<![CDATA[Question - Idolator Comments]]> http://cache.gawker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/idolator.com.png <![CDATA[Question - Idolator Comments]]> http://idolator.com Tue, 22 Apr 2008 11:42:07 EDT Tue, 22 Apr 2008 11:42:07 EDT http://idolator.com/382210/question <![CDATA[Question]]> http://idolator.com/382210/question#c5312248 @HONEYBFLY: Perhaps I'm a dinosaur, but I don't want to only listen to singles.

janine

]]> 33:382210:c5312248 Tue, 22 Apr 2008 11:42:07 EDT <![CDATA[Question]]> http://idolator.com/382210/question#c5302023 @Dickdogfood: ...except Billboard and the industry have been adjusting to weird release dates for more than half a decade now, arguably since The Eminem Show leaked in 2002.

I mean, granted, if every album came out on a different day of the week there'd be some chaos, but the charts would be the charts: covering a seven-day period, into which various new records would appear with either the usual six-day window, or three days, or four, etc.

And let's reflect on what kinds of records suffer this weird-date fate: highly anticipated major-label product (and/or major-indie product like Arcade Fire). Arguably releases like that wouldn't suffer much from a Friday release, because pent-up demand is going to be reflected in the first-week figures even if that "week" is only a weekend.

Chris Molanphy

]]> 33:382210:c5302023 Mon, 21 Apr 2008 18:20:32 EDT <![CDATA[Question]]> http://idolator.com/382210/question#c5300055 Release dates are a dead concept, pure and simple. They are relics and should be treated as such. Nothing wrong with rallying the troops, but so many records are "over" these days before they even come out. What's wrong with selling something right away?

Lucas Jensen

]]> 33:382210:c5300055 Mon, 21 Apr 2008 16:56:02 EDT <![CDATA[Question]]> http://idolator.com/382210/question#c5297725 We generally got the new releases via UPS on Mondays, unboxed/priced/security tagged and ready to put out after closing on Monday. Occasionally we'd get new titles the week prior to release but not often.

revmatty

]]> 33:382210:c5297725 Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:33:23 EDT <![CDATA[Question]]> http://idolator.com/382210/question#c5297560 "Retail" versions don't have to mean the source was taken from a box at the Virgin Megastore and ripped - it just means it's the finished, mastered version that might as well have been lifted from the warehouse where the cd's are made and boxed or countless other places that out of necessity get them first.

Sniffle

]]> 33:382210:c5297560 Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:27:35 EDT <![CDATA[Question]]> http://idolator.com/382210/question#c5296246 The fixed release date is here to stay unless Billboard wants to start tabulating charts in a completely different fashion than it has for the last umpteen decades.

Dickdogfood

]]> 33:382210:c5296246 Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:42:00 EDT <![CDATA[Question]]> http://idolator.com/382210/question#c5296186 The Tuesday record release date seems to be more and more of a formality at this point.

As downloadable singles become more and more of a revenue stream, I think the major labels will spend less time and money promoting full record releases.

Why pay all those producers for all those expensive tracks only to have them leaked for free online while the only single that gets purchased is the one currently being promoted to radio and video outlets?

HONEYBFLY

]]> 33:382210:c5296186 Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:40:03 EDT <![CDATA[Question]]> http://idolator.com/382210/question#c5296021 Further evidence of Commercial Darwinism in action here, projected earnings, market expectations, having everyone "on board" with the "brand messages" requires an inordinate amount of time.

Now if we could only download coffee and cigarettes we could cut out the middle men forever.

loudersoft

]]> 33:382210:c5296021 Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:34:06 EDT