137 replies to this topic

[zapiekanki]

heavensgate2024, on 16 March 2011 - 07:24 AM, said:

REM's number 5 in the US. Probably would've debuted higher if they'd done some TV promo like Colbert and The Today Show the way they did during the lead up to Accelerate, but I doubt if they care a whole lot at this stage about sales. As Peter Buck told me in an interview recently, "I've got way more than enough money and way, way more than enough fame." I actually like the way they're going about this, although I'd love to see a tour. They seem comfortable with letting the record speak for itself. It's great, and I think it'll eventually be recognized as such and connect to a broad audience who may have jumped ship over the past decade.

Regardless of Peter Buck's say the record still needs to sell. There are many other parties (resellers, distributors, music stores...) that have to make a profit from the sale of Collapse into Now. If the CD does not sell, if there is no marketing, advertising, even a tour, stores will not have an incentive to stock R.E.M. albums. Peter should understand, I think he used to work at a record store?

On the other hand R.E.M. seem to be one of the bands most empathetic towards music distributors, if we are to judge by the public actions they undertook upon the release of Accelerate, and now Collapse into Now,   where they launched special vinyl products to commemorate Record Store Day.

This is not an issue of R.E.M. dependent on album sales, not an issue of their financial stability, but the financial health of the resellers that are struggling to avert, well their own collapse.

[heavensgate2024]

zapiekanki, on 16 March 2011 - 04:48 PM, said:

Regardless of Peter Buck's say the record still needs to sell. There are many other parties (resellers, distributors, music stores...) that have to make a profit from the sale of Collapse into Now. If the CD does not sell, if there is no marketing, advertising, even a tour, stores will not have an incentive to stock R.E.M. albums. Peter should understand, I think he used to work at a record store?

On the other hand R.E.M. seem to be one of the bands most empathetic towards music distributors, if we are to judge by the public actions they undertook upon the release of Accelerate, and now Collapse into Now,   where they launched special vinyl products to commemorate Record Store Day.

This is not an issue of R.E.M. dependent on album sales, not an issue of their financial stability, but the financial health of the resellers that are struggling to avert, well their own collapse.

Well, I'm sure he'd be happy if the records sold better. Any musician wants to reach as broad an audience as possible. But at this stage he seems to feel that there isn't much the band can do to sell a ton of records. Seems as though more live TV promo, along with even a limited market tour would help a bit. But if they aren't feeling it, why do it?

[Pflanze]

CIN is # 2 in Austria (highest new entry)!

[simonfox]

2headedcow, on 16 March 2011 - 02:52 AM, said:

All good points.  It just disheartens me to see The Best Of U2 higher in the chart than CIN. Thanks for the response Mr.Fox.

Remember, it's the BEST OF U2 that's higher in the charts. All best of's sell well to the average punter, who probably only buy 5 CDs a year. These are the people who wouldn't buy Collapse Into Now, but I bet they bought 'In Time' - as it had 'all their favourite songs' on it.

Will be interested to see how the next U2 studio album fares in the charts. Especially as hardly anybody I know, knew that 'No Line On The Horizon' was even released. I think even U2 have had their day as 'biggest band in the world'. Sad, but probably true.

Great to see other Melbournites on the board anyway!

[beatadrum]

In the UK, promotion is an issue for people not uber music fans. I heard Uberlin on the radio once and the only other promotion I saw for the record came from seeing on here that Michael was to appear on The One Show, and even on that the new record got a scant mention.

[Leilani]

I was glancing through our daily paper's "life" section from 2 days ago, and was very pleasantly surprised to se CIN at no 10 (as mentioned earlier in this thread), I thought I was the only person who bought it.  Had to get it from the R section, not the new releases!  The paper even had a photo of Stipey!

Just looked it's at 139 on the iTunes album chart though!

[wagtail]

2headedcow, on 16 March 2011 - 01:27 AM, said:

To rub Koala piss into my wounds......

While that may be painful at first, I think the wound would heal a little faster than it would without the koala piss.  I should think it would have quite strong antiseptic qualities, even if it is extremely stinky.

//trivia

[patternshirt170]

simonfox, on 16 March 2011 - 11:35 PM, said:

Remember, it's the BEST OF U2 that's higher in the charts. All best of's sell well to the average punter, who probably only buy 5 CDs a year. These are the people who wouldn't buy Collapse Into Now, but I bet they bought 'In Time' - as it had 'all their favourite songs' on it.

Will be interested to see how the next U2 studio album fares in the charts. Especially as hardly anybody I know, knew that 'No Line On The Horizon' was even released. I think even U2 have had their day as 'biggest band in the world'. Sad, but probably true.

Great to see other Melbournites on the board anyway!

The last U2 release got botched on Australian iTunes and then an early official release in Japan, so it lost loads of potential first week sales. Plus they've probably entered the dreaded domain of the "legacy" or "heritage" act, like Bon "iPods be evil" Jovi ie. that people come in droves because they like the past, the hits, they know the band can play but the present seems only fawned over by a hardcore who fill the first 100 rows. I don't think R.E.M. are quite there yet... playing stadia is fine and looks great, breaking records and boxscores but the huge majority of the crowd isn't there for the now, Get On Your Boots or NLOTH and every band probably wants to reach new fans with their latest music..

As for CIN, not a lot of torrent activity either;
http://torrentz.eu/s...f=R.E.M. -brown
http://torrentz.eu/s...llapse into now

[fairytale]

Collapse Into Now debuts at #17 in Finland, it's the fifth highest new entry. Accelerate debuted at #14.

[mem_ory]

I think they dropped the ball with marketing CIN.  Where's the iApp?  Warner should of produced a free download that featured samples and video clips.  The videos so far are terrible.  I mean sure they're interesting in a art-school discussion kind of way, but where's the budget?

[mosquito]

Collapse into now.
Denmark: #3

[jsavage]

mem_ory, on 17 March 2011 - 08:58 PM, said:

I think they dropped the ball with marketing CIN.  Where's the iApp?  Warner should of produced a free download that featured samples and video clips.  The videos so far are terrible.  I mean sure they're interesting in a art-school discussion kind of way, but where's the budget?

Ethan suggested that an app was an ambition but they couldn't get it off the ground. I agree it's a shame but I'm glad they looked into it.

[wagtail]

Apart from being way too long, I didn't think the promotion was too bad.  I preferred it to the Accelerate campaign.  I think the lyric videos might have reached a wider audience than the 90 nights stuff and the live in studio videos are definitely what fans want to see.  The art films have created some lively discussion.  Stipe has broken with convention in favouring fashion and art publications rather than music ones, I think that was a good move, and if what Harshil said about the reaction to the Q&A at his mag is anything to go by, maybe he'll have to re-think the idea that REM is 'too old' for his demographic.  

I have actually preferred that the band themselves have not been that active.  In every campaign the interviewers re-hash the same tired questions and they re-hash the same answers to the point of just sounding robotic and bored.  I think they let the music speak for itself.  If that had less reach, then I think that's something they probably anticipated and were able to live with.

[mosquito]

"Collapse into now" first week results:
Hungary:#20
Sweden:#9
Greece:#3

"Collapse into now" second week:
Poland: #5 (last week,#37)
Netherlands: #11 (#8)
Belgium (Flanders): #5 (#5)
Belgium:(Wallonia): #8 (#9)

[Eidnes]

#2 in Norway. Debuted at #5 last week.

[robbbin]

Warner Music Australia has not supported REM since it backed ATS with radio ads.  The week before CIN was released, Warner Music Australia removed REM from its website. Not one red cent has been spent on promotion of this record in Australia. Click on the REM link on the ARIA charts and nothing. The week CIN was released, it was the only WAR record in the album charts ,and the only WAR release in the digital album charts.(#11)

Thanks for the support you pricks, good riddance.

The fact that its debut in the charts at #15 in Australia was a miracle. That these were actual CD sales is a tribute to the hard core fans in Australia.

It is a great shame that thie record has no promotion in Australia and no touring world wide, no TV appearances as yet. Its easily the best album for 15 years or so and deserves more love.

[mosquito]

CIN second week:

UK: #13 (#5)
Australia: #27 (#15)

[old archibald yates]

Given their relatively non-mainstream/artistic (for want of better terms) music, i reckon R.E.M.'s sales are very high.  Most artists int he same league, like Patti Smith and Leonard Cohen, have never had an album chart nearly as high as Collapse into Now.

I also think declining sales are a demographic inevitability rather than due to music quality or marketing.  Based on the charts, music expenditure seems to be mainly:
(1) young people who are into music and (understandably) want music that is popular amongst their friends and made by people only slightly older than themselves.
(2) older people who don't listen to much music individually, but who as a group buy a lot of older 'mainstream' acts

R.E.M. can't really appeal to the former group, and (usually) choose not to appeal to the latter.  Rather, I suspect their audience comprise those who grew to love them in the 80s/90s (who would be expected to be less and less likely to buy new albums over time) and a few young people who are exploring older music.

[chrome3d]

fairytale, on 17 March 2011 - 02:36 PM, said:

Collapse Into Now debuts at #17 in Finland, it's the fifth highest new entry. Accelerate debuted at #14.

I hoped that it would have some wind in the second week in Finland but it collapsed to #40. This was worse than ever before. Accelerate peaked at #10. It maybe goes to show how many fans buy the album from foreign online stores these days and the local sales are for local albums. I bought the album from Amazon so I can´t really complain about the result.

[pb7]

Czech Republic second week - #2 (first week #2)