{"id":1858,"date":"2009-04-08T18:04:49","date_gmt":"2009-04-09T02:04:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/?p=1858"},"modified":"2009-04-08T18:04:49","modified_gmt":"2009-04-09T02:04:49","slug":"sales-week-ending-4509","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2009\/04\/08\/sales-week-ending-4509\/","title":{"rendered":"Sales-Week Ending-4\/5\/09"},"content":{"rendered":"

1. Keith Urban "Defying Gravity"<\/span><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 171,525
Debut<\/p>\n

I find a play count of 74 for "Stupid Boy" in my iTunes library.\u00c2\u00a0 His show two years ago was the best I saw in 2007.\u00c2\u00a0 But this album is a disappointment.\u00c2\u00a0 The sound of the record can sometimes be great, especially the guitars, but the material is so safe and second-rate, it’s disheartening.<\/p>\n

You can’t always play to the audience.\u00c2\u00a0 That kills careers, it doesn’t make them.\u00c2\u00a0 Sure, "Love, Pain & The Whole Crazy Thing" wasn’t as successful as the previous two albums, but he was in rehab and…it wasn’t as consistently great.\u00c2\u00a0 But rather than turn around, Keith should have soldiered on.\u00c2\u00a0 I can’t tell you how many people I e-mailed "Stupid Boy" to.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’re a rock fan, if you loved that early seventies country rock sound, everybody from CSN to Y, you can’t help but love "Stupid Boy".\u00c2\u00a0 It’s heartfelt, Keith sings the track like he wrote it, even though he didn’t.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s pulling a Bonnie Raitt here.\u00c2\u00a0 And the guitar solo, whew!<\/p>\n

But I won’t be sending anybody any tracks off the new album.<\/p>\n

Maybe producer Dann Huff’s "I’m A Believer" from his old band Giant, but nothing from "Defying Gravity".<\/p>\n

2. Prince "Lotus Flower"<\/span><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 168,420
Debut<\/p>\n

Who cares.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve had this album sitting on my hard drive for weeks and haven’t played a lick.\u00c2\u00a0 Where do you start with three CDs from a guy who hasn’t put out anything decent in eons?\u00c2\u00a0 Prince has got to regain our trust.\u00c2\u00a0 This looks like a giant number until you compare it with those of AC\/DC or the Eagles, who did exclusives with Wal-Mart.\u00c2\u00a0 These sales are about money, not music.<\/p>\n

3. Diana Krall "Quiet Nights"<\/span><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 104,023
Debut<\/p>\n

Trying to resuscitate her career after her hubby Elvis Costello ground it to a halt by producing her last one.\u00c2\u00a0 I keep reading about the bossa-nova influence.\u00c2\u00a0 From a girl from Vancouver?\u00c2\u00a0 Used to be Diana Krall albums stayed on the chart forever, and you could wait to get into them. Will this one sustain?<\/p>\n

5. Hannah Montana\u00c2\u00a0 "Soundtrack"<\/span><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 86,501
Weeks on: 2
Percentage change: -38
Cume: 225,281<\/p>\n

Past her peak.\u00c2\u00a0 The mania’s gone.\u00c2\u00a0 You’d be better off investing in Widespread Panic.\u00c2\u00a0 They’ll be playing big rooms while Miley’s doing guest shots on TV in between having babies.<\/p>\n

Turns out the kids are not as stupid as the mainstream media.\u00c2\u00a0 Trends are incredibly brief now.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t expect the Jonas Brothers to burn up the chart.<\/p>\n

8. Flo Rida "R.O.O.T.S. (Root Of Overcoming"<\/span><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 55,285
Debut<\/p>\n

Wanted Dead Or Alive?<\/p>\n

Not.<\/p>\n

You don’t spin records ’round and ’round anymore.\u00c2\u00a0 His single was a confection that you download and delete.<\/p>\n

Next!<\/p>\n

9. Lady GaGa\u00c2\u00a0 "Fame"<\/span><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 51,139
Weeks on: 23
Percentage change: +13
Cume: 602,694<\/p>\n

Have you seen the video where she plays live?\u00c2\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Lady GaGa – "Poker Face" – Acoustic LIVE<\/a><\/p>\n

Nothing helps your career more than appearing to be a musician, playing your instrument, demonstrating chops.\u00c2\u00a0 Which Miley Cyrus has none of.<\/p>\n

Lady GaGa could actually last!<\/p>\n

10. Taylor Swift "Fearless"<\/span><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 41,557
Weeks on: 21
Percentage change: +5
Cume: 2,977,444<\/p>\n

Did you see her open the ACM Awards?\u00c2\u00a0 To say she was awful would be charitable.\u00c2\u00a0 She sang weakly and played the guitar worse than a Rock Band aficionado.\u00c2\u00a0 What is it with these women, from Madonna to Taylor Swift, who think they can only have cred if they strap on a Les Paul and shake their hips?\u00c2\u00a0 Ms. Swift redeemed herself with her piano-based solo slot later in the show, but for a minute there, I was ready to stick a fork in her.<\/p>\n

12. U2 "No Line On The Horizon"<\/span><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 35,989
Weeks on: 5
Percentage change: -30
Cume: 780,478<\/p>\n

I don’t get it.\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t understand why Paul McGuinness is so busy beating up the ISPs.\u00c2\u00a0 The future of U2 is on the road.\u00c2\u00a0 Have you seen those ticket counts?\u00c2\u00a0 I’d be more worried about making sure each and every attendee knew the new music than whether people are paying for it. The more people who know your music, the longer your career.\u00c2\u00a0 Clamping down on file-traders via ISPs will only hurt the spread of the arts. We live in a sampling community.\u00c2\u00a0 The more sampling that can be done, the greater the chance that something can rise above the fray.\u00c2\u00a0 You mean you want me to buy something first, to check it out?\u00c2\u00a0 Do you want me to buy a piece of shit Chrysler without taking a test drive?<\/p>\n

I believe people should pay for music, but let’s not cling to archaic distribution schemes, let’s not fight battles that can’t be won.\u00c2\u00a0 Bottom line, people will still find a way to trade music and any slow-down in P2P activity will actually HURT bands.<\/p>\n

14. Kelly Clarkson "All I Ever Wanted"<\/span><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 33,897
Weeks on: 4
Percentage change: -34
Cume: 431,129<\/p>\n

How smart does Narvel look now?<\/p>\n

They built buzz around one single, then sales faltered.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s about a long term play these days.\u00c2\u00a0 Kelly Clarkson is so yesterday.<\/p>\n

17. Nickelback "Dark Horse"<\/span><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 29,074
Weeks on: 20
Percentage change: -4
Cume: 1,770,067<\/p>\n

Don’t you get it?\u00c2\u00a0 The mainstream media, the gossip blogs want pop.\u00c2\u00a0 The audience wants rock.<\/p>\n

22. Yeah Yeah Yeahs "It’s Blitz!"<\/span><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 21,763
Weeks on: 4
Percentage change: +523
Cume: 42,941<\/p>\n

Never was so much press piled on such an inconsequential act.<\/p>\n

Oh, that’s not true.\u00c2\u00a0 We’ve seen this movie many times before.\u00c2\u00a0 But that was when there was limited product, when some ignorant fucks would buy what was hyped.\u00c2\u00a0 Now, only the core cares.<\/p>\n

I’m not convinced.<\/p>\n

54. Decemberists ""Hazards Of Love"<\/span><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 11,392
Weeks on: 3
Percentage change: -60
Cume: 58,876<\/p>\n

They’re on a major label why?<\/p>\n

They’ve got a hard core who love them, they e-mail me every day.<\/p>\n

The rest of us…\u00c2\u00a0 Just don’t care.<\/p>\n

The major specializes in breaking you big.\u00c2\u00a0 But nobody breaks big anymore, and anything that does is sanitized pop, not art rock.<\/p>\n

They should pull an Amanda Palmer, get off their label.\u00c2\u00a0 Since the first week’s sales were all digital, imagine how much money they’d have made if they were distributed through Tunecore as opposed to Capitol!<\/p>\n

72. Dolly Parton "Backwoods Barbie"<\/span><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 9,555
Weeks on: 2
Percentage change: -22
Cume: 159,837<\/p>\n

So THAT’S why she was on "60 Minutes", she was hyping a new album.<\/p>\n

That’s the problem with plastic surgery, once you start, you can’t give up.\u00c2\u00a0 She’s a train-wreck who is painful to look at.\u00c2\u00a0 I liked it when she went back to bluegrass…\u00c2\u00a0 Even the tabloids gave up on covering her.\u00c2\u00a0 If there’s a way out of her mess, it may only be by writing a book coming clean about her plastic surgeries and her faux marriage.\u00c2\u00a0 She’s burnt us out.<\/p>\n

76. Leonard Cohen "Live In London"<\/span><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 8,979
Debut<\/p>\n

They want to go to the show, they don’t need the record, if they even know the record is out.<\/p>\n

Columbia is not a player here.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s about the promoter.\u00c2\u00a0 The record doesn’t lead, it follows.\u00c2\u00a0 The record is a souvenir, an extra in the goodie bag.\u00c2\u00a0 And no amount of ranting by the RIAA is going to change this.<\/p>\n

84. Bruce Springsteen "Working On A Dream"<\/span><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 8,030
Weeks on: 10
Percentage change: -20
Cume: 501,910<\/p>\n

Yeah, it finally went gold!<\/p>\n

So, what we’ve learned here is the Super Bowl may sell tickets, but it certainly doesn’t sell product.<\/p>\n

Bruce is beholden to Sony in a new paradigm.\u00c2\u00a0 He needs one great topical song, right now.\u00c2\u00a0 Write off this pop-based confection and move on.<\/p>\n


98. Neko Case "Middle Cyclone"<\/span><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 6,620
Weeks on: 5
Percentage change: -40
Cume: 96,832<\/p>\n

The new paradigm.\u00c2\u00a0 Almost no one knows who she is, but her fans do.\u00c2\u00a0 She’s built a career, that’s got life in it, her audience is supporting her, she’s doing it her way, she doesn’t have to sell out to ANYBODY!<\/p>\n

__________________________________<\/p>\n

In other words, it’s about your tour gross, not your SoundScan.\u00c2\u00a0 And no amount of bloviating by the old guard is going to change this.\u00c2\u00a0 People will overpay to be up close and personal, but very few want to pay a lot for your record.\u00c2\u00a0 Better to sell a boxed set at a high price to those who truly care than to try to flog an album with ten tracks to everybody.<\/p>\n

And if you’re fighting for attention, you’re gonna find fewer and fewer people care.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody’s got a different homepage, there are 500 channels, and infinite choice of what to listen to online.<\/p>\n

The future is coming despite everybody’s protestations.\u00c2\u00a0 Just like the audience has shrugged its shoulders and said it doesn’t care about Miley Cyrus, they don’t care about the value of music and copyrights and…\u00c2\u00a0 Rather than fight the tide, jump into the water and float downstream.\u00c2\u00a0 Isn’t that what John Lennon implored you to do?\u00c2\u00a0 To relax your mind and float downstream?<\/p>\n

Tomorrow never knows.\u00c2\u00a0 I can’t tell you exactly how the future plays out.\u00c2\u00a0 But I’ll guarantee you it’s never going to be the way it used to be again.\u00c2\u00a0 Never.<\/p>\n

Or maybe when we’ve got three television networks, a flourishing newspaper industry and Japanese cars are seen as a joke.\u00c2\u00a0 What was that, forty years ago?<\/p>\n

Samsung is the new Sony.\u00c2\u00a0 Lexus is the new Cadillac.\u00c2\u00a0 iPod is the new Walkman.\u00c2\u00a0 The public knows this, do you?<\/p>\n

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

1. Keith Urban "Defying Gravity" Sales this week: 171,525Debut I find a play count of 74 for "Stupid Boy" in my iTunes library.\u00c2\u00a0 His show two years ago was the best I saw in 2007.\u00c2\u00a0 But this album is a disappointment.\u00c2\u00a0 The sound of the record can sometimes be great, especially the guitars, but the […]<\/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-1858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-tY","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1858","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=1858"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1859,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1858\/revisions\/1859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}