Originally Posted by Matt 26z

A good case study that proves you wrong is Mika. Popular in Europe, but his label didn't "bring him to the US" because one of his songs was about a gay man. He gets absolutely no radio play in the US and isn't on MTV at all either.

So one would think he would have a problem touring the US, right? Quite the opposite in fact. His US tour last month was sold out, and these were not tiny hole in the wall venues. They might not have been arena shows, but a guy that gets ZERO promotion in the US shouldn't have sold out the venues he played at. Yet he did.

The only explanation is that US fans found him though avenues that didn't involve his label.