Leave the best song for .... second?

[capital_guy]

There appears to be a new stratgey in album cut releases to radio for establishd artists. It used to be the case in general to release your best, catchiest song as a lead off track for a CD in order to maximize sales of the entire album. However, if you look at recent first-relases for established artists with anticipated releases such as X-tina, Britney, Janet, Pink, and Avril, there appears to be this trend of releasing mediocre album-filler tracks first, followed by powerful, attention grabbing second singles, at least in the case of BS and CA. Is this deliberate? And if so, is this because the record companies figure they'll sell a ton of CDs at first based on anticipation alone, only after which they'll really need a hit to sell more CDs... Or is this purely coincidental and really just bad judgement on the part of the record companies?

[Deleted]

Pink?

[capital_guy]

I just meant the first part in her case - releasing medicore tracks first. I guess God is a DJ doesn't follow the rest of the pattern. I should've also mentioned Madonna. In the case of Madonna, it didn't matter how great Hollywood was, AL just killed the whole project.

[Deleted]

I thought this was going to happen to Fefe Dobson too, but sadly, it doesn't look like it will.

You could also add Jessica Simpson to your list.

[capital_guy]

Except I don't know that record companies would've banked on initial CD sales based on pure anticipation in those cases...

[Adonis the DemiGod!]

It's worked for XA, BS, JS, and will probably work for Janet too. People will buy the album based on hype alone. Janet has chosen to release 2 mediocre album fillers instead of just one as the first single just to let both the Urban and Pop audiences know that her album is coming out. It just lets the fans know there is something out and first singles usually promote themselves if for no other reason other than HYPE. Either way fans buy the album the first week out. After that its up to the singles to sell the albums so its better to get the good singles out second or third if you want long term sales.

[George Tropicana]

The said:

You could also add Jessica Simpson to your list.

I don't think so. "With You" wouldn't have been as big as it was if the whole image of "Newlyweds" didn't tie in with the song. I remember initial reaction to "With You" ranged from lukewarm to horrible.

"Sweetest Sin" wasn't album filler; it sounded like a genuine first single for the album.

[Leafstorm]

This kind of strategy can be really risky. I mean, look at Pink and Madonna! I think record companies are realizing that radio has become an increasingly important vehicle in order to drive album sales in the long term, so they are leaving the better stuff for release later... I also think it depends on the release dates for albums. I mean, if you are going to release an album in October and November, obviously you can choose to release a first single that's not as great, and still expect get sales for a couple of months due to the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays.

[pkwi]

I don't think any record label in the right mind would release "Me Against The Music" as a first single for a supposed "comeback" album. In some cases, if the artist is huge enough, like JT,BS,CA, etc. then the labels can release a lackluster first single like LILY,MATM,or "Diirty" and ride off of the anticipation and excitement for the first few weeks. However, with artsits who don't have as large of a fanbase, like Pink, its wiser to release the best song as the first single to capatilize off of it and release a few more adequate songs. If GIADJ was the best song off of Pink's Try This, then something is wrong yes. But it can be a wise choice in some cases, if the artist (Used term loosely in some cases, JT) is popular enough and has a large fanbase. It worked for Britney, Jessica, and Christina on all of their albums.

[Rob64]

Janet did it with "Got Til It's Gone", then she released "Together Again"

[irice22]

Obviously Michelle Branch fits in this category. She released a catchy first signle, then pulled out her secret weapon, "All You Wanted."

[Devil Marlena Nylund]

With the case of Christina, her "comeback" was with an attention grabbing song that got people talking and it worked for her. But I'm thinking that the label knew it would peak fairly quickly so they had the second single planned already as a song that more people could appreciate. Had they released 'Beautiful' first, I think it would have peaked quickly and then they'd have nowhere to make up for it.
I think Britney's strategy was probably along the same lines except instead of a slow ballad, they picked a more upbeat song and surprisingly, it worked.
I think the first single should definately be an attention grabber while the second one should be what you use for more of a long-term album seller.

[Adonis the DemiGod!]

Well you can add Beyonce to the list also. Work It Out flopped then Beyonce came out with Crazy In Love.

[Radiorocks]

Adonis said:

Well you can add Beyonce to the list also. Work It Out flopped then Beyonce came out with Crazy In Love.

Work It Out is not off of "Dangerously In Love".

Anyway, i think it's all pure coincedence.

Dirrty-Was not supposed to do poorly on radio, but Christina has said the reason they wanted this out first was because it would bring her back into the spotlight overnight (boy did it work). The reason "Dirrty" flopped on radio was because it got lost in a sea of new singles by anticipated artists, and it also had something to do with the controversial video. The 2nd single 'Beautiful" was sort of like a reply to people's reaction of the first single, so it worked.

Me Against The Music-The only reason this song was released first was because of Madonna. Had Madonna not been on this track, i don't think Jive would've released it. Jive hoped for both hype and airplay from this single, but instead they only got hype. For the 2nd single they decided to do something different and risky since they went for a safe bet for the 1st single and it backfired in their faces, so that's where "Toxic" comes in.

Sweetest Sin-This song was destined to flop. It's a good song, but Jessica never had any popularity back then. The record label knew it would flop, she knew it would flop, radio dj's knew it would flop, and her fans knew it would flop. To the record label this album was sort of like a "okay, she has one more album on the contract left and after it flops we'll dump her". But that's when the surprise came in, "Newlyweds" made Jessica Simpson a household name, and her and the record label quickly cashed in and released a single as soon as possible to cash in on her new popularity. If Jessica simpson decided to release "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" as the 2nd single it would've been a hit, and the record label knew that, so they really didn't care what would've gotten released.

[Leafstorm]

There were rumours about how Jive wanted ''Outrageous'' to be the first single from ''In The Zone'', and not ''Me Against The Music''. Britney opposed to their idea, saying that she didn't want ''Outrageous'' to be released at all. ''Me Against The Music'' ended up be released partly due to the fact that Madonna had also recorded her vocals for this song.

[pkwi]

I think that "With You" should have been the first single off of In This Skin, then the title track and "Forbidden Fruit" as the second and third singles.

Well you can add Beyonce to the list also. Work It Out flopped then Beyonce came out with Crazy In Love.

What? THat was off the Austin Powers soundtrack, not close.