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The 27 Albums On This Week’s Billboard 200 That Didn’t Experience A Week-To-Week Sales Drop
Wed Oct 1 2008 by Maura
While reading over this week’s SoundScan, I noticed–among the thicket of debuts that included Disney’s “new Miley Cyrus” Demi Lovato, Kings Of Leon, TV On The Radio (No. 12!), and the Pussycat Dolls (who just managed to squeak into the top five)–that not many full-lengths that had been out for a while were gaining in sales from the previous week. The No. 1 album, Metallica’s Death Magnetic, held on despite a 61% drop from the previous sales week, while Ne-Yo’s Year Of The Gentleman only dropped from No. 2 to No. 3 on a 67% loss. And the numbers didn’t get much prettier from there. In fact, the first album on the chart to experience a week-to-week gain was all the way down at No. 46: M.I.A.’s Kala, which had a modest-in-any-other-week 6% bump. So I decided to figure out just how many non-debuting albums gained momentum during a week that was marked by a lot of chaos on the financial front, and a 6.8% week-to-week decline in overall sales, not to mention a 28.8% year-over-year drop. Those albums–which constitute a mere 13.5% of the chart–are listed, with their big-board placements and overall sales, after the jump.
Muxtape Founder Gives A Glimpse Of The Major Labels’ “Negotation” Tactics
Thu Sep 25 2008 by Maura
A month after his playlist-sharing site Muxtape was shut down by the RIAA, founder Justin Ouellette has broken his silence, with a detailed timeline of what led up to the closure on Muxtape’s front page, along with a note that the site would be relaunching as a way for bands to share their music in the immediate. In the wake of the lackluster launch of MySpace Music, this inside look at how the major labels make (or, I should say, try to make) deals is, at the very least, insightful as far as helping one realize just why so many sites with licensed music are, shall we say, less than satisfying. An excerpt from Ouellette’s story after the jump.
The Pussycat Dolls Star In “Will It Blend?”
Tue Sep 23 2008 by Dan Gibson
Major Labels Still Trying To Be Creative With Physical Media
Mon Sep 22 2008 by Maura
Undaunted by the lack of success seen by the ringtone/CD-single hybrid known as the Ringle, the four major labels have decided to dive back into the brick-and-mortar world with a new format that brings together one-gigabyte memory cards and full-length albums. The new format, which will supposedly be compatible with both mobile phones and home PCs, has been given the unwieldy name SlotMusic*; the Wall Street Journal says each album in the line will cost $15, while the New York Times claims that the format’s price point will be in the single-digit range.
“Her Name Is Nicole” Exists, Sort Of
Mon Sep 22 2008 by Maura
Only Nicole Scherzinger’s floptastic solo debut… More »
Hey, There’s At Least One Sorta-Good Thing About The New Pussycat Dolls Record
Mon Sep 15 2008 by Maura
Over the weekend, the Pussycat Dolls’ Doll Domination leaked, and normally such an occasion would result in a writeup, or at least a half-hearted spin through it, but readers, I have to cry uncle. Normally I would bite the bullet, grit my teeth, etc., but the damn thing is 16 tracks long, and that’s before you tack on the seven-track “bonus EP,” which–I am not kidding–includes the Dolls’ “interpretation” of “Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps.” I can’t do it. Twenty-three tracks? Is this Interscope’s attempt at punishing us for not embracing Her Name Is Nicole? Anyway, all that extra room does have one notable result: The four non-Scherzinger members of the dancing-lady collective are each allowed to take a turn in front of the microphone, albeit on the bonus EP. And one of the songs chosen will at the very least benefit a songwriter whose work I’ve liked in the past, even if the chosen Doll’s take on the song in question does, to put it charitably, leave something to be desired.
Ruth Vs. Maris, meet “Twist” Vs. “Smooth”: All-Time Hot 100 Pits Old Against New
Fri Sep 12 2008 by Chris Molanphy
Baseball is such a rich sport for data geeks, what with every move made by a player having a number attached to it. But the inconsistencies and outright mistakes in the sport’s long history, from the number of games in a season to the exclusion of the Negro Leagues, make the sport even moregeek-friendly–those missteps become something else to debate, at least when fans aren’t mulling the current statistical effects of controlled substances.
Mistakes and inconsistencies are two of many things baseball geekery and music-chart geekery have in common. (Lord knows the music business has its substances.) Billboard has changed the rules behind the Hot 100 often enough to keep guys like me talking for days on end.
From flip-flopping rules about B-sides, to shifting radio genres, to the belated inclusion of album cuts on the singles charts, chronicling chart history means making allowances for a slew of discrepancies. The biggest discrepancy of all is the 1991 shift in the charts wrought by SoundScan, a B.C.-A.D. moment that makes comparing old and new hits an exercise in near-futility.
You need to keep this top-of-mind when you take in the so-called All-Time Hot 100, released by Billboard this week as part of its celebration of the chart’s 50th anniversary. The final result, led by Chubby Checker’s “The Twist” and Santana and Rob Thomas’ “Smooth,” is less interesting than the contortions the magazine went through to put them there.
