In Dark Times, Labels Look to Boy Bands

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When boy bands last walked the Earth, the music business was setting sales records. Now, in a bleaker era, major labels are trying to revive a species that went extinct when ’NSync broke up. “Obviously times are tough in the record business,” says New Kids on the Block’s Joey McIntyre. “They’re just thinkin’, ”˜We gotta get right to the heart of it ”“ and that’s young girls and cute boys and fun songs.’ ”

The reunited New Kids are selling out arena shows and recording a new album due in the fall ”“ and nearly every major is pushing its own fresh group of singing, dancing dudes, including Warner Bros’ V Factory, Geffen’s NLT, Capitol’s Varsity Fanclub and Epic’s new Menudo.

The trend also reflects labels’ eagerness to recapture a share of the tween demographic, which Disney has had almost all to itself in recent years: It has used its Disney Radio and Disney Channel assets to promote albums from Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers and the High School Musical franchise to multimillion-seller levels. “Disney has done a phenomenal job using the assets that they control to create stars,” says Capitol Music Group CEO Jason Flom. “But that doesn’t mean they have a monopoly. The right music trumps everything.” Varsity Fanclub are getting some Disney Radio play, and another group has an even closer association with the company: Warner A&R rep Tommy Page assembled V Factory around Jared Murillo ”“ a former High School Musical dancer who is already famous in tweendom for dating HSM star Ashley Tisdale. “I saw all these girls screaming for Ashley,” says Page. “I thought, ”˜If there were five guys up there like Jared, they’d really be going nuts.’ ”

With no indie-rock-style circuit of clubs to play, getting a new boy band started is the hardest part ”“ the Backstreet Boys spent years as a big-in-Europe act before catching on here. And with MTV playing fewer videos, and radio not yet on board, the new crop is being pushed hard on MySpace and YouTube ”“ and by a new joint theatre tour called Bandemonium, organised by boy-band manager Johnny Wright. “Back in the day, you were either an ’NSync or a Backstreet Boys fan ”“ you couldn’t be both,” says Wright, who worked with both acts. “I wanted to eliminate that competition.” The tour is no blockbuster so far ”“ a recent Long Island date had to be cancelled because of weak sales. “These bands are unknown ”“ we’re not expecting thousands of people to buy tickets,” says Wright. “We need to make fans one by one.”