WHY???

Why do i still see posts about albums not selling and people curious on why they arent selling?? I just saw a great interview with Richard Marx and he was speaking on some indie newcomers and he was telling people to check them out...and then said DONT STEAL THEIR MUSIC because they are just starting out, if you want GO STEAL some rich assholes music, as he puts it, and he almost names which ones to steal jokingly.

But kidding aside it seems that no one can accept their favorite artist NOT being the big seller anymore, and it blows my mind that one hand we all know the countless causes and yet we still say things like "wow your career is over" and its usually about someone that has 10+ years in the business, its mind blowing. I mean why do people hold on to this dream of a comeback for industry?? Its not going to happen like it was, so let it go, be happy when your artist sells 20,000 in a week, or overall, who really cares....did U like it?? Yes...then case closed.

as long as there's nothing getting in between my favorite artists and their ability to make the music they want to make, i'm happy. if that means the artist is rich and famous and has a major label deal that works for them, and everything is very vanilla and traditional, then awesome. if that means someone is selling albums on their own over the internet and making music in their living room, then i say right on. if artists are making themselves miserable in order to conform to what they're told they should do by "the powers that be", chances are their output will suffer as a result. screw that.

The days of massive record sales are over.Record labels,artists and fans have to lower their expectations.Be happy if a CD sells half a million copies because,let's face it,"gold" has become the new "platinum".There are a few artists who will continue to sell alot of CDs (mostly younger artists and a few rappers) but for the most part,CD sales will continue to decline.As long as people accept this new reality and lower their sales expectations,everything will be fine.

SoulAlive said:

This is the hard part for some.

JackieBlue said:

Yeah,it's hard for some people to accept,especially if you were around in the 70s and you saw the 'Saturday Night Fever' soundtrack sell 22 million copies,or if you were there in 1983 as Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' sold a trillion copies,lol.Those were exciting times,I admit

great question. thanks for your thread question. nuff said

SoulAlive said:

i agree. those millions dollar days are over (most of it went to the record company anyways). I guess my heart goes out to the indie artists trying to sell CDs. Many of their following show support but it must be hard knowing that the technology makes it so easily free out there.

No need for generalization, dude. I'm actually glad that this is occurring because record labels are looking stupid. Some artists don't give a shit about multi-platinum sales any damn ways.

For certain types of music... the cost of recording is hefty.

It is too bad that CD sales can't help recoup that cost anymore. All of a sudden, every artist has to put together a band and go touring -- touring also has operative costs.

Digital distribution has lower costs and we have seen established artists suggest a donation to download. Even though it isn't printed, the artwork, photos and "cover" layout still has to be produced and paid for.

Anxiety said:

Annie Lennox is one artist that seems be somewhere in between 'untouchable major star' and a newly-launched 'little engine that could'. The last time she recorded in her living room was probably 30 years ago. I cannot cosign that a talent such as hers should fall victim to the "survival of the fittest" mindset -- that artists just need to adapt or die off. Some of her recent promotion has been painful to watch.

In the rap industry, you still have mixtapes by big name DJs like DJ Drama or Clinton Sparks, who are paid by the promotional arms of the labels to launch their acts. This helps build a buzz and no one watches the numbers of copies that a mixtape sells (or gets downloaded), so when it is time for the release that gets counted... units actually move because the fanbase was built way before week one.

lastdecember said:

Ay, papi, I love it when you get on these rants . It's true, though. The interesting thing is that here in Europe I'm entrenched in the music scene and you would be flabbergasted to see how many artists are still not even embracing the digital alternatives . They're holding onto some dinasaur of an idea that they can actually recoup dough that went into their cd pressings . Personal tastes aside, just from a business perspective I can't see for the life of me why anyone, artist or consumer, in this day and tech age, would expect to sell any large number of units...that time is so over, but you#d be surprised how many people are not listening

Cinnie said:

Yup...but the the artwork side isn't so expensive if you get the right crew together. As a wardrobe stylist in the old days I remember those $1200 a day cd cover bookings very well, but times have changed, everybody's got to eat, and whatever slashes in day rates everybody has to take to get their check, man, it has to be done. Sad, but with changing technology and the economy it's survival of the fittest all the way around. I have to fight 21 year old kids who will work for a fourth of what I do or even for free, to keep the same client bases I've had forever. Man, it sucks, but...what can people do?

Ottensen said:

I was just pointing out that there are still costs besides the actual manufacturing of physical discs (and recording), which people seem to forget.

Cinnie said:

Very true. Is it just me or does seem to be a huge spike in the demands for interns everywhere you look in arts and entertainment? Snipping and cutting costs are the order of the day now much more than ever

(damned economy ...)

Ottensen said:

Is it the only industry where people work for free?

Cinnie said:

Not these days, I guess I was having a convo with some older friends (50+) in everything from entertainment to pharmacuetical corporations, and even alot of them all across the board are having to put out resumes for reduced salray-near free jobs just to hold onto whatever they have left...it's sorta depressing actually

ICK! Enough of this, it's making me sad! I have to go to a birthday/party cd release of a friend, who, well, had a fortune spent on a record that sooooo will not sell on disc (the irony ). I'm passing it to my next door neighbor who a big boss at Rolling Stone, hoping that it can stimulate her sales a bit...why they didn't have the forsight to not spend all that money on this production is beyond me ...anyhoo, see y'all later...

Anxiety said:

Totally agree with this statement. I think the big thing about wanting artists to sell is that they will continue recording. And yes, I know the argument that if they are real artists, profits wouldn't matter. But it is business, and if you're a big seller, chances are less that you have to worry about album delays and bullshit (although it happens to everyone).

VinnyM27 said:

If they are real artists then profits/sales wouldn't matter is like saying real art does not cost a dime to produce/market/distribute/bla bla bla, and that argument holds no water.

VinnyM27 said:

profits do matter. but there's a difference between making enough of a profit to fund your next project while keeping heat and lights and food on the table, and having to make so much profit that you have a fleet of bentleys in the garage and a scale reproduction of devil's tower made out of cocaine in the back yard.

Anxiety said:

The bigger thing is that music, because of the new business model that has existed since the first days of soundscam, music has lost its importance. Think of your teen days, maybe when you started getting into music, and maybe buying it for yourself. For me it came around the time of 1982, this is when i started saving my allowance each week and going into record factory, looking at the hot 100 songs and saying give me number 76, Inxs "the one thing" and that day was the greatest day of my life (for that week) because i owned that track, it was mine, i bought it, i had this small piece of art in my hand. And as time went on there would be many days and weeks like this, and then having enough to buy an album, shit meant something then, it wasnt handed to you, TODAY it is, everything is too convienent for everyone, these kind of days DONT exist for anyone, i can guarantee that this kind of love affair with music, being a background to days and life and moods, these days dont exist for anyone now discovering music, its all just too damn easy, music has become secondary in its importance.

Well, in that case, most of the money that artists makes now is by touring and endorsements. Correct?

angel345 said:

So what if artists stopped recording altogether?

Cinnie said:

Wont happen, bands have to do something, that is why loyal followings, people that NO ONE thinks are indie, older bands, artists, sell their stuff on their own site, and we of course dont talk about them because its not selling a million in a week, and of course the media doesnt talk about it, because they are going an ANTI-MEDIA route, but one day soon when they actually track sales from artists own .com sites and you start seeing artists debuting ahead of shit thats getting pushed, the labels will shift.

Oh I fully know and realize that albums with real music don't sell any more. That's because shit hop has dominated for 20 years with no style change and no style change in sight for the future. Shit hop is all that most of this current generation has known for their entire lifetime and if an artist is making real music instead of shit hop, nine times out of ten, it ain't gonna sell.

20 years is a long time and all I can do is think of all the style changes that occurred in R&B by the time I was 20 years old.

- I was born into the Motown era in the late 60s.

- Then there was the soul era of the early 70s that had artists like Marvin Gaye and Al Green.

- Then the funk era of the mid to late 70s that was going on at the same time with the disco era.

- Then the more modernized sounding funk era of the early 80s.

- Then the Shitney Houston era of the late 80s.

_ The house music era of the late 80s.

All these style changes occured by the time I was 20. How many styles changes have occurred in R&B in the lifetime of a 20 year old person today? None. It has been shit hop the entire time. And then they accuse us of living in the past. Hell, we've always moved on from style to style. They're the ones stuck in the shit hop rut for 20 years.
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[Edited 4/18/09 18:14pm]

That not only applies to the artists but to the consumers also. As long as the consumers lower their expectations and also lower their standards...when they get these cheap sounding CDs with the Fisher Price drum machines all over them, they'll be happy. I, for one, don't lower my standards for nobody. I'm a bitch.

vainandy said:

Yeah,it's amazing how the styles really haven't changed that much in the past 20 years or so.R&B music,in particular,is still stuck in the same place it was in the 90s.

SoulAlive said:

It maybe R&B music may will suffer the same fate as Jazz. With a few, a very few notable exceptions after the jazz giants of the 50 & 60's jazz music latter day notables (Wynton Marcellus as a prime example) for all their technical prowess....they didn't offer any artistry, evolution, and innovation to Jazz.

At the same time look a the black community back in the day that produce the blues, religious spirituals, jazz, gospel, rock & roll, R&B. The venues for live music big and small in our communities were a mainstay and the black church especially that nurtured that talent. I don't know anyone my age that did learn how to play an instrument..or wasn't in a band. The bands vainandy spoke of, if you ask any of those musicians I bet my life they would tell you they played in the church and/or were classical trained in whatever instrument(s) they played.

The evolution of radio and record conglomerates.. maybe we should have seen this coming. No more Atlantic Soul, Stax, Motown/Detroit, Philadelphia Sound, Chicago Sound, Dayton Ohio_the home of the Funk, or any of the small record labels that produced amazing music. Sadly, that's all gone,
[Edited 4/20/09 13:37pm]