1. Smashing Pumpkins "Oceania"

Sales this week: 53,396
Debut
Overall rank: 4

He’s not warm and fuzzy. But his generation, which came of age in the nineties, respects him.

Considered to be a return to form, it appears Billy Corgan is here to stay. Furthermore, this shows the power of brand names. Doesn’t matter who’s in the band, people are interested in "Smashing Pumpkins" a lot more than "Billy Corgan".

2. "Rock Of Ages" Original Soundtrack

Sales this week: 48,767
Percentage change: +34
Cume: 103,194
Overall rank: 5

Whew, pretty good for a stiff movie. But nothing compared to the soundtracks of yore. I guess this is the music/movie business in a nutshell. Movies are made for everyone, and have to sell millions. Most music is a niche product.

4. Glen Hansard "Rhythm And Repose"

Sales this week: 16,064
Debut
Overall rank: 21

You’ve got to take a risk. Glen Hansard was a journeyman musician essentially unknown in the U.S. until "Once". Now many people are champing at the bit to do movies, but more credible artists tend to say no to opportunities instead of yes. But if you say yes, you’ve got no idea of the end result. The end result of "Once" is that Glen Hansard has a solo career. If only he’d change his name to "Once"… Ha!

6. Lumineers

Sales this week: 10,662
Percentage change: +1
Cume: 87,836
Overall rank: 38

The buzz is deafening. If you’re listening. This is kind of like the Civil Wars. Insiders know, and they’re spreading the word. People are hungry for authenticity. That’s how they see the Lumineers.

Real songs, real instruments, Mumford & Sons was the first, people want this sound, especially in this phony high tech world that dominates our lives.

9. Alabama Shakes "Boys & Girls"

Sales this week: 9,403
Percentage change: 0
Cume: 196,933
Overall rank: 45

In the old days, the seventies, a band like this would have gotten press buzz and not even cracked 100,000 in the life of the record, like Little Feat. But in the new connected world, if you’re lucky enough to get buzz, and it’s strong, it can seep into nooks and crannies and permeate in a way unheard of previously. In other words, if they didn’t play your track on the radio in the seventies, you were screwed. But today, assuming you don’t make Top Forty stuff, you can do just fine without radio play. Online is the counterculture. And it’s strong.

12. Mumford & Sons "Sigh No More"

Sales this week: 7,659
Percentage change: -16
Cume: 2,308,052
Overall rank: 61

This is the new "Tapestry". Well, not exactly. But what I mean is this album has been on the charts for an amazing 123 weeks. Used to be only "Tapestry" and "Dark Side Of The Moon" sustained. Furthermore, this is Mumford & Sons’ debut.

You can lament the passing of the MTV era, with its saturation marketing supercharged by Top Forty radio, but come on, Mumford never would have sold this amount back then. Of course it would be different if MTV played it, but they never would. Folk music? Maybe electronic and Tony Bennett, but they didn’t stray far from their mainstream genres. But today, you can grow outside the system, you can triumph.

And Mumford is just beginning. There’s the imminent movie, this meshuggeneh tour and eventually a new album. Mumford is shaking it up, breaking all the rules, following their own muse, and it’s all about the music. WHAT A CONCEPT!

13. Bonnie Raitt "Slipstream"

Sales this week: 7,480
Percentage change: -8
Cume: 201,156
Overall rank: 62

This is a positively staggering story. On Capitol, she was a faded has-been who spent a lot to record albums that underperformed. But as an indie, she’s shattering the glass ceiling, doing better than she’d have done on a major, because to them she’s not a priority, they don’t know how to sell her.

Most consumers have no idea this is an indie production. It is cheap and underfunded not a whit. Print sold it. Oldsters still read. And credit must be given to the distributor, RED.

But think about it, Bonnie not only makes all the money, she owns the album!

Other than the Wal-Mart sellers, and that paradigm is now dead, no boomer act has done better as an indie than Bonnie Raitt. Credit a loyal fan base who cares, Bonnie has always been authentic, and flawless execution.

Utterly amazing.

40. Joe Bonamassa "Driving Towards The Daylight"

Sales this week: 2,593
Percentage change: -29
Cume: 34,083
Overall rank: 215

Someone is doing a bad job. Because most people still have no idea who Bonamassa is. He’s got a loyal fan base, he sells a few records, but anyone who wants to make it as a hot guitarist has to be visible, people have to see him execute his chops, it’s even more important than making a great record.

Case in point, Jeff Beck. Beck is no better than he ever was, which in my mind is the best ever, but Harvey Goldsmith has made him visible, and now I’m not the only person who believes Beck is best, now everybody has seen him.

They need to see Bonamassa.

Doesn’t matter if it’s culture clash, whether he’s playing a cheesy July 4th event, cultural dissonance is not a factor, the public just has to see him WAIL!

41. Lit "View From The Bottom"

Sales this week: 2,542
Debut
Overall rank: 221

Too early for early 2000s nostalgia. Also, Lit succeeded in an era where people didn’t believe in bands, didn’t believe in credibility, didn’t savor albums as statements. Today hits will gain you momentary audiences. But to last, you’ve got to do it Mumford’s way, you’ve got to create, embrace and sell an entire culture.

51. Bon Iver

Sales this week: 2,161
Percentage change: +7
Cume: 457,472
Overall rank: 283

Image isn’t everything.

We’re hungry for great music. If the cognoscenti find anything worth trumpeting, they do. Ergo the success of Bon Iver and Alabama Shakes.

It’s a thin layer of acts who can make it on music alone. Bon Iver is one of them.

73. Best Coast "Only Place"

Sales this week: 1,567
Percentage change: -14
Cume: 27,598
Overall rank: 449

If the press had power amongst the younger generation, Best Coast would be Top Ten. But despite unending accolades and a photogenic lead singer, people are not buying.

In other words, just because you see it in the paper, don’t think it’s real.

81. Cult "Choice Of Weapon"

Sales this week: 1,381
Percentage change: -24
Cume: 20,435
Overall rank: 538

Come on. If all you knew was the publicity, you’d think the Cult would be alongside Best Coast in the Top Ten, you’d believe they’re on an extremely profitable victory lap.

But they’re not.

They’re a band with some great tracks whose singer has done his best to eviscerate his credibility.

What’s next?

Who knows.

86. Chris Robinson Brotherhood "Big Moon Ritual"

Sales this week: 1,310
Percentage change: -41
Cume: 10,383
Overall rank: 574

Does anybody even know this album is out?

Chris needs to take instruction from Billy Corgan. The only chance of people caring is if he calls it "Black Crowes".

Chris did some good solo work for Best Buy…

Straight into the dumper…

Chris needs to sit down with Bonnie Raitt and see how it’s done. He’s got fans, but somehow he is not reaching them.

112. Lita Ford "Living Like A Runaway"

Sales this week: 911
Debut
Overall rank: 868

Positively pitiful.

And I’d leave it at that, but Lita’s problem is her fans don’t know this is out and she doesn’t know who her fans are. If you’re a faded has-been, and she is, first and foremost you must consolidate your tribe, know who its members are and super-serve them.

Saw an article in the L.A. "Times", but does her audience really read the paper?

Then again, how many Lita Ford fans are there…

169. L.A. Guns "Hollywood Forever"

Sales this week: 609
Percentage change: -23
Cume: 2,976

See Lita Ford above.

175. Joey Ramone "Ya Know?"

Sales this week: 596
Percentage change: -42
Cume: 7,164

Makes you reconsider the mainstream press, doesn’t it? If ink automatically translated into sales… But it doesn’t, and nobody really cares. It seems posthumous albums are only successful if you’ve died very recently. Then people are hungering for more. But as time goes by, the classics are good enough.

Then again, maybe in twenty five years this will be seen as classic, just like the Ramones’ output… Ha!

___________________________________

Indie does not always equate with success. Just because you’re in control and own all the rights, that does not mean you’re gonna make a ton of dough.

Therefore, you have to reevaluate, redefine success.

If success is income, raw dollars, dive deeply into your tribe’s wallet. This is what Topspin was built for. Create special projects. Better yet, tap fans on Kickstarter, not only raising funds for production, but charging them for the up close and personal feel fans love.

But if you’re paying the rent but not happy being a has-been or relatively unknown, you’ve got to first and foremost consolidate your tribe, if you’ve even got one, and then build upon it. Top down marketing only seems to work if you’re exceptionally good, or you’re a boomer act. Otherwise you’re scratching out a career. And if you’re not as good as the Alabama Shakes or Bon Iver, almost no one is gonna know your name.

The promise of the Internet was you could reach everybody.

But the reality of the Internet is that you’re competing against so many more than before.

Yes, the Net allows niches to flourish and an occasional one to rear up, but if ubiquity is your game, it’s tougher than ever.

And if you’re happy being known by only a few…

You’re probably not an artist, you should probably give up.

Because true artists want one thing more than money, even more than fame, they want listeners. They want consumers of their art. If you’re not driven by this, please stop.

(O.K. Now I’ve pissed you off. I got a question from the audience at Folk Alliance, this person asked if he was unsuccessful because in some years he eked into the five figures. For those math-challenged, that’s $10,000. You can make that much on a bake sale. I’m not saying you should be unhappy, but I will say you’re a hobbyist. Nothing wrong with that, but it’s no different from winning the local softball championship as opposed to playing for the Yankees.)

(O.K. Again. Oh, that’s right, we live in a country where you can never rain on someone’s parade, where you must always instill hope. Yes, you can run Morgan Stanley, even though you dropped out of high school. And you can be CEO of Apple even though you can’t even touch type. Why in this world do we hate harsh reality? Why in this world do we rip off and encourage people who are never going to make it? Our whole damn nation can’t handle the truth. Not everybody is great, not everybody can make it, you can convince yourself, but convincing the rest of us is something completely different.)

The best thing that ever happened to Katy Perry was she got divorced.

Have you read David Brooks’s essay "The Power Of The Particular" in the "New York Times"? I recommend it, even if you’re not a Springsteen fan.

That’s what it’s about. Flying to Europe to see the Boss. Brooks marvels at all the young people singing "Born In The U.S.A." when they most clearly were not. But they embrace Bruce’s myth, the full-blown story, which has so many twists and turns, from shunned schoolboy to star to divorce to marriage and family, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Springsteen delineated his journey, and that’s what attaches us to him.

We’re unattached to so many celebrities. As soon as the buzz moves on, we’re going to forget them. Because there’s no story. That’s what the Kardashians have done so well, create an entire world, however phony. We’re intrigued by the story.

Brooks posits if you want to succeed you should stop being everyman and just be yourself. Romney should can the jeans and stop talking about loving to hunt. Hell, despite the right wing hysteria, whenever Obama cites Jay-Z or references another hip-hop artist it actually benefits him, it humanizes him, he’s a human being with tastes.

Not that my goal here is to politicize the discussion. I just want to say prior to "Wide Awake" Katy Perry was just a girl with big tits singing songs written by committee. But now there’s a thorn in the fairy tale. They had his and hers tattoos, and now he’s gone?

"Wide Awake" is similar to Gloria Estefan’s "Coming Out Of The Dark", which referenced her bus accident. A good track, the overly sappy "Coming Out Of The Dark" was a smash because the public rallied around Ms. Estefan.

And they’re rallying around Katy Perry right now.

Forget the hype, the endless stunts, the ridiculous outfits, suddenly she’s just another girl who’s been hurt. And in case you didn’t know, girls stick together.

I’m wide awake
Yeah, I was in the dark
I was falling hard
With an open heart
I’m wide awake
How did I read the stars so wrong

You see, that’s how we all feel. How did we not see the warning signs? How did we allow ourselves to get so hurt? And the lyrics might not be groundbreaking, but the sound of the track is similar to nothing so much as Madonna’s "Live To Tell". The latter is a classic, but "Wide Awake" has a chance of surviving, unlike so much of the drivel populating the Top Forty today.

She’s wide awake. Isn’t that how it always is after heartbreak? You can’t sleep. You can’t eat. You can’t shut your brain off. You can call your friends but it doesn’t soothe the pain. The male rappers talk about kicking their exes to the curb and crawling from the wreckage into a brand new car, but that’s not how it happens at all. You can try to be Jerry Maguire, keep trying to move forward, but that eventually stops working for everybody.

I wish I knew then
What I know now
Wouldn’t dive in
Wouldn’t bow down
Gravity hurts
You made it so sweet
Till I woke up on
On the concrete

You’ve got to hear Katy sing it, from deep in her heart, belting "on the concrete", as if she sings loud enough all her troubles will disappear, they’ll be blotted out.

Thunder rumbling
Castles crumbling
I am trying to hold on
God knows that I tried
Seeing the bright side
But I’m not blind anymore

Trying to hold on… I sat almost right next to Katy a couple of months back, at the MusiCares dinner. She had her purple wig on, and a bunch of makeup. She was surrounded by old men who were really not her friends. They were business people, responsible for her career, but they don’t keep you warm at night, because you’re not number one, they are, they’re protecting their jobs. That’s what we hope for in love, someone who’ll put us first, who’ll sacrifice their job, be there when we need them.

You can’t be so set in your ways that you can’t admit you were wrong, that you can’t change course, do a one eighty and embrace that which you detested.

I used to keep Katy Perry at arm’s length. For multiple reasons. The rip-off of Jill Sobule’s song title with a far inferior song. The bright, sunny disposition, the duplicitous interviews. She was just another manufactured product. Here today, gone tomorrow, like New Kids On The Block and so many before.

But if "Wide Awake" doesn’t touch you, you’re dead inside. Sure, it was written by committee, it’s not quite personal enough, but the pain of her breakup informs the track. She’s laying down the vocal of her life. It’s important. In a pop music world where not much is.

Yeah I’m falling from cloud 9
Crashing from the high
You know I’m letting go tonight

Letting go. There’s so much pain in giving up hope. You never recover from a divorce. You stood up in front of friends and family, the clergy, and declared it was forever. But it was not. So what else isn’t? You’ve got to readjust your whole perspective.

But at least you made a commitment. Too many are afraid to dive in. Or serially date and ultimately keep their loves at arm’s length, for fear of being hurt. But hurt is part of life. It does make you stronger. But it’s hell to go through.

Which is what the endless repetition of "wide awake" is all about. It’s like there’s a chorus in your brain, constantly repeating the refrain, you keep reworking the details in your mind, you can’t forget them, if only you did this, if only they did that.

I can’t stop playing "Wide Awake". It’s got an emotion that they just can’t get in right in movies or TV, the human condition. That’s what Katy Perry’s talking about here. She nailed it.

Spotify-Wide Awake

YouTube-Wide Awake

David Brooks, "The Power of the Particular"

You’ve been sold a bill of goods. Chris Anderson wrote "The Long Tail" and now you’ve been hoodwinked into thinking there’s a demand for your music, that the Internet has finally made your masterpiece available to the masses and recognition, money and fame will flow into your inbox momentarily. But as the Who so eloquently sang, "It don’t really happen that way at all."

The Internet, along with five hundred channels of cable TV, has taken a hammer to our society and rendered a nation equivalent to the Tower of Babel. We’re all here, but we all speak a different language, we watch different TV shows, we surf different sites, we can barely converse. And it feels positively awful. That’s why so many go to see idiotic Hollywood movies, to belong. That’s a big reason people listen to Top Forty music, because that’s where everybody else is, they want to be a member of the tribe.

This is so different from the way it was in the sixties or nineties. Where there was a definite, overpowering mainstream, and it felt good to be alternative. But those alternative tracks got played on underground FM radio, ultimately even MTV, after being spun on college radio, which is a dying art form. Yes, did you know colleges are selling their stations? It’s cheaper and easier to broadcast on the Internet.

And that’s my point. Everybody can be a broadcaster now. And with so many options, we move towards professionalism, where everybody else is, and if you don’t meet these criteria, professional and quality, you’re going to have a very rough go of it. Sure, we can all be interested in momentary train-wreck, that’s what viral videos are for, but they don’t last.

The truly clueless are the classic rock acts, anybody who made it before the turn of the century. They think people are waiting for their new opus. They’re not. They think if they just employ carpet bomb publicity, everybody will know and care, but at no time in history has so much expensive hype been ignored so much. We know why that article is in the newspaper. You paid for it. We get our information other places. And we don’t care about you even if you’ve got great new music. Hell, if you’re an oldie first and foremost you’ve got to find out who your tribe is, you’ve got to get their e-mail addresses, market directly to them, otherwise don’t even bother to put out your new music. Unless you like to masturbate.

As for albums, we live in a playlist world. Maybe not the oldsters, but the youngsters. Yes, they don’t expect the Top Forty tracks to last, they’re here for today and barely remembered tomorrow. But this is what they’re growing up with, this is what they know. Gen X felt ripped off by the boomers, who got to do everything first, sex without AIDS, classic rock, so much. But Gen Y cares not a whit about the past, that’s their parents world, they’re creating their own world, for themselves.

And a generation based on belonging gravitates to Top Forty radio because that’s where all their friends are. And if you’re not in this world, even if you’re young, you have a hard time making it. Sure, Facebook and word of mouth helps. And at least it’s faster than boomer word of mouth, which is positively moribund.

And these kids grew up in the era of "American Idol". They focus on singing more than writing. Just like Christina Aguilera and the melisma makers were influenced by and copied Mariah Carey.

Listen to your old records, play your albums, there’s nothing wrong with that. But it’s got very little to do with today’s burgeoning music world. These kids are never going to come to your land. Instead, their land is gonna morph into something new. Top Forty today is like the early sixties. Who didn’t love those Four Seasons songs. But the act did measly live business. Compared to what followed. Something is gonna follow this catchy, irrelevant, auto-tuned Top Forty stuff. And we know it’s gonna be based on a tribe. Classic rock blew up as a result of the ascent of FM radio, after stations couldn’t simulcast what was on the AM band. There will be another technological innovation, a new clubhouse, on some level that’s what EDM is about. Hell, going and being there is even more important than the music. As for the music… It’s gonna evolve.

Where we go next is not perfectly clear. But we’re gonna go together. There’s mainstream and then niches so tiny they live in an echo chamber. The "New York Times" wants to be hip and reviews albums no one is gonna listen to.

You want to know what’s happening? Ask kids. Sure, some are loners, that’s the nature of DNA, but most communicate with more people in one day than you did in years. They know every kid in town, still talk to their camp friends not only months later, but years later. They’re all in it together. And if you want to blow up, you’ve got to penetrate their world. Good luck!

Louis C.K.

He’s a COMEDIAN! He shows up with a microphone. Talk about expenses…THERE ARE NONE!

Not that I want to castigate Mr. Szekely, but you think the enemy here is Ticketmaster, no, the enemy is your favorite acts. Who won’t go to the lengths Louie will, who won’t leave all that money on the table. If you don’t think the acts are the main driver of ticket fees you’ve got no understanding of the business. Did you read in Louie’s email that he’s absorbing costs? Just ask your favorite act to do this… Almost none of them will. They’d rather blame Ticketmaster.

So give Louie props. He’s made it and now he’s not only testing limits, he’s looking out for his fans, his customers, building good will. But as for truly keeping out scalpers… Ask Nathan Hubbard, it’s easier to talk about than to do. Whether it be throwaway credit cards or buying tickets and walking a posse in, it’s hard to eliminate.

But, give Louie props for trying.

But the people who don’t get tickets are still gonna bitch.

Louis C.K.

____________________________________

Deadmau5/Paris Hilton

You’ve got to watch the video…

Paris Hilton – DJ Set

If that ain’t the most soulless white girl on the planet…

Meanwhile, the whole world has gone topsy-turvy. Those PR people telling you to hold back, to utter platitudes, that paradigm is gone along with the L.A. "Times" which is now so thin it might blow away in a storm.

Now you enter the fray. You say what have you have to say. Honesty is treasured.

Deadmau5 is fighting for the soul of electronic music. And he’s enlisting his army against the poseurs, even admitting he pushes buttons on stage. Yet, he’s illuminating the enterprise, saying it’s all about the studio, building tracks, if only the celebrity phonies would admit that they got plastic surgery and couldn’t sing.

I’d say Paris Hilton is killing electronic dance music, but at this point it’s unkillable, the kids love to go and party.

But just like in the sixties, the artists are speaking truth to power. Since when has that happened? Deadmau5 attached Madonna, who has now lost touch to the point where she’s flashing her tits and her ass, leaving nothing to the imagination, although she should. But that’s what desperation will bring. The Web is the great equalizer. We’re now all in it together, even you Madge. The best thing is to admit it and laugh at yourself.

But don’t be above getting in the pit and defending your position.

"Deadmau5 On Paris Hilton’s DJ’ing: ‘The Mayans Saw This S**t Coming’"

"We All Hit Play"

____________________________________

"Spotify Is Now The Second Biggest Source Of Revenue For Labels"

That’s what I love about the great unwashed, the hoi polloi, they’re uneducated and can’t see the future. Spotify works when it gains scale. And at that point, you make more money too.

Then again, you’d rather bitch.

____________________________________

More "Payphone"

It’s CATCHY!

My inbox is filling up with people criticizing the Maroon 5 track.

I hate to tell you, but the first criterion of any successful music is that it be listenable, that it gain prominence in a person’s headspace very quickly.

But too many would rather tell you to listen to something twenty times to get it. As if even a five year old has the time.

And too many would rather break the rules than adhere to them. Wow, let’s do a focus group and play your music and have you endure all the thumbs-down. But you’ll just say these people are ignorant. But then you’re gonna rail against them stealing your music, say the system is stacked against you, that you just can’t get paid. You’re gonna do everything but look at yourself, look at your music. Hell, listen to the Beatles, talk about CATCHY! Oh, that’s right, they sucked too.