While record sales appear to be down all over since the boom of the internet (not to mention the lack of good material), it seems like R&B divas were the hardest and most visually hit by this. Forget about Whitney and Mariah, for a second (but I'll get back to them).

What happened to Toni Braxton? I saw the video for "Hit The Freeway" on VH1 Soul a week or two ago and it was a catchy song. Are the other video outlets playing it? I haven't heard it on radio once. Her album "More Than A Woman" was one of the few CDs this week to see an increase in sales and go up from 100 to 68 but still?

Another victim is TLC. Of course, there case is different with the lose of Left Eye but "Girl Talk" is hot! I've also seen the video on a few outlets but is it on the other big station like BET, MTV and VH1? Usually the death of a star increases the interest in a record. One diva doing well is the late and great Aaliayah even though her album was badly thrown together (they should have released a legitimate Greatest Hits and not tried this experiment in mourning by making a "tribute" CD of stuff not worthy of the "Aaliyah" CD).

And then there's Whitney and Mariah (although both border more on pop then R&B). While there albums are hanging out near the top (Carey ant 30 and Houston at 41), neither can get a big radio single. And Whitney tried twice already. There are only 10 songs on the CD, so she has already released 20% to radio with no luck. Do people really love that damn Eminem song so much that its all they can play. Or is that the love they payola money they get from Interscope that much?

Is there any simple answer for this? It doesn't appear to be any trend out there in music, but is it something they are doing wrong. I must admit of all these discs, the only one I own is Houston's "Just Whitney" and while it doesn't break any new ground (in fact it is kind of a step back after the more experimental "My Love") its quite good and has some songs that could kill on radio with the right videos and promotion. I was just wondering are they doing somehting wrong or is it the record companies. The funny thing is that 2 of the artists (TLC and Toni) mentioned are on LaFace while Houston is on Artista, a company run by the La Reid.

The Record Companies forcing said Diva's to use lackluster, conveyor belt sounding 'production'?

Thus, every soul Diva sounds exactly like the other, so only one album needs to be purchased per year, to keep up with that particular years production trend?

Look at how Toni Braxton attacked Jay-Z because they had both used the same 2PAC sample. The industry is seriously out of ideas. They just go for the 'easy money' and the sound of cash registers tolling every time you listen to a contemporary and current R & B CD is not an exciting one.

I think right now, it's all about the young girl with the pretty face who can market, and doesn't matter if they can't sing. Also, every other young artist is looking or sounding like Aaliyah, too many, that it's a turn-off.

These artists out there, they're just not getting enough marketing, as much as Ashanti, J.Lo, or another gets.

I agree with you, Tony Braxton's song "freeway" is kind of hot, and so was her last CD, "The heat" which wasn't much talked about either.

If it was all about everything else, I think Sade would've been sitting a lot more 'prettier' with us, although she does with me...
[This message was edited Sun Jan 12 11:35:35 PST 2003 by Starmist7]

Ppl taste changes. The kids who buy records these days buy records from new artist. Its a diffirent generation.
It has always been like that. When i was younger i did not buy records from older arrived artists. I bought prince records, cause he was new and refreshing. Now Prince is an arrived artist. Same goes for whitney and Mariah. MJ is not selling like he used 2 do either.
The only "older" arrived artists that do good is Madonna and U2. Its really special that they can keep it up this long. They are the exception to the rule.

Janeau said:

I'm not so sure. When I was little I'd buy or listen to whatever I liked that was available to me. This was the older artists as well. MJ has always been my favourite artist, but as a 6 year old I still liked Elton John, the Bee Gees as WELL as Kylie Minogue, Prince and whoever else. I think it's a classic case of ageism. Push out the old to make room for the new. The radio stations dictate to you what's "hip" and what isn't, and what you're supposed to like at certain ages. What's wrong with there being room for everyvody? The charts are just full of the same stuff over and over and OVER again now. There is almost no variety of choice these days for young kids who may want to get into music, but can't see past the record company darlings that are being spoon fed to them.

Who you talking about, Prince?

one of the reasons why a Production team like the Neptunes don't get a Grammy Nomination is because they have too share the Artists they work with.and that ties into the Whitney's,Mariah's,Toni's,etc... of the World.in order too get Air-Play they have too share the same Writers&Producers.the Companys aren't fitting Material too there Range&Talents they are instead just treating them like they would the 3rd,4th Tier Act on the Roster.Meaning nowadays you have too share everything with everybody else or you might not get Heard??

I think Arista made a huge mistake by releasing so many long-awaited CDs at the same time.In the fall/winter,they released the new CDs by Santana,Toni Braxton,TLC,and Whitney.Those are major artists,with eagerly awaited new albums.Their marketing and promotion departments had ALOT to handle and as a result,none of those albums became instant blockbusters (although,in the long run,Santanas' album probably has the best chance of long-term success).

Ellie said:




Ellie, you liked... ELTON JOHN... I thought you considered him the anti-christ!!
[This message was edited Mon Jan 13 16:57:36 PST 2003 by Axchi696]

Ellie said:

likewise I like what I have always liked.personally I dug Older Acts first&foremost then Acts that I Grew up on.if a Act moves me then they get Props from Me Period no matter if they were before my time during my time or after.

Axchi696 said:

I do NOW! Quite liked him in the 80s, but when he turned into an overgrown Oompa Lumpa celebrity whore with Anne Widdecombe hair, Ijust couldn't look at him in the same light.

HEY!! Are y'all dissing Elton John?? He's great!

i think megastars and divas were something of the 80's and begin 90's. they were the trendsetters of those days. they were the big stars and nobody could really touch them. but since mid 90's the competition has grown with the likes of boybands, girlbands, britneys, avrils, nickelbacks and whatever; a growing supply of music by 'artists' cloned from other 'artists', and that formula seems to be working well. and where the 80's' stars are growing older, the stars of today are getting younger and younger. the 'older' stars like whitney houston, mariah carey and michael jackson are having trouble continueing their old successes and sales, because of the fact that they had their peaks and because of the growing market. now they must compete again and they're having problems coping with that; all have had some serious issues and scandals, which've branded them. i think recordlabels have lost their faith in these artists and are spending less money on their records and promotion because of it.

I'd like to know how Whitney secured such a huge deal with Arista last year then. Didn't she recently renew her contract for $100m? Yet her new album isn't get ANY promotion outside of the USA. What's up?

Ellie said:

well Arista is banking on a New Album selling&having a New Generation of Ears going back&Buying Her Catelog.She has Sold a Ton&She is a Very Important Artist over the past 20 years.Reputation&Your Past carries over sometimes the Expectations are a bit far reaching though.different Musical Climate then say 10-15 years ago.

Ellie said:

It's hardly getting any promotion here. I noticed one Department store seriously had about 100 copies of (80 some regular and 20 special edition). They are going to have to return all of them and then if the album does become popular when a single finally hits radio, they will be left with nothing. Such a shame that these record companies shot themsleves in the foot.

VinnyM27 said:

It's not getting promotion granted, but it's also not that great of an album. Look at MJ complaining and blaming the record company for Invincible's "failure". Plain and simple that album sucks, totally poor quality music, THAT'S why it didn't sell.