Wall Street Journal
December 16


"Chinese Democracy," the notoriously long-in-coming Guns N' Roses album, hasn't turned out to be the big hit that Best Buy Co. expected when it scored the exclusive rights to sell the CD in the United States.

That's bad news for the nation's biggest electronics chain by sales, which paid millions of dollars up front for 1.3 million copies of an album that has sold just 318,000 copies in the U.S. during its first two weeks in stores -- and looks destined for bargain bins.

Despite considerable curiosity about singer W. Axl Rose's marathon production -- which took well over a decade, prompting the makers of Dr Pepper to declare that if the album ever came out, they would give a soft drink to every consumer in America -- "Chinese Democracy" entered the Billboard charts in third place after being released Nov. 23. Then sales plunged 78% in the second week, to just 57,000, according to Nielsen Soundscan.

The disappointing performance of "Chinese Democracy," which was distributed by Universal Music's Interscope Geffen A&M label group, comes at a tough time for Best Buy. The Richfield, Minn., company recently warned that sales for the last third of its fiscal year ending Feb. 28 could fall 5% to 15% from a year earlier. The company is expected to post lower quarterly earnings Tuesday.

Best Buy declined to discuss "Chinese Democracy." In an interview before the album's debut, Gary Arnold, the retailer's senior entertainment officer, predicted it would be the rock record of the year.

Reached for comment, Guns N' Roses manager Irving Azoff predicted the album would ultimately sell well, adding: "The race is far from over."

The album's poor showing contrasts with the success of AC/DC's "Black Ice," which is sold exclusively in the U.S. by Wal-Mart Stores Inc. "Black Ice" made its debut at No. 1 on the Billboard album charts after it was released by Columbia Records in October; it has sold about 1.6 million copies in the U.S., with about six million copies shipped world-wide.


Whereas Best Buy backed "Chinese Democracy" with a marketing campaign centered solely on the album, Wal-Mart saw "Black Ice" as a way to sell more than music. The company hawked AC/DC T-shirts and an exclusive AC/DC version of MTV Networks' Rock Band videogame.

"As we looked at AC/DC's loyal fan base, that's when this idea came about: How do we pull in the music with other things?" Gary Severson, Wal-Mart's senior vice president for entertainment and electronics, said in an interview. "Some artists allow you that opportunity."

AC/DC has served as a youth icon for decades. It came into the release of "Black Ice" with the most popular back catalog of any band other than the Beatles, even though its music isn't available through download services such as Apple Inc.'s iTunes Store.

Columbia Records Chairman Steve Barnett said the Sony Corp.-owned label began the marketing groundwork for "Black Ice" before AC/DC was in the studio, mindful of the band's lasting power. "Almost every avenue to connect with youth culture in America, we took," Mr. Barnett said in an interview.

"Chinese Democracy" generated its share of publicity, thanks in part to the negative reaction Mr. Rose's album title elicited from the Chinese government. But while AC/DC did its part to ensure its album's success -- it granted dozens of magazine interviews, and 50-something guitarist Angus Young put on his iconic schoolboy outfit for another world tour -- Mr. Rose went AWOL.

The reclusive singer declined interviews with Rolling Stone and the New York Times, according to people familiar with the matter. He also didn't complete a music video in time to promote "Chinese Democracy," which diminished Interscope's ability to advertise the album online and on television, and undercut Best Buy's ability to promote it on monitors in stores.

Nonetheless, Interscope is unlikely to be hurt by the sales because Best Buy agreed not to return any of the 1.3 million discs it bought. Interscope and Universal Music are owned by Vivendi SA of France.

During a question-and-answer session on a fan Web site last week, Mr. Rose remarked that "it very well could be true" when a questioner suggested his detachment was hurting sales. But, he added, "What I have to say a lot of people have no desire to hear."

While "Chinese Democracy" has failed to catch on with radio stations, Mr. Rose's record company is betting on a heavy rotation of another sort to boost sales. Two cuts from the album were included in "StripJoints," a CD compilation packaged with Exotic Dancer magazine that went out to 2,500 sexually oriented clubs.

"It's always nice to present music to people when they're having a good time," said Bob Chiappardi, chief executive of Concrete Marketing, which was hired for the strip-club promotion. "It's all about association."
[Edited 12/18/08 23:16pm]

Listen, Axl is smarter than that.

He's not trying to sell a shitload of records in the first week only for the album to disappear after that. This album has longevity.

So it's sold however many records so far, great. The video for "Better" will hit TV in a couple of weeks and sales will pick up. Then they'll probably tour and start selling a lot more. Give it a 4 or 5 months and Axl will show up on some big TV show or Awards Ceremony and tear it up, like he did at the MTV Awards a few years back.

Don't count 'Chinese Democracy' as being out for the count just yet. Let's see what tricks Axl has up his sleeve.

I don't know why people still expect CDs to be big sellers these days There are only a handful of artists who sell alot of CDs and it's mostly younger artists and rappers.Most of today's youth don't give a damn about a rock band that was "hot" in 1990.

The CD has sold only 318,000 copies? Be happy with that and move on!

SoulAlive said:

Usually I'd agree, but how do you explain AC/DC selling 6 million of their new record?

Militant said:

I don't know if "Black Ice" has sold 6 million yet but the simple reason it is outselling "Chinese Democracy" is that "Black Ice" by AC/DC is the better album IMHO.

I have Metallica's "Death Magnetic", AC/DC's "Black Ice" and GNR's "Chinese Democracy" playing back to back to back in my car and IMHO, "Chinese Democracy" is the weakest album of the three.

Militant said:

That's what this is all about? STRATEGY?

I dunno man... I think he's completely deluded. Like Gloria Swanson, he's ready for his closeup.

Last night my wife bought this album for my son to give to a friend

The album was not in the new release section, it was not in the alphabetical section with the GNR back catalog

she asked for help and after searching and employee found a small amount behind a pole in another section of the store

SoulAlive said:

But they bought all those copies and are now at a lose. They expected him to show up somewhere by now. Maybe he really is that smart and thinking about legs for the album. Then again, considering how fickle the public is, they might not care when he is ready to do interviews.

That's what they get for trusting a band whose heyday was 21 years ago.

VinnyM27 said:

I dont think Axl really cares at this point, nor should any artist. Selling and not selling really comes down to Labels. Axl has his check for the record, i know we think its all about selling, but its not, artistic merit has nothing to do with selling, especially now. There is going to come a time (very soon) where Billboard will go bye-bye, there are so many artists now doing it on their own, on their sites,with exclusives, that alot of it is not even tracked, so why even have these charts? i mean who cares.

As for an earlier post about where you found this cd in the store, that sums up places like Walmart and Target and Best Buy, these are not music retailers, music to them is at the bottom of the list of what they make money on. Its an add-on sale, its like going to Mcdonalds and ordering a whole freaking meal and the cashier says "do you want fries with that"? that is what music is now...the fries.

lastdecember said:

Do you think things can change? What do you think labels will have to do?

bboy87 said:

Not really. I dont think there is really anything that can be done to reverse it or at least "right the ship". You really need a whole new mind set in place to make any "change" happen, it all starts with that, and then you can craft the public. "Mainstream" is now a bad word, but 20 years ago and earlier, the mainstream was where it was at. Because its all bottom line now, you will get alot of these "non events" like Prince calls it. You will not see an investment in artists, or even see artists having catalogs of music because the mindset of what is behind them is get rich today. But i think people need to at the same time, get out of the late 90's thinking, this bullshit about soundscan and weekly numbers and comparisons is insane. The big "boom" is dead, people need to deal and move on, you are not going to see million sellers for the most part anymore, its just not going to happen. As for the whole "retail" thing, well labels killed it off but not lowering the prices to stores that they charge, and the consumers dont care as long as its cheap, but now those same consumers are complaining that they cant find cds that they are looking for, all i can say is get used to not finding music in stores anymore. The exclusive deals you see artists doing, will soon become alot more widespread than just elton john, the police and ac/dc, artists are very hip to what it will take. And those that have had longevity and have been in the game, will survive without labels and charts because they already have some sort of following.

Militant said:

True,but that's not exactly the norm It's absurd to expect every rock band to sell that many copies in 2008.
[Edited 12/21/08 15:11pm]

lastdecember said:

Quoted For Truth! Labels can buy the No.1 spot on the SoundSCAM charts so they dn't really measure ANYTHING anymore. The numbers are just that, numbers. They're meaningless.

Militant said:

The New York Times did a piece on AC/DC a month or to ago - http://www.nytimes.com/20...?ref=music

lastdecember said:

I agree with that to be honest.