Chinese Democracy is $1.99 at Best Buy

[Halo69]

I have to say that even know i didnt have internet in 2000/2001, Napster did explode around 1999 till 2001/2002.

And after Napster went out of business, other websites started with the same philosophy as Napster. Limewire, Kazaa, album torrenting, Bearshare, ares etc etc etc...

And that pretty much ruined the music business, but i think its their fault as well. They could have just make a new format for releases. I mean we're in 2011, we already had HD dvds which failed at least Europe and now the Blu Ray industry!

How come cds haven't been transformed in a better quality market? Cds are on the market since like 1980 or something. Its been more than 20 years that they started using that technology.

It should have been updtated already to a more sophisticated way of listening music, and when im saying this, im not saying to transform all the albums in paid downloads, because i prefer to buy a cd for 12 euros than buy a cd on itunes for 10.

What i mean is... for example, why don't they do like a smaller disc, like a smaller version of a cd. I think its the record companies fault as well. This internet boost was easy to predict and they did nothing about it!

[faldor]

I got my first review from one of my free CD handouts last night.  While it's not glowing, I do think it can be viewed as positive.

So my buddy who I gave the CD to was driving a couple of co-workers around and one of them noticed the CD.  He said to my friend, "tell me you didn't buy this?"  My buddy explained how I bought it for $2 and gave it to him, so the guy seemed alright with that and said they might as well give it a shot.  So they threw it in and listened for the remainder of their drive, about 30 minutes worth.  And the consensus was that it was "not that bad".

So again, not a glowing review.  But the guy went from seeing the CD as an embarrassment, to "not that bad".  I'll take it.  Baby steps, right?  Now instead of telling people that new GNR sucks without actually hearing them, he can now say, "they're not that bad".  Hey, I've heard much worse, so I view it as a positive.

[King Axl]

Once again, only reason the album is marked down is because Best Buy had the exclusive.


Most albums have tons of surplus but where each store has a small amount, they never get marked down.

I was in Target recently, and they had the exclusive on Prince's last album "Lotus Flower" and they had it marked down also for 1.99.

So its just via the exclusive they have EVERY single unsold copy. I'm sure most released albums have the  same surplus just spread around way more stores.

has no bearing on the quality,popularity or greatness of the band.

I'm guessing that once all copies have sold, the record will be out of print. So, in a backwards kind of way, it will become a collector's item.

[King Axl]

The main income they will get now is through touring.

Agreed, 100%.

As I said in a prior post, there may never be another Guns N' Roses album. Too high of a risk based on how Chinese Democracy sold. Bottom line is, the record label wants profits from their artists, and they didn't get much from this.

With the Best Buy clearance, I guess someone can say they sold a few million copies, but what percentage of that was at the $1.99 price?

[Mysteron]

Guns could have released an amazing retail album back in 2000/2001, when downloading was limited to ftp, which was relatively unknown at the time.

One word: Napster.

Was definitely around in 2000-2001.

It peaked in February 2001.


So downloading wasn't limited to FTP and it wasn't something only a few geeks did. Everybody used Napster.



/jarmo

So true. I forgot about Napster. They appeared then disappeared so quickly, but  in the big scheme of things, but they changed everything. FTP was more 90's.

I still think downloading is more prevalent now though, and I believe that, as you have already stated, it is because young adults today have grown up with downloading.

[One.In.A.Million]

Guns could have released an amazing retail album back in 2000/2001, when downloading was limited to ftp, which was relatively unknown at the time.

One word: Napster.

Was definitely around in 2000-2001.

It peaked in February 2001.


So downloading wasn't limited to FTP and it wasn't something only a few geeks did. Everybody used Napster.



/jarmo

So true. I forgot about Napster. They appeared then disappeared so quickly, but  in the big scheme of things, but they changed everything. FTP was more 90's.

I still think downloading is more prevalent now though, and I believe that, as you have already stated, it is because young adults today have grown up with downloading.

I know what your saying jarmo, but even with the existence of Napster in the early part of the decade, I don't think it's even close to the downloading culture which was present in 2008. I think the album would have done better sales wise, if it was indeed released in 2001. Simply because downloading wasn't as big of a force as it is now, and now we have a generation who believe downloading music is the norm, which wasn't the case in 2001, people still brought albums. 

And that's probably my biggest regret about how CD turned out, not the music but the missed opportunity to release it earlier in the decade (before 2005) when the music industry took it's last gasp, before evolving into a culture where people could easily access software to download music both legally and illegally. 

I really don't think you can argue the fact that in terms of music sales, and the culture towards buying/downloading albums. It would have been a better business choice to release the album in 2001-2-3-4-5, but unfortunately it wasn't to be, and it was released when the music industry was already in a strong decline. 

[jarmo]

It's pretty simple, you can't release something before it's done.

All this "it's bad business to sell cds for that cheap" is confusing.

What's bad is people getting the music for free.... People deciding it's up to them to decide when others' music should be heard etc etc.



/jarmo

[Mysteron]

It's pretty simple, you can't release something before it's done.

All this "it's bad business to sell cds for that cheap" is confusing.

What's bad is people getting the music for free.... People deciding it's up to them to decide when others' music should be heard etc etc.



/jarmo

I completely agree.

CD was released when it was ready to be released, and that is cool. However, discussions on physical sales and prices are fairly irrelevant in 2011. The last UK based high street music retailer HMV is making losses now, and will be gone within the next year or two. It is the way things are now.

In 20/30/40 years time even the old guard in society will be illegal downloading mofos. 

[D]

What hurts GNR and other rock bands is radio.

Radio simply doesn't play Rock music anymore. They have all switched to this god Awful digitized,auto tunes hip hop shit. If u look at rock charts, they get maybe 700 spins a week whereas the top 100 get over 14000.

people just arent as exposed to rock music like they once were.

People can blame illegal downloading, but radio, the 1.29 single on Itunes and just poor quality of today's music is just as big as illegal downloading as to why the numbers are way down.

Let's say AFD was released today. Jungle,SCOM,PC would each top 3 or 4 million downloads on Itunes but rest of album would be lucky to sell a million cause people can now get the hits for cheap and don't have to shell out 15 bucks for an entire album.  Bands need to stop putting music on Itunes for singles release.

CD selling 600k in the US without a hit single tour, tons of promo or video is pretty fucking spectacular.

[Mysteron]

What hurts GNR and other rock bands is radio.

Radio simply doesn't play Rock music anymore. They have all switched to this god Awful digitized,auto tunes hip hop shit. If u look at rock charts, they get maybe 700 spins a week whereas the top 100 get over 14000.

people just arent as exposed to rock music like they once were.

People can blame illegal downloading, but radio, the 1.29 single on Itunes and just poor quality of today's music is just as big as illegal downloading as to why the numbers are way down.

CD selling 600k in the US without a hit single tour, tons of promo or video is pretty fucking spectacular.

I agree. CD selling what it did was amazing.

Radio is probably even more shocking than you realise. 

[GnR-NOW]

Well anyway, I managed to buy another copy of CD, and I bought the vinyl .... I do not have a vinyl player but maybe I'll frame it or something .......

So hoping GNR does a US Tour !!!!

[richwoman]

Chinese Democracy has re-enterered thebillboard charts at #199 

[Spirit]

Chinese Democracy has re-enterered thebillboard charts at #199 

That's awesome! It has a "*" next to it as well.

* Titles with the greatest airplay and sales gains this week.



It also made its debut on the catalog albums list at #22 

[GypsySoul]

Well anyway, I managed to buy another copy of CD, and I bought the vinyl ....

I went to three different Best Buy stores.  One had the 3 cds (that I mentioned before).  One had 2 vinyls (one of which the plastic wrapper was all facocked) and the third store didn't have any.

[FunkyMonkey]

Chinese Democracy has re-enterered thebillboard charts at #199 

It also made its debut on the catalog albums list at #22 

So it has...I didn't think I'd see this.

Billboard 200
The week's top-selling albums across all genres, ranked by sales data as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan.

http://www.billboard.com/#/charts/billboard-200?begin=181&order=position

Catalog Albums
The week's top-selling albums across all genres that are at least 18-months old and have fallen below No, 100

http://www.billboard.com/charts/catalog-albums#/charts/catalog-albums?begin=21&order=position

[FunkyMonkey]

GUNS N' ROSES's 'Chinese Democracy' Re-Enters BILLBOARD Chart - Apr. 7, 2011

"Chinese Democracy", the 2008 album released by the current edition of GUNS N' ROSES after a 15-year wait, sold around 3,200 copies in the United States in the week ending Sunday, April 3 ? nearly three times the units (1,200) it shifted the previous week. As a result, the CD has re-entered The Billboard 200 chart at position No. 198.

Blabbermouth.net

[D]

Gonna go buy a couple copies tomorrow.

[Ulises]

The idea of "Chinese Democracy is $1.99 at Best Buy" sounds tough when you read it for the first time but if you think it well  is positive to Guns N' Roses.

That price means more people buying it and I'm sure most of the people who always were reticent to buy it because "this is not Guns N' Roses", now maybe gives the album a chance and I'm sure some of them will like it.

If Azoff, Best Buy or whatever is trying to sabotage "Chinese Democracy", I think they are doing the opposite. The best way to sabotage an album is selling it at a high price so people won't buy it.


I think this is very positive.

[bodine]

Guns could have released an amazing retail album back in 2000/2001, when downloading was limited to ftp, which was relatively unknown at the time.

One word: Napster.

Was definitely around in 2000-2001.

It peaked in February 2001.


So downloading wasn't limited to FTP and it wasn't something only a few geeks did. Everybody used Napster.



/jarmo

So true. I forgot about Napster. They appeared then disappeared so quickly, but  in the big scheme of things, but they changed everything. FTP was more 90's.

I still think downloading is more prevalent now though, and I believe that, as you have already stated, it is because young adults today have grown up with downloading.

I know what your saying jarmo, but even with the existence of Napster in the early part of the decade, I don't think it's even close to the downloading culture which was present in 2008. I think the album would have done better sales wise, if it was indeed released in 2001. Simply because downloading wasn't as big of a force as it is now, and now we have a generation who believe downloading music is the norm, which wasn't the case in 2001, people still brought albums. 

And that's probably my biggest regret about how CD turned out, not the music but the missed opportunity to release it earlier in the decade (before 2005) when the music industry took it's last gasp, before evolving into a culture where people could easily access software to download music both legally and illegally. 

I really don't think you can argue the fact that in terms of music sales, and the culture towards buying/downloading albums. It would have been a better business choice to release the album in 2001-2-3-4-5, but unfortunately it wasn't to be, and it was released when the music industry was already in a strong decline. 

Read this re: downloading the other day and thought it was interesting:

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/technologylive/post/2011/03/us-internet-piracy-is-on-the-decline/1

Online piracy is a popular scapegoat of the music industry, which has suffered a 30% decline in global sales between 2004 to 2009, according to IFPI's annual digital music report [PDF].

But given that only 9% of U.S. Internet users use P2P networks to download music illegally (that percentage does include those who obtain music through unauthorized online streaming services and download sites), one wonders whether that blame is merited.

[faldor]

The idea of "Chinese Democracy is $1.99 at Best Buy" sounds tough when you read it for the first time but if you think it well  is positive to Guns N' Roses.

That price means more people buying it and I'm sure most of the people who always were reticent to buy it because "this is not Guns N' Roses", now maybe gives the album a chance and I'm sure some of them will like it.

If Azoff, Best Buy or whatever is trying to sabotage "Chinese Democracy", I think they are doing the opposite. The best way to sabotage an album is selling it at a high price so people won't buy it.


I think this is very positive.

I don't think they're trying to sabotage the album, just trying to clear some copies at a reduced rate.  However, as I've stated before, they could be doing a lot more to sell a lot more copies.  Unless you read these boards, various music sites, or visit Best Buy's website and search for music you wouldn't know it's $1.99.  It's listed at $9.99 in store and many store associates aren't aware of the sale.  So it's not exactly fully taking advantage of the opportunity to clear the shelves.  If they REALLY wanted to rid themselves of all the excess copies, they could do a lot more to help the process along.