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Re: Greatest Hits Vinyl Reissue
Flash does have a point....a vinyl release will only sell in the 10-50k range.
Vinyl reissues are a solid revenue stream... just not a large one.
It's the choice that is the head scratcher. Like I said....it's just lazy.
A better choice under identical circumstances would've been a reissue of Live Era. Fans who want this have to pay 400-500 bucks.
I'd love to see the alternate universe where the band has proper management.
Re: Greatest Hits Vinyl Reissue
It will sell enough to justify its release. It's not aimed at us.
Re: Greatest Hits Vinyl Reissue
I'd love to see the alternate universe where the band has proper management.
Same but the ship has sailed.
And the dysfunction will always spring from the top. Functional and effective people generally make functional and effective decisions.
It would've have been easy to drop both this boring yawnfest and Live Era or any live show at the same time. People would be happy to drop another $20-30. These are the people that buy Funko Pop toys and other plastic nonsense after all.
But instead we get the slow drip because of the incompetent management and probably the weird idea that there's somehow a more profitable future market than maximizing earning potential in the present.
Re: Greatest Hits Vinyl Reissue
It will sell enough to justify its release. It's not aimed at us.
It's aimed at no one and everyone at the same time.
Here's the lunatic fringe/ niche audience it actually caters to....
- Extreme hardcores....the troccoli, Aussie- types who have to own everything.
These types number in the hundreds.
- Vinyl enthusiasts. Quite a few vinyl lovers in today's disposable music world.
These types number in the thousands.
One problem though....this release doesn't do much for them. They're already likely to have other GNR lps, specifically Appetite for Destruction.
It might pull in a handful of casual fans of vinyl.
Same but the ship has sailed.
And the dysfunction will always spring from the top. Functional and effective people generally make functional and effective decisions
With proper management in place, things could change quickly.
We saw it happen in 2008 with Azoff.
The " Big 3" make so much money that they don't seem too concerned about shoring up the discography.
2016 should've had a new GH/Best of collection. No excuse to not move forward on this. It sucks that they embraced the pushing of GH....which they have now doubled down on.
2017 AFD anniversary release, vinyl reissues, maybe even the entire discog in a box set.
That allows three years for anything else, including new music.
I just hope they do something special with UYI.
Re: Greatest Hits Vinyl Reissue
We saw it happen in 2008 with Azoff.
I'm not denying the merits of professional management.
But I am questioning the only thing that matters: economics. And the only variable that matters: Axl.
The once fertile market of album exclusives has dried up, most acts struggle to break even, and the major successful acts have taught their fans to consume their products with an insatiable appetite, most times with a variety of corporate sponsors and product tie-ins. They're young, sexy. They play the game. Axl, contrarily, is an iconoclastic and obstinate old dog. Good on him to an extent but it is what it is. He's happy resting on his laurels to live comfortably in his golden years.
The economy has been bad and will only get worse. Stores will shutter, less movies will go into production. The shallow pool of revenue streams will continue to dry up. Guns N' Roses will consistently fall to the bottom of UMG's list of important acts for asset allocation.
Where's the money in Gn'R? Tours, like we all know. The single as promotional tool works. New albums? Not so much. Especially for the long dormant giant that is Guns N' Roses. In short, the bulk of the money is in the past which makes it all the more questionable how they re-release Greatest Hits instead of giving their fans something "new" to purchase. If only to validate their censorship spree the past couple of years.
Axl isn't likely going to renegotiate with the record company to give them tour profits for album release promises. It's half why he fell out with Azoff in the first place. And no manager is going to want to work for Axl knowing his past and knowing that his function will solely as functionary to get old albums released. There's no money in that.
Axl would have to again take the path of most resistance to even get an album released. And judging by his past, that's not going to happen. He's always been too comfortable, doubly so when there's money in his boot. In all probability, if we get anything, it'll be "Hard School" and then maybe followed by "Atlas Shrugged", and something like "Oklahoma" at the start of each leg of the tour in 2021 and 2022, if it happens at all. See: economy. The absolute bottom of the barrel, mass-market paperback stuff that scratches the itch of nostalgia.
A new album would, I think, release Gn'R from their contract with UMG but UMG would still own the masters. So even under the most optimistic of scenarios, Axl would be hamstrung by whether or not UMG wanted to release that material. This lineup of Guns is not releasing let alone performing the likes of "Zodiac" and "The General". It's off brand. And probably half the vault material Axl can't even sing anymore anyway. The only way these see the light of day is if Axl buys back the masters and splits the baby like King Solomon and reforms and rebrands New GN'R under it's own act. Try holding your breath for Jesus, I hear the payoff is that much greater.
And finally, let's go to Axl. He's doubled down on Caram as mixer and himself as producer with "Shadow of Your Love". An equally overproduced abnormality as the 2008 version of "Chinese Democracy". He's clearly learned nothing. You think he's let go of his control issues? His addiction to the apex fallacy? You think he's willing to take anything back to formula, get back into the studio, and work with an outside producer? There's a Uyghur-made bridge in China I'd like to sell you...
The sad reality is in theory this is all very do-able. Get a good manager, get off your ass, and go try to make it happen. But an object at rest tends to stay at rest, this not even considering the aforementioned issues with the record company and more importantly the economy itself.
It's dead, Jim. Err, James.
All we're doing here is chasing ghosts.
Re: Greatest Hits Vinyl Reissue
The band is never playing One in a Million or reference it again.
Apart from that, it's greatest hits... not best of (if you think it's one of their best).
I assume with Estranged it was just run time. All the other tracks were released as singles (including the ones without videos).
- AgesOfTheIce
- Rep: 10
Re: Greatest Hits Vinyl Reissue
James wrote:We saw it happen in 2008 with Azoff.
I'm not denying the merits of professional management.
But I am questioning the only thing that matters: economics. And the only variable that matters: Axl.
The once fertile market of album exclusives has dried up, most acts struggle to break even, and the major successful acts have taught their fans to consume their products with an insatiable appetite, most times with a variety of corporate sponsors and product tie-ins. They're young, sexy. They play the game. Axl, contrarily, is an iconoclastic and obstinate old dog. Good on him to an extent but it is what it is. He's happy resting on his laurels to live comfortably in his golden years.
The economy has been bad and will only get worse. Stores will shutter, less movies will go into production. The shallow pool of revenue streams will continue to dry up. Guns N' Roses will consistently fall to the bottom of UMG's list of important acts for asset allocation.
Where's the money in Gn'R? Tours, like we all know. The single as promotional tool works. New albums? Not so much. Especially for the long dormant giant that is Guns N' Roses. In short, the bulk of the money is in the past which makes it all the more questionable how they re-release Greatest Hits instead of giving their fans something "new" to purchase. If only to validate their censorship spree the past couple of years.
Axl isn't likely going to renegotiate with the record company to give them tour profits for album release promises. It's half why he fell out with Azoff in the first place. And no manager is going to want to work for Axl knowing his past and knowing that his function will solely as functionary to get old albums released. There's no money in that.
Axl would have to again take the path of most resistance to even get an album released. And judging by his past, that's not going to happen. He's always been too comfortable, doubly so when there's money in his boot. In all probability, if we get anything, it'll be "Hard School" and then maybe followed by "Atlas Shrugged", and something like "Oklahoma" at the start of each leg of the tour in 2021 and 2022, if it happens at all. See: economy. The absolute bottom of the barrel, mass-market paperback stuff that scratches the itch of nostalgia.
A new album would, I think, release Gn'R from their contract with UMG but UMG would still own the masters. So even under the most optimistic of scenarios, Axl would be hamstrung by whether or not UMG wanted to release that material. This lineup of Guns is not releasing let alone performing the likes of "Zodiac" and "The General". It's off brand. And probably half the vault material Axl can't even sing anymore anyway. The only way these see the light of day is if Axl buys back the masters and splits the baby like King Solomon and reforms and rebrands New GN'R under it's own act. Try holding your breath for Jesus, I hear the payoff is that much greater.
And finally, let's go to Axl. He's doubled down on Caram as mixer and himself as producer with "Shadow of Your Love". An equally overproduced abnormality as the 2008 version of "Chinese Democracy". He's clearly learned nothing. You think he's let go of his control issues? His addiction to the apex fallacy? You think he's willing to take anything back to formula, get back into the studio, and work with an outside producer? There's a Uyghur-made bridge in China I'd like to sell you...
The sad reality is in theory this is all very do-able. Get a good manager, get off your ass, and go try to make it happen. But an object at rest tends to stay at rest, this not even considering the aforementioned issues with the record company and more importantly the economy itself.
It's dead, Jim. Err, James.
All we're doing here is chasing ghosts.
I can deal without The General. I never understood the hype behind that track, started by Baz of all people. I think some people were just desperate for a really heavy Axl song since CD was so ballad heavy. No Soul Monster and I'll be utterly devasted though. Hopefully the fact that it was Axl's favorite saves it from the dustbin.
Re: Greatest Hits Vinyl Reissue
The band is never playing One in a Million or reference it again.
Apart from that, it's greatest hits... not best of (if you think it's one of their best).
I assume with Estranged it was just run time. All the other tracks were released as singles (including the ones without videos).
I didn’t mean put those songs on GH! I meant put on your old favorite Guns tracks just like you would your other favorite dinosaur band and realize the good old days are over. Guns is just another legacy act. The days of being relevant are long gone. Wags nailed what the issues are. 
Re: Greatest Hits Vinyl Reissue
The once fertile market of album exclusives has dried up, most acts struggle to break even, and the major successful acts have taught their fans to consume their products with an insatiable appetite, most times with a variety of corporate sponsors and product tie-ins.
The past 5 years or so, the 'legacy acts' figured out that you could bring in decent money by unloading their vault in the form of remasters, anniversary editions, box sets, vinyl, etc.
Metallica turned it into a major success. They priced it right (couple hundred bucks), fans get plenty of bang for the buck, and the box sets always sell out.
Soundgarden also did an amazing job liquidating their vault.
Solo artists like Petty, Springsteen, Young, etc are also going down this route.
It is a win/win for the artist/band. They can monetize a once rotting vault and have a stream of new releases without recording a single note of new music.
GNR should've easily been able to copy this strategy. Looks like they attempted it with Locked and Loaded....but this is where proper management would've done wonders.
They would've been told immediately that 1k for a box set is a terrible idea. The fact it was their first box set made it even worse.
I'm hoping they learned their lesson for UYI ...but I have my doubts.
It brings up a question....
Who's minding the store? In Metallica you have Lars and James taking care of the vault and going over it with a fine tooth comb. In Soundgarden, it was Kim who was in charge.
What's going on in this situation? I have a hard time picturing Axl and Slash sitting in the living room going over the songs and deciding what should make the cut. How far down the totem pole does it go when it comes to any potential releases?
