Beating A Dead Horse

Gunslinger

I know this debate has been brought up often before BUT I think it still may have a little life left in it.

I dropped by my local Best Buy yesterday and being a GNR fan I naturally wanted to see how the Chinese Democracy cds were (or weren't) selling. They have a huge stack of Chinese Democracy cds in their own special display area as well as some copies put in with the regular main section. I noticed that there was only a couple copies left in the main section and didn't know if this was a good sign or just the way they were stocked.

There was an eighteen-ish looking female store clerk near the music section so I asked her how the "infamous" Chinese Democracy was selling. To my surprise she said that it had been the store's best seller since arrival. There for a minute I thought she may actually be a GNR fan and the "kids of today" had perhaps came around to the "New Guns"!! That was shot down with her next statement..."Have you heard it? Any good?"

Still the point is this album was their best seller "since arrival". That got me to thinking. The album has been out four or five weeks now and the sales (outside of the debut) have maintained so far. To me this means the album may not be the big failure many have tried to make it. Of course NOTHING outside of several times multi-platinum sold could warrant the time and hype this album has been overshadowed by, still yet given today's economy and the state of cd sales (by most all bands) I'm not sure this is doing so badly.

The Killers and Kanye West are much more "hip" to most of today's youth than the New Guns but they aren't fairing much better in sales and this is WITH the advantage of having their albums sold everywhere. Kanye's album is doing better this week but that is with a repacking scheme and The Killers album is only four positions higher than CD and they have the youth crowd and a video on the countdown doing fairly well.

My whole point is Chinese Democracy is selling well at the only place you can get it which happens to be Best Buy. Best Buy in my opinion is nothing more than a generic Circuit City and wasn't the best place to get an exclusive deal. I own AC/DC Black Ice for instance BUT I wouldn't have bought it online nor drove out of my way to get it. You know why I picked it up? I was at Wally-World picking up some basic weekly supplies (toilet paper, shaving cream, etc etc) but went by the electronics dept and Black Ice was ALL OVER the place. It also was cheap so I picked up a copy. CD is #25 after 5 wks on the chart with no video, no promo and a lousy (outside of the initial money for the deal) Best Buy exclusive. Had CD been given the Wally-World treatment that Black Ice had received I am totally convinced the sales would be VERY similar if not better.

Rant over...anyone have any thoughts?

Mikkamakka

The huge difference is that CD got more promo than any album in music history. It was hyped for a decade, and the band that had the same legendary name hadn't released new material for 17 years. When you look at all this, the sellings are bad. Not tragically bad, cause your point is true, a lot of people don't order online and don't drive hours to buy something they can easily download, but hey, BB's only for the US and the album isn't doing great on the rest of the world either. Because the world doesn't care about it. I have some colleagues, who are Guns N' Roses fans, they could buy the album in any store here in Hungary, but they haven't even bothered downloading it! It speaks volumes.

Axlin16

I've been convinced from day one that had CD been at Wal-Mart, with Wal-Mart's treatment of Black Ice... it would've sold BETTER than Black Ice, at least in the U.S.

Just take the Best Buy CD numbers, and multiply them by four, to equal the amount of stores, and you'd have an album that would've went instant-platinum.

axlcrazy

Mikkamakka wrote:

The huge difference is that CD got more promo than any album in music history. It was hyped for a decade, and the band that had the same legendary name hadn't released new material for 17 years. When you look at all this, the sellings are bad. Not tragically bad, cause your point is true, a lot of people don't order online and don't drive hours to buy something they can easily download, but hey, BB's only for the US and the album isn't doing great on the rest of the world either. Because the world doesn't care about it. I have some colleagues, who are Guns N' Roses fans, they could buy the album in any store here in Hungary, but they haven't even bothered downloading it! It speaks volumes.

It got a lot of promo, but not necessarily the kind that leads to instant huge record sales, Like a video, tours, interviews , & a huge marketing campaign & being available everywhere or at least a Mega store like Walmart that will market the fuck out of it. That's a formula that works for sales. That's what other bands have had success with. The bands that already had a loyal following like AC/DC & Metallica exploded with this formula. Anticipation & hype alone don't get people to buy records. They need to be beaten over the head. So I'd say under the circumstances, it's selling pretty well. The question I have is why didn't GNR follow a more proven formula for success??

Gunslinger

For the lack of promo I definitely think that it is selliing well. As far as world sales it is #15 after five weeks, I wouldn't call that bad. It also went platinum in a fairly quick manor (world sales) so again I don't see that as too bad.

Many argue (and don't get me wrong they are good arguments) that CD had a HUGE amount of promo over the past 17 years. I can't deny that BUT my argument here is that the promo has been a double edged sword. Because of the delays (mostly) I think the album went from "mythical" to "joke" in many peoples' minds so in the end I'm not sure this promo really helped much.

mickronson

Promo in this day and age i agree maybe its good sales.. Promo its had since the media gripped hold of it and kept bangin on about how it was the most expensive album ever made and the longest time it took, its always had some exposure of some kind to remind people along the ways.. I guess at the end of the day, if you dont know GNR then you wont buy it, and Axl did his tours, albeit some where BAD but maybe his tours with no album ruined it for the people that had any interest. end of the day, there was no better promo tool for him than the name

-D-

I think it has to beat Contrabands two number 1 rock singles and double platinum status and they have to win a grammy

anything less is gonna be a failure.

U got guys who so many shit on and act like they aren't GNR and that is was all Axl's genius, starting their own band and so far OWNING Chinese Democracy.

It certainly proves that Axl alone isn't GNR

They get no pass for Best Buy cause they are the ones that sold out and took the deal for the highest bidder and the most cash.

-D-

Gunslinger wrote:

For the lack of promo I definitely think that it is selliing well. As far as world sales it is #15 after five weeks, I wouldn't call that bad. It also went platinum in a fairly quick manor (world sales) so again I don't see that as too bad.
Many argue (and don't get me wrong they are good arguments) that CD had a HUGE amount of promo over the past 17 years. I can't deny that BUT my argument here is that the promo has been a double edged sword. Because of the delays (mostly) I think the album went from "mythical" to "joke" in many peoples' minds so in the end I'm not sure this promo really helped much.

I agree but they get no pass because it is their fault.

Smoking Guns

Axl made this bed, NOW FUCKING LYE IN IT.

buzzsaw

I don't think the kids of today are buying it. I think the old fans are still trickling in to get their copy.

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