CD Sales From Hits:

1. Hilary Duff "Most Wanted"
Hollywood

Sales this week: 200,477
Debut

Don’t they usually release this shit just before Thanksgiving?  When moms no
longer in touch with their developing daughters buy something they USED to be
into as an Xmas gift?

This is how far we’ve come.  When a useless cash-in remix album causes barely
a ripple of backlash.  The public knows the labels are whores who will do
anything for a buck.

Then again, got to give Hollywood props.  Two years from now this stuff will
be worth nothing.  One year?  I just hope they made a deal with Target and
other retailers to sell this album at the cash register, so those picking up
school supplies can buy it on impulse.

Hilary Duff sells records because she’s an icon.  On TV, in movies, the
records are souvenirs of her celebrity.  That’s the business today.  The CD is the
t-shirt.  I mean how many times could you listen to this crap?

Then again, I’d probably prefer this to the hip stuff.  At least there are
melodies and changes in teen pop.  Whereas the stuff all the insiders rave about
you need a manual to understand.  Where it’s coming from is more important
than palatability.  THAT’S how screwed up this business is.

3. Mariah Carey "The Emancipation Of Mimi"
Island/IDJMG

Sales this week: 108,919
Percentage change: +8%

I was hoping to be emancipated from Mariah.  Referring to herself by her
alter ego…isn’t that guys like naming their dicks?  Shouldn’t we take her just
about as seriously as we do THOSE pricks?

Mariah Carey is an uneducated twit with a good voice.  USED to be the most
important thing was how well you wrote, the song was king.  But, Tommy Mottola
overhyped this idiot and changed the business.  It was a triumvirate.  Clive,
Charles Koppelman and Tommy, with his lieutenant Donnie Ienner.  They changed
the business of one from career BANDS to talent-less icons sold via expensive
marketing campaigns.  Singing the songs of writers plumbing the depths of
mainstream bathos.

It’s a celebrity culture.  Mariah’s moves are followed.  She gets to talk. 
Used to be our music stars were thinkers, now they’re hangers, wearing the
clothes of fashion designers.  Doubt me?  Tune in to Sunday night’s VMAs, I
GUARANTEE you the outfits will upstage the music.

Levy was right to pay her to go.  Because he didn’t have anybody on his team
who could bring her back.  It takes a man of talent and vision like L.A. Reid.
 Then again, we now applaud people for making TRIPE successful?  John Hammond
brings us Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen.  L.A. Reid oversees the comeback
of Mariah Carey?  Used to be scouts like Mr. Hammond were revered.  Now they’re
seen as jokes.

6. The Black-Eyed Peas "Monkey Business"
A&M/Interscope

Sales this week: 82,350
Percentage change: +13%

How successful would this act be if Fergie hadn’t been added to the mix? 
They’re selling sex appeal.

8. Faith Hill "Fireflies"
Warner Brothers

Sales this week: 72,712
Percentage change: -38%

Country will never forgive her for going mainstream, abandoning them.  Sure,
Shania did it first, but did anybody REALLY believe Shania was country?  (Then
again, Shania should have stayed country too…who wanted all those other
mixes of her last album?)  Talk to the jam bands.  They’ll tell you it’s all
about playing to the core.  Talk to John Paluska.  if they hassled Phish’s fans at
a building, he wouldn’t go back.  The fans and the band were in it TOGETHER! 
Now the band is in it with the bank.

Didn’t Faith have ENOUGH success?  Did she REALLY have to cross over?

Based on this decline, based on the first week sales, country’s not letting
her back in.  She’s no longer queen.

11.  Coldplay "X&Y"
Capitol

Sales this week: 59,821
Percentage change: +1%

"What if there was no lie
Nothing wrong, nothing right
What if there was no time
And no reason or rhyme
What if you should decide, that you don’t want me there by your side.
That you don’t want me there in your life"

Oh, "What If" ALMOST sounds like a Supertramp song, from before they went
mainstream with "Breakfast In America", when they were hip and great.  But
Supertramp wouldn’t have written lyrics so trite and unimpressive.

Then there’s "Talk", which is a DIRECT rip-off of Kraftwerk’s "Computer
Love", just worse.  They literally lift the riff.

I don’t mind that you enjoy this stuff.  I don’t mind that it goes well with
your glass of wine and the house you’ve finally bought with your professional
job money.  But just because it fits in well with your thirtysomething
lifestyle, don’t tell me it’s GOOD!

Is this how far we’ve come?  Where second-rate music is exalted and seen as
the savior of our business?

Do they have some interesting hooks, and occasionally memorable lyrics?  Of
course, but the previous album was MUCH better.  And any random Roxy Music
album that sold a fraction of "X&Y" is far superior.  Really, if you think this is
good, listen to "Avalon".

The fact that something’s not offensive.  That it’s not hip-hop.  That it’s
moody and sets your mind free.  Does THIS mean it’s fantastic?

No.

14.  Green Day "American Idiot"
Reprise

Sales this week: 52,875
Percentage change: +33%

The way it used to be.  Make the very best album you can.  Make speaking from
your heart more important than worrying about the marketplace.  And, find out
that what resonates with you, who you are, what you’re saying, resonates with
the public at large, since we’re all human.  People feel that Billie Joe is
on their wavelength.  I have no idea what wavelength Mariah Carey is on.

Then, when your album catches fire, don’t do endless publicity.  Focus on
your fans.  Touring.  For a reasonable price.  So they don’t feel ripped off, but
entertained and fulfilled, and want to come back.

And then the album sells and sells and sells.  Not only in year one, but
probably forever.

24. Jack Johnson "In Between Dreams"
Brushfire/Universal

Sales this week: 33,640
Percentage change: +3%

See Green Day above.

It’s not about flash, it’s about culture.  INTEGRATING with your audience. 
Building trust.  Jack Johnson’s got a good backstory, he doesn’t play the
sell-out hype game.  His audience believes in him.

31. Silverstein "Discovering The Waterfront"
Victory

Sales this week: 29,335
Debut

Now, all in unison, WHO THE FUCK IS SILVERSTEIN?

That’s the Victory magic.  They focus on the fan.  Victory is cool, the kids
know, they’ll give ANYTHING on the label a chance.

Let me share with you one of Tony Brummel’s endless forwards.  I hate to aid
him in his one man propaganda game, but it’s educational.

From: Mark Bubb <Mark@victoryrecords.com>
To: PROMO STAFF <PROMOSTAFF@victoryrecords.com>
Sent: Mon Aug 22 23:45:49 2005
Subject: Baltimore show Report 8/22

I’m lucky I still have all my fingers the way the BTBAM samplers were
being taken from me tonight.

The venue sucked for what we do. It is directly down town with no parking, no stopping, no picking up, everywhere. I unfortunatly had to park a few blocks down the street. But what was funny about that is, Sony, who’s tour it is, and only dows the end of show work, ended up being moved and put farther away than my van. From that point it was an old fashioned contest of sidewalk skills.

The arena closed all exits except forthe main two and filed everyone
out. I was there, Sony was there, and the randow bums selling fake shirts were there and being real pushy. They stepped in front of me, so in turn stood right in the doorway. Everyone looked right past them when they heard I had free Victory samplers. They relocated because they couldn’t compete. And now that I was right next to Sony, people were asking them for cd’s and they would hold out there stickers, and kids would just turn, and walk to me, or just leave. Like you said Tony, why are they even wasteing their time.

I went through a ton in an extremely short time. Being we are on the
east coast, lamb of god, DH, unearth, as I lay dying shirts were pooring out the door and right up to me.

I got out 850 BTBAM samplers out at the show, and made Sony look like crap. It was a good night.

I’m in Baltimore all tommorow and NYC tommorow night.

Bubb
VAT

In an era where radio plays almost nothing, you’ve got to give it away.  To
get the story started.  Don’t look at it as lost sales, look at it as a
marketing investment.  Then again, would the kids want these promos if they weren’t Victory samplers?  Victory’s built a brand, you can believe in Victory.

31. Nickel Creek "Why Should The Fire Die"
Sugar Hill

Sales this week: 20,807
Percentage change: -40%

This band is one hit single away from blowing up.

Of course, there’s no place a single of theirs could BECOME a hit.

In the seventies, a band would put out three or four albums, build up a fan
base, radio would play them all the while.  Then, developing their sound,
they’d come up with that one palatable track, that’s what bands do when they see
music as a career as opposed to stardom, they develop their craft, their art,
and this one track would get banged on FM and suddenly become UBIQUITOUS!  The concert dates would sell out.  The band would move up to bigger and bigger halls.  And now, thirty years later, they’d still be selling tickets.

Live business grosses from Celebrityaccess:

7/30-31-Dave Matthews, et al, 2 sell-outs at Randall’s Island, 63,954, gross:
$3,555,314

See Dave’s new album on the chart?

Of course not, it sucks.  He should just return to his roots, hell even work
with Glen Ballard again, that would be better than THIS crap.  But, does Dave
CARE??  Used to be the tour was the ad for the record, now it’s the other way
around.  Dave got all the publicity for his new release, which did go
platinum, and this buzz drove people to buy tickets.  Then again, Dave would do great anyway.  Because first and foremost he’s got FANS!

8/12-13-Neil Diamond-2 sell-outs Wachovia Center, Philadelphia, PA, 33,693,
gross: $2,040,850

Have you listened to "Cherry, Cherry" recently?  Download it and then play
ANYTHING from the Top 40, and THEN you’ll know why this dude still sells out
today.

But it’s not only "Cherry, Cherry".  There’s "Kentucky Woman".  And "Sweet
Caroline".

I’m down on the Jonathan Livingston Seagull stuff.  I used to push the button
when "I Am…I Said" came on.  But all these years later I’d rather see Neil
than the Stones.  He’s somehow still human.  Mick and Keith are cartoons. 
And, Neil CHARGES a whole hell of a lot less.  $85 top at this concert.

It all comes down to songs.

7/30-Tom Petty & Black Crowes, sell-out, Saratoga Performing Arts Center,
25,081, gross: $776,992

"She’s a good girl, loves her mama"

Tell me you wouldn’t want to hear this.  Oh, your body would writhe when they
played "Breakdown", but when Tom and the boys played this L.A. anthem you’d
sway from side to side with your loved one, stare at the sky and sing AT THE
TOP OF YOUR LUNGS!

"And I’m free, FREE FALLIN’"

You can’t see from most of the lawn at Saratoga.

But you had to be there.

Tickets were just under $60 tops.  And, you got the bonus of seeing Chris
Robinson shake his moneymaker.

This is what summer used to be.  A celebration of great music.  By bands who
were lifers, who did it for the joy, to IMPART that joy TO YOU!

8/10-Green Day, sell-out, Allstate Arena, Rosemont, IL, 15,424, $686,083

And here’s where antiquity and modernity merge.

Then again, Green Day is over a decade old itself.

You’ve got to start at the bottom.  You’ve got to want it, you’ve got to NEED
IT!  What did the Australians say?  IT’S A LONG WAY TO THE TOP IF YOU WANT TO
ROCK AND ROLL?

Fans want to be along for the ride.  They want to pick you out of the crowd
and go on the trip with you.  And they don’t abandon you if you don’t
immediately blow up, you’re a member of the FAMILY!  They buy your next album without hearing it first, they want to show their DEVOTION!  It’s not about expending marketing dollars, but SWEAT EQUITY!

That’s how it’s done on the Web.  It may not cost much in dollars, but it’s a
lot of effort to launch your site and get the word out.  And then try to
establish a career.  It takes desire, perseverance and luck.  Just ask Arcade
Fire.  Who a major label would have playing arenas already.

But then they’d have no fans.

It’s not about the labels.  And it’s not about the venues.  They were both
built around one thing, the talent.

You can’t manufacture talent.  You can manufacture a facsimile, but not the
real thing.  All you can do is RECOGNIZE the real thing. And, when you find it,
you don’t criticize it, you don’t change it, rather you MIDWIFE IT!  You try
to HELP it.  You don’t ever say no, you try to say YES, you try to help the
talent fulfill its creative vision.  Knowing that nobody knows what works more
than the people who make the music.  THEY know what resonates with the public.

The mainstream business is upside down.  They start from the dollars and work
backward.  You’ve got to start with the music.

But you don’t need me to tell you this.  All you’ve got to do is compare
these two charts.  The major labels are not interested in creating new lifers,
they only want to generate revenue, TODAY!

Think about it.  If you’re working at Warner or EMI, and you’re headed for
merger, aren’t you a CHUMP for thinking five years down the line?

And Sony’s run by a non-music guy.

And Universal is a bunch of bullies.  Sure, you’d rather be on the side of
the bully than the wimp, but that’s not the fit you desire either.  You want a
friend.  The band wants a friend.  The fan wants a friend.  And that’s what
great music is.  A friend.  The best friend you’ve ever had.  One you can COUNT
ON!  You can break up with your girlfriend, you can lose a parent, but the
record will always be there for you.

There’s an element of that in Coldplay.  Which is why they’re selling out.

But their used to be a plethora of these acts.  Creating such cutting edge
music we couldn’t even CONCEIVE OF IT!  Really, who could come up with
Jethro Tull?

And not every act sold the tonnage of Tull, but those Ry Cooder records,
those Charlie records, those Wendy Waldman records.  I’d still go see any of these
acts today.  They’re like relatives.  I may not have seen them in a while,
but I haven’t forgotten them.  We’re bonded forever.  People are not bonded in
the same way to almost ALL of today’s acts.