Music labels are the evil empire, or so musicians tell us all the time. Do this, do that...but how far would a label go to force their signees' hands? Would they collaborate in a conspiracy with a major television program? Simon Cowell says "no" but that's exactly what some are alleging what happened when X Factor contestant Fleur East performed Mark Ronson's "Uptown Funk" last weekend, according to NME.
And what's the matter with that? Ronson hadn't formally released the single for sale yet in the UK, although it's been red-hot on the radio. X Factor routinely releases its performances as singles for fans to download, which they do with gusto. If East's performance had gotten out before Ronson's, thousands of Brits would have gone ahead and bought it, perhaps opting to ignore the original version of the song when it become available. Thus Ronson had to rush the release of "Uptown Funk."
Just a jerk move on X Factor's part, or something more devious going on between the producers of the show with Sony?
"Give me a break," Cowell said upon hearing the theory. He revealed that both Ronson and guest star Bruno Mars were booked to perform the song themselves on the episode but then it fell through, so he passed the track along to a contestant. "I didn't know what label it was on, to be honest with you. All I knew was that we loved the song and then we heard that Mark Ronson and Bruno were going to do it on the final, so we stopped doing it with Fleur and then I found out Thursday they weren't coming so I thought fine, I'll do it with her."
If any conspiracy theory describes this, it was just petty revenge on X Factor's part. East apologized for her role in the snafu while complimenting Ronson on the track.
