Say You Will no longer selling very good!

[diamondsnake]

Normally when I go to amazon I type in Fleetwood Mac just for the heck of it. Normally SYW is in the top three spots, if you are familiar with amazon you know they show the top three best selling items in each cat., but for the first time SYW has dropped out of the number three spots. Now there are just the greatest hits albums in those positions.

Here I was thinking the documentary would help people be aware of this new album- but this week the album sales at amazon are actually worse!

What is wrong with this picture? Can people stop listening to Don't Stop and be a little bit more open minded to SYW, which I still say is the FM's best record to date.

And I know that things like this are going to happen during this new leg of the tour. Like clock work, when Lindsey announces that they are going to do a new song, everyone is going to flood out of the arena and head to the snack bar. I just think it is really sad.

Rant Over.

[chiliD]

Ok, here's my theory.

Sure, the documentary brought attention to them again; but, with the radio stations making the "big announcement" of tickets for the next leg of the tour going on sale, people are choosing to buy the tickets, not the CD. Check back a couple of weeks after the next leg starts, you'll probably see a bump-up in sales of Say You Will.

I really don't see it selling a WHOLE lot more...by the time this leg of the tour gets rolling, I think SYW will have topped out. Most of the real die-hard FMac fans already have it...some in more than one format (CD, ltd edition CD, DVD-A, etc)...so, don't get your expectations too high.

Plus, with the reissue of their three most popular albums, in expanded formats, I think SYW will probably get left in the dust when it comes to CD sales.

[hayley]

Say You Will actually had a very slight bump in sales this week (and when I say slight- I mean 1%). Sales have already plateaud (SP!!) by this point at about 800-900 copies a week, which ain't great. The VBOFM had only a 0.4% increase this week (btw, SS totals for VBOFM place it at about 40K more scanned than SYW), which isn't great either.

I expected a decent increase in sales of both records this week, and the fact that there wasn't something does shock me. But Amazon is NOT the best meter or indicator of sales by any means. Amazon's good for gauging sales within a certain demographic, but not across the board.

It makes sense for Say You Will to have been knocked out at Amazon at this point, considering the tour has the greatest hits doing better, plus the three catalog reissues next week.

[stefan]

So what is it then? A commercial failure after all? The beginning looked good entering on No3 and I still think that PK was a success, got airplay and entered the charts for several weeks which is not self evident nowadays.
But 800000 copies- can they be content with that result? What amount did Warners need to make profit? And what are the reasons for the result? The disc contains 18 songs and even if one does not like certain styles a la Come or RRover there is enough stuff left to like for them. Or if you don`t like soft pop a la SYW the song then you also have enough different things. I think every fan could create a disc from 12-17 songs he likes (leaving out SG )
O.K. but seriously- what`s the point? Aren't there enough potential customers for FM? Or for veteran groups per se? Or did the public not like this album? Id est: Could a different new FM album have sold more?
I don`t know but I think it's very strange to attend a concert without buying the CD. But even I know somebody who did that. A former diehard fan who now only occasionally listens to FM stuff. He simply was not interested in the new project, the time was somehow gone for him but he nevertheless was willing to buy the ticket. Even after I lent him the CD he only listened to it while doing something else and didn`t really know the songs after a longer time.
I hope that future projects won`t be cancelled because of the albums sales. They could live with reissues and touring and so on very good too. Of course I hope for new stuff...

[DownOnRodeo]

I assumed those figures just meant that the Best Of releases were outstripping the SYW sales, not that the SYW sales had fallen. I don't know.

[dissention]

I don't think that the doc had as much exposure for the band as originally thought; a lot of people in the country lost all Viacom stations. And besides, the doc was the kind of thing that only a true fan could sit through. It wasn't entertaining for someone who's simply familiar with GYOW or Rhiannon. JMO.

[diamondsnake]

Originally posted by stefan

I hope that future projects won`t be cancelled because of the albums sales. They could live with reissues and touring and so on very good too. Of course I hope for new stuff...

Wouldn't that be so sad if they couldn't get a label to make any new records?

Hey, does anyone know how other veteran artists are selling their new stuff? What about Sting's latest record which came out around the time of SYW? And didn't the Eagles or the Rolling Stone's recently come out with new stuff? How does FM compare?

I really think the bad sales are not really FM's fault. I mean no records are really selling like hot cakes, are they? Don't most people burn music from the computer these days? Or has that issue been solved? I wouldn't know- I like owning the music myself!

[markolas]

Fleetwood Mac's days of selling millions of albums are long gone. It has nothing to do with the quality of the material, and everything to do with demographics and with which artists record companies give the most promotion to.

[Street Angel]

I wonder whether signing to Interscope Records would have made a difference, at least as far as promotion and "believing in the album's potential" are concerned.

[markolas]

Originally posted by diamondsnake
Wouldn't that be so sad if they couldn't get a label to make any new records?
If FM never makes another album, it won't be because they couldn't get a record deal. Most labels will keep an artist like FM just for "bragging rights," even though they may not sell many records. That's how Joni Mitchell survived all these years. She hasn't had a million-selling album since 1975, and yet she kept making records up until a couple of years ago.

Hey, does anyone know how other veteran artists are selling their new stuff? What about Sting's latest record which came out around the time of SYW? And didn't the Eagles or the Rolling Stone's recently come out with new stuff? How does FM compare?

I think Sting's album has done a lot better than SYW, but I'm not sure if you can compare him with FM...Sting has never really gone through a period where he wasn't hip (unlike FM), and his albums usually sell really well (even if the critics don't always like them)...and he's been around for a looong time.

[ShangriLaTroubl]

I dont think it's safe to call Say You Will a flop...and ACTUALLY this week the sales ranking on Say You Will on amazon.com has gone up..but the others have just gone up more...Say You Will WAS like 1000 on amazon's sales ranking, I have seen it up to like 240 this week...

I really didnt expect Say You Will to do much more than it has done...The Dance was a nostalgic driven release (for the most part)...and it is interesting TVBOFM has already gone platinum, and not Say You Will...that's simply what happens with older artists...The Eagles havent released an album with new material..TVBO The Eagles has sold moderately and their single HOLE IN THE WORLD has done well on AC Charts, but you cant compare that because they havent gone so far as to release a totally new studio album yet...

Then we have to look at Say You Will in terms of, what does this commercial success really matter? It was a great album, it doesnt matter if everyone else bought it, WE Like it..so it shouldnt matter..but of course we all do want the best for our band...

This is just the way it is...Say You Will stayed on the charts longer than Madonna's American Life CD, and that says something right there...Older groups do well in the concert area generally but not in the studio album area...Lynryd Skyrnrd's album was a flop (way less than Say You Will)......and they can say albums arent selling well anymore, this is true, but Norah Jones' new CD has been out 5 weeks, at #1 for 5 weeks, and has almost went triple platinum...so there is hope!!

Ok..tata..if you made it this far! ha
Chris

[dissention]

Originally posted by ShangriLaTroubl
The Eagles...HOLE IN THE WORLD

*shudders*

[MacMan]

Sting is a hard act to compare FM with. Although they are both world wide acts and successful... Sting has the upper hand I believe outside the US in terms of popularity. He generally does a million per disc in the US. At least that's where I believe his current disc stands. I think his last cd did alot better, but he had a huge hit with that one song Desert Rose (could be wrong on the title) that was first a Jaguar commercial (which I thought was a video the first time I saw it).

For an artist like FM, I agree the days of selling millions and millions are over unless there is something else tied to the music to get people to connect with it. Call it a gimmick... A hit song, whatever. The Dance wasn't just a live album that everyone found great and went out and bought because of the music. It was the reformation of one of the greatest bands, and it was the most successful line-up back together for the first time in ages. It was nastalgia for alot of people. Plus it was the 20th Anniversary of Rumours, a huge success. Plus it aired on TV which can capture huge audiences. So there was something other then the music... selling the music. And it was a unique situation with The Dance.

Why do you think all these artists ala Janet Jackson and the like do all these crazy things now to get noticed....just to sell cds! Everyone seems to do something other than just play music, to get noticed and the word out there on a large scale to sell the music.

Stevie herself, although nothing close to Janets stunt, talked really openly about drug dependancy while promoting TISL. It was done like that, not only to help others that maybe in a similar situation, but also to get noticed, to connect with people, to get the word out that yes, I have a new album out.

So this time around, it's a little quieter... They are relying only on the music and the history of the band to sell the band and the cds. Had they had a couple more hits off the album like Peacekeeper, I'm sure it would have sold alot more. Which can partly be blamed on marketing of the music.

But this year could be interesting once they release the DVD of the tour. We might see album sales increase because of that. There were alot of people that saw this tour and who wouldn't want a copy of basically what they saw in concert. I mean all the shows were pretty much the same.

I don't think SYW is a flop, I think it's just more of a sign of the times.

[GypsySorcerer]

I don't think SYW was a flop, but it certainly was no blockbuster. I think Stevie's TISL has sold as much as SYW. I know that Belladonna outsold Mirage, but they both went to #1 and went multiplatinum.

Technically, wasn't TITN a comeback album? I don't think FM was very cool in 1987, but they had some damn catchy tunes that got played on the radio. TITN became one of the best-selling albums of the 80s, even with comparably weak songs from Stevie. :ducks and hides:

The Rumours reissue is in the Top 100 at Amazon. I think that says it all. Casual fans want more "Go Your Own Way" and less "Murrow" and "Come." My mom, a casual fan who introduced me to FM, is not interested at all in SYW. I played it for her (even skipping to the more "commercial" tracks) and she didn't like it. "Their old stuff is better," she said.

Finally, and I know this will not be a popular opinion, but I think Christine's absence contributed to the less-than-stellar numbers of the album. Obviously, performing wasn't her strong suit and the concert sales have been solid. But Christine wrote several hits. There's no way that TITN would have been as successful as it was without the strength of the singles from Chris. And if not for "Hold Me" (and Gypsy) Mirage would not have even done what it did. Say what you will, but every album (1975 and later) that does not feature Lindsey, Stevie, and Christine together has not done so hot.

[ShangriLaTroubl]

my mom who is a long time mac fan and introduced me to them...wouldnt have bought say you will if i hadnt...she likes it ok...but isnt that interested in it..

she likes whats the world coming to? say you will steal your heart away goodbye baby and bleed to love her...and thrown down

thats IT

Chris