Wayne Rosso’s Rick Rubin/Sony Music Screed
Can’t say I read every word, not that I disagree with Wayne’s main point, that this was a bad deal and one could see from the past that this arrangement would be a failure. But what is truly stunning to me is the anemic sales in the chart.
The Gossip, after all that hype, all that ink, the labeling of Beth Ditto as a fashion icon, only sold 35,812 records? Publicity doesn’t seem to sell records anymore.
Jakob Dylan’s album flew under the radar, but a major label can’t survive on sales of 126,168, not when they pay Rubin, Stringer and Barnett the big bucks. One can ask why the executives weren’t incentivized, low salaries against results, but that’s not record business style. In the entertainment business, the executives hold the public companies hostage, demand exorbitant salaries, whereas in Silicon Valley you’ve got to prove your mettle.
As for Pete Yorn, sales of 56,431…Â I’d say never has an act gotten so much ink and sold so few records, except this has been a record biz paradigm forever, as if by getting stories everywhere, you can get people to like the music.
The Avett Brothers sold 252,936 albums and most people have no idea who they are! This is the future! They’ve got hard core fans and earn loyalty on the road. Sure, the band hasn’t broken through to stardom, but they’ve got a base, this is a good story, if not a phenomenal Rick Rubin breakthrough.
Whether you like Brandi Carlile or not, I’ve been worked on her forever and I’ve got to say 119,101 sales is a drop in the bucket.
And Ours only sold 13,168 albums!
The record business needs to be retooled, for today’s reality.
It’s a singles business. If you’re spending heavily to make an album, do it for art, because the odds of making money are low.
Acts have to get small advances, record cheaply and marketing and promotion budgets must be scaled down accordingly. It just doesn’t pay to spend for sales like this.
Used to be you could grow acts to superstardom quickly, via TV and radio. Did you read that article where colleges are getting rid of their radio stations because no one is listening?
Susan Boyle can sell. "X-Factor" too. The majors are tooled up for this game. They shouldn’t sign these work/charity cases.
They don’t seem able to do both. Sony wants to overpay Doug Morris to try for more hits? Close it down. Or just have a small team license event records like "Glee". The problem isn’t the executives so much as the model.
