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Rock Classics Trump Any Genre
August 3, 2007
A nifty little company by the name of Nielsen Soundscan catalogues how well albums two years and older are selling. The answers may surprise you, especially if you were a strong critic of 80's and 90's pop culture. The answers won't surprise you if you retained good taste throughout the years.
Turns out vintage rock n' roll is what's selling the most. AC/DC's "Back in Black", originally released in 1980, sold a whopping 440,000 copies just last year, and 156,000 already this year. Bon Jovi's greatest hits album "Cross Road" sold 324,000 last year, along with Metallica's self-titled 1991 album sold 275,000 copies last year, and is the second-biggest selling album according to Nielsen SoundScan.
Now lets venture to best-selling pop and hip-hop albums of their time, and compare how they're selling now. Mariah Carey's self-titled debut album sold 5,000 copies last year. She's not alone either, the Backstreet Boys' "MIllennium" sold an incredible low 9,000, compared to the monumental numbers 8 years ago. Asia's self-titled album was the best selling album of '92 and sold 5,000 units last year. Whitney Houston got best seller of '86 with her self-titled debut and now sells 7,000 a year on average (for her attorneys).
Compare to Radiohead's killer album "OK Computer", released 10 years ago, as of last year sold 94,000 copies. Nirvana's "Nevermind" got picked up 143,000 times in '06.
It's depressing that hip-hop has such a stronghold on the market today, when its predecessors of rock are enjoying almost as much success, 10-20 years later.
— josh | Archived | Comments (0)
Seether With a New Album Yay
July 17, 2007
Seether really doesn't satisfy me. Their sound is an inherently bland mixture of low guitar riffs and overall unsurprising beats. They are popular for sub-par tracks like "Fine Again" and "Broken" with Evanescence's Amy Lee (ex-girlfriend of frontman Shaun Morgan).
The new album entitled "Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces" or "Finding Beauty in Too Long of an Album Title in Negative-Spaces" is set to drop Oct. 23 courtesy of Wind-Up Records, the great people who brought you other mediocre bands like Evanescence, 12 Stones, Alter Bridge, Creed etc..
In a recent interview with Billboard.com Morgan divulges a bit in a lie to get us interested in the long titled album:
"This is an album where I'm going to be proud of all the songs for a change, because there were so many to choose from, from the beginning.."
It's certainly good to know you lack pride in your work at times. Tell us more.
"As far as the sound goes, it's not a complete departure. You won't pick this album up and hear German polka music."
Oh I see, no German Polka. Gotcha.
"..I think the point was to try and explore the poppier side of the band. Having said that, we explored the heavier side of the band too. It's an album of extremes, or oxymorons, in a way."
A "poppier" side, grrreat.
On an up note, I've seen Seether in concert a couple times and they put on a pretty good show. They get into their music certainly, and the leaked clips of one of the new tracks entitled "Like Suicide" give hope for a different sound and good things to come.
Look for Seether with Breaking Benjamin and Three Days Grace in a city near you this fall, and judge for yourself.
— josh | Archived | Comments (0)
2 Billion Attending Live Earth..!
June 19, 2007
Live Earth is a series of concert events taking place within a 24 hour window, on 07.07.07, to raise awareness of global warming. It will span 7 continents (although I only count 6..) and will have 150+ of the top artists around the world.
Live Earth is fucking huge. It's monumental. So it's no surprise big corporations have already stamped there affiliations pretty early. Folks like Chevy, Pepsi, Zune, Stonyfield Farm, Smart Car, and Philips to name a few... But mostly MSN, the biggest (and most capable) financial backer, actually gets the credit of "presenting" the event.
The hot spots for Live Earth are as follows:
- To be announced - Shanghai, (China) Asia
- Aussie Stadium - Sydney, Australia
- Cradle of Human Kind - Johannesburg, (South Africa) Africa
- HSH Nordbank Arena - Hamburg, (Germany) Europe
- Wembley Stadium - London, Europe
- CopaCabana Beach - Rio De Janeiro, (Brazil) South America
- Tokyo Dome - Tokyo, (Japan) Asia
- Giants Stadium - NYC, (United States) North America
Which is a grand total of 6 continents, although the website claims again and again it's 7. I don't get it.
The US lineup boasts an eclectic group of some of the top artists. So far its been confirmed that 15 artists will perform live:
- Kanye West
- Melissa Ethridge
- A Fire Inside
- Dave Matthews Band
- Kelly Clarkson
- Fall Out Boy
- Akon
- Roger Waters
- KT Tunstall
- Smashing pumpkins
- Alicia Keys
- John Mayer
- Ludacris
- The Police
- Bon Jovi
The US will also be the concluding venue for the event. And if you can't make it to New York AND get a ticket, which is you, MSN has made it possible to view it streaming off of one of the 39 localized web portals. Not only that but if you still watch TV it will be broadcasted on NBC, along with 120 networks worldwide.
"We hope the energy created by Live Earth will jump start a massive public education effort," co-chair vice president Al Gore says. "Live Earth will help us reach a tipping point that's needed to move corporations and governments to take decisive action to solve the climate crisis."
We can only hope.
— josh | Archived | Comments (0)
Promiscuous Digital Music: Not Using Protection Anymore!
June 15, 2007
EMI Group is considered the world's third-largest music company, and now to stress that, they are launching amped-up high quality digital music without copyright protection software, aka digital rights management (DRM).
One thing you should know about EMI is they are a force to reckon with. They own tons of independent labels and record companies/labels. They signed people like Pink Floyd (Capitol), Frank Sinatra (Capitol), Paul McCartney (Parlaphone/Captiol), Elvis Presley (EMI) and a slough of other huge names.
PassAlong Networks is the bridge in the strategy. They stated on Wednesday that EMI's whole digital catalogue will be available with no DRM on the online music stores it owns, such as fye. The tracks offered also boast higher sound quality than most offered digital music, racking up 320 kbps as opposed to the usual 128 to 192 kbps.
This is a major step for the company, and a milestone as well, as they are the first major record company to sell its digital music without copy-protection embedding. Something most record companies frowned on up until now, because of the piracy and illegal distribution ease. But now copy protection software is turning sour because of its inability to cross over digital media to other digital media software.
For example, if you bought the regular copy-protected music from Apple's online music store, you would be able to play it solely in iTunes and on your iPod, which is something Apple has been against from the birth of their online music store in 2003. Until recently, Apple has been unable to provide DRM-free digital media due to their obligation to comply with record labels' licensing demands.
This brand new super-race of digital music will cost you $1.29 a track on iTunes, and as far as other online music stores, prices are to be announced. There is also talk from EMI that Amazon.com will start carrying the beefed up music later this year, when Amazon is said to be releasing their digital music store.
The revolution for truly free digital media has begun!
— josh | Archived | Comments (0)
