Albums Just Don't Stay #1 Any Longer (Commerce vs Quality)

Even being number on the charts your first week out in the "new music industry" does not always equate to future success in sales, proven by the bevy of albums reaching number one in 2010 their first week released then falling faster than a comet the following week.

Katy Perry's highly anticipated release of "Teenage Dream" left nothing to be desired after the months of built up hype from industry insiders and consumers craving her brand of "teen pop".

Kanye West's "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" started with much hype, and great reviews (despite the whole Taylor Swift debacle), but very little meat left on the bone after that first week. Although he had a sure fire campaign of offering a free track per week, previous to the album's release it still did not equate to heightened sales, or a longer stay at number one, after the first week had passed.



This was just two albums in a long line of one week wonders at number one that included Drake's "Thank Me Later," Usher's "Raymond v. Raymond" and Sugarland's "The Incredible Machine."

In 2010 a grand total of 31 albums hit No. 1 in the U.S. Canadian audiences were only slightly less fickle, with 29 different albums claiming top spot north of the border.

Some of the bright spots this year was Eminem's "Recovery' which managed to chart number one for seven weeks, Justin Bieber's "My World 2.0" held the top spot 4 weeks, Sade who was number one for three straight weeks with her comeback disc "Soldier of Love", and Scottish singer Susan Boyle's ("I Dreamed a Dream" and "The Gift") combined to claim the top spot in Canada for four weeks total.

There are not just enough albums being put out today that hold the consumer's interest long enough. In the day of "fast food" pop, labels are more interested in getting the most out of maybe a single or two off the album and then onto the next act. What accounts for the majority of music these days is laughable at best. There hasn't been one artist in a very long time that just held the attention of a wide demographic of consumers with an all hits album that continued the momentum of that first week's climb to number one, and helped it to stay past one week.

Music executives are making decisions now that in the past were left up to A&R departments (artist development wing) that had an inside edge on what an artist's capability and strengths were from working with them directly. Now the business has become an "assembly line" of artists that are spit out of the factory to match, assimilate, and copy what musical trends are going on in the business, instead of allowing the artist to be their own brand and show case their true individual talent. It's become commerce and bottom line over true art these days.


One thing for sure the business just isn't what it used to be, no matter how many times some "industry expert' may tell you it is. Yes digital sales are up, but physical sales are way down from 2009 (Go pull up Nielson's Soundscan ratings), and piracy continues to be a thorn in everyone's side, with the UK's BPI reporting last week that 3/4 (%75) of cd's downloaded, are being pirated.

As consumers become more tech savvy, and more bitTorrent and download pirates spring up, the industry will continue to evolve into one big giant free for all. Who suffers the most? Of course the artists do, but ask any consumer who don't understand the infrastructure of how an artist gets paid (album royalties, mechanical royalties, publishing, etc.), and the first thing they do is to blame the RIAA for the state of the industry. The RIAA is just like any other organization protecting it's members rights which just happen to be major distributors, the record labels they distribute and their employees (the artists). Is their aim slanted more towards the labels, of course they are, but this includes the artist as well. Artists just need to become much smarter than seeking an all out slave deal, and learn the business, so they know what they are getting themselves into if that is the route they want to go in. other than that, numerous avenues have been open wide for them to expose their music and themselves to the world, but even then it still does not equate to success.