Comments on: Lil Wayne, Taylor Swift Do Their Part To Save The Music Industry

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 04:05:26 +0000

Thanks, Maura for responding. Initially, I personally did not like the idea of a re-release for two reasons, (1) the album was good enough to produce many hits without adding additional songs and (2) it perpetuates the idea that there is something wrong with Rihanna’s music and she had to go and fix it. I personally feel that rihanna and her music are different and people just need some time to get used to her in the U.S. that’s all, they already love her in europe, her album has been incredibly successful there and her good girl gone bad tour was sold out and had to be extended for an additional month. However, the re-release did get her album more publicity and the album sold close to another million copies after the re-release. And I must admit that I loved the song disturbia and its video because it validated what I always knew to be true about her, she is creative, bold, not afraid to take risks and challenge the status quo. The re-release also extended the life of her album on the charts, it is one of the few albums that is still in the top 40 after being out for more than a year and disproves the idea that her music does not have lasting appeal. That said, I can see why one might not like a re-release( which I am sure was not rihanna’s idea but rather her label’s) because it is an example of corporate greed where making money is more important than preserving the integrity of an artist’s work. Why make money off just releasing singles when you can get publicity to sell more albums as well? I can only hope that as rihanna fully matures into adulthood she will demand more of a say in how her music is marketed by her label.

By: Maura Johnston

Maura Johnston — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 01:25:01 +0000

@dcstatehood: Flo Rida's "Low" broke download records in the week after Christmas last year; it sold 470,000 downloads between Dec. 24 and Dec. 30. Had the chart year been similar to the November-to-November one used by Billboard, it would have taken the crown over "Bleeding."

[idolator.com]

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 01:02:08 +0000

I’m not sure what you mean by the statement, “Thanks to SoundScan’s Dec. 31-to-Dec. 28 chart year, the top single was Leona Lewis’ ‘Bleeding Love.’” Is it possible that two more days (or one less) would’ve changed the holder of the top slot?

By: Maura Johnston

Maura Johnston — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 09:02:57 +0000

@lovebug: thanks for the context. but don't you think that rihanna would be better served by just releasing singles? why force the label to go through the effort of re-releasing an album for the lone purpose of tacking on extra tracks, annoying fans, etc?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 04:54:40 +0000

As a rihanna fan, I just had to comment because I am sick and tired of people saying that her records sales are poor because they always make these statements without putting them in context. They will compare her sales to that of beyonce’s or britney’s when both of these ladies have been in the industry for over a decade while rihanna has only been around for a little over three years. Furthermore, rihanna is a top 40 artist, in general or in recent times anyway, top 40 artists do not sell as well as successful genre artists i.e. rap, rock, country. Therefore it is not appropriate to compare her sales to that of lil’ wayne’s or taylor swift’s. A more appropriate comparison would be to compare her sales to other under-21 non-disney top 40 artists such as chris brown, jordin sparks, jesse mccartney, katy perry,etc. Compared to those acts, Rihanna actually did quite well thanks to her re-release and the additional songs. She even did better madonna, the queen of top 40 music. Now, outside the u.s. where
top 40 artists are loved and respected a whole lot more, Rihanna’s and Madonna’s albums did quite well, even outselling lil’ wayne and taylor swift. According to worldwidealbums.net (feel free to google and check it out) rihanna’s and madonna’s albums were among the top 10 best selling albums in the world for 2008.