Comments on: MORE CHINESE DEMOCRACY RUMORS

By: benny

benny — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 21:22:10 +0000

@MetalSucks Admins:
The story was also posted @ Billboard:
http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003855688

@Sammy:
The Best Buy deal will help recoup the recording expenses for the album. Even though the $14 million is divided 4 albums of material which balances out to $3.5 mil per record, that’s still some decent coin.

An iTunes release is definitely very, very important, so for Axl’s sake he put a clause stating the physical release would be exclusive to Best Buy, while online release is a different story.

By: RomuluXX

RomuluXX — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 18:10:45 +0000

I work at Best Buy. My supervisor was at that meeting. I’ll have to see what i can find out. Then again, he was PROBABLY drunk off his ass…

By: McWeen

McWeen — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:38:07 +0000

Welcome to the Jungle was denied because Axl would only allow it on the condition that it was a rerecording with his new version of the band.

By: Sammy

Sammy — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:10:51 +0000

@ Axl: Yes, I would think your understanding is correct. It was probably shopped around and that was the best buy (pun intended) they could put together. I don’t think iTunes/Apple make such deals, and Wal-mart may or may not have been in the bidding. Plus Wal-mart tends to play it safe and I’m not sure how “safe” a long-delayed Chinese Democracy is.

So you’re probably correct. But you know me, I never miss an opportunity to use mean sarcasm. Hell, that’s the best reason to come to this great site of yours.

By: Axl Rosenberg

Axl Rosenberg — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 17:02:41 +0000

@ Sammy: My understanding of a deal like this – and someone can correct me if I’m wrong – is that the band gets basically a licensing fee up front. Axl can’t sell 18 million copies anymore, he can’t sell 7 million copies, he’ll be lucky to sell a million – not just b/c he’s not as popular as he once was, but b/c very few artists sell a million copies anymore, let alone move the ginormous numbers GN’R did in their heyday. And the album allegedly cost around $15 mil to make. So if Best Buy offered him X millions of dollars for the right to sell it exclusively, it’s totally worth it for him b/c he recoups (or at least partially recoups) immediately and doesn’t have to worry about his career ending – now he can go back into hiding for another decade and a half. Plus Best Buy will promote the shit out of the album. And it’s worth it for Best Buy b/c they know that, at least for the first week or whatever, every GN’R fan and even some curious non-GN’R fans will come into the store and hopefully buy other, more expensive crap. I imagine that was the thinking behind the deal… assuming there is a deal.

By: Sammy

Sammy — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 16:38:02 +0000

Isn’t ramping up for a Best Buy exclusive kind of like buying stock in Hollywood Video? Best Buy is scaling DOWN their CD sales dept. The top two music retailers are iTunes and Wal-mart. Way to go Axl Rose. We’re number 3! We’re number 3!

By: dthrasher

dthrasher — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 16:34:41 +0000

You know, after hearing Shackler’s Revenge on RB2, i’m actually pretty interested in hearing the rest of the album. The guitar work is awesome, the chorus is catchy, and overall the song is pretty surprisingly good. It doesn’t sound like it’s going to be a masterpiece of an album that required fifty years to create (or however long) but it sounds like it will be a good listen.

By: Michael

Michael — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 16:27:40 +0000

I’m more excited to get my free Dr. Pepper