from Thomas. Can’t get enough. LOL
There’s proof that once a white lie has taken hold in the media it becomes a fact. It doesn’t help that when people read something in the media they automatically assume it’s the truth. Therein lies the problem, people should take what they read with a ton of salt.
Testarol