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Re: Best Buy exclusive dramatically limited 1st week sales!
nugdafied wrote:MrWonderful wrote:So, Axl was definitely already aware of the impact that Walmart has on album sales. Which makes the BB decision that much more curious.
The BB offer was a godsend for Axl & Co.. No way was any other place going to give them a deal like BB did. Obviously, if Walmart had made a comparable offer, GNR would've gone that route since it's a bigger retailer. GNR made out like bandits on the BB deal.
Do people on this board really think they would've sold 1.6 million(in the USA) copies at $9 a piece already if it hadn't been a retail exclusive?
He chose the money over the art. Period.
supposedly he chose art when he chose best buy so he wouldn't have to remove the swear words and compromise the integrity of his art
hard to believe that now, though, since the tracklist contains songs he told us wouldn't be on the album and as dexter, told us it was meant as a double album. in other words, he didn't have the final or sole say on the tracklist.
it obviously came down to business but that is not such a bad thing when so many people and so many legal issues are involved at this point.
Re: Best Buy exclusive dramatically limited 1st week sales!
It's ok that he chose the money over the art. I really don't have a problem with that unless he's going to complain about how it was received, promoted, etc. It's totally ok that he took the money, but don't try to pretend otherwise when things don't go as well as they could have.
- Mikkamakka
- Rep: 217
Re: Best Buy exclusive dramatically limited 1st week sales!
BB isn't the problem. Anyone that claims it is isn't fooling anybody else. Last time I checked, you could still order the album at www.bestbuy.com, so anybody that wanted to buy a copy could do so without ever leaving their house. Did it hurt sales? Sure. Was it the difference in being #1 or #2? No. The interest in the music/band did that. Axl has nobody to blame but himself anyway because he approved whatever decision was made. He took the quick $$ over the art, which is fine. His fans have to accept that.
Absolutely.
Those who think CD would have sold 3 times more in Walmart... Hey... Do you think the majority of the 784,000 people who bought AC/DC's album on the first week were impulse buyers? The T-shirts made them buy the album? They caught a glimpse at the huge AC/DC towels and bought one? No way. Most of them were AC/DC fans, hardcores or softcores. I don't think that even the first AC/DC single made such an impact to make 100,000s buy Black Ice.
The truth is that CD was not only promoted poorly (credit goes to Axl), but the potential buyers don't think it's a true Guns N' Roses record. Rockers were always closer to Slash's pure rock and roll than Axl's dolphin vision. Most of them won't buy it, cause for a lot of them Slash, Duff and Izzy, the badasses were GN'R and Axl was Elton John II. Casual buyers didn't get the interviews in magazines, haven't bought it. Teenage girls will not go nuts for a middle-aged man who doesn't even speak or appear. Teenage boys...well, unlikely, but with some presence in MTV or a tour Axl could have won some nu-metal fans, but songs like Street of Dreams, If The World, Madagascar etc. won't make the younger audience interested.
That's what left, 500,000 GN'R fans.
- NY Giants82
- Rep: 26
Re: Best Buy exclusive dramatically limited 1st week sales!
I dont know how many more it would have sold, but I am sure it would have done much better at Wal Mart. And I dont care how many times people say "Well even though there is not a Best Buy within 100 miles of you, you could have ordered it online". Many, many people will not order things online for privacy reasons. I dont know whats so hard to understand about that.
Re: Best Buy exclusive dramatically limited 1st week sales!
buzzsaw wrote:BB isn't the problem. Anyone that claims it is isn't fooling anybody else. Last time I checked, you could still order the album at www.bestbuy.com, so anybody that wanted to buy a copy could do so without ever leaving their house. Did it hurt sales? Sure. Was it the difference in being #1 or #2? No. The interest in the music/band did that. Axl has nobody to blame but himself anyway because he approved whatever decision was made. He took the quick $$ over the art, which is fine. His fans have to accept that.
Absolutely.
Those who think CD would have sold 3 times more in Walmart... Hey... Do you think the majority of the 784,000 people who bought AC/DC's album on the first week were impulse buyers? The T-shirts made them buy the album? They caught a glimpse at the huge AC/DC towels and bought one? No way. Most of them were AC/DC fans, hardcores or softcores. I don't think that even the first AC/DC single made such an impact to make 100,000s buy Black Ice.
The truth is that CD was not only promoted poorly (credit goes to Axl), but the potential buyers don't think it's a true Guns N' Roses record. Rockers were always closer to Slash's pure rock and roll than Axl's dolphin vision. Most of them won't buy it, cause for a lot of them Slash, Duff and Izzy, the badasses were GN'R and Axl was Elton John II. Casual buyers didn't get the interviews in magazines, haven't bought it. Teenage girls will not go nuts for a middle-aged man who doesn't even speak or appear. Teenage boys...well, unlikely, but with some presence in MTV or a tour Axl could have won some nu-metal fans, but songs like Street of Dreams, If The World, Madagascar etc. won't make the younger audience interested.
That's what left, 500,000 GN'R fans.
Nail hit on head.
- Gunslinger
- Rep: 88
Re: Best Buy exclusive dramatically limited 1st week sales!
Sorry, Best Buy DID hurt sales in my opinion. Sure the hardcore fans would buy it online but most people (like myself) don't put themselves particularly out just to buy an album. It's like buying chips for some people, if it is there in front of them and looks good they will pick some up while shopping for other things they need. That's why Wally-World would have been so much better. If some of the people who like GNR but aren't like most of us saw the cd they may pick it up while doing other shopping. Many of the people who are AC/DC fans could give a shit less about ordering online or driving an hour out of their way to get to a Best Buy. I guess we'll never know for sure but I FIRMLY believe album sales would have been around twice as strong. That doesn't make it an ENORMOUS success of course, but doing much better than it has.
- NY Giants82
- Rep: 26
Re: Best Buy exclusive dramatically limited 1st week sales!
Sorry, Best Buy DID hurt sales in my opinion. Sure the hardcore fans would buy it online but most people (like myself) don't put themselves particularly out just to buy an album. It's like buying chips for some people, if it is there in front of them and looks good they will pick some up while shopping for other things they need. That's why Wally-World would have been so much better. If some of the people who like GNR but aren't like most of us saw the cd they may pick it up while doing other shopping. Many of the people who are AC/DC fans could give a shit less about ordering online or driving an hour out of their way to get to a Best Buy. I guess we'll never know for sure but I FIRMLY believe album sales would have been around twice as strong. That doesn't make it an ENORMOUS success of course, but doing much better than it has.
Exactly! I dont know why that is so hard to understand for some people. I mean, I'm not going out of my way to get the new, say, Buckcherry cd if it was a BB exclusive.
Re: Best Buy exclusive dramatically limited 1st week sales!
Neemo wrote:I know in my case i'd rather buy it with debit or Cash cuz using a credit card is not something i prefer to do..especially for like $12
Then you'd go to BB to get it. It's really that simple.
Yes, it would have sold more at WalMart. But Axl chose to go with BB, Axl chose not to promote it, and Axl chose to have the band be what it is. Axl made all these choices. Nobody forced it on him. So no matter what you want to blame for the lack of sales whether it's best buy, the quality of the music, the lack of promotion, the band members, the manager, the record company, etc, it all goes back to Axl making those decisions.
i woulda waited until there were multiple things i wanted..like Zakk Wylde's pride and glory for instance...i cant find that around here...yeah sure i could buy it online but i havent yet cuz i dont like using my credit card....i'm saying that if there was an exclusive deal up here and the store wasnt located near me i dont know whether or not i woulda bought it...the reason i went to walmart? first lowest price, second i also get soem of my groceries at walmart so it wasnt out of my way....i know i said i was gonna shop around, but when the day came i couldnt be bothered on the off chance i woulda saved a buck
we dont know the whole story though say that bestbuy bought 1.5 mill copies @ $9 like the rumor says...well what if walmart only offered 1mill @ $6 a pop...its pretty obvious who I would go with...what about you guys? its fine and dandy to say in hind sight it might have hampered sales but at the time nearly everyone was amazed at the genious of Azoff....
like Dave Mustaine says..."hind sight is always 20/20 but looking back its still a bit fuzzy"
- Bright Eyes 2005
- Rep: 27
Re: Best Buy exclusive dramatically limited 1st week sales!
I've never read so much vacuous bull shit, void of any understanding of product distribution and retail marketing, presented as fact in my life. A few of you, and you are chronic haters, and blinded so much by your hatred (god knows why you post here, that's a whole other issue), that you ignore reality and facts if they digress from your predetermined notion of what the truth is. Really, between the Axl nutswingers, and the haters, reality is tough to find on GNR boards. The truth of the matter is Wal Mart put together one of the best marketing campaigns in history for Black Ice, and ACDC and their management matched Wal Mart's efforts in promotion of their album and tour promotion. That combination launched this effort. Combine that with the fact that the demographics (rural, white, working class) of Wal Mart shoppers match up perfectly with ACDC fans for the most part. It was a match made in heaven. Considering that the new ACDC album is mediocre at best, sounds identical, if not slightly inferior, to their past two efforts and it becomes clear that the distribution and roll out made this thing. Their last release sold 170K first week, and it is better than Black Ice. Wal Mart is a powerhouse, and they pushed the shit out of this in all the right ways. One cannot leave Wal Mart without seeing "ACDC" at least ten times, hearing it, seeing awesome merchandise for the band, and basically being brainwashed into thinking they are the coolest hard rock band that any teenager should love. We all know that is far from the truth as these guy's are in their 60's, but perception is everything, and the marketing makes them feel uber-cool. Moreover, Wal Mart and Sam's have over 5000 locations in the U.S.
Best Buy's demographics (more urban, higher educated, techie-latte loving, upper middle class) alone, do not benefit GNR. Wal Mart's demographics, for the most part, would be more favorable to GNR; although GNR is far more "hip" than ACDC is, and more well respected in the underground and on college campuses. Best Buy only has 900 stores, half of which are on the verge of bankruptcy and, in turn, are operating like funeral parlors. The in-store marketing was pathetic, their national marketing (tv, radio) was nowhere to be found, and the firm quite frankly had $0 money available when they needed it to market this--they are in big financial trouble. Combine that with the fact that GNR has a massive amount of fans in more rural areas, where poverty abounds and transportation to the cities is not easily attainable, and you have less fans who would be willing to buy the product for ten bucks even looking at it.
This is not to diminish the fact that Axl's lack of publicity did not help--it didn't at all, in fact it hurt the album, almost as much as Best Buy's pathetic effort did--although I should mention, the 5000 stores vs. only 900 urban stores thing is highly significant---not to mention that Wal Mart has about fifteen times more "eyespace" for ACDC per store than Best Buy does for GNR.
Bottom-line is this, anyone in their right mind, stating that the Best Buy exclusive did not drop domestic sales by upwards of 40% is not living in a world based on facts, figures, business models, science and math. The major fallout from the bad press alone, with every Axl hating editor chomping at the bit every day to write headlines with no context stating "Rose bombs", "Chinese Democracy dramatically dropping in sales", "Axl kills Best Buy", etc. is now hurting it and adding to the pain. In other words, this deal which saved UMG, has turned into a perfect storm damaging the disc from an in-store sales and publicity stand point.
The silver lining is this, many critics like the album and many alternative and underground critics have warmed to the quality of the work. Moreover, the band and album still have a good shot at coming back strong next year. Also, last week's figures are real interesting. It is quite shocking that the drop-off last week was very minimal, and it hovered around 50K of sales. That may not mean that it is not headed down to 10K next week, but shocked me and I am sure some suits in the biz, as it was a very stable week, in the face of some bad press. Enough already, the album rocks!! Enjoy it!
