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Thread started 11/04/08 6:40am

newpower99

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Article: In a low sales era , what's a hit in music?

NY Daily News....

http://www.nydailynews.co...usic_.html

>>>>In a low-sales era, what's a hit in music?


The economic downturn may represent a grave new world for most folks, but not those in the music industry.
Napster

and all your peer-to-peer file-sharing offspring).

Here's just the latest example. On this week's Billboard 200 album chart, Usher's "Here I Stand" falls below the No. 100 mark after selling just over 1 million copies. His previous album, "Confessions," sold nine times that figure just four years ago.

Let's face it: We're never going back to those halcyon days. Certainly, we're not going back to the go-go days of the '90s, when you had more than a dozen performers who could move more than 10 million copies of a given CD - an era crowned by Shania Twain's "Come on Over," which pushed a whopping 15.5 million copies. That figure made it the largest-selling CD of the entire Nielsen/SoundScan era, which began in 1991, when the industry began using verifiable sales tallies.

By contrast, this year's top-selling album has moved an anemic 2.5 million copies (Lil Wayne's "Tha Carter III"). While more than two months remain in '08, it's hugely unlikely that Wayne will pick up the extra 1.1 million cash-register rings he'd need to beat the top seller of '07: Josh Groban's "Noel," which topped 3.6 million platters. Nor will he come near the peaks of '06 ("High School Musical 2" at 3.7 mil) or '05 (Mariah Carey's "The Adventures of Mimi" at 5 million).

In fact, there has been a steady downturn in total sales for the top five albums in each year of this decade, ranging from a high of 22.3 million in 2001 to an '08 figure that will struggle to reach 10 million.

Pondering all this could either make you look longingly at the ledge or flip the script and view the whole situation in a glass-half-full kinda way. Being an optimist, I've decided to go the latter route, and so hereby offer a modest proposal for redefining success in our new age of austerity.

Gazing down the Billboard 200, I've established a fresh standard for a smash, or even for a hit. In calibrating this, I axed any albums that have lingered on Billboard's list for more than a year, as they essentially date from another, happier era. (Only a few entries qualify, including Nickelback's "All the Right Reasons," which has sold nearly 7 million copies but started its run nearly three years ago, and Daughtry's self-titled debut, which sold 4.2 million copies but began moving product nearly two years back.)

Shorn of those entries, there's just one act on the current top 200 that has broken the 3 million mark (Alicia Keys). Even the most hyped and exposed of albums of '08 - like Mariah Carey's "E=MC2" and Coldplay's "Viva la Vida" - haven't been able to reach the 2 million bar. Given this, here's how we should evaluate top sales now.

THE NEW DEFINITIONS...

BLOCKBUSTER: 2 MILLION & UP
The equivalent of 5 million, or more, back in 2000

* Alicia Keys "As I Am" 3.6 million
* Lil Wayne "Tha Carter III" 2.6M
* Carrie Underwood "Carnival Ride" 2.3M
* Kid Rock "Rock n Roll Jesus" 2.1M
* Rascal Flatts "Still Feels Good" 2M

SMASH: 1 MILLION & UP
The equivalent of 3 million in 2000

*
Garth Brooks "Ultimate Hits" 1.9 million
*
Chris Brown "Exclusive" 1.81M
*
Coldplay "Viva la Vida" 1.81M
*
Jack Johnson "Sleep Throughthe Static" 1.4M
*
Leona Lewis "Spirit" 1.18M
*
Metallica "Death Magnetic" 1.11M (in just four weeks)
*
Mariah Carey "E=MC2" 1.1M
*
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss "Raising Sand" 1.09M
*
"Mamma Mia!" soundtrack 1.05M
*
Usher "Here I Stand" 1.04M
*
"Camp Rock" soundtrack 1.034M
*
Led Zeppelin "Mothership" 995,000
*
The Jonas Brothers "A Little Bit Longer" 992,000
*
Miley Cyrus "Breakout" 953,000
*
Jordin Sparks "Jordin Sparks" 932,833
*
Sugarland "Love on the Inside" 922,000

HIT: 500,000 & UP
The equivalent of a million-selling, platinum CD in 2000

*
"Alvin and the Chipmunks" soundtrack 876,772
*
OneRepublic "Dreaming Out Loud" 791,000
*
Disturbed "Indestructible" 756,000
*
Rick Ross "Trilla" 684,000
*
Madonna "Hard Candy" 654,000
*
Keith Urban "Greatest Hits" 632,000
*
Radiohead "In Rainbows" 625,000
*
George Strait "Troubador" 579,000
*
3 Doors Down "3 Doors Down" 578,000
*
Seether "Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces" 559,000
*
Alan Jackson "Good Time" 552,000
*
Danity Kane "Welcome to the Dollhouse" 546,000
*
Duffy "Rockferry" 528,000
*
Plies "Definition of Real" 520,000
*
Young Jeezy "The Recession" 516,000
*
Trace Adkins "Greatest Hits Volume 2" 508,000



TOP-SELLING ALBUMS OF ENTIRE SOUNDSCAN ERA
(since 1991, when the industry began verifiable counting of album sales)

* 15.5 million "Come on Over" Shania Twain (1997)
* 15M "Metallica"Metallica (1991)
* 14.5M "Jagged Little Pill" Alanis Morissette (1995)
* 12M "Millennium" The Backstreet Boys (1999)
* 11.7M "The Bodyguard" soundtrack (1992)
* 11.6M "Supernatural" Santana (1999)
* 11.5M "Human Clay" Creed (1999)
* 11.1M "No Strings Attached" 'N Sync (2000)
* 11M "The Beatles 1" The Beatles (2000)
* 10.7M "Falling Into You" Celine Dion (1996)

TOP 5 SELLERS IN EVERY YEAR OF THIS DECADE

2001: 22.3M
1. 4.8M "Hybrid Theory" Linkin Park
2. 4.5M "Hot Shot" Shaggy
3. 4.4M"Celebrity" 'N Sync
4. 4.4M"A Day Without Rain" Enya
5. 4.2M"Break the Cycle" Staind

2002: 18.8M
1. 6M "The Eminem Show" Eminem
2. 4.2M "Nellyville" Nelly
3. 3M "Let Go"Avril Lavigne
4. 2.9M "Ashanti" Ashanti
5. 2.7M "Drive" Alan Jackson

2003: 19.8M
1. 6.4M "Get Rich or Die Tryin'" 50 Cent
2. 4.9 M"Come Away With Me" Norah Jones
3. 3.2M "Meteora" Linkin Park
4. 3M "Fallen" Evanescence
5. 2.3M "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below" OutKast

2004: 21.2M
1. 8M "Confessions" Usher
2. 3.8M "Feels Like Home" Norah Jones
3. 3.5M "Encore" Eminem
4. 3.0M "When the Sun Goes Down" Kenny Chesney
5. 2.9M "Here for the Party" Gretchen Wilson

2005: 18.7M
1.5M "The Emancipation of Mimi" Mariah Carey
2. 4.8M "The Massacre" 50 Cent
3. 3.1M "Breakaway" Kelly Clarkson
4. 3.1M "American Idiot" Green Day
5. 2.7M "Monkey Business" Black Eyed Peas

2006: 15M
1. 3.7M "High School Musical"
2. 3.4M "Me and My Gang" Rascal Flatts
3. 3M "Some Hearts" Carrie Underwood
4. 2.6M "All the Right Reasons" Nickelback
5. 2.3M"FutureSex/LoveSounds" Justin Timberlake

2007: 14M
1. 3.6M "Noel"Josh Groban
2. 2.9M "High School Musical 2"
3. 2.6M "Long Road Out of Eden"The Eagles
4. 2.5M "As I Am" Alicia Keys
5. 2.4M "Daughtry" Daughtry

2008: 8.1M
1. 2.5M "Tha Carter III" Lil Wayne
2. 1.7M "Viva la Vida" Coldplay
3. 1.42M "Rock n Roll Jesus" Kid Rock
4. 1.4M "Sleep Through the Static"Jack Johnson
5. 1.1M "Taylor Swift" Taylor Swift
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Reply #1 posted 11/04/08 6:47am

SoulAlive

I've said this before on a thread about 'Hard Candy'...

Pretty soon,reaching gold status (500,000 copies sold) is gonna be seen as major accomplishment.The days of 10-million selling CDs are just about over.Artists,fans and labels are gonna have to lower their sales expectations and just hope that their CDs reach gold.
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Reply #2 posted 11/04/08 7:07am

asg

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SoulAlive said:

I've said this before on a thread about 'Hard Candy'...

Pretty soon,reaching gold status (500,000 copies sold) is gonna be seen as major accomplishment.The days of 10-million selling CDs are just about over.Artists,fans and labels are gonna have to lower their sales expectations and just hope that their CDs reach gold.


her last album sold 1.7mill or so if u take the typical decrease since her last album its like 30% so hard candy should have sold 1.2million but it sold way less
Plus it had the benefit of having an airplay hit thanks to justin and timberland
thats better then any promotion, It should have boosted sales by 30% so she should be sellin more or less as the last album.
SO DONT BLAME IT ON LOWER OVERALL CD SALES.The sales r nearly 1/3
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Reply #3 posted 11/04/08 7:09am

SoulAlive

asg said:

SoulAlive said:

I've said this before on a thread about 'Hard Candy'...

Pretty soon,reaching gold status (500,000 copies sold) is gonna be seen as major accomplishment.The days of 10-million selling CDs are just about over.Artists,fans and labels are gonna have to lower their sales expectations and just hope that their CDs reach gold.


her last album sold 1.7mill or so if u take the typical decrease since her last album its like 30% so hard candy should have sold 1.2million but it sold way less
Plus it had the benefit of having an airplay hit thanks to justin and timberland
thats better then any promotion, It should have boosted sales by 30% so she should be sellin more or less as the last album.
SO DONT BLAME IT ON LOWER OVERALL CD SALES.The sales r nearly 1/3


Then how do you explain Mariah's declining sales? She and Usher had HUGE albums last time around,but now NOBODY is selling like they used to.Don't try to rationalize it or say what something should have sold.People aren't buying CDs anymore,that's the bottom line.It's the new reality.Touring is where the real money is and nobody knows that better than Madonna.

.
[Edited 11/4/08 7:17am]
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Reply #4 posted 11/04/08 12:01pm

daPrettyman

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SoulAlive said:

I've said this before on a thread about 'Hard Candy'...

Pretty soon,reaching gold status (500,000 copies sold) is gonna be seen as major accomplishment.The days of 10-million selling CDs are just about over.Artists,fans and labels are gonna have to lower their sales expectations and just hope that their CDs reach gold.

This is the way it used to be. Miki Howard discussed this on Wendy Williams' show a few years ago. She talked about how reaching gold as an r&b artist in the 80s was a really big thing.
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Reply #5 posted 11/04/08 12:02pm

Timmy84

daPrettyman said:

SoulAlive said:

I've said this before on a thread about 'Hard Candy'...

Pretty soon,reaching gold status (500,000 copies sold) is gonna be seen as major accomplishment.The days of 10-million selling CDs are just about over.Artists,fans and labels are gonna have to lower their sales expectations and just hope that their CDs reach gold.

This is the way it used to be. Miki Howard discussed this on Wendy Williams' show a few years ago. She talked about how reaching gold as an r&b artist in the 80s was a really big thing.


In many ways, people take gold albums for granted. Now, people may appreciate having a gold album. Sometimes having a gold album is better than having a multi-platinum one, lol. So I feel Miki.
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Reply #6 posted 11/04/08 12:15pm

lastdecember

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Timmy84 said:

daPrettyman said:


This is the way it used to be. Miki Howard discussed this on Wendy Williams' show a few years ago. She talked about how reaching gold as an r&b artist in the 80s was a really big thing.


In many ways, people take gold albums for granted. Now, people may appreciate having a gold album. Sometimes having a gold album is better than having a multi-platinum one, lol. So I feel Miki.


People dont realize that the likes of Marvin,Stevie,Sly and the family, elton John ,David Bowie were not mega sellers, they pretty much could always get you gold, on a consistent basis. But i blame the soundscan era most for all this talk of numbers, i mean who cares. Could you imagine if this shit existed in the 70's and we were bitching that "songs in the key of life" wasnt doing the numbers? i mean lets retire this kind of "numbers" talk in 2008 and just talk about good songs and good albums, and leave the numbers to the accountants.

"We went where our music was appreciated, and that was everywhere but the USA, we knew we had fans, but there is only so much of the world you can play at once" Magne F
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Reply #7 posted 11/04/08 12:17pm

Timmy84

lastdecember said:

Timmy84 said:



In many ways, people take gold albums for granted. Now, people may appreciate having a gold album. Sometimes having a gold album is better than having a multi-platinum one, lol. So I feel Miki.


People dont realize that the likes of Marvin,Stevie,Sly and the family, elton John ,David Bowie were not mega sellers, they pretty much could always get you gold, on a consistent basis. But i blame the soundscan era most for all this talk of numbers, i mean who cares. Could you imagine if this shit existed in the 70's and we were bitching that "songs in the key of life" wasnt doing the numbers? i mean lets retire this kind of "numbers" talk in 2008 and just talk about good songs and good albums, and leave the numbers to the accountants.


Yeah, Soundscan's a bitch, lol.
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Reply #8 posted 11/04/08 1:24pm

asg

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SoulAlive said:

asg said:



her last album sold 1.7mill or so if u take the typical decrease since her last album its like 30% so hard candy should have sold 1.2million but it sold way less
Plus it had the benefit of having an airplay hit thanks to justin and timberland
thats better then any promotion, It should have boosted sales by 30% so she should be sellin more or less as the last album.
SO DONT BLAME IT ON LOWER OVERALL CD SALES.The sales r nearly 1/3


Then how do you explain Mariah's declining sales? She and Usher had HUGE albums last time around,but now NOBODY is selling like they used to.Don't try to rationalize it or say what something should have sold.People aren't buying CDs anymore,that's the bottom line.It's the new reality.Touring is where the real money is and nobody knows that better than Madonna.

.
[Edited 11/4/08 7:17am]


for usher confession was like purple rain once in a lifetime hit. yes usher current album flopped he should have done atleast 2mil
Similarly mimi for mariah wasnt the typical sales she has had in recent yrs she dropped down to her normal levels. mini was a massive hit and mc2 is not a hit
similarly christina did 8mil on previous album and only 1mil+ on current album thats not due to the sales decline. Its just the album flopped

So let me put it in simple words hard candy flopped
[Edited 11/4/08 13:34pm]
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Reply #9 posted 11/04/08 1:31pm

daPrettyman

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asg said:

SoulAlive said:



Then how do you explain Mariah's declining sales? She and Usher had HUGE albums last time around,but now NOBODY is selling like they used to.Don't try to rationalize it or say what something should have sold.People aren't buying CDs anymore,that's the bottom line.It's the new reality.Touring is where the real money is and nobody knows that better than Madonna.

.
[Edited 11/4/08 7:17am]


for usher confession was like purple rain once in a lifetime hit.
Similarly mimi for mariah wasnt the typical sales she has had in recent yrs she dropped down to her normal levels.
similarly christina did 8mil on previous album and only 1mil+ on current album thats not due to the sales decline. Its just the album flopped

So let me put it in simple words hard candy flopped
[Edited 11/4/08 13:27pm]

Do you think it flopped because of sales, or because no one wants to hear a 50 year old on the radio anymore.

I don't recall Madonna having any "big" albums since Music. American Life, Confessions, and Hard Candy could all be considered flops in the world of Madonna.
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U 'gon make me shake my doo loose!
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Reply #10 posted 11/04/08 1:36pm

ehuffnsd

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daPrettyman said:

asg said:



for usher confession was like purple rain once in a lifetime hit.
Similarly mimi for mariah wasnt the typical sales she has had in recent yrs she dropped down to her normal levels.
similarly christina did 8mil on previous album and only 1mil+ on current album thats not due to the sales decline. Its just the album flopped

So let me put it in simple words hard candy flopped
[Edited 11/4/08 13:27pm]

Do you think it flopped because of sales, or because no one wants to hear a 50 year old on the radio anymore.

I don't recall Madonna having any "big" albums since Music. American Life, Confessions, and Hard Candy could all be considered flops in the world of Madonna.

if you look just at the American figures. Madonna is still a major player all over the world.
You CANNOT use the name of God, or religion, to justify acts of violence, to hurt, to hate, to discriminate- Madonna
authentic power is service- Pope Francis
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Reply #11 posted 11/04/08 1:37pm

asg

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daPrettyman said:

asg said:



for usher confession was like purple rain once in a lifetime hit.
Similarly mimi for mariah wasnt the typical sales she has had in recent yrs she dropped down to her normal levels.
similarly christina did 8mil on previous album and only 1mil+ on current album thats not due to the sales decline. Its just the album flopped

So let me put it in simple words hard candy flopped
[Edited 11/4/08 13:27pm]

Do you think it flopped because of sales, or because no one wants to hear a 50 year old on the radio anymore.

I don't recall Madonna having any "big" albums since Music. American Life, Confessions, and Hard Candy could all be considered flops in the world of Madonna.


confession sold well and hard candy did get more radio play with the help of justin and timeberland it generated a top20 radio airplay hit which is very decent.
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Reply #12 posted 11/04/08 1:38pm

lastdecember

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daPrettyman said:

asg said:



for usher confession was like purple rain once in a lifetime hit.
Similarly mimi for mariah wasnt the typical sales she has had in recent yrs she dropped down to her normal levels.
similarly christina did 8mil on previous album and only 1mil+ on current album thats not due to the sales decline. Its just the album flopped

So let me put it in simple words hard candy flopped
[Edited 11/4/08 13:27pm]

Do you think it flopped because of sales, or because no one wants to hear a 50 year old on the radio anymore.

I don't recall Madonna having any "big" albums since Music. American Life, Confessions, and Hard Candy could all be considered flops in the world of Madonna.


Honestly i wouldnt call Madonna a "flop" because its a new day and age, the industry is down 60% since 2005, but i think what comes into play NOW that didnt come into play back in the 80's , is investment, BOTTOM LINE is more important than your soundscan number at the end of the day, because its all about your profit and loss statement come the end of the 4th quarter, thats how the industry is now. Mariahs label spend 3 million dollars alone in lighting the Empire State Building in "mimi colors", im sorry but that alone dictates waste, added in all other media and you have close to 12 million in PROMO, and 1.1 Mill in sales, which is great in this day and age for anyone but not when you spend 12 million to push it. Madonna's album had no real investment for the most part, plus she is 50, to move 600,000 based on just one song that is her USA base, wordwide the album will do at least 3-4 million for her, plus the tour $$

"We went where our music was appreciated, and that was everywhere but the USA, we knew we had fans, but there is only so much of the world you can play at once" Magne F
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Reply #13 posted 11/04/08 1:44pm

asg

avatar

lastdecember said:

daPrettyman said:


Do you think it flopped because of sales, or because no one wants to hear a 50 year old on the radio anymore.

I don't recall Madonna having any "big" albums since Music. American Life, Confessions, and Hard Candy could all be considered flops in the world of Madonna.


Honestly i wouldnt call Madonna a "flop" because its a new day and age, the industry is down 60% since 2005, but i think what comes into play NOW that didnt come into play back in the 80's , is investment, BOTTOM LINE is more important than your soundscan number at the end of the day, because its all about your profit and loss statement come the end of the 4th quarter, thats how the industry is now. Mariahs label spend 3 million dollars alone in lighting the Empire State Building in "mimi colors", im sorry but that alone dictates waste, added in all other media and you have close to 12 million in PROMO, and 1.1 Mill in sales, which is great in this day and age for anyone but not when you spend 12 million to push it. Madonna's album had no real investment for the most part, plus she is 50, to move 600,000 based on just one song that is her USA base, wordwide the album will do at least 3-4 million for her, plus the tour $$


no real investment? timberland didnt come on the cheap and tons of money is always spend on madonnas promotions. I know confession got a $20mil promotion according to the boston globe. I am sure hard candy promotion budget wasnt very small as u think
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Reply #14 posted 11/04/08 1:49pm

SoulAlive

Like I keep saying,people are gonna have to lower their sales expectations and just be happy with a gold-selling CD.It's gonna get much worse in the coming years.Why do think all the record stores are closing? No one is buying CDs anymore.Mariah was the top-selling female of the 90s and now she can barely move a million units.
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Reply #15 posted 11/04/08 1:55pm

SoulAlive

asg said:

lastdecember said:



Honestly i wouldnt call Madonna a "flop" because its a new day and age, the industry is down 60% since 2005, but i think what comes into play NOW that didnt come into play back in the 80's , is investment, BOTTOM LINE is more important than your soundscan number at the end of the day, because its all about your profit and loss statement come the end of the 4th quarter, thats how the industry is now. Mariahs label spend 3 million dollars alone in lighting the Empire State Building in "mimi colors", im sorry but that alone dictates waste, added in all other media and you have close to 12 million in PROMO, and 1.1 Mill in sales, which is great in this day and age for anyone but not when you spend 12 million to push it. Madonna's album had no real investment for the most part, plus she is 50, to move 600,000 based on just one song that is her USA base, wordwide the album will do at least 3-4 million for her, plus the tour $$


no real investment? timberland didnt come on the cheap and tons of money is always spend on madonnas promotions. I know confession got a $20mil promotion according to the boston globe. I am sure hard candy promotion budget wasnt very small as u think


Madonna already made her millions from 'Hard Candy'.Before it was even released,she signed several lucrative promotional deals."4 Minutes" was used in a shampoo commercial.And her tour is expected to gross near $300 million.She's one of the smartest businesswomen in pop music.I don't think she cares about the sales of 'Hard Candy' because it's her final CD for Warner Bros. anyway.The trick for artists these days is to rely less on record sales and find other ways to make money.If they can do that,they will survive.
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Reply #16 posted 11/04/08 1:55pm

asg

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SoulAlive said:

Like I keep saying,people are gonna have to lower their sales expectations and just be happy with a gold-selling CD.It's gonna get much worse in the coming years.Why do think all the record stores are closing? No one is buying CDs anymore.Mariah was the top-selling female of the 90s and now she can barely move a million units.


90s was mariahs era. no one expected her to be selling that many records anymore.
You are trying to put all the blame on lower record sales which is totally not true. mariah of the 90s was a massive hit mariah of the new mellenium isnt nearly anyway close. YES HER CURRENCY HAS DEVALUED dont blame everything on low record sales.
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Reply #17 posted 11/04/08 1:57pm

lastdecember

avatar

asg said:

lastdecember said:



Honestly i wouldnt call Madonna a "flop" because its a new day and age, the industry is down 60% since 2005, but i think what comes into play NOW that didnt come into play back in the 80's , is investment, BOTTOM LINE is more important than your soundscan number at the end of the day, because its all about your profit and loss statement come the end of the 4th quarter, thats how the industry is now. Mariahs label spend 3 million dollars alone in lighting the Empire State Building in "mimi colors", im sorry but that alone dictates waste, added in all other media and you have close to 12 million in PROMO, and 1.1 Mill in sales, which is great in this day and age for anyone but not when you spend 12 million to push it. Madonna's album had no real investment for the most part, plus she is 50, to move 600,000 based on just one song that is her USA base, wordwide the album will do at least 3-4 million for her, plus the tour $$


no real investment? timberland didnt come on the cheap and tons of money is always spend on madonnas promotions. I know confession got a $20mil promotion according to the boston globe. I am sure hard candy promotion budget wasnt very small as u think


It depends what kind of system he went on, he may have been brought in on a "point system" type deal, which he was given for the Duran Duran project. Madonna this time around is on her way out of a label so nothing got crazy with promo, especially with WEA which is one of the worst with promo, they have no bank to work with. With Madonna's tour money revenue, and worldwide sales, its far from being a "flop". Im sure we are going to learn that Madonna;s tour brought in alot of money, probably just as much as Prince brought in when he did the "musicology" tour. And also what people forget is that sales overseas are more lucrative and profitable, here they arent.

"We went where our music was appreciated, and that was everywhere but the USA, we knew we had fans, but there is only so much of the world you can play at once" Magne F
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Reply #18 posted 11/04/08 2:03pm

SoulAlive

lastdecember said:

asg said:



no real investment? timberland didnt come on the cheap and tons of money is always spend on madonnas promotions. I know confession got a $20mil promotion according to the boston globe. I am sure hard candy promotion budget wasnt very small as u think


It depends what kind of system he went on, he may have been brought in on a "point system" type deal, which he was given for the Duran Duran project. Madonna this time around is on her way out of a label so nothing got crazy with promo, especially with WEA which is one of the worst with promo, they have no bank to work with. With Madonna's tour money revenue, and worldwide sales, its far from being a "flop". Im sure we are going to learn that Madonna;s tour brought in alot of money, probably just as much as Prince brought in when he did the "musicology" tour. And also what people forget is that sales overseas are more lucrative and profitable, here they arent.


Madonna's tour is on track to surpass what she grossed in 2006.She may have the year's most successful tour.
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Reply #19 posted 11/04/08 2:05pm

asg

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plus just see how acdc opened with 780k
metallica did very good numbers too

so sayin a record isnt selling well due to low sales is just a bad excuse
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Reply #20 posted 11/04/08 2:14pm

SoulAlive

Give it a rest,asg rolleyes Sure there are a few CDs that manage to sell well but when the biggest CD of 2008 has only sold around 2 million,you know there's a problem.
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Reply #21 posted 11/04/08 2:16pm

FunkyGraf

How was Alicia Keyes listed at 3.6 million, but not among the top 5 best selling discs of 2008?

I don't think her album sold that much.
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Reply #22 posted 11/04/08 2:19pm

Cinnie

SoulAlive said:

Like I keep saying,people are gonna have to lower their sales expectations and just be happy with a gold-selling CD.It's gonna get much worse in the coming years.Why do think all the record stores are closing? No one is buying CDs anymore.Mariah was the top-selling female of the 90s and now she can barely move a million units.


You have it right. thumbs up!
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Reply #23 posted 11/04/08 2:28pm

lastdecember

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FunkyGraf said:

How was Alicia Keyes listed at 3.6 million, but not among the top 5 best selling discs of 2008?

I don't think her album sold that much.


Her album was one of the top 5 biggest selling of 2007, doing most of its business during that last month or so of 2007 which was when it was released. The thing is the biggest selling albums of 2007, The Eagles,Alicia and Josh groban all came out in the last 5 weeks of the year (2007), so for them to outsell records that had 11.5 months to sell showed the demand of the artists, and the general FALL of the industry.

"We went where our music was appreciated, and that was everywhere but the USA, we knew we had fans, but there is only so much of the world you can play at once" Magne F
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Reply #24 posted 11/04/08 2:31pm

lastdecember

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Also people have to LET GO of this assumption of the "out of box" success. give it up the late 90's are over, we aint got Britney and Nsync selling a million records in a day, that shit IS OVER, done complete, DROP THE BAR folks, drop it way freaking down. Records are going to take a long time to sell, and i know we all like to stop counting after week 3 we really have to LOSE that frame of mind because those days are long long gone!

"We went where our music was appreciated, and that was everywhere but the USA, we knew we had fans, but there is only so much of the world you can play at once" Magne F
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Reply #25 posted 11/04/08 2:41pm

Marrk

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I don't like everything that wizzes out of Prince's brain, but at least he had the sense to see this coming, and now concentrates on his live music, it's where the money is at, and where i'd rather see truly talented acts, on stage working hard.
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Reply #26 posted 11/04/08 2:51pm

TonyVanDam

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Timmy84 said:

daPrettyman said:


This is the way it used to be. Miki Howard discussed this on Wendy Williams' show a few years ago. She talked about how reaching gold as an r&b artist in the 80s was a really big thing.


In many ways, people take gold albums for granted. Now, people may appreciate having a gold album. Sometimes having a gold album is better than having a multi-platinum one, lol. So I feel Miki.


KISS still has the all-time record for most career gold albums in the USA. Worldwide, only The Beatles & The Rolling Stones have more career gold albums than KISS does.
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Reply #27 posted 11/04/08 3:02pm

TonyVanDam

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lastdecember said:

Timmy84 said:



In many ways, people take gold albums for granted. Now, people may appreciate having a gold album. Sometimes having a gold album is better than having a multi-platinum one, lol. So I feel Miki.


People dont realize that the likes of Marvin,Stevie,Sly and the family, elton John ,David Bowie were not mega sellers, they pretty much could always get you gold, on a consistent basis. But i blame the soundscan era most for all this talk of numbers, i mean who cares. Could you imagine if this shit existed in the 70's and we were bitching that "songs in the key of life" wasnt doing the numbers? i mean lets retire this kind of "numbers" talk in 2008 and just talk about good songs and good albums, and leave the numbers to the accountants.


POP QUIZ: Who was THE first artist(s) to go platinum (and double platinum) on the week that Billboard's Soundscan made it's debut?


























ANSWER: N.W.A. with their third (and final) career album, N****z4life.
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Reply #28 posted 11/04/08 6:42pm

Cinnie

TonyVanDam said:



ANSWER: N.W.A. with their third (and final) career album, N****z4life.


headbang

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Forums > Music: Non-Prince > Article: In a low sales era , what's a hit in music?