SoulAlive said:

^^ unfortunately,80s funk bands don't have that same kind of enduring popularity that many of those pop artists (Madonna,Van Halen,The Cars,etc) still have.

I can't think of any other 80s funk bands who have enjoyed a big-selling album in recent years.Most of them don't even have record deals anymore.We should grateful that we even got an album from Morris and the guys.

Charlie Wilson has been doing pretty good, although he's mostly a balladeer now, and not really doing funk. Even back in the day, pop/rock generally sold better than funk/R&B. Some pop and rock acts are helped by having their music constantly played on 'classic rock', 'retro', and 'oldies' stations, plus use in commercials, movies, & TV shows. They're also played in stores and other places more than R&B and funk. The funk that is played usually are the songs that crossed over to Top 40.

MickyDolenz said:

Replica said:

Having videos does make a huge difference. People are so damn lazy nowadays, and artists have to work much harder to get attention towards their music. Many people are used to listening to he first 20 second of each song before they put it on a party playlist. Only time they listen to music is when they party drunk, or when they traveling with their ipod. Music videos is a very good marketing technique. Blending visual elements with music is a MUST! I have experienced that having videos does alot to gain interest towards an album. Many would never hear about an album if the video wasn't there.

Videos might have been important in the 1980's when they were shown on TV. It's like the radio, it's advertising the song, and also acts you might not have heard otherwise. But with watching music videos online, people mostly search for acts they like already or ones they don't to leave negative comments. The video views don't really equate to sales. It's been said that Lionel Richie has one of the biggest selling albums released this year. It wasn't because people watched his videos, it was because he went on the Home Shopping Network and appeared on country music programs. Van Halen hasn't gone platinum and they toured and did magazine interviews. If watching videos on Youtube really helped sales, then all of those newer acts with 100 million plus views would have sold that many albums or singles.

Atleast for new unsigned artists it does help quite a bit to get noticed. You might reach some new listeners that wouldn't bother listening to a new album in the first place. I myself know that I'm more likely to check out videos than audio of random nobodies if I see fget to choose between clicking a link that leads to somewhere or if I can watch a embedded videoclip on a forum, blog or facebook.

wonder505 said:

SoulAlive said:

A tour is always nice but for me,it's not always necessary.I'm just happy to have a new CD from these guys.A concert is a 2-hour experience,but I can listen to the CD for the rest of my life.

I'd be perfectly satisfied if they never toured,but got together every few years to make a new CD.I'd settle for that.

Part of what made the Time famous are their live shows so for many of us to settle just for a cd, as good as it may be, its still a little dissappointing.

yea i agree i thin it really became diappointing when before the cd dropped and all 7 seemed so interested in being 2gether again and they was throwing around so much blame on prince and then cd drops and jesse walks out no prince 2 blame this is all on their backs they didnt put the effort in 2 make this work

Replica said:

At least for new unsigned artists it does help quite a bit to get noticed.

It also helps people fighting, cats, dancing prisoners, crying babies, people talking in their bedroom, etc. get noticed too.