The Los Angeles Times does a relatively nice job of keeping up on the ins, the outs, and the inside outs of the music industry. Although they do print a lot of glam-drenched crap about what’s going on in the LA scene, it’s definitely worth checking in on from time to time and might be worth setting up an RSS Feed.
Not that it’s Earth-shattering news, but the LA Times recently published an article reviewing the decline (dare we say demise) of traditional record sales. In case you’ve been asleep at the wheel for the past five to ten years, here’s a worthwhile Cliff Notes edition on how things have gone down:
The LA Times: A brief history of the album’s recent decline in value
…And in other news, as depressing of a story that might be for some of you, here’s a big fat heap of hope to turn that frown upside down…
In case you missed it, gangsta rapper Lil Wayne did the impossible a couple weeks back, selling over a MILLION copies of his latest record, The Carter III, in it’s debut week. It was the first time in 39 months that any album sold a million copies in a week, causing a surprised and shocked frenzy of attention across the world of music.
Geoff Boucher of The LA Times does a wonderful job of digging for answers and peels back some of the layers in Lil Wayne’s unique strategy. And not to beat my own chest too much, but damn, if a big component of Lil Wayne’s success isn’t built around increasing the frequency of releasing new music. As much as I talk about this concept and try my best to own it…my good friend, Johnny Clay, is always quick to remind me that if anyone owns this strategy, it’s The Beatles.
You see, The Beatles have had the most Number 1 albums in the Billboard Top 200 albums charts with 19. Yes, 19 NUMBER ONE ALBUMS (not songs). And as impressive as that fact is, it might even be more impressive that during the week of 4 April 1964, The Beatles held twelve positions on Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, including the top five positions! That’s right, five different Beatles songs occupied the top five spots on the Billboard chart at one time! It’s no surprise that this has never been accomplished by any other band or artist to date…and we can pretty safely say that it never will.
So yeah, I’m an adamant believer that an increased frequency in releasing new music has got to be a major component to succeeding in this crazy industry. To hear how Lil Wayne recently sold over a million records in a week, give this story a through read and look for innovative ways you can translate his strategies to makes sense for your own band’s model.
The LA Times: The lessons of Lil Wayne’s No. 1
There’s definitely something to be learned from this scrappy, innovative, and now….FILTHY RICH gangsta rapper.
I want to know. I have a group of kids ranging in age 3-6 who just released their firs single call “Pull up those pants” and we want to get it in the hand of a million people ASAP. It is a clean song and bring a positive message. WE need help. The name of the group is “UNJADED”. Please give whatever advice or assistant you can.