Switchfoot - Oh! Gravity

[pen]

damnnnitzzjohn said:

penance said:

I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet cause I've been so busy with work. And as far as I know, Switchfoot did go gold, at least probably for shipped units.

Billboard showed their sales last week in the pop catalog.

They were in the 350,000 range.

You can only go gold/plat by shipments...right?

I don't know. Sometimes I hear about bands going gold and platinum for sales and then other times they say it's for shipments, and shipments aren't the same thing as sales cause there are a lot of times where a band's sales aren't even close to the units they've shipped and they still go gold or platinum. I really have no clue if it's always for shipments or if there's different criteria in different cases or what. The RIAA certification process is a forbidden mystery to me, much like cupcakes.

[Nicholas2.0]

I do believe it's for units sold and any other source that puts "shipped" in the same sentence as saying an album has been certified gold or platinum, or what have you, is either mistaken or mistakenly using the terms synonymously.

[allnightmarelong]

Stone Sours new album was certified Gold in units shipped.

if it makes a difference, Switchfoot didnt sell at all today. my store only recieved 3 copies of it and no one got it. same goes with 2 other stores I talked to today haha.

[pen]

nicholas said:

I do believe it's for units sold and any other source that puts "shipped" in the same sentence as saying an album has been certified gold or platinum, or what have you, is either mistaken or mistakenly using the terms synonymously.

You may believe that, but you're wrong.

[damnnnitzzjohn]

Such a shame! This album needs to beat their last first week sales, but I don't think it will.

:(

[Nicholas2.0]

penance said:

You may believe that, but you're wrong.

Yeah, well, that's what I learned in my music business classes in college. The professor made damn sure we put in our notes that something has to be sold and not shipped in order to be certified, even making trick questions on tests about the wording, and that's what all the textbooks said, too, so unless the RIAA has modified the definition in the past few years, "shipped" is falsely being used synonymously.

[pen]

nicholas said:

penance said:

You may believe that, but you're wrong.

Yeah, well, that's what I learned in my music business classes in college. The professor made damn sure we put in our notes that something has to be sold and not shipped in order to be certified, even making trick questions on tests about the wording, and that's what all the textbooks said, too, so unless the RIAA has modified the definition in the past few years, "shipped" is falsely being used synonymously.

Well if it's being falsely used synonymously, it's being falsely used by the RIAA. That's all I'm saying. Maybe things have changed in the past few years and the RIAA feels the need to fool buyers by certifying albums as gold or platinum to give them a sales boost, but there are quite a few CDs around that are getting certified for the copies sent to stores and not for how many are actually sold. A good example? Hoobastank went gold with Every Man For Himself, but no way have they sold the 500,000 copies necessary. Switchfoot went gold with Nothing Is Sound too, and we know for a fact they didn't sell 500,000. So if there's any duplicitous behavior, it's on their end.

[singingsparrow]

Switchfoot have certainly had a unique last three years in the music business, in that it's rare for an artist these days to break into mainstream one era and then serpentine effortlessly back toward the indie crowd just like that.

"Nothing Is Sound" was undoubtedly a big commerical disappointment, but somehow I think ironically in that disappointment there was immense opportunity for the band to continue to endure as an indie favorite. Usually it just doesn't work that way, where once you're a former indie band and break into mainstream, you cross the Rubicon in many ways and are constantly under pressure to keep reinventing that sort of sound that got you onto the charts to begin with. Just a handful of examples of that are Vertical Horizon, R.E.M and, at least by the sounds of it, Modest Mouse and Death Cab For Cutie.

Though I thought from the beginning "Stars" would be a much bigger hit than it ended up being, perhaps the band really didn't intend to evolve into a Top 40 staple. Maybe they thought that they were "adding to the noise" so to speak, even when they never meant to, and believe they had their finest hour and it was time to return to their core audience, which you can't help but admire, even when you sacrifice so much potential in such a move and will miss them on the charts sincerely.

Sincerely,
Noah Eaton

[Nicholas2.0]

penance said:

Well if it's being falsely used synonymously, it's being falsely used by the RIAA. That's all I'm saying. Maybe things have changed in the past few years and the RIAA feels the need to fool buyers by certifying albums as gold or platinum to give them a sales boost, but there are quite a few CDs around that are getting certified for the copies sent to stores and not for how many are actually sold. A good example? Hoobastank went gold with Every Man For Himself, but no way have they sold the 500,000 copies necessary. Switchfoot went gold with Nothing Is Sound too, and we know for a fact they didn't sell 500,000. So if there's any duplicitous behavior, it's on their end.

That sort of chicanery (esp. with the overall sales drop of the past few years) had crossed my mind, and I wouldn't put it past them.

[damnnnitzzjohn]

I don't even think this will debut on the Hot 100 this week...or ever.

:(

[audiogarden]

I am downloading this album from itunes as I type. I am very pleased with what I have heard so far.

Maybe word of mouth will help sales. I have 'Beautiful Letdown', but did not buy 'Nothing is Sound'.

I think they may get back on track with this CD, if the fans of the first CD give it a chance.

[audiogarden]

nicholas said:

penance said:

You may believe that, but you're wrong.

Yeah, well, that's what I learned in my music business classes in college. The professor made damn sure we put in our notes that something has to be sold and not shipped in order to be certified, even making trick questions on tests about the wording, and that's what all the textbooks said, too, so unless the RIAA has modified the definition in the past few years, "shipped" is falsely being used synonymously.

It has changed. RIAA cert is just units shipped, now.

[pen]

audiogarden said:

I am downloading this album from itunes as I type. I am very pleased with what I have heard so far.

Maybe word of mouth will help sales. I have 'Beautiful Letdown', but did not buy 'Nothing is Sound'.

I think they may get back on track with this CD, if the fans of the first CD give it a chance.

You mean fans of The Legend Of Chin?

[Nicholas2.0]

audiogarden said:

It has changed. RIAA cert is just units shipped, now.

Well that's just horseshit, then. Now a record company can ship just any old number of units out there--just to garner a certification--as long as it's still profitable to get 'x' number of 'em right back, eventually.

[audiogarden]

penance said:

audiogarden said:

I am downloading this album from itunes as I type. I am very pleased with what I have heard so far.

Maybe word of mouth will help sales. I have 'Beautiful Letdown', but did not buy 'Nothing is Sound'.

I think they may get back on track with this CD, if the fans of the first CD give it a chance.

You mean fans of The Legend Of Chin?

Ok, I meant the first really successful cross over CD. LOL

I do have The Legend Of Chin, btw, so I did know better. It was just a brain spasm.

[pen]

K. I'm just being a douche.

Anyway, I finally listened to like, half of this album last night. I am really impressed and I think "American Dream" or "Awakening" should be the next single.

[audiogarden]

I love American Dream. Just from the first few listenings, I seem to hear a theme, of "I could be a whole lot bigger star, if I would sell my soul".

[American Idiot]

penance said:

American Dream" or "Awakening" should be the next single.

Yes, I totally agree. Both of those I think are the two major standouts on the album.

[alexcuse]

The problem with releasing "Awakening" as a single is that it sounds like a mixture of "Dare You to Move" and "We Are One Tonight" with less catchiness to it. It is destined to fail on the radio.

They need to try something that sounds different. I think "Yesterdays" could be a hit if they had a corresponding push on "Grey's Anatomy." Or release "Amateur Lovers," which could ride on its riff similarity to The Rolling Stones "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" in receiving airplay. Even "Dirty Second Hands," which might garner them a little bit of mainstream rock airplay, would grab a different audience than the ones who already purchased the album the first two weeks.

[Matt4319]

I don't remember what I said earlier in this topic, if anything, but I'm far less impressed by this than most of their other stuff. I'll still probably get the album eventually, though.