Big Wig
Whatup world?! So last week (2/24) was the unofficial first street date of the year for (indie) hip-hop.
Quite a few notable albums came out this past week, and now we get to sit back and look at how they underperformed. Here’s some selects:
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New Releases 3/3/09:
B-Real “Smoke-N-Mirrors” – 3,897
K’Naan – “Troubador” – 15,386 (66% Digital!!! – features on iTunes really help out huh?)
Havoc – “Hidden Files” – 984 (Damn!)
Joe Budden – “Padded Room” – 13,561
Lil Scrappy – “Silence & Secrecy” – 1,293
Project Pat – “Real Recognize Real” – 8,803
Pre 2/24 Releases (Total Sales To Date):
Zion I – “The Takeover” – 2,217
N.A.S.A. – “Spirit of Apollo” – 5,648
Madlib – “Beat Konducta 5-6” – 3,896
Cappadonna – “Slang Prostitution” – 833
P.O.S. – “Never Better” – 12,661
In order to make these numbers a little more understandable, start thinking about what kind of money went into these projects. How big were the artists’ advances? How much advertising did you see for these projects, and where? How many videos have you seen? These questions will start to help you dig down and figure out which artists can actually be profitable in this shit climate we call business/finance/the industry. Things are starting to look pretty bleak out there. Yesterday, Virgin Megastore announced that they are closing all stores by summer. In conjunction with the bankruptcy of Circuit City, the retail game is going to continue to struggle in the coming months/years.
Till next time…
peace
