Physical VS. Digital Sales

I was very surprised when I read an article the other day about physical album sales. Apparently we won’t be saying goodbye to CDs any time soon. According to Neilson Soundscan’s 2011 breakdown two-thirds of all albums purchased in the United States are still CDs. 67.6 percent of albums sold last year were CDs!

Mylo Xyloto

As I said, I am back to give my two cents on the new Coldplay album “Mylo Xyloto.” I have to say I am impressed and quite happy with the outcome of this album.  I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one because I loved “X & Y” then they came out with “Viva La Vida” and I was less than excited about that one. Anyway, I think Coldplay nailed this one and here are a few reasons why.

The album starts out with a melodic short that grabs your attention. I think it is CRUCIAL that an album has its’ attention grabber right off the bat. There is nothing more discouraging than having to skip the first song. It has you wondering if you will be doing so more than once and that is no good. As you are listening to the intro you are pleasantly surprised by the upbeat tune that comes next. “Hurts Like Heaven” is the first song after the intro and instantly has you in a good mood and ready to move.

The next song, “Paradise,” honestly surprised me. Coldplay has always been more of a melodic, low-key band in my eyes and this song possessed a hip-hop/ R & B feel that I have never gotten from Coldplay before. I’m betting this song is the single that will have the most popularity with listeners. A top radio hit. Reason being, the song appeals to a wide variety of listeners.

The album continues to have fantastic songs that you won’t want to skip. Another single comes in at song number seven. “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall.” This is the first song I heard off of the album and I heard it on the radio. This song is one of my favorites and I think it was smart to have this as a single. It wasn’t their best song but it was one of the best. This way you want to buy the album to hear more, but there are better songs so it isn’t all downhill from there. Listen here:

My recommendations include:

Paradise

Up With The Birds

Hurts Like Heaven

Up in Flames

The album set a new weekly digital album sales record and achieved the second-biggest first week sale of 2011 for an artist album

Read more here!

This album is available on iTunes and in stores now!

Strategic or Stubborn?

What does it mean when your favorite artist’s music doesn’t show up in your streaming programs? Well, in Coldplay’s case it means they are holding out on you so you will go the more traditional route and buy their album. It’s hard to say whether it’s a strategic move as far as sales go, or a stubborn move in an attempt to go against the new way of obtaining music.

Coldplay recently released their new album “Mylo Xyloto” and have withheld from sharing any of it with subscription streaming services such as Spotify. I have just recently become a user of Spotify and I can honestly say if my favorite artist’s music wasn’t available to stream I would buy it. This makes me think that Coldplay’s strategy is quite smart, but there is another angle to consider here. Times have changed and music is becoming easier and easier to obtain for free. As a musician you have to realize if you make quality music, it doesn’t matter if your music is out there for free, people will buy it.

I also think this strategy is one that can only be used by certain artists. Coldplay is big enough to get away with this and come out on top. Other artists would just be shooting themselves in the foot. If you are a smaller artist and looking to get your name our there, I think streaming sites are your best friend. Although this strategy is working for Coldplay now, if people aren’t impressed with this new album and feel they have wasted their money it may not work out so well next time.

I actually haven’t listened to “Mylo Xyloto” myself but I will be doing so and giving my review in my next blog.

Click here for a related article

Which Came First: The Addiction or the Fame?

The recent loss of another amazing musician has caused me to really think about addiction and substance abuse within the music industry. It seems to be so prominent that it doesn’t even surprise people when they hear their favorite artist is a drug addict. It sometimes seems as though it just comes with the territory and has since the beginning of music.

The Evolving Role of the Artist Manager

As we all know, the music industry has changed quite a bit in the last decade for several different reasons and in several different ways. As the industry changes, so do the positions within it. The position that I will be focusing on is one that has been evolving for quite some time. This is the artist manager.

What's Behind The Deals? Interview with Erin Hinjos

In the future I hope to be working within the music industry and the topic of focus this month has been on negotiation and deal making. With that said, I wanted to get a closer look at negotiations made within the music industry and a real-world perspective to better understand how it all works. This week I had the privilege of interviewing Erin Hinojos who has been working within the music industry for several years now. Erin is a good friend of mine who I met during our Music Business Bachelor’s degree at Full Sail University in 2009. During that time he kept me somewhat in the loop on his business dealings, but I wanted to catch up with him as well as ask him a few questions I had about his negotiation experience.

Music Then and Now

I was having a hard time coming up with something to blog about because since the last post I have had no inspiration to write about a particular artist. That in itself gave me something to write about. I can't believe how hard it is to find truly talented and amazing artists today. I mean I feel like it's Christmas when I find an artist that makes good music. I can remember when I was younger having so much music to select from in my parents record collection and ALL of it was amazing. I can’t believe how much things have changed for the music industry in such a short amount of time.