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Re: Could the tide be turning
If the music is so strong, why did it die after 2 weeks of strong sales?
Why did the free streams drop dramatically track by track?
because it was a bb exclusive - everyone that bought it had it on their radar leading up to the releaese. very few impulse buys after that since nobody shops at bb, much less for cd's.
because its a mathematical fact that with each song a person is more likely to stop listening. very few people would listen to all 14 tracks. most dont have time for that, especially middle aged people that are the target market.
Re: Could the tide be turning
Myspace fact:
When it broke the record for most streams, it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. When some fans observed the fact the stream count nosedived, it changed to fans dont stream or waste bandwidth.
Doesnt that violate a law of physics?
Re: Could the tide be turning
Madagas is right. A casual, new, or non forum using long time fan never would have made it thru the entire album. Not because of bandwidth issues but due to the lack of anything resembling a hit single. No hot single=cds rotting on shelves at $2 a pop.
Re: Could the tide be turning
The myspace argument is bollocks imo, every multisonged music player on those types of pages has the most listens on the first song and then it decreases all the way down, I've seen it on umpteen different bands pages.
I believe MTV described Chinese Democracys decent off the charts as a "missile like plummet", hard to argue with cause it sunk faster than a metal shite in a magnetic toilet.
But for me thats down the lack of band involvment, especially Axl, in the release. Its a good example of how quickly the wind changes in pop music when you dont play the game and stop having your face and story in every available media outlet. There was a buzz when the album was released, people were excited, music media was excited, but instead of a band coming out with all guns blazing, staring out from every magazine cover, video premiers, bigging up their album on every radio station and talk show - there was nothing, less than nothing actually, it was a vaccum and it sucked the momentum out of everything.
I noticed the album getting talked about al the time in the first week or so on UK radio stations, highly positive for the most part, but it dwindled away rapidly when it became clear nothing else was forthcoming. These guys want something for them to big you up, if this was Slash's album he would (and did!) do the rounds and all these radio guys and magazines waxed lyrical about him and his album cause they knew there was a chance of getting something from him, even just a short phonecall or a soundbite, but its enough for them.
Who was the guy flying the flag for Chinese Democracy in the UK, and in other countries, the guy who they fell back on. He was on the radio, on TV, in magazines doing the rounds providing a voice these outlets were crying out for... Mick Wall. Mick fucking Wall.
This was Axls moment and he did nothing, so all these media outlets just kicked CD to the kerb and moved on to more relevant bands and musicans, people who are out there playing the game and are recognisable to their audience.
Add to it that Axl is an "old man" and Guns N Roses is "old man music". I've heard that so much from teenagers, and this is the audience that a band has to appeal to if it wants to sell millions of records. You dont do that by sitting at home boycotting your own album, you have to be innovative, imaginative, enthusiastic and get out there and work hard to sell your product to them.
Axl sat on his couch eating pizza and drinking beer, pretending none of it was happening, small wonder that the "most anticipated album of all time" of his took a missile like plummet of the chart.
Re: Could the tide be turning
On topic..I'll consider it 'tide turning' when CD2 or whatever its called is being talked about in depth by Axl and UMG releases concrete info about it.
I know man, until an album is on the shelves, to me everything else is just a fart in the wind.
Re: Could the tide be turning
BB fact:
when it was 1st announced, forum junkies had a global jerkoff session and proclaimed Axl/Azoff geniuses. Me and a VERY small minority said it was a bad idea. If it wasnt axl i would have boycotted.
Now its failure is BB's fault?
In hindsight, Axl/Azoff/Geffen were geniuses. They got some chump to buy 1.3 million cd's on a one way deal. 
Axl cleared the slate with the label, the label recouped all the money they dropped on recording, and Azoff got his fee. WIN-WIN-WIN.....not to mention the other 2-3 million they sold outside of the states (which would be almost pure profit as virtually no promotion was done).
From a business standpoint, it was actually a great idea. From a long term public relations standpoint, the whole saga was a catastrophe. 
Re: Could the tide be turning
Myspace fact:
When it broke the record for most streams, it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. When some fans observed the fact the stream count nosedived, it changed to fans dont stream or waste bandwidth.Doesnt that violate a law of physics?
You're generalizing the people who liked CD with the people who loyally lick Axl's balls which is beside the point. I'm giving my own opinion I'm not speaking for anyone who hailed the myspace stream as a success.
That said it was. It capitalized on the curiosity of general musical fans (not so much GNR die hards) and as a result broke some record.
That instantly put CD on the map in a positive way even before release. As the curious casuals trailed off the stats on myspace began to represent the diea hards listening patters.
The point is CD was lauded in the press for breaking some myspace record. Just another good review to maintain the integrity of the catalog.
Azoff's doing no doubt.
buzz
1) that wasn't my suggestion, it was someone elses. I do think it would have something to do with an album that was highly anticipated and sold quite a bit the first 2 weeks though.
Cool
2) Sort-of, but unless you're on dial-up streaming music on myspace isn't a big deal. Even so they would have skipped and checked out the beginning of all of the songs to see if they liked the basic vibe of the songs, which still would have counted as streaming the entire song. The # dropped at the very least to some extent because not everybody liked what they heard.
Reflecting general curiosity from music fans who weren't into GNR but had to hear the mythical CD for themselves
3) if the critics liked it and it flopped after 2 weeks, why would the record company expect something better the next time around?
They shouldn't but that wouldn't make them any less likely to do another album.Those 2 weeks and that critical backing made them a decent profit.
