{"id":816,"date":"2007-06-02T09:05:30","date_gmt":"2007-06-02T17:05:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/index.php\/archives\/2007\/06\/02\/sales-week-ending-52707\/"},"modified":"2007-06-02T09:05:30","modified_gmt":"2007-06-02T17:05:30","slug":"sales-week-ending-52707","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/2007\/06\/02\/sales-week-ending-52707\/","title":{"rendered":"Sales-Week Ending-5\/27\/07"},"content":{"rendered":"

1. Maroon 5 "It Won’t Be Soon Before Long"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 429,484
Debut<\/p>\n

Is Maroon 5 a lightweight sideshow that demands no attention or did I just not get the memo?<\/p>\n

Oh, I got the MEMO!\u00c2\u00a0 How can you escape it!\u00c2\u00a0 It’s TWENTIETH CENTURY hype done to the zenith!\u00c2\u00a0 Saturation advertising, placed stories, all to get everybody to rush into the store and buy the album the day it comes out, or "drops" in hip-hop parlance.<\/p>\n

Well, in a country of three hundred million, this number isn’t pitiful, but it’s close.\u00c2\u00a0 Could it be that most people just don’t give a shit about Maroon 5?\u00c2\u00a0 Could just as well do without them?\u00c2\u00a0 The way they’ve done without Whitney Houston all these years?<\/p>\n

I mean what did Whitney do to change the landscape, to make us remember?\u00c2\u00a0 There’s not a string of unforgettable, groundbreaking singles, like with Aretha Franklin, just a few paint by number pop concoctions sold with pretty images on MTV, back when people used to watch MTV, when it used to be about music.<\/p>\n

How fucked up is it that VH1 is more watchable than MTV?\u00c2\u00a0 MTV’s bringing back "Unplugged", with Bon Jovi?\u00c2\u00a0 Isn’t that like signing your own death warrant, showing everybody that you truly do live in the past?\u00c2\u00a0 They can’t break any new stars, so they’re just gonna bring back the old ones.\u00c2\u00a0 Let me guess…\u00c2\u00a0 Bon Jovi’s gonna play "Livin’ On A Prayer" and "Wanted Dead Or Alive", as well as the country track he’s working that week.\u00c2\u00a0 Make me puke.\u00c2\u00a0 Whereas at least VH1’s living in the twenty first century, it’s just "Mad" magazine train-wreck reality shows, gutter comedy.<\/p>\n

One thing’s for sure, Maroon 5 won’t have the lasting power of Bon Jovi.\u00c2\u00a0 First of all, they’re not as good.\u00c2\u00a0 Secondly, IT’S NOT 1986, MOST PEOPLE JUST AREN’T PAYING ATTENTION!<\/p>\n

Funny thing is I’ve heard Maroon 5’s new single once, on some satellite station.\u00c2\u00a0 I’d like to tell you it’s great, but it’s a confection.\u00c2\u00a0 But, my point is I know the band is led by Adam Levine, he grew up in Brentwood, didn’t he?\u00c2\u00a0 He had a previous band that didn’t break through?\u00c2\u00a0 I mean how fucked up is THIS!\u00c2\u00a0 I know the band’s story better than their music!\u00c2\u00a0 And I don’t even care, it’s just that I’ve been BOMBARDED with this information.\u00c2\u00a0 And it hasn’t made me curious.\u00c2\u00a0 Based on this sales number, it didn’t make a whole hell of a lot of other people curious either.<\/p>\n

But, we’ve got an interesting question…\u00c2\u00a0 Will NOTHING be mainstream and dominant in the future, or will something SO good be owned by seemingly everybody, both because of its quality and the need to be a member of the group, a member of the culture.<\/p>\n

Actually, these singles have much more penetration than sales figures would indicate.\u00c2\u00a0 Hits are traded P2P by MILLIONS of people.\u00c2\u00a0 So maybe most of what I said above is beside the point, maybe a lot more people care, but the business just refuses to count them.\u00c2\u00a0 Hey, it’s like immigration, we’ve got to have a plan.\u00c2\u00a0 Are we gonna leave all the traders out forever, or bring them into the big tent?<\/p>\n

I still think Maroon 5 is evanescent crap, I still think they’ve got surprisingly little impact relative to the hype, but they’re actually bigger than this number indicates.<\/p>\n

Then again, Maroon 5’s "Make Me Wonder" is only number 18 on the BigChampagne chart<\/a> (the bible of P2P), and it’s going down.\u00c2\u00a0 But, it resided on 1,426,834 hard drives today.\u00c2\u00a0 Let’s look at the digital singles chart…\u00c2\u00a0 They’re showing 156,691 downloads of "Makes Me Wonder" this week, with a cume of 872,088.\u00c2\u00a0 The single’s been out for 5 weeks.\u00c2\u00a0 Why is that?\u00c2\u00a0 If you want to sell albums, why do you only make the single available for over a month?\u00c2\u00a0 Bottom line, the people who stole it aren’t going to buy it, and more people stole it than bought it.<\/p>\n

But, BigChampagne doesn’t include the heritage\/catalog tracks\/albums.\u00c2\u00a0 How many people downloaded "Stairway To Heaven"?<\/p>\n

Confused yet?<\/p>\n

You should be, it’s murky out there.\u00c2\u00a0 But what we’ve learned is more people want the music than are buying it.\u00c2\u00a0 Should we try to convert them, or sue them?\u00c2\u00a0 Is music failing, or is the SELLING of music failing?\u00c2\u00a0 And what if Maroon 5 were the Beatles, would the penetration be stratospheric on hard drives, or can no one get that traction today?<\/p>\n

These are the questions that should be asked.\u00c2\u00a0 But they’re not even part of the dialogue.<\/p>\n

2. Linkin Park "Minutes To Midnight"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 197,640
Cume: 821,642<\/p>\n

Was the problem that people burned out on the music on "Beatles For Sale"?\u00c2\u00a0 Is that why the Beatles changed direction, gave up the poppy sound for something deeper with "Rubber Soul"?<\/p>\n

And was the "Revolver" sound rejected, is that why they went in a different direction with "Sgt. Pepper"?<\/p>\n

Of course not.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody was happy with what the Beatles were ALREADY DOING!\u00c2\u00a0 But the band changed direction, tested our limits because THEY didn’t want to repeat themselves, they wanted to challenge THEMSELVES, they wanted to RISK!<\/p>\n

Where’s the risk in this Linkin Park album?\u00c2\u00a0 The band was afraid if they put out rap-rock, no one would care.\u00c2\u00a0 So, they eliminated a signature sound of the band, worked with the same producer as everybody else, and came up with a safe album with bad buzz.<\/p>\n

It’s about making a statement.\u00c2\u00a0 This was about playing it safe.<\/p>\n

And no amount of record company bullshit can convince me otherwise.<\/p>\n

You sell millions of records and you get uptight.\u00c2\u00a0 You’re afraid to fuck up the franchise.\u00c2\u00a0 You not only want YOUR money and perks, everybody else is DEPENDING ON YOU!<\/p>\n

That’s what killed Kurt Cobain.\u00c2\u00a0 Everybody’s expectations, everybody’s interests, it was too much weight on his shoulders, he couldn’t carry it, he wanted off.\u00c2\u00a0 Stomach pain?\u00c2\u00a0 Classic anxiety symptom.<\/p>\n

Of course, truly we can only blame Kurt.\u00c2\u00a0 But once you make it, it’s overwhelming.\u00c2\u00a0 Your responsibility is not only to yourself.\u00c2\u00a0 And now, more than ever, past history makes no difference.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, look at the baby boomer acts, Lindsey Buckingham, Fleetwood Mac’s genius?\u00c2\u00a0 NOBODY CARED!\u00c2\u00a0 And how about that Paul McCartney saturation hype.\u00c2\u00a0 God, the story isn’t his music, but that he’s selling it in STARBUCKS!\u00c2\u00a0 He can’t bear to fail.<\/p>\n

I feel sorry for Paul.\u00c2\u00a0 He thinks he’s vital, and the public doesn’t care.\u00c2\u00a0 Top Forty radio won’t play him, and radio sucks anyway.\u00c2\u00a0 What’s he to do?\u00c2\u00a0 John Mellencamp sold out to Chevy and all it did was hurt his image.<\/p>\n

Everything’s safe.\u00c2\u00a0 And crummy.\u00c2\u00a0 Did anybody say "Spider-Man 3" changed their life?\u00c2\u00a0 "Shrek 3"?\u00c2\u00a0 "Pirates 3"?\u00c2\u00a0 We’ve got a dearth of quality.\u00c2\u00a0 The hype machine may not jump on quality, but the people will.\u00c2\u00a0 Quality and authenticity, isn’t that what’s selling Amy Winehouse?<\/p>\n

3. Ozzy Osbourne "Black Rain"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 151,991
Debut<\/p>\n

Ozzy’s a joke, right?\u00c2\u00a0 Isn’t he that bumbling guy on TV, who blames his psychiatrist for over-medicating him?<\/p>\n

Shit Ozzy, you’re rich.\u00c2\u00a0 Couldn’t you get a second opinion?<\/p>\n

And what about Ozzfest.\u00c2\u00a0 Like Sharon Osbourne would give away ANYTHING for free.<\/p>\n

Hell, they’re SELLING VIP packages.\u00c2\u00a0 And, no one has gotten their free tickets yet.\u00c2\u00a0 And you know they’ll be free just like those free iPods in the spam e-mails you get.<\/p>\n

Ozzy did great work with Randy Rhoads.\u00c2\u00a0 His "No More Tears" album is a classic.\u00c2\u00a0 But now he’s just a money machine, which doesn’t seem to be paying off too handsomely.<\/p>\n

I mean why buy this record?\u00c2\u00a0 Who can believe in this guy after the MTV show?\u00c2\u00a0 And without belief, you’ve got no cadre of hard core male fans who’ll follow you anywhere because you’re all they’ve got, along with their zits and beer.<\/p>\n

18. Fergie "The Dutchess"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 29,105
Cume: 1,929,005<\/p>\n

She works hard for the money.\u00c2\u00a0 Kissing all that radio butt.<\/p>\n

The old days of being a rock star?\u00c2\u00a0 Playing your music after the sun goes down, then getting your dick sucked as you smoke a doobie?\u00c2\u00a0 Those days are GONE!\u00c2\u00a0 If you want to make it in today’s world, get a plastic surgeon, work out heavily, and be willing to do whatever your handlers say you should.\u00c2\u00a0 What has this got to do with music?\u00c2\u00a0 NOTHING!<\/p>\n

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

Sales this week: 21,173
Cume: 3,272,186<\/p>\n

They gave him a fucking record label.\u00c2\u00a0 Give me a break.<\/p>\n

They close down Elektra, and Capitol.\u00c2\u00a0 But Justin’s gonna go into the record business.\u00c2\u00a0 Why don’t they just buy him a Maybach, or in the alternative, just light the cash on fire.\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe charge admission, that’d be a better attraction than the acts he’s gonna sign.<\/p>\n

Who did this well?<\/p>\n

Certainly not Prince.<\/p>\n

Madonna had a huge smash with Alanis, and then not much.<\/p>\n

The only person who had real success was Fred Durst, with Staind and Puddle Of Mudd.\u00c2\u00a0 Is that the paradigm you want to follow, FRED DURST?\u00c2\u00a0 Who can’t even WORK in the record business anymore?<\/p>\n

Justin, a hint for you buddy.\u00c2\u00a0 START A MANAGEMENT COMPANY!\u00c2\u00a0 OWN THE COPYRIGHTS!\u00c2\u00a0 There’s money in music, but not in forming a record company.\u00c2\u00a0 Especially when you’re so far from the day to day.<\/p>\n

But this is a story in the press, this is a big thing.<\/p>\n

I guess with Lindsay Lohan in rehab, they’ve got nothing to talk about.<\/p>\n

31. Fall Out Boy "Infinity On High"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 17,632
Cume: 864,323<\/p>\n

Wait a minute!\u00c2\u00a0 Wasn’t the headline "Fall Out Boy Hits ‘High’ Note With No. 1 Debut"<\/a>?\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Weren’t they gonna save the business?\u00c2\u00a0 God, that’s what the press said.<\/p>\n

But here, 16 weeks later, they haven’t even made it to platinum.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s a twenty first century story.\u00c2\u00a0 Big chart debut, and then…<\/p>\n

Watch out Maroon 5 and Linkin Park.\u00c2\u00a0 Then again, Maroon 5’s got Jimmy, he WILLS these records into hits.\u00c2\u00a0 He’ll have Fergie and Gwen in the next Maroon 5 video, he’ll tie in with some corporation, he’ll do whatever it takes to win at the old school game.\u00c2\u00a0 And that’s what it is, positively old school.\u00c2\u00a0 Hanging on the telephone, working the old boy network.\u00c2\u00a0 A lotta work just to maintain your image.\u00c2\u00a0 And how much fun is it?\u00c2\u00a0 Clive Davis says he’s birthing our national culture.\u00c2\u00a0 He’s truly convinced he’s saving us.\u00c2\u00a0 Jimmy’s hipper than that, not that delusional.\u00c2\u00a0 But is it really fun figuring out ways to jam this crap?\u00c2\u00a0 Is that why he got into this business?<\/p>\n

Of course not, he got into it for the PUSSYCAT DOLLS!<\/p>\n

34. "Shrek The Third"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 16,527
Cume: 32,157<\/p>\n

Soundtrack albums are officially dead.<\/p>\n

Fergie, Wings, Wolfmother, Led Zeppelin…\u00c2\u00a0 The kids aren’t THAT stupid!<\/p>\n

40. The Beach Boys "Warmth Of The Sun"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 14,473
Debut<\/p>\n

This is sad.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m a huge Brian Wilson fan.\u00c2\u00a0 I bought the albums containing tracks like the contained "It’s O.K." when no one did.\u00c2\u00a0 But they’ve got to give it a rest.\u00c2\u00a0 "Pet Sounds" is the most repackaged, re-released record I can think of.\u00c2\u00a0 We got the memo, and the music.\u00c2\u00a0 Hey, if you want to sell it in the future, let it lay fallow for a while, until people truly want it.\u00c2\u00a0 And they don’t want this.\u00c2\u00a0 God, having fun all summer long doesn’t even mean the same THING anymore!\u00c2\u00a0 Kids can’t go to the beach without their parents, they play at home in the a\/c and every oldster who wants this music has it.<\/p>\n

Can you believe there’s no more Capitol Records?\u00c2\u00a0 Shouldn’t they have canned the Virgin brand, sold it back to Branson (hey, he’d pay SOMETHING for it) and then have Jason fly the Capitol flag?<\/p>\n

Sad.<\/p>\n

67. Barbra Streisand "Live In Concert"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 9,467
Cume: 87,046<\/p>\n

They’d have been better off selling this as a PBS pledge break premium.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, that’s where her audience resides, in front of the TV.<\/p>\n

Or, they should have made a deal with Starbucks.<\/p>\n

This is laughable.\u00c2\u00a0 As were the prices for her tour.<\/p>\n

Hey Barbra, either come down off your throne and be one of the people, or STAY HOME!<\/p>\n

81. Rufus Wainwright "Release The Stars"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 8,420
Cume: 32,465<\/p>\n

Now he’s just like his parents, a marginal, non-profit-making artist, just with a LOT more hype and nowhere NEAR the catalog.\u00c2\u00a0 Shit, "Heart Like A Wheel" is better than ANYTHING Rufus has ever written.<\/p>\n

97. Tori Amos "American Doll Posse"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 7,467
Cume: 90,557<\/p>\n

Who knew Tori Amos was going to turn into Anne Heche and leave us high and dry, become so obscure that even diehard fans stopped paying attention.<\/p>\n

170. Regina Spektor "Begin To Hope"<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sales this week: 4,227
Cume: 402,689<\/p>\n

Girls are gonna save music, not boys.\u00c2\u00a0 Boys need markers, they need achievements, it’s all about the pecking order, the size of your dick.\u00c2\u00a0 Whereas women don’t need to set the world on fire, they don’t need a collection of toys, it’s what’s on the INSIDE that counts.<\/p>\n

It’s absolutely stunning in a world of Pussycat Dolls and Fergies, in an era where Gwen Stefani sells out for fame, for ongoing success, that someone does it her own way and has success.<\/p>\n

It’s all about hearing these records.\u00c2\u00a0 Oh, I knew who Regina Spektor was, I even listened to Goldie recount in detail how he and Seymour signed her, and she’s Anthony Zuiker’s favorite act, but that wasn’t enough to motivate me.\u00c2\u00a0 But earlier this week, I heard "Samson" on the radio, and I got it immediately.<\/p>\n

That’s how it is with music, all great art.\u00c2\u00a0 You don’t need anybody to TELL you something is good, you just instantly know, as soon as you experience it.<\/p>\n

We’re all living in Missouri now, we’ve got a whole SHOW ME COUNTRY!\u00c2\u00a0 You can’t convince me, you’re untrustworthy.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve got to hear it from someone without an investment.<\/p>\n

Laura Nyro will be remembered for the hits she wrote for the 5th Dimension.\u00c2\u00a0 Hell, the fucked up world we live in has her MANAGER more famous than she ever was and will be.<\/p>\n

David Geffen made her career.\u00c2\u00a0 Unfortunately, he also helped kill it.\u00c2\u00a0 By making a bad deal and walking away.\u00c2\u00a0 But when he believed, his passion drove her into the forefront.\u00c2\u00a0 We all need someone to believe in us, to help us.\u00c2\u00a0 Unfortunately, now these people are no longer midwives, but kingmakers.<\/p>\n

Clive Davis never wrote a song or played a note.\u00c2\u00a0 But the way he writes the book, he’s more important than Laura Nyro.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s ridiculous.<\/p>\n

You see Laura Nyro spoke from the soul.\u00c2\u00a0 Her music came directly from her heart to yours, unfiltered.\u00c2\u00a0 If you were a fan, you had to see her whenever she came to town, you bought the records without hearing them first.\u00c2\u00a0 You were a member of a cult.<\/p>\n

That’s what the business used to be, a collection of cults.\u00c2\u00a0 But then the cults grew so big that the indie record labels sold out to the conglomerates and the resultant labels thought they could create cults with a snap of the fingers.\u00c2\u00a0 But that’s not how you do it.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s how you sell a TV program, not a musical artist.<\/p>\n

And Laura Nyro was an artist.<\/p>\n

And so is Regina Spektor.<\/p>\n

Will she equal Laura Nyro’s achievements?\u00c2\u00a0 Who knows!\u00c2\u00a0 But what we do know is she’s following her own muse, Seymour and Goldie aren’t telling her what to do, they’re PROTECTING HER!<\/p>\n

That’s what artists need, protection, not whoring out.\u00c2\u00a0 The attention alone at this young age will kill you.\u00c2\u00a0 Look at the boys, dating famous socialites, opening bars, trying to hang on desperately to their peak, playing it safer and safer while wilting under the attention.<\/p>\n

We love Amy Winehouse because she’s a rock star, she does it HER way.<\/p>\n

But we love Regina Spektor first and foremost because of the music, which is unfettered, straight from her soul.<\/p>\n

Regina has quietly almost gone gold.\u00c2\u00a0 She means more than all that boy crap.<\/p>\n

And speaking of girls, the Wreckers have sold 751,590 albums so far.\u00c2\u00a0 I’d rather listen to them and Little Big Town than any of the boys with guitars.\u00c2\u00a0 We’ve got points of light, we’ve just got to NURTURE THEM!<\/p>\n

Invest in women.\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t care about what they look like, if they’ll obey you, the only test is are they speaking from the HEART!\u00c2\u00a0 This is what the public is yearning for.\u00c2\u00a0 It may not sell fast, but it seemingly sells strong and steady if not forever, then a VERY long time…<\/p>\n

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

1. Maroon 5 "It Won’t Be Soon Before Long" Sales this week: 429,484Debut Is Maroon 5 a lightweight sideshow that demands no attention or did I just not get the memo? Oh, I got the MEMO!\u00c2\u00a0 How can you escape it!\u00c2\u00a0 It’s TWENTIETH CENTURY hype done to the zenith!\u00c2\u00a0 Saturation advertising, placed stories, all to […]<\/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-816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music-business"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p96vPs-da","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816","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=816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lefsetz.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}