VoicesCarry said:

What can i tell you but i dealt with the labels 24/7 and the real people that could talk to me free of corporate shit not just what their bosses wanted them to say. This record was already on call back because stores were sitting on it and after the first two weeks it wasnt moving at a good pace, so after a month as in every month we would get a return to vendor document and sorry to say MIMI was on it, basically taking back half or more of the product.

lastdecember said:

This thread seems very one sided. Promotion IS a 2 way street. SUre there are other factors that sell an album, but it takes the effort of both sides to make it work. I am failing to come up with an album that sold really well with no promotion by the artist at all...please point one out, if one exists. Thing is we see your point, artists should not have to, but the reality is (esp in these days of short attention spans and multitude of places to put you music out there) they really need to.

The bigger the star is, the bigger they need to promote. Some indie band/artist who has a hard core following doesn't need to wrry about peromotion, cuz all their fans are waiting to pounce on new material, but I am willing to bet you dollars for donuts they are not simply dropping an album with no fanfare. As an artist one wants the world to know that they have new material to listen to.

I think there are reasons for the 2 mentioned albums not doing as well. While they are both good efforts, many radio stations are probably puzzled by both releases. What's interesting is that both album producers hit gold with their last 2 efforts, but somehow their production on the these two new ones seems to leave everyone flat.

Imagine if Price or Timberland worked on the next Sade album. Do you think it would do well? It might be a decent record, but it would be an odd one at that.

lastdecember said:

I understand how you feel but I'm going to rely on my own info and opinions. Thanks.

superspaceboy said:

I think once you are at a certain point you pretty much are there, Prince can put out an album and regardless if he has a video or not the shit is going to do the same business, hes not picking up new Prince fans at this point, the same with any artist that has been around. As for Duran Duran and Seal, they are selling just what i thought they would, radio wont play them because they are OLD i dont care how many videos or shows they go on no one will play either of them because they are OLD and thats how the industry works now.

TotalAlisa said:

Benny may be be smart but he is a sleaze, who will sell whoever is paying him at the time and if you arent on his team he cuts your throat that simple. Mariah did work hard but she works hard on every record, so this was LUCK sorry, i love Mariah but it was LUCK pure 100% Luck, she did everything the same way she did all the other records in terms of promoting, she did the videos,tv shows,magazines you name it, this time it LUCKILY worked. As a Mariah fan i can tell you that MIMI is far from her best, and We Belong Together doesnt even chart in her best songs list.

lastdecember said:

mister i was a hug mariah fan once.. so don't try to use that "as a fan" line on me... I have almost all her album .. stop purchasing her stuff since 2001... so i know a Lot about her music.... the promotion she did for the Mimi album was like no other promotion i have seen from her... she did every award show... and was every where.... i believe that without all that promotion she would not have sold as many.. and without that popularity of that song... it definitly would not have sold... and WBT is one of her greatest.... better then "someday" and "i don't want to cry" and many of her early songs.. WBT is really the best...

TotalAlisa said:

Well i dont agree, We Belong Together to me is not her best by far, she has done stuff that make that look like a track that should be cut from an album, the better songs from this record didnt even make it to being singles. Also her promotion was exactly the same, the only reason she got to other shows, was because things took off, but Mariah did just as much PUSH with MIMI than she did with GLITTER in fact she did more press with Glitter in the UK since the USA wrote her off as a has been. Mariah has always done whatever she was allowed to with promotion, so with MIMI she still did mag covers, still did leno and letterman and oprah, these things she did with all her records, nothing changed, the publics view of her did, but she did nothing new.

Think about it, thats not their job, thats why labels have promo departments that get paid millions. I hear the argument all the time Britney Spears is lazy because shes not doing anything for her record, or Prince did nothing for "Planet Earth" etc... they are paid to record an album and put out a certain amount of albums that their contracts call for, they arent paid to go on Oprah or make videos (video costs come out of the artists pocket/advances).
Sure its cool if artists do videos and tour and all that stuff, but should they be expected to?

Look at George Michael. He bitched about Sony spending all of that money to make Mariah Carey at the expense of other artists. But George himself didn't want to appear in his videos, so if the artist isn't all that interested in promoting himself, why should the label? There's only so much the industry hype machine can do for an album if the artist isn't willing to carry through with their end. Just look at 3121, Planet Earth, and The Gold Experience. And Listen Without Prejudice.

lastdecember said:

And sometimes you do things even when you're not paid for it. In this case because you love your music and you wish to support your art AND please your fans at the same time.

But really, they are being paid for it since artist-based promotion only helps sell more units.

Why should I give my money to Britney if bitch isn't even willing to lift a finger to support her own music or her fans? If she doesn't care about it, why should I? Hell no. Lazy cow.
[Edited 11/26/07 11:25am]

thats not their job, thats why labels have promo departments that get paid millions.