IT’S THE HOLIDAY SEASON = SOUNDSCAN SNOOZEFEST
Wednesday, December 17th, 2008 at 4:53pm by Vince Neilstein
It’s the holiday season so there isn’t much to report in the way of new releases, with labels instead opting to cash in on best-of collections, holiday-themed albums and catalog albums (industry speak for albums that aren’t the band’s most recent release). That said, there’s a really interesting subplot happening on the Soundscan Charts this week.
Let’s take a look at the “Top Hard Music Albums” chart instead of the general Top 200 list we usually track. The Top 10 from this chart (shown above) shows a familiar holiday story — all the year’s biggest rock records are selling well thanks to stocking-stuffer purchases, driven by expensive “end cap” positioning record labels purchase to have these albums featured prominently in the stores (yes folks, those are paid for). Look at the “% Change” column which tracks change from week to week. Every album is trending up significantly, except two — Linkin Park’s live album (because really, who the fuck cares) and… Chinese Democracy, which is down 17% against last week.
That’s downright embarrasing. Geffen should be able to clean up on this album during the holidays with some good placement and nostalgia marketing. For chrissakes, the GN’R Greatest Hits comp is still selling nearly 10,000 copies weekly!! Oh, what’s that, Geffen/Axl’s hands are tied because they fucked up big-time by doing an exclusive with Best Buy? Oops. What’s even worse is that it’s a good album that deserves to be heard.
Fail.
-VN
Thanks for the post. It sucks that CD isn’t doing better but if Axl and co won’t go out and promote it, there’s only so much you can do.
How about an update on some other latest releases like Gojira, Testament, Meshuggah, Children Of Bodom and Amon Amarth?
HOLY SHIT! Fucking Kid Rock. Are people just going out and buying two or three copies of that crap? How in the hell is it still selling that many copies? Ugh.
Holy shit! Back in Black has sold ANOTHER 2.3 million copies?? That album already had just under 20 million! Who is there left to buy it?
Sammy, those BiB sales are only from 2003 when the album was re-issued by Sony. Since 1991, it’s sold well over 6 million in the US alone.
Haha like we really needed more proof that Nickelback is Roadrunner’s bread winner so they can support all the other bands on that label that actually have talent. I sometimes feel sorry for the massive audience that buys this shit…but then I realize that I’m better than them and I go make myself a cup of hot cocoa.
Kid Rock is selling al these cd’s and still i don’t know anyone who actually bought the album! Is there some big undergound group were each member buys two dozen Rocknroll Jesus’s? this is strange, very strange!….
Axl did fuck up by going with a Best Buy exclusive, just today I was in my local Best Buy and they were overstocked with boxes full of Chinese Democracy.
You gotta admit, thems there Nickeback ACDC and Kid Rock is dern catchy.
Except for AC/DC, Guns N Roses and Metallica, this is EXACTLY what’s on Vince’s iPod. Especially Nickelback…Neilstein LOVES them.
The reason that Vince doesn’t listen to AC/DC, Guns N Roses and Metallica is because he wouldn’t know what real rock music is if it stepped up, said “hi, I’m real rock and roll” and bit him on his dumb ass.
this lineup of bands looks like it could have been the year 1998, not 2008, are there really no good NEW artists breaking the mainline? wtfz?
I have been in 3 separate Best Buy’s in the last week and seen zero of anything resembling chinese democracy promotion. i had to actually go look for it in all 3 places.
also, back in black has sold like 42 million copies I think. it’s like the second highest selling record worldwide behind thriller.
fuckin nickleback
i think its funny that kid rocks album is still selling good . the hit song off the cd is a rip off of lynard skynard
Chinese Democracy does not need to be heard, that album blows.
How can anyone be offended by Chinese Democracy when a band like Hinder exists?
When is the penny going to drop that there’s nothing remotely dangerous or worthwhile about that band other than an ability to make money out of minimal talent?
Wow.That Nickelback album is on it’s way to going diamond.Holy fucking shit.
And yeah, I’m pretty sure that I heard a few years ago that Back in Black had sold at least 20 million copies.I could be wrong, but it’s Back in Black, so I’m probably not.
It’s business.
Geffen hates Axl and Chinese Democracy. They spent $13 million and Best Buy offered about that for the exclusive deal. Geffen recouped its money, told GnR to fuck off and they are moving on.
They will not spend another cent or offer any promotional efforts from their staff. I don’t blame them after all the crap they had to put with.
I think that if you’re going to go with an exclusive to a retailer you can ONLY go walmart. if GnR had done what the Eagles did, this record would be selling a lot better. Isn’t it also weird that Nickelback is just destroying them sales wise? I mean aren’t Nickelback fans like old GnR fans? Wtf
I hate Nickelback so bad!!! And to see them on this list twice!! Uggg. Is this actually modern country or is it me? WTF. Crappy Nascar music if you ask me!
The albums (and the artists behind them) on this list demonstrate what an abortion “popular rock” is at present. To echo all of the sentiments posted above, I’d like to see quality (creative) bands sell records at similar paces. Amon Amarth. Enslaved. Nachtmystium. Gojira. Agalloch released an EPic EP early this year. The Haunted. Listen to Bleeding Through if you must…Declaration is 5x the quality of anything on Soundscan.
Doug, you’re probably right, but quality and talent can never guarantee sales. If that were the case Dillinger Escape Plan would have platinum records.
Stop Blamming fuckin Best Buy (I mean they suck but) the Fucking album (CD) is the BIGGEST PIECE OF MOTHERFUCKER SHIT I´VE EVER LISTENED TO
So I think thats why it hasnt been sold
Those charts are nothing but a mainstream popularity contest. It’s never been about talent, if it was, you’d see artists like Alan Holdsworth, Frank Zappa and Al DiMeola up there, not Kid Rock and Nickelback.
middle schoolers buy physical albums, and they happen to buy the shitty ones. i’ll never forget saving up like three weeks of allowance to go buy devil without a cause (kid rock) in middle school. had i been older, in high school perhaps, i probably would have just burnt a copy from a friend. but do you see where i’m going with this? it wouldn’t have been a kid rock cd that i’d be burning! it’d be a something with just a bit more substance. then you have bands like tool who reward their fans for buying the physical album with the packaging intricacies and whatnot. their album sales haven’t stopped growing. really. if you ask me this is what record companies need to do: sign bands with talent, encourage creativity, give customers a reason not to buy the cd on itunes (extra tracks, better packaging, fucking stickers like beck had on the information which sold a lot of copies even though the album was mediocre as hell even for beck), and then MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL, sell the album for no more than thirteen dollars (that is not an arbitrary figure, it is the average between current cd prices and the ten dollar itunes charge), oh yeah and publicly execute the members of nickelback. hinder, and then go to taladega and play kid rock’s first album, his rap album, for those inbreds and feed him piece by piece to them while they become enraged in a hunger for dark white meat.
Maybe this is why the GnR CD album doesn’t sell. The Chinese goverment threw a monkey wrench into the whole Geffen-Best Buy campaign, and echoed ex-GnR sentiments about “Axl the Dictator”; who is the last musician to be preaching politics.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyt8aHxAm0g