It’s about the song.

Richard Griffiths began as an agent. Then he went into publishing and eventually ran Epic in America and then BMG UK/Europe. He gave Simon Cowell a job.

And that’s how Richard’s company ended up managing One Direction, the hottest act in the business today.

Sure, there are more details, but my point is experience counts.

Friday night I had dinner with Richard and Will Bloomfield, the day to day manager of One Direction.

And who did they credit most for One Direction’s success in America?

SIRIUS!

Yes, the satellite outlet embraced One Direction, made the band its own.

Now we’ve been hearing satellite radio is irrelevant since its inception, that there are too many channels and too few listeners. But starting eighteen months ago I began hearing about the power of XMU, that it drove club business, people heard songs on the station and wanted to see the bands live.

What was the second driver of One Direction?

TUMBLR!

Do you know what Tumblr is? Let’s just say it’s like the web pages of old, the personal blogs that the prognosticators said we were all going to have.

Twitter is limited to 140 characters, it’s an information service. Tumblr is your home, where you evidence your identity.

And when you’re a prepubescent girl not only is who you are important, you’ve got crushes. But now you can evidence them not only on your bedroom wall, but online. You can see what your friends are into, you can gauge buzz, you can cause a conflagration.

In other words, One Direction broke without the mainstream media. It wasn’t terrestrial radio and it wasn’t the press. Because they didn’t know.

Things no longer get started on terrestrial radio or in the press, they’re last, after the fire has been lit. So where you begin is ever more important. The web world is where you get started.

But it only matters if you’ve got the right record.

They say lyrics don’t count. But they’re a key part of One Direction’s success…

You’re insecure
Don’t know what for
You’re turning heads when you walk through the door
Don’t need makeup
To cover up
Being the way that you are is enough

What’s the most important thing in junior high school?

BEING POPULAR!

And what’s the surest way to popularity? LOOKS!

How much time do you spend in front of the mirror, how much time do you agonize over what you’re gonna wear. You feel inadequate, but this song says YOU’RE ENOUGH!

Now if you go online and research the lyrics of "What Makes  You Beautiful", you’ll see they list who sings each verse. This is hard to decipher on the radio, but it’s information that fans savor, that they want to know and trade and put online.

I’ve heard better songs than "What Makes You Beautiful", but you can’t deny that it’s hooky. And sure, it’s simple, but that’s the easiest way into a kid’s heart, boil it down to the essence.

On one hand, One Direction is no different from the boy bands that preceded it. On the other, they don’t dance and they’re using the tools of the new world to break.

Look at it this way… Their fans never knew a world without the Internet. And Sirius comes standard in all new cars, the ones their parents schlep them around in.

Sure history repeats, but it’s never in the exact same way.