{"id":351,"date":"2006-03-09T10:39:39","date_gmt":"2006-03-09T17:39:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/archives\/2006\/03\/09\/more-singles-2\/"},"modified":"2006-03-09T10:39:39","modified_gmt":"2006-03-09T17:39:39","slug":"more-singles-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2006\/03\/09\/more-singles-2\/","title":{"rendered":"More Singles"},"content":{"rendered":"

In case you’re somehow out of the loop on this inane debate, I reference Jeff Leeds’ article in tomorrow’s "New York Times":\u00c2\u00a0 Labels Halt Downloads to Increase CD Sales<\/a><\/p>\n

I’ve got a revolutionary idea.\u00c2\u00a0 Why don’t the single and the album come out on the same DAY!!\u00c2\u00a0 This is the way it USED to be, before marketing triumphed over music.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, maybe you could hear "Carry On" for a couple of DAYS before "Deja Vu" hit the stores…\u00c2\u00a0 Then again, it wasn’t like today when everybody broke out the new product on a Tuesday.\u00c2\u00a0 You used to call your local store EVERY DAY to find out if the record had come in.<\/p>\n

What’s up with this first week sales mania?\u00c2\u00a0 What’s up with this short term thinking?\u00c2\u00a0 What’s up with the lack of focus on careers? What’s UP with all this holding back when the Internet promises everything available at all times.\u00c2\u00a0 Shit, hear me now when I tell you in the future there won’t even BE albums, just a steady stream of work from ARTISTS!\u00c2\u00a0 It’s only fly by night acts that need to be trumpeted, run up the charts with an advance single so their unheard album will sell big in its first week, before it’s forgotten come Grammy time…<\/p>\n

And ain’t that just the point.\u00c2\u00a0 The acts of yore weren’t about the public eye, being mainstream, hyped to high heaven, winning awards, but being UNDERGROUND!<\/p>\n

Ne-Yo’s album could have been released the day the single went on the radio.\u00c2\u00a0 The smart business strategy wouldn’t be to hold the track back from iTunes and Rhapsody but to make the whole ALBUM available immediately, both digitally and at physical retail.\u00c2\u00a0 But then IDJ wouldn’t have gotten that POP with that impressive first week number.<\/p>\n

What, is this a SPORTS competition?\u00c2\u00a0 Last I checked, they weren’t giving out any awards for entering the chart at number one, certainly no cash bonuses, so why are the labels so INTERESTED IN IT?\u00c2\u00a0 So they can have bragging rights amongst the club of million dollar execs?\u00c2\u00a0 So their lawyers can use it as ammunition in contract renegotiation?\u00c2\u00a0 If you sell a million albums, does it make any difference whether you do it in a month or a year?\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, I’d argue, and I can make a PERSUASIVE argument, that it’s better to TAKE a year.\u00c2\u00a0 The longer period implies discovery.\u00c2\u00a0 It means that the act can garner fans and respect.\u00c2\u00a0 It means that sledgehammer marketing would be absent.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve never even heard Ne-Yo’s record and I ALREADY hate the dude.\u00c2\u00a0 Yup, I hate EVERYTHING oversold by the major labels.\u00c2\u00a0 And I’m not the only one.\u00c2\u00a0 They think they’re operating in the mainstream, but they’re functioning as a SIDESHOW!\u00c2\u00a0 True music fans aren’t buying what’s hyped and played on Top Forty, what’s near the top of the chart, but CAREER acts, that they’re finding out about in alternative ways.<\/p>\n

Hell, what was ARCADE FIRE’S first week number?\u00c2\u00a0 Where did it enter the chart?\u00c2\u00a0 Did single sales cannibalize the album?\u00c2\u00a0 Shit, people BELIEVE in Arcade Fire.\u00c2\u00a0 Because they didn’t oversell themselves, because they didn’t play the major label game.<\/p>\n

One of the stupidest things of all time is advertising something that is UNAVAILABLE!\u00c2\u00a0 And that’s what radio airplay with no buyable product is.\u00c2\u00a0 So, you create a fervor the first week.\u00c2\u00a0 What about after THAT?<\/p>\n

Boy is this business screwed up.<\/p>\n

(P.S. Ever notice how Steve Jobs announces products during his speeches and says they’re available RIGHT NOW, in Apple Stores? And then there’s a MASS EXODUS to buy up each and every item in inventory as soon as he stops speaking?\u00c2\u00a0 The only time he announces something unavailable is when the speech is prescheduled, like the annual Macworld keynote.\u00c2\u00a0 Otherwise, he holds off presentations until the product is ready.\u00c2\u00a0 THAT’S consumer satisfaction.\u00c2\u00a0 Immediate GRATIFICATION!\u00c2\u00a0 Then again, the record labels don’t want to be like Apple.\u00c2\u00a0 They don’t want their stock to triple.\u00c2\u00a0 They don’t want record sales and profits.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s no money in being ahead of the curve, better to live in the PAST!)<\/p>\n

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

In case you’re somehow out of the loop on this inane debate, I reference Jeff Leeds’ article in tomorrow’s "New York Times":\u00c2\u00a0 Labels Halt Downloads to Increase CD Sales I’ve got a revolutionary idea.\u00c2\u00a0 Why don’t the single and the album come out on the same DAY!!\u00c2\u00a0 This is the way it USED to be, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","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-351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-5F","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}