2. Darius Rucker "Charleston, SC 1966"

Sales this week: 100,745

And they said Hootie was done.

Make it in the country world and they stand by you, unlike in the pop world.

But also credit hard work by Darius, good management by McGhee, et al, and songs…they may not be the best, they may not be perfect, but at least you can sing along!

3. Big Time Rush

Sales this week: 66,588
Debut

Once upon a time I knew every record on the chart.

I was clueless when it came to this.

But the Wikipedia tells me it’s a Nickelodeon TV show.

What kind of crazy fucked up world do we live in where I look to the Wikipedia for music explanations?  Used to be a tour of the radio dial would be enough.

6. Kenny Chesney "Hemingway’s Whiskey"

Sales this week: 39,932
Percentage change: -39
Weeks on: 3
Cume: 288,655

This album is boring.  When is Kenny Chesney gonna rock again?

See Darius Rucker above.  Kenny is coasting on his past reputation.  There’s not even another "Never Wanted Nothing More" on this record, never mind "I Go Back".

Kenny’s got to thank his lucky stars country fans are not as up to speed in stealing music as pop fans.

7. Sufjan Stevens "Age Of Adz"

Sales this week: 36,113
Debut

Whew!

Don’t expect it to sell much next week, but Sufjan’s got fans and they all came out.  This is the new music business.  It’s not about hype, it’s about the tribe, with its ear to the ground, knowing that Sufjan’s got a new album.

11. Linkin Park "A Thousand Suns"

Sales this week: 28,133
Percentage change: -23
Weeks on: 5
Cume: 417,656

Brand names mean something.  Despite a lackluster debut, people know and still remember Linkin Park and want more.

18. Maroon 5 "Hands All Over"

Sales this week: 19,995
Percentage change: -18
Weeks on: 4
Cume: 226,824

James Diener is charming.

But he’s a publicity whore.

If he’s so fucking great, if Octone is such a brand new paradigm, both of which I doubt, why isn’t this album in the Top 5?

Because it’s a pop band and in pop you’re only as good as your last hit.

I’m not saying Octone won’t find a track to promote further down the line, never count out Mutt Lange, but can we stop hearing what a genius Diener is?  About Maroon 5 and K’naan and Coke and…

Make me puke.

19. Santana "Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time"

Sales this week: 18,741
Percentage change: -3
Weeks on: 4
Cume: 134,130

I’m stunned that the record is doing this well.  It’s been excoriated in the press.  As for listening to it, why should I, when every review says it’s the exact same arrangements as the originals?

Used to be best sellers were about creativity.  That’s how you built cred and a career.

But in a world where it’s almost impossible to get a toehold, brand names are king.

But there will be new brand names.  Who build over time.

That’s the story here.  The anemic sales of these brand names.

This is not where the action is.  The action is live.  And it’s online.  Expect the SoundScan chart to get flushed away, like feces in a toilet, not too long from now.  It just doesn’t matter anymore.  And neither does Big Champagne’s Ultimate Chart, because no one believes it’s the ultimate.

If Big Champagne wanted to win, they’d pull a page from Tim Westergren’s book, get the public behind them. Right now, no one cares.

27. John Legend "Wake Up!"

Sales this week: 14,679
Percentage change: -21
Weeks on: 4
Cume: 127,155

John Legend, Alicia Keys, can’t anybody go by their real name?

Legend’s a likable guy.  But if John Cougar can become John Mellencamp, can’t John Legend become John Stephens?

30. Eric Clapton "Clapton"

Sales this week: 13,268
Percentage change: -33
Weeks on: 3
Cume: 80,496

Boring.

48. Black Keys "Brothers"

Sales this week: 8,427
Percentage change: -3
Weeks on: 22
Cume: 332,095

This album has sustained.  Credit Q Prime, credit radio airplay, credit a public that’s embraced them as being credible.

In other words, without massive mainstream publicity, somehow hard core fans of music, people who are really passionate listeners, have found out about and embraced this band.

70. David Archuletta "Other Side Of Down"

Sales this week: 6,237
Percentage change: -74
Weeks on: 2
Cume: 30,463

Why?

And if you think the new crew is gonna breathe life into "American Idol", you’re expecting Rick Springfield and Bobby Sherman to have more hits.

___________________________________

LIVE GIGS

Rush

9/14 TD Garden, Boston

11,331 sold, 95% of house
Gross: $948,003

No mainstream press, not appealing to everybody, just a core, which loves this band to death.

And it’s not only Boston.  They did 12,403 for $870,118 at Verizon in Irvine the month before and even 11,053 for $687,691 in PITTSBURGH two days later.  With more acts like this, Live Nation would be profitable.

Meanwhile, Brad Paisley and Toby Keith do in excess of half a million a night.  In other words, their albums are just an advertisement for the tour.

Avett Brothers

10/1/10 Nokia, L.A.
3,453 sold, 90% of house
Gross: $123,264

You’ve got to see ’em live.  That’s what everybody says.  Hell, their Rick Rubin-produced album did not break them through.

Bottom line…  Most people in America have no idea who the Avett Brothers are.  But hard core music fans do. They don’t have to reinvent the wheel every year, they just build on their cumulative efforts.  Maybe one day they’ll be a household word, just maybe.  But if not, they’ll still be able to make more than a living and continue to work.  The Top Forty/SoundScan wonders?

Meanwhile, tickets were $25-$41.00

Widespread Panic

10/1/10 St. Augustine, FL
3,110 sold, 79% of house
Gross: $112,924

Can’t sell an album.

But have no problem selling tickets.

Pooh-pooh jam bands.  But at least it’s MUSIC!

You can make a lot more money on the road than you can selling recorded music.  And just because you sell recorded music, that doesn’t mean you can sell tickets.  Better to create a tribe that will buy tickets than covet an impulse buyer who will click and download your track.  Doesn’t take much effort to buy a track, but even though you can buy a ticket online, it’s a schlep to the venue, but real fans put up with the hassle for the music!

In other words, our future is live-based.  Even if P2P was killed, we can see from above that it’s the brand names that sell, it’s hard to establish a new brand.  And so expensive to do it the old way.  Better to start small, building fans in clubs than trying to convince radio programmers and journalists to expose you to a vast, but ever-shrinking audience much of which just doesn’t care about you.