{"id":535,"date":"2006-09-22T08:17:53","date_gmt":"2006-09-22T16:17:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/archives\/2006\/09\/22\/this-weeks-sales-4\/"},"modified":"2006-09-22T08:17:53","modified_gmt":"2006-09-22T16:17:53","slug":"this-weeks-sales-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2006\/09\/22\/this-weeks-sales-4\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week’s Sales"},"content":{"rendered":"

1. Justin Timberlake "Future Sex\/Love Sounds"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 684,461
Debut<\/p>\n

If this is the future of sex, Woody Allen was right, the orgasmatron is coming!<\/p>\n

Funny thing about today’s landscape…\u00c2\u00a0 If you don’t like something, you can ignore it.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not like the sixties, we don’t live in one big homogenous society.\u00c2\u00a0 Justin Timberlake might as well be the biggest star in North Dakota in terms of the impact it has on me.<\/p>\n

The scary thing is that all those kids who bought ‘N Sync records actually think this dude is talented, that he’s the real thing.\u00c2\u00a0 Talk about warped, degraded standards!<\/p>\n

I think this world can be separated into two factions.\u00c2\u00a0 Those who get "SexyBack" and those who don’t.\u00c2\u00a0 Those who think music is to fuck to and those who believe it’s about setting your mind free, not that they’re opposed to coitus.<\/p>\n

This is not the Beatles.\u00c2\u00a0 The baby boomers are not going to wake up one day and say they missed the boat, Justin Timberlake was a great songwriter, a true talent.\u00c2\u00a0 Justin Timberlake is an ENTERTAINER, who takes himself WAY too seriously.<\/p>\n

As for those who say the acts of yore were no different, you might as well live in China, where they keep rewriting history.\u00c2\u00a0 Music drove the culture in the sixties.\u00c2\u00a0 Now the mainstream stuff is a lubricant at best.<\/p>\n

2. John Mayer "Continuum"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 299,664
Debut<\/p>\n

Jeremy Segal:<\/p>\n

\n

I’m a longtime Esquire subscriber and DID read John Mayer’s columns.<\/p>\n

He came across as a giant tool. Sounding hipper-than-thou, he name-dropped and generally presented himself as an authority on music. And he’s, what, 27? I know he’s got the musical chops and all but get out of my face, punk.<\/p>\n

I was a mildly casual fan before he did those articles. Now I cringe when I see anything about him.<\/p>\n

I’m so glad Esquire stopped using Johnny.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If you think all exposure, all publicity is good, you’re still living in the nineties.\u00c2\u00a0 Who even KNOWS or CARES what this guy’s music sounds like.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, he’s for housewives, ain’t he?<\/p>\n

5. Bob Dylan "Modern Times"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 93,143
Cume: 414,035<\/p>\n

What I wrote last week but didn’t print:<\/p>\n

Story of the year, but have you LISTENED to this record??<\/p>\n

I don’t believe it deserves the hype.<\/p>\n

Love the opener, "Thunder On The Mountain", but then there’s "Someday Baby", which is a rip of the Allmans’ version of "Trouble No More".<\/p>\n

Really, there’s nothing wrong with this record, but I believe writers want to focus on a STORY, and don’t realize that first of all people listen to the MUSIC!<\/p>\n

If you love Dylan’s XM show, with its eclectic old music, you’ll love this.\u00c2\u00a0 Otherwise, caveat emptor.<\/p>\n

_____________________<\/p>\n

This week:<\/p>\n

So now plagiarism is the FOLK TRADITION?<\/p>\n

The reviews of this album are demonstration of why you can no longer trust print\/reviewers.\u00c2\u00a0 To look cool, to be a member of the club, to remind you of the way things WERE, you’ve got to dig deep and give a good review of this record.\u00c2\u00a0 Whereas you’ve got to listen to it almost a dozen times for it to reveal itself, and almost nobody’s gonna give it that time and should you have to TAKE the time?\u00c2\u00a0 Isn’t that like saying if you’re alone on an island with a member of the opposite sex for three months you’ll grow close?<\/p>\n

This is not a bad record.\u00c2\u00a0 But it could have used an outside producer, the sound is anything but revelatory, never mind ear-pleasing and Dylan could have used a Jacques Levy.\u00c2\u00a0 <\/p>\n

If you consider this to be classic, you’ve never listened to "Blood On The Tracks", never mind "Bringing It All Back Home", "Highway 61" or "Blonde On Blonde".<\/p>\n

Now if you were alive back then, if you weren’t looking at the past through rose-colored glasses like the aforementioned writers, you’ll know that Bob Dylan released a turkey, "Self Portrait", and after the reviews were SCATHING, he went back into the studio and released the almost classic "New Morning" within six months.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe if they gave this guy BAD reviews, he’d come to his senses and make something more accessible.<\/p>\n

Oh, don’t tell me "Modern Times"’ virtue is its INACCESSIBILITY.\u00c2\u00a0 "Anna Karenina" isn’t inaccessible.\u00c2\u00a0 And if inaccessibility is the criterion, "Trout Mask Replica" is the best record ever made, maybe challenged by "Metal Machine Music".<\/p>\n

This is not a word of mouth record.\u00c2\u00a0 These same worthless print writers are selling this record.\u00c2\u00a0 Getting baby boomers who want to look cool and in the loop to buy it.\u00c2\u00a0 Because if you heard it at a friend’s house, you’d NEVER buy it!<\/p>\n

9. Mars Volta "Amputechture"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 59,078
Debut<\/p>\n

Okay, it’s time to make some good music.\u00c2\u00a0 The mood, the energy, the fire, you’ve brought that from the beginning.\u00c2\u00a0 Now we want some memorable TUNES!\u00c2\u00a0 Otherwise you’re the Mahavishnu Orchestra, people GIVE UP!<\/p>\n

Stunning how few members are in the core.\u00c2\u00a0 Because you know this record’s heading straight to the dumper after this.<\/p>\n

12. Audioslave "Revelations"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 49,102
Cume: 191,553<\/p>\n

Hopefully that’s what Chris Cornell had, and is really leaving this group.<\/p>\n

Audioslave is no better than Asia.\u00c2\u00a0 A supergroup formed by lost souls looking for continued income.\u00c2\u00a0 If Audioslave floats your boat…you’re the kind of person who thought REO Speedwagon was cool twenty five years back.<\/p>\n

17. Barenaked Ladies "Barenaked Ladies Are Me"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 36,735
Debut<\/p>\n

Chris Beytes:<\/p>\n

\n

The Barenaked Ladies performed at the recent NASCAR race, the Chevy Rock & Roll 400 in Richmond, and the band’s image was on the hood of the car driven by Kevin Harvick, who eventually won the race. Talk about exposure and growing the core – they performed for 107,000 people! Not to mention the television audience during and after the race that will see images of the winning car over and over again.<\/p>\n

I assume we can give Terry McBride credit for setting up the deal? – and give Chevy credit for going for it and NASCAR credit for figuring their fans will listen to more than just shit-kicking country.<\/p>\n

Who needs the majors, indeed!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Terry McBride:<\/p>\n

\n

that one took months to put together … to persuade Chevy, who now love the guys …. even Bruce Allen who loves to poke fun at me thought that was a smart one …. one thing for sure … with our freedom, we have gained back our imaginations and our ability to have so much fun!….<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Terry McBride:<\/p>\n

\n

fyi<\/p>\n

$ 978, 127.99 in revenue from Intellectual Property in 1st week<\/p>\n

Desperation Records and Nettwerk Music Group\u00c2\u00a0 is pleased to announce that Barenaked Ladies did\u00c2\u00a0 $ 978, 127.99 in first week music sales from " Barenaked Ladies Are Me"<\/p>\n

also on a side note the release was the #4 Digital seller in the USA, #3 in Canada<\/p>\n

it’s spread over so many IP assets (over 200) ….. I can show you some big ones:<\/p>\n

Full length Digital sales (Deluxe & regular version)\u00c2\u00a0 12,724 = $160,898.94<\/p>\n

Other Digital = $ 59, 292.58<\/p>\n

Direct sales = $ 89, 488.00<\/p>\n

various physical retail = $659,860.64, not all tracked by soundscan as we had so many versions from regular CD, to Deluxe, to USB, to Vinyl, to Regular cd+bonus live version of the same album & on and on<\/p>\n

then a small bit of other $<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And it’s GOOD!<\/p>\n

21. Black Label Society "Shot To Hell"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 31,747
Debut<\/p>\n

Like Zakk Wylde’s liver…<\/p>\n

Another dude who hasn’t delivered on his promise.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe if he hadn’t drowned his pain in alcohol.<\/p>\n

Great work on Ozzy’s "No More Tears", but he hasn’t truly delivered since (and neither has Ozzy!)<\/p>\n

This is selling because of the Ozzy\/Ozzfest connection.\u00c2\u00a0 It won’t CONTINUE to sell.<\/p>\n

63. Dixie Chicks "Taking The Long Way"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 14,915
Cume: 1,611,024<\/p>\n

They’re only a hit single away from this album truly becoming a phenomenon.<\/p>\n

I don’t think the movie will sell records, but place a song as a TV theme, whether it be a series or sports, and this record would blister up the chart.<\/p>\n

The Chicks have sold more albums than Red Hot Chili Peppers (1,385,202) and the only acts that have outsold them who are higher on the chart are Nickelback (3,537,784), Rascal Flatts (2,461,863), Pussycat Dolls (2,146,583), High School Musical (3,072,039), Carrie Underwood (3,406,241) and James Blunt (2,177,019).\u00c2\u00a0 Except for Nickelback, the others are all phenomena, riding a crest that might not be repeated.\u00c2\u00a0 Whereas the Chicks have had a string of multiplatinum albums.<\/p>\n

Disappointing cume compared to the way it USED to be, but in this era of diminished expectations, since you can’t get mindshare and Top Forty only plays urban\/kiddie pop, this is a DAMN good number.\u00c2\u00a0 Not all blue state come late to the show people either.\u00c2\u00a0 No, some red state folk are buying this album.\u00c2\u00a0 Proving the mainstream hype about southerners and Republicans not liking the act might just be that.\u00c2\u00a0 Who’s gonna take a risk at country and play the Chicks?\u00c2\u00a0 Who’s gonna be a hero?\u00c2\u00a0 The audience is ready.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, have you looked at George Bush’s approval ratings?<\/p>\n

85. OK Go "Oh No"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 11,411
Cume: 89,127<\/p>\n

But number 22 on the Digital Tracks chart, with 27,946 copies of "Here It Goes Again" downloaded, for a cume of 86,060.<\/p>\n

And the record is number 12 on the Digital Albums chart, with 4,946 moved and a cume of 27,671.<\/p>\n

In other words…\u00c2\u00a0 This is an INTERNET phenomenon.\u00c2\u00a0 The band broke on the Net and if you were exposed\/know that, there’s a good chance you purchased the album ONLINE!\u00c2\u00a0 Whereas if you’re not Net\/YouTube savvy, chances are you’re out of the loop.<\/p>\n

And they say the Net doesn’t sell records.<\/p>\n

Every asshole who keeps saying that no Net star has broken yet…\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve got just one word for you…CAMERAS!\u00c2\u00a0 We heard for fifteen years film was gonna die.\u00c2\u00a0 But it stayed alive.\u00c2\u00a0 And died overnight.\u00c2\u00a0 Same deal with the CD, and terrestrial radio for music for that matter.\u00c2\u00a0 The tighter the playlist, the lower the common denominator, the more people who find what they’re looking for elsewhere.<\/p>\n

109. Shawn Colvin "These Four Walls"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 9,461
Debut<\/p>\n

Close readers know that Shawn’s "Steady On" is my favorite record of the nineties (although released in the fall of ’89).\u00c2\u00a0 Listen to that record and this, and you might think it’s not even the same PERSON!\u00c2\u00a0 Shawn’s voice has changed completely.\u00c2\u00a0 Its girlish charm has been replaced with a restrained adulthood that’s off-putting.<\/p>\n

As for the fact that she once won Grammys for Song Of The Year AND Record Of The Year…shows how much THAT means.\u00c2\u00a0 She went from being a respected cult artist to being a mainstream one hit wonder.<\/p>\n

116. R.E.M. "Best: IRS Years 82-87 2-CD Set"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 8,733
Debut<\/p>\n

Nobody cares, and everybody who did already owns this stuff.<\/p>\n

129. Peter Frampton "Fingerprints"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 7,928
Debut<\/p>\n

So I’m driving home from the shrink and I hear Bob Mayo’s piano, starting a live version of "I Wanna Go To The Sun" from BEFORE "Comes Alive".\u00c2\u00a0 I had a warm fuzzy feeling as I drifted back and forth in the car.\u00c2\u00a0 My mind was set free in a way Justin Timberlake’s music can’t seem to make it.\u00c2\u00a0 Listening to Justin is like having a lobotomy.\u00c2\u00a0 You can move your body, but you don’t know why.\u00c2\u00a0 Whereas music used to set your mind adrift.\u00c2\u00a0 You could be in the concrete jungle, yet in your mind you were on a boat in the Pacific, or skiing down a slope…you were your best self.<\/p>\n

Dee Anthony killed Frampton’s career.\u00c2\u00a0 By playing to the wrong demo.\u00c2\u00a0 An evanescent kid market rather than the musos who adored him.\u00c2\u00a0 "I’m In You"…BLECCH!! <\/p>\n

If you were around in the beginning, if you bought those Humble Pie records and saw the band live (I was THERE when they recorded "Rockin’ The Fillmore"), you know Peter can play.\u00c2\u00a0 Turns out this is an instrumental album.\u00c2\u00a0 Who knows if I’ll ever hear it, who knows how ANYBODY knew it came out, but I do know "All I Want To Be (Is By Your Side)" is one of my top tracks of all time, showcasing Peter’s fluid, melodic playing as opposed to his cuteness.\u00c2\u00a0 Listening to it brings me back to college, lying on my bed, reading "Rolling Stone" and thinking about all the women I couldn’t connect with, but didn’t worry about, since I had this great music to keep me company.<\/p>\n

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1. Justin Timberlake "Future Sex\/Love Sounds" Sales this week: 684,461Debut If this is the future of sex, Woody Allen was right, the orgasmatron is coming! Funny thing about today’s landscape…\u00c2\u00a0 If you don’t like something, you can ignore it.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s not like the sixties, we don’t live in one big homogenous society.\u00c2\u00a0 Justin Timberlake might […]<\/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-535","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-8D","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535","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=535"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}