{"id":1467,"date":"2008-11-22T07:59:41","date_gmt":"2008-11-22T15:59:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/?p=1467"},"modified":"2008-11-22T08:00:27","modified_gmt":"2008-11-22T16:00:27","slug":"albums-year-to-date","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2008\/11\/22\/albums-year-to-date\/","title":{"rendered":"Albums-Year To Date"},"content":{"rendered":"

1. Lil Wayne "Tha Carter III"\u00c2\u00a0 2,671,816<\/span><\/p>\n

Do we want to focus on the Internet marketing campaign (i.e. the steady release of free product), the discounts\/free goods to retail, the fact that a hip-hop album is number one or the low total gross.\u00c2\u00a0 I choose to look at this final fact.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s not a lot of road business.\u00c2\u00a0 A 360 deal with most rappers won’t help your bottom line.\u00c2\u00a0 Lil Wayne’s the king, but it’s not the domain it used to be.<\/p>\n


2. Coldplay "Viva La Vida"\u00c2\u00a0 1,905,679<\/span><\/p>\n

Based on the hype, you’d think it did 5 million, wouldn’t you?<\/p>\n

Most interesting fact?\u00c2\u00a0 579,007 of those albums were digital.<\/p>\n

3. Kid Rock "Rock N Roll Jesus"\u00c2\u00a0 1,712,661<\/span><\/p>\n

If keeping your album off iTunes generates this anemic total of albums sold, despite a multi-format smash, there’s a bigger problem facing the music business than the iTunes Store.<\/p>\n

4. Jack Johnson "Sleep Through The Static"\u00c2\u00a0 1,437,691<\/span><\/p>\n

The virtue of having fans.\u00c2\u00a0 He may not be in every magazine, but he’s a star to his audience.<\/p>\n


5. AC\/DC "Black Ice"\u00c2\u00a0 1,319,914<\/span><\/p>\n

Sold a whopping total of 2,084 discs online last week.\u00c2\u00a0 (About 2% of their grand total of 105,146 sold.)<\/p>\n

Making an album available for shipping online is not like selling at the iTunes Store, with its instant gratification.<\/p>\n

\n
Hey Bob,<\/p>\n

The ACDC area of the Walmarts here on Long Island have already been condensed.\u00c2\u00a0 It was a good run huh?\u00c2\u00a0 lolol<\/p>\n

Maria<\/p><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

6. Taylor Swift\u00c2\u00a0 1,316,801<\/span><\/p>\n

A bona fide star.\u00c2\u00a0 But for how long?\u00c2\u00a0 She’s overexposed and teen sensations don’t tend to last (yes, Justin Timberlake is an exception, but he changed his sound and is one stiff away from falling off the chart, like Kelly Clarkson.)<\/p>\n

8. Leona Lewis "Spirit" 1,249,522<\/span><\/p>\n

She may have closed the Olympics, but she’s not a star in the U.S.\u00c2\u00a0 She’s the owner of one big hit single.<\/p>\n


9. Mariah Carey "E=MC2"\u00c2\u00a0 1,193,599<\/span><\/p>\n

Never has ink outweighed sales to this degree.\u00c2\u00a0 She’s covered constantly in the press, but it turns out most people in the nation could care less.<\/p>\n

12. Jonas Brothers "A Little Bit Longer"\u00c2\u00a0 1,096,771<\/span><\/p>\n

Sure, the album only came out in August, but it’s already sunk to number 28 on the chart.<\/p>\n

In other words, the Jonas Brothers are no ‘N Sync.<\/p>\n

14. "Camp Rock"\u00c2\u00a0 1,083,351<\/span><\/p>\n

Is it that kids don’t watch TV in the summer or the vaunted Disney Magic is losing its luster?<\/p>\n

I’m going with the latter.<\/p>\n

15. Usher "Here I Stand"\u00c2\u00a0 1,070,771<\/span><\/p>\n

He fired his manager, angry about the lack of sales.\u00c2\u00a0 But sitting here at number 15, you’ve got to say Usher did pretty well, maybe there wasn’t that much money left on the table, maybe everybody who wanted this album bought it, or close to it.<\/p>\n


18. Miley Cyrus "Breakout"\u00c2\u00a0 1,015,480<\/span><\/p>\n

She won’t be selling out arenas next time around.<\/p>\n

Talk about the "Vanity Fair" pictures, say aging isn’t pretty, or admit it, a fad is a fad.<\/p>\n

23. Disturbed "Indestructible"\u00c2\u00a0 796,223<\/span><\/p>\n

Pretty damn good.\u00c2\u00a0 And most people in the country have no idea who Disturbed is.\u00c2\u00a0 But their fans do.\u00c2\u00a0 This record was not sold by saturation marketing, the band wasn’t featured on gossip sites, it was supported by its audience.\u00c2\u00a0 In the world of today’s music, Disturbed are stars (and the album only came out in June…)<\/p>\n


28. Colbie Caillat "Coco"\u00c2\u00a0 713,786<\/span><\/p>\n

The power of one incredible single.<\/p>\n

But she’s going to live and die based on her singles…<\/p>\n


29. Rick Ross "Trilla"\u00c2\u00a0 700,213<\/span><\/p>\n

Not a household word, but very respectable sales.<\/p>\n

In other words, saturation marketing reaches a bunch of people who just don’t care.<\/p>\n

33. Madonna "Hard Candy"\u00c2\u00a0 673,475<\/span><\/p>\n

I bet she’s pissed.\u00c2\u00a0 She did everything in her power to make this record a hit.\u00c2\u00a0 Worked with the flavors of the day…\u00c2\u00a0 But she’s an oldies act, who’s overcharging and playing venues too big and not selling out.<\/p>\n

Love to see her squirm.<\/p>\n

37. Radiohead "In Rainbows"\u00c2\u00a0 633,638<\/span><\/p>\n

Amazing considering they gave away the album for free.<\/p>\n

42. 3 Doors Down\u00c2\u00a0 610,717<\/span><\/p>\n

Meat and potatoes rock sells.<\/p>\n

Did Nickelback make a mistake working with Mutt?\u00c2\u00a0 Going closer to the center, trying to improve their quality?\u00c2\u00a0 Should they have just made the same workmanlike album one more time?\u00c2\u00a0 Probably.<\/p>\n

46. Alan Jackson "Good Time"\u00c2\u00a0 592,066<\/span><\/p>\n

Not that satisfying a record.\u00c2\u00a0 And mainstream press does not sell country records!<\/p>\n

48. Duffy "Rockferry"\u00c2\u00a0 579,191<\/span><\/p>\n

Wow, haven’t heard that name in a while.\u00c2\u00a0 Seems like a flash in the pan already, her moment seems to have passed.<\/p>\n

53. Slipknot\u00c2\u00a0 "All Hope Is Gone"\u00c2\u00a0 541,044<\/span><\/p>\n

They were on the Super Bowl, right?\u00c2\u00a0 Or did one of the guys date a Pussycat Doll…<\/p>\n

They make unlistenable music that their core audience loves.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s all that matters.<\/p>\n

54. Katy Perry "One Of The Boys"\u00c2\u00a0 537,160<\/span><\/p>\n

Don’t believe the hype!\u00c2\u00a0 She’s not a star!\u00c2\u00a0 She’s a singles artist at best!<\/p>\n

But the dying mainstream media has to trumpet somebody.\u00c2\u00a0 And they’ve chosen her.\u00c2\u00a0 But fewer and fewer people are paying attention to the mainstream media and the machine may demand big stars, but listeners do not.<\/p>\n

66. Maroon 5\u00c2\u00a0 "It Won’t Be Soon Before Long"\u00c2\u00a0 457,126<\/span><\/p>\n

Clive would have sold more.<\/p>\n

Interscope is about real records.\u00c2\u00a0 Clive is about the hype.\u00c2\u00a0 He works the publicity and Richard Palmese gets the adds and they sell tonnage, then no one wants to hear the act ever again.<\/p>\n


86. Weezer (Red Album)\u00c2\u00a0 375,952<\/span>

Hipsters love Rivers Cuomo, most people just don’t care.\u00c2\u00a0 AND Rick Rubin produced some of this record.<\/p>\n


87. Sheryl Crow "Detours"\u00c2\u00a0 375,781<\/span><\/p>\n

Her audience aged out.<\/p>\n

94. Panic At The Disco\u00c2\u00a0 "Pretty Odd"\u00c2\u00a0 354,394<\/span><\/p>\n

I’m surprised they sold this many.\u00c2\u00a0 The more mainstream exposure you get, the shorter your shelf life.<\/p>\n

_______________________<\/p>\n

Conclusion:<\/span><\/p>\n

You’ve got a chart.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s good to be at its top, or close to it.\u00c2\u00a0 But you can’t analyze in the abstract, you’ve got to add context.<\/p>\n

And context says in a nation of 300 million, these sales are shit.\u00c2\u00a0 You can rail all day about piracy, you can say iTunes has turned it into a singles business (no, the Internet did), but the real story is with so many entertainment choices, so many diversions, we all don’t have to pay attention to the same overhyped crap.\u00c2\u00a0 We get to choose what we want to listen to.\u00c2\u00a0 In other words, the days of Tommy Mottola and Columbia’s Big Red Machine are dead.\u00c2\u00a0 You can flog it, but that doesn’t mean anybody will buy it.<\/p>\n

Music is underground again.\u00c2\u00a0 Rejoice.\u00c2\u00a0 It belongs to the people.<\/p>\n

However, easy riches are out of the industry’s grasp.\u00c2\u00a0 The nineties are history.\u00c2\u00a0 The golden age of pigs at the trough are done.\u00c2\u00a0 You’d better make good music that appeals to an audience that is willing to listen to you for years.\u00c2\u00a0 You’d better be willing to get your money on the installment plan instead of all up front.\u00c2\u00a0 You’d better realize this is no longer the lottery, but a business based on bunts and singles instead of grand slams.<\/p>\n

<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1. Lil Wayne "Tha Carter III"\u00c2\u00a0 2,671,816 Do we want to focus on the Internet marketing campaign (i.e. the steady release of free product), the discounts\/free goods to retail, the fact that a hip-hop album is number one or the low total gross.\u00c2\u00a0 I choose to look at this final fact.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s not a lot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-nF","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1467"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1469,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1467\/revisions\/1469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}