I'm more interested in some of what is reported in the article and what we think it might mean.
[A]ccording to a snap YouGov poll of 2,034 British adults, a hefty 29% of 18- to 24-year-olds said they had never listened to an Elvis song, with none of this age group listening to him daily and only 8% listening monthly.
Spotify reveals he achieved 382m streams in 2016. Yet compare this to other deceased stars such as Bowie (who clocked in at more than 600m), Michael Jackson (also more than 600m), or the long-disbanded Beatles (1.3bn), and these numbers look less impressive.
“Elvis was an excellent singles artist,” explains Hesmondhalgh. “He emerges before the formation of rock culture as we know it, so the mythology of the original rock album was lost on Elvis. He doesn’t have anything near a Sgt Pepper for young people to connect through.”
I wonder if the rights holders (RCA) have mis-used his catalogue. Recent releases have drilled down to specific sessions (Stax, the Jungle Room) with multiple takes, rehearsals, studio chat etc, that are more interesting to the fan than the newbie. Perhaps they'd be better advised to release less material, better promoted, and hinged to specific anniversaries? Make a big splash about the 60th anniversary of Elvis Is Back in 2020 for instance - or From Elvis in Memphis in 2019?
I guess the other question is does it matter? Except in so far as other acts (The Beatles) are still deemed significant (I mean the forthcoming Sgt Pepper reissue has been reported in the newspapers - when did you see a news report about a new Elvis record?) and you would imagine that Sony would like to see Elvis compete.
Obviously there isn't an obvious hook such as we have with Sgt Pepper. There's no new stereo mixes to commission are there? Do things like the RPO albums harm his legacy?
Any thoughts?