After taking a peep at the numbers for R&B and Rap sales on Billboard's TOP 200 Albums Chart for the week ending February 20, 2011, from first glance you would think, "Wow, that is a lot of units being sold there". But taking a second glance, a seasoned veteran of the business would know these numbers a few years back would have meant that someone at a label was going to lose their job, and a few artists may be dropped from their contracts. But this is the state of the business today as we see even the burgeoning promise that digital sales once held, even tapering off.
Janelle Monae has sold only 149,000 units, which definitely would have been a deal killer for sure back in the "heyday" of the business, when albums were being shipped "Gold" and "Platinum" on pre-orders before one sale was even made at the retail level. Eminem is one of the only artists on this list that is still selling numbers that are recognizable from the days of old. How did Saigon Kick even make it to the top 200 of album sales?
I have ran across numerous sites today touting these numbers, but they must be new to the game, because these numbers would be laughable at best back in the days when selling over a million records was the norm. There were the times when Biggie, 2-Pac, etc., were easily moving 3, 4, 5 times platinum. So you tell me that now artists moving a few thousand units are given the prestige that they once claimed. This instantly tells you how much damage illegal downloading, piracy and p2p file sharing services have been to the industry. Some argue that it hasn't, and vilify the RIAA for going after the "innocent", but someone please give me a more defined explanation where has the record sales gone, if it hasn't been the aforementioned that has caused it? Yes, I do understand about the "bad economy", the push by the major record companies to place out in the marketplace artists that normally wouldn't even have been looked at a few years ago because of "consumer demand" for bad music (arguable again), but this still doesn't hold much weight compared to illegal downloading, piracy and p2p file sharing. I am still waiting on one article, from one person with absolute reason to give a more defined explanation on the state of the industry and the reasons that it is now in a tale spin for most.
I don't even see "Cloud" based music services being a boon to anyone but the major record companies themselves, with their "Music Unlimited" portal, and a few savvy entrepreneurs that will only capitalize off of those artists with no better alternatives to deliver their music, and folks who still legally purchase music. The major record companies main goal is "control". They want to control the delivery system of music to the masses and gain the highest in profit margins that they once enjoyed. If these numbers are not an indication that the business model has to change, then what will it take for those outside the realm of the major record companies to take notice and do something about it?
The business is still relevant, and there is definitely a ton of money that can still be made, but I implore artists to seek the numerous forms of alternative revenue streams that now exist besides wholly depending on music sales, whether signed or independent.
Top 200 Album Sales (Top 5 Hip Hop/R&B)
Rank/ Artist/ Album/ This Week/ Est. Total
5 Bruno Mars/ Doo Wops & Hooligans/ 61,000/ 727,000
6 Eminem/ Recovery/ 61,000/ 3,634,000
7 Various Artists/ 2011 Grammy Nominees/ 56,000/ 149,000
9 Nicki Minaj/ Pink Friday/ 46,000/ 1,127,000
10 Rihanna/ Loud/ 45,000/ 976,000
25 Lil Wayne/ I Am Not A Human Being/ 21,000/ 770,000
36 Kanye West/ My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy/17,000/ 1,032,000
43 T.I./ No Mercy/ 15,000/ 440,000
58 Saigon/ The Greatest Story Never Told/ 11,000/ 11,000
171 Janelle Monae/ The Archandroid/ 3,900/ 141,000
To take a look at the updated complete chart for the week of February 26, 2011, go to the link below.
Music Albums, Top 200 Albums & Music Album Charts | Billboard.com
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