kanimal
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Post by kanimal on Nov 11, 2014 23:30:36 GMT -5
I could have sworn a few other artists (the names Jay-Z and Kid Rock are coming to mind, but I can't recall for sure) expressed similar disapproval of the single-track method many years back. It's not an uncommon or unjustifiable viewpoint, but of all the things artists have to compromise in this day and age, it does seem like an extremely trivial issue.
While I think it's pretty clear GhostTunes isn't driving hundreds of thousands of sales, I do find it somewhat strange that Hits is issuing sales estimates without that data -- and didn't even disclose that data was lacking until today (after it had already posted three different sets of forecasts).
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Glove Slap
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Post by Glove Slap on Nov 11, 2014 23:34:21 GMT -5
This is probably a generational thing, but I find launching your own online store to circumvent this to be too much. And considering that most of his audience is older too and initially got to know his music through physical purchases, he would have been better off just doing a deal with Walmart and leaving it at that. If anything, he could have allowed people who purchased a physical copy to receive free digital versions through a code or serial number. With the amount of control he has over his catalog, I don't believe that that was out of the realm of possibility. That sounds like it would have been a lot more manageable. If there is something that surprises me here, it's that Garth doesn't appear to have done anything special with Walmart this time around? Or maybe I missed it. He doesn't appear to have tried to bundle his new album with his ticket sales, either, which seems like a missed opportunity (one of many during this rollout). I haven't been able to find anything related to Walmart either. It's surprising given how fruitful their partnership was just last year. Getting hundreds of thousands of people to drop around $25-30 for a physical box set in this day and age is no small feat. Regarding iTunes Album Only options, it's a bit different if the artist wants to only have the option to purchase the whole thing. I can see why iTunes is reluctant to do that given that it was built on the belief that people would pay for the songs they wanted if given the option and not download the whole album illegally for free, which was a pioneering idea at its inception.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 11, 2014 23:41:37 GMT -5
I've never felt one way or another about Garth until this whole Ghostunes disaster happrned, honestly. I truly hate it when artists act like their way is the "right way" to do something; artists CAN take a stand without acting like they're better than everyone else. In my mind, Garth is making it harder for himself AND fans, and I don't want to bother supporting him if he thinks so highly of himself and his career. Creating your own music service is just ridiculous, and the idea that his marketing for this album involves rebeling against the industry is too much for me. We get it, Garth, ya think you can revolutionize an industry you hate.
Just shut up and sing, Lord.
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YourFaveIsAFlop
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Post by YourFaveIsAFlop on Nov 12, 2014 0:00:52 GMT -5
He would have been better off just releasing physically. At least he wouldn't have come off as petulant as he has.
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Post by ListenToItTwice on Nov 12, 2014 1:06:25 GMT -5
Doesn't iTunes have the option to make tracks "album only"? They place a limit on how many of the tracks can be "Album Only.." Definitely no more than half of the album
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surfy
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Post by surfy on Nov 12, 2014 1:54:02 GMT -5
Doesn't iTunes have the option to make tracks "album only"? They place a limit on how many of the tracks can be "Album Only.." Definitely no more than half of the album I thought they did that with the NOW CD's or have they stopped doing that?
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YourFaveIsAFlop
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Post by YourFaveIsAFlop on Nov 12, 2014 2:12:53 GMT -5
They place a limit on how many of the tracks can be "Album Only.." Definitely no more than half of the album I thought they did that with the NOW CD's or have they stopped doing that? They're fully album only
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Post by areyoureadytojump on Nov 12, 2014 8:12:07 GMT -5
He would have been better off just releasing physically. At least he wouldn't have come off as petulant as he has. Garth's album was released as a cd. I saw it Walmart and Target yesterday.
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YourFaveIsAFlop
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Post by YourFaveIsAFlop on Nov 12, 2014 8:35:46 GMT -5
He would have been better off just releasing physically. At least he wouldn't have come off as petulant as he has. Garth's album was released as a cd. I saw it Walmart and Target yesterday. No, I know it is released as a CD. I just meant that if he didn't want it to be sold via iTunes a la carte, he should have just skipped the digital release altogether, or tried to work out a deal with Amazon MP3 to sell the album as a whole set instead of individual tracks instead of going through the whole process of setting up a new online store that nobobody knows about or trusts.
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Post by areyoureadytojump on Nov 12, 2014 9:01:40 GMT -5
^Okay. I thought you knew that. www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/digital-and-mobile/6312271/ghost-tunes-garth-brooks-itunes-alternative-launches-in Ghost Tunes, Garth Brooks' iTunes Alternative, Launches in FullBy Harley Brown | November 11, 2014 When Ghost Tunes CEO Randy Bernard and COO Chris Webb first met with Garth Brooks to discuss an alternative digital and physical distribution platform, there was one thing they had to get out of the way. "We're going up against Google, Amazon, iTunes -- billion-dollar companies," Bernard recalls telling him. "What happens if they change their models and have better economic deals?" "Music wins," Brooks had said. "This is my gift to music. That's all I want." That's when Bernard knew "it wasn't about making a profit for Garth," he tells Billboard. "It was about putting out a great product and working with artists and fans. Ghost Tunes, the country singer's alterna-iTunes, launches as a full-fledged website today, Nov. 11 (the site has been available in beta since Sept. 5). It's also the date of release for Man Against Machine, Brooks' fittingly-titled first new album -- he's been notoriously opposed to iTunes and has kept his music off the service -- in 13 years. On top of it all, the RIAA's top-selling solo artist in history is releasing a bundle including his nine-album back catalog and some live material to the twangy tune of $29.99. Visually, the new site's interface resembles a cross between Spotify and eMusic. The rollout includes additional features like playlist creation, exclusive interviews, and a social sharing component. If artists choose, they can add mobile and credit card verification to their Ghost Tunes hub. The platform will also integrate direct links to ticket outlets, another hot-button issue for Brooks, who partnered with Ticketmaster in August to fight scalpers. Customers will also be able to stream their purchased songs from their iPhones, Androids, or desktop via a "consumer locker." That's great for consumers, but the most salient incentive for artists to put their music on Ghost Tunes is probably its 80/20 distribution deal (the company has licensing deals with Universal and Warner Music Groups, Sony Music, the Orchard, and several other content owners, with a "robust" independent section coming at the end of the year), which pays 80 percent as opposed to the traditional 70 percent of revenue back to artists and songwriters; however, Webb stresses that they are not competing with services like iTunes' Apple Store or Amazon's digital mp3 store, they're simply providing an alternative. Even BitTorrent, which has also been an increasingly popular means of distribution for artists releasing bundles of albums or other merchandise, isn't a concern for the company. "Ghost Tunes is about choices," Webb tells Billboard. "We don't view ourselves as a platform in competition with other distribution platforms. It's about the formats the artists want and how the consumers choose to absorb the content. It's a win-win for the music industry." With 10 million "pieces of content," including T-shirts, posters, and CDs from artists like tourmate Trisha Yearwood (whose new album is being exclusively released on Ghost Tunes, with the rest of her catalog coming in the beginning of next year), Ariana Grande, and Coldplay -- and albums by the winners of this year's Country Music Awards, whose albums became available for the discounted price of $3.49 following the show on Nov. 5. "We want to make sure we unlocked the music and gave it to the consumer, not to the device," says Webb. "Ghost Tunes is about freedom."
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kanimal
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Post by kanimal on Nov 12, 2014 9:22:43 GMT -5
Music *doesn't* win if the album flops on the service though. To prove this was the "right way," I feel like the album needed to sell like a monster.
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YourFaveIsAFlop
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Post by YourFaveIsAFlop on Nov 12, 2014 9:34:45 GMT -5
If they are offering largely the same products as iTunes and and Amazon MP3, with only a few exclusive products, then yes, by definition they are in competition with those stores...
Everything about Ghost Tunes is like a big joke. I'll give it 6 months before they shut it down.
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Gary
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Post by Gary on Nov 12, 2014 9:50:53 GMT -5
Seriously though, to rejuvenate the album, a model like Ghosttunes is needed. If not Garth then someone else needs to do it
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YourFaveIsAFlop
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Post by YourFaveIsAFlop on Nov 12, 2014 10:11:30 GMT -5
No single artist is going to be able to change the way consumers want to buy music. The industry has moved away from an album based business model, that's just how it is. Unless all the bigs decide to stop allowing a la carte purchasing (which will never happen now), there will be no shift in consumer behavior.
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Gary
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Post by Gary on Nov 12, 2014 10:24:20 GMT -5
True but I like Garth's thinking here. If Ghosttunes fails then either the market has spoken and people just want singles and streaming from now on or someone came up with somthing better to save the album format
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YourFaveIsAFlop
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Post by YourFaveIsAFlop on Nov 12, 2014 10:46:31 GMT -5
GhostTunes sells a la carte though too, if the artist allows it. So it really is just Garth doing this by himself. From what I've seen on the site, his is the only available album that makes you buy the whole album.
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Post by areyoureadytojump on Nov 12, 2014 13:14:51 GMT -5
www.hitsdailydouble.com/news/rumormill.cgiYOUR NEW RELEASES: Riding high on their acclaimed HBO series and a killer single at Alternative radio, rock standard-bearers Foo Fighters will score the week’s biggest debut. But Taylor Swift will spend a third week at #1, adding in as much as 300k to her daunting tally (and thus quite possibly passing the 2 million mark). Add new releases from Pink Floyd and Garth Brooks, and we’ll see four albums with six-digit weekly totals for the first time this year. We love Q4. Foo Fighters (Roswell/RCA) 180-200k Pink Floyd (Columbia) 140-160k Garth Brooks (Pearl/RCA Nashville) 125-145k Big K.R.I.T. (Def Jam) 35-40k Nick Jonas (Island) 35-40k Damien Rice (Warner Bros.) 20-25k Whitney Houston (RCA) 18-22k Tenth Avenue North (Provident) 13-15k Zac Brown Band (Atlantic) 12-14k Machine Head (Nuclear Blast) 12-14k New Basement Tapes (Harvest) 12-14k
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Taylor.
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Post by Taylor. on Nov 12, 2014 13:26:24 GMT -5
300k?!
:'(
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Clauss
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Post by Clauss on Nov 12, 2014 13:33:21 GMT -5
Poor foo fighters they though taylor would be done by now. Hahaha
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JamaicaFunk²
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Post by JamaicaFunk² on Nov 12, 2014 13:36:15 GMT -5
Two million in three weeks.... Not even Taylor Swift has done that before.
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Nick
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Post by Nick on Nov 12, 2014 13:44:56 GMT -5
Pretty low numbers for Whitney.
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Post by popstop on Nov 12, 2014 13:45:27 GMT -5
Taylor might surpass Frozen by the end of the year for 2014 after all.
But Frozen is assured for #1 album for the BB200
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Post by ListenToItTwice on Nov 12, 2014 13:48:33 GMT -5
I thought they did that with the NOW CD's or have they stopped doing that? They're fully album only Good point.. Maybe compilations are an exception? I'm just speaking from the experience I've had with a specific distributor; I could be way off
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YourFaveIsAFlop
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Post by YourFaveIsAFlop on Nov 12, 2014 13:56:48 GMT -5
Poor foo fighters they though taylor would be done by now. Hahaha Well they've had a November release date set since the beginning of May, so i really doubt Taylor Swift's album that was announced in August really played into their release strategy.
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kanimal
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Post by kanimal on Nov 12, 2014 13:57:46 GMT -5
I'd imagine NOW has to be album only due to distribution conflicts. I can't imagine Meghan Trainor being okay with the NOW team selling a competing version of "All About That Bass." Poor foo fighters they though taylor would be done by now. Hahaha Well they've had a November release date set since the beginning of May, so i really doubt Taylor Swift's album that was announced in August really played into their release strategy. Not only that, but this is actually a far lighter November than one would probably have anticipated back in May. Several high-profile names didn't end up releasing the albums they were expected to release and virtually nothing is performing as well as one would have guessed.
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YourFaveIsAFlop
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Post by YourFaveIsAFlop on Nov 12, 2014 14:02:44 GMT -5
Their last album opened with 235k 3 yeasrs ago, so if they can hit 200k this go round, I'm sure they'll be happy with it.
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Post by The Visionary Vantage™ on Nov 12, 2014 14:20:35 GMT -5
I'm wondering if five million is a possibility with 1989. It seems so impossible these days, but given it has outperformed her previous efforts in pace and debuts (so far of course) and it has more potential blockbuster singles than any of her albums, I could actually see it happening.
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Post by when the pawn... on Nov 12, 2014 14:40:16 GMT -5
Can't wait to see 1989 perform throughout the holiday season. It will be at 2.1-2.2 million (right?) before Black Friday.
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SHOOTER
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Post by SHOOTER on Nov 12, 2014 14:51:24 GMT -5
Foo Fighters (Roswell/RCA) 180-200k Foo Fighters debuted at #23 with 40k (1.4m to date). The Colour and the Shape debuted at #10 with 71k (2.3m to date). There Is Nothing Left to Lose debuted at #10 with 111k (1.1m to date). One by One debuted at #3 with 122k (1.3m to date). In Your Honor debuted at #2 with 310k (1.4m to date). Skin and Bones debuted at #21 with 49k. Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace debuted at #3 with 168k (900k to date). Greatest Hits debuted at #11 with 44k (340k to date). Wasting Light debuted at #1 with 235k (870k to date).
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Post by areyoureadytojump on Nov 12, 2014 14:52:36 GMT -5
^GH is at 837k.
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