Michael Buble a real threat for Joanne

[DeanWinchester 41,390]

6 minutes ago, Cody Draco said:

I'm not gonna buy an album I haven't even heard

So what's the point of buying the album if not to find out how good the music is? Was I supposed to illegally download it for first listen AND THEN buy it after I already have copies I got for free? Are you at least going to stream it on platforms that will help the artist?

God forbid I listen to some bad low-quality rips and conclude the actual album and its production is bad.

Besides, Gaga already said PI isn't indicative of the sound of the whole album. Mark has revealed and Gaga has reaffirmed on twitter that they put TFM hooks in the album for TF/Monsters. 

[Manul 7,377]

Pray that her album will sell at least 100k tbh.

[venusfly 17,885]

Bon Jovi are a bigger threat, they have a silent but giant fanbase, they're constantly filling stadiums without even releasing albums

[Cody Draco 2,531]

5 minutes ago, A Gaga Lad said:

So what's the point of buying the album if not to find out how good the music is? Was I supposed to illegally download it for first listen AND THEN buy it after I already have copies I got for free? Are you at least going to stream it on platforms that will help the artist?

God forbid I listen to some bad low-quality rips and conclude the actual album and its production is bad.

Besides, Gaga already said PI isn't indicative of the sound of the whole album. Mark has revealed and Gaga has reaffirmed on twitter that they put TFM hooks in the album for TF/Monsters. 

I only buy albums that I love.

I didn't buy C2C because it wasn't my cup of tea. Did I give it a chance to win me over and check it out? Yes. Did I enjoy it enough to feel the need to own a copy of it whether legally or illegally? No.

The last albums I bought without prior listening were Daughter's Not to Disappear and Lana Del Rey's Honeymoon. 

That's only because they have consistently put out art that speaks to me and that I will admire the rest of my life.

I just don't trust Gaga anymore to deliver an albums worth of material that I will enjoy. I was a huge fan of ARTPOP when it came out but now I'm getting older and a lot of her work is losing it's appeal.

Perfect Illusion just turns me off completly. I'm sticking around because that's what fans do. I'm looking forward to hearing Hey Girl featuring the super talented Florence Welch. I will also check out the rest of the album to see if it connects with me and is worth supporting. If not, I'll wait until the next one. No biggie.

[DeanWinchester 41,390]

30 minutes ago, Cody Draco said:

Lana Del Rey's Honeymoon. 

LDR only had 3 albums prior to that though. If you're a fan of ARTPOP, technically you've like all her main albums so far as well or am I missing something else?

But I'm happy you're not giving up on the era just because of one song from it.

[StrawberryBlond 14,819]

I thought the same as soon as I researched what was coming out that week. Of all the weeks, why did they choose this one? Michael had this date planned in advance - couldn't her team have gone a week earlier? I don't understand why they purposely scheduled it for this week. It'll be great if it shows she can fend off competition, but still. We already had this situation with AP when it was stupidly released the week after Eminem's new album. It meant Gaga lost a #1 in most of the biggest English-speaking markets and a few European ones too. Both artists were on Interscope, so I don't know how on earth they let this happen. So, I hoped they wouldn't let it happen again, but no! Not only this, turns out that Michael has a "Live at the BBC" special arranged the week before his album comes out (this was the same special that Adele did for 25). That'll be guaranteed to get him more sales. It's so typical - the BBC are supporting non-British artists now!

But, there is hope...

1) Michael is nowhere near as big as he once was. During his 2009 Crazy Love era, he was HUGE, selling over 6 million. During his 2011 Christmas era (the one released the same year as BTW, outselling it), he was MASSIVE, with over 9 million sold. But just 2 years later, he released To Be Loved and it did...ok by his standards. His last 2 albums sold over 2 million respectively in the UK, this one only sold 631k and that's 3 years worth of sales. He's slowed down in America too. He still sells his tours, but the album didn't sell as well. His selling power has decreased tremendously, that much is certain.

2) He's a covers artist and they don't sell well these days. As we saw with C2C, people were surprised that it sold as much as 1 million worldwide. Barbra Streisand did better, but not by much. Annie Lennox didn't sell as much with her covers either. Even Tony Bennett's newfound success with Duets didn't last long and his solo album released post-C2C flopped absurdly so. Susan Boyle has basically stopped making albums as she can't sell them anymore. Let's face it - the jig is up for covers artists right now. They were a big deal in the 2009-2012 period when Susan and Michael were killing the charts with their releases, Tony was having surprising success with Duets and Rod Stewart was releasing volume after volume of The Great American Songbook but times have moved on. Albums as a whole are mega difficult to sell these days, even moreso if it's not original material. Once you've bought 2-3 albums from a covers artist, exactly how many more do you really need, after all?

3) The album only has 10 tracks on the standard edition and only 3 are original. Basically, it's a very short album and the songs that are there aren't the most well-known. There's no stand-out tracks that everyone recognises like Cry Me A River or Feeling Good. Less-well-known songs plus short running time = less sales.

4) The album isn't being massively promoted. Seriously, does anyone even know he has an album coming out? It's 20 days away and we haven't even got the album cover art.

5) His lead single flopped and doesn't even have a Wikipedia entry. Since 2003, all his lead singles have always charted (though not overly well) in many worldwide countries. His last one even landed at #10 in the UK. But his new one has only charted in 2 countries, Canada (#84) and UK (#77), his lowest lead single peak in these countries at that. It's like no one really sees the point anymore.

6) He doesn't have a YouTube presence or streaming presence whatsoever. This one's the killer. For such a successful act, he has just over 1 million YouTube subscribers and no Vevo certified videos yet. Gaga has over 7 million subscribers and 12 certified videos. These views count in the US, so this is key. And again, as befits all covers artists, his streaming power is zero. Gaga may not be the biggest streamed artist, but next to him, she's at Justin Beiber levels. Sales + streaming is where it's at with album numbers now. Streaming is what ultimately could give Gaga the edge, even if it's just and no more. Plus, Gaga's superfans will buy multiples copies and/or a standard and deluxe or a digital and physical copy. Michael's fans aren't like the that. Most album purchases will be one album per person with someone buying it for mum's Christmas present.

So, all is not lost. It could be worse. It could be Adele we're up against.

12 hours ago, ZiggyZiggs said:

EDIT: Bon Jovi and Sia have releases on the same day

What's Sia releasing? I can't find anything. Plus, she's touring 5 out the 7 days of the week of October 21st.

8 hours ago, LG said:

Bon Jovi are a bigger threat, they have a silent but giant fanbase, they're constantly filling stadiums without even releasing albums

Their fans go to their concerts but they don't buy their albums anymore. Their 2013 album only sold 1.5 million worldwide. Sales are even worse today than they were 3 years ago, plus they won't have a big streaming presence. It's well known that Bon Jovi's best material was made long ago but their new albums aren't worth it. They're not a threat at all.

[venusfly 17,885]

Just now, StrawberryBlond said:

What's Sia releasing? I can't find anything. Plus, she's touring 5 out the 7 days of the week of October 21st.

Their fans go to their concerts but they don't buy their albums anymore. Their 2013 album only sold 1.5 million worldwide. Sales are even worse today than they were 3 years ago, plus they won't have a big streaming presence. It's well known that Bon Jovi's best material was made long ago but their new albums aren't worth it. They're not a threat at all.

Sia is re-releasing This Is Acting with a couple new songs added.

Also; that's interesting, I would've thought their album sales would've been much higher because of their touring force.

[StrawberryBlond 14,819]

4 minutes ago, LG said:

Sia is re-releasing This Is Acting with a couple new songs added.

Also; that's interesting, I would've thought their album sales would've been much higher because of their touring force.

Oh, right. Well, in that case, it should be ok. A re-release won't chart on its own. Sia's singles sell well but her albums don't. Yes, it'll push the album up further, but honestly, that album was not crying out for a re-release. Its only produced 2 hits, one of which only just happened. I really don't know why a re-release was planned. Everyone interested in her singles or albums has already bought it, so we shouldn't worry. Let's put it this way - her big breakout success album, 1000 Forms of Fear, only sold 1 million worldwide, including less than 400k in the US. 3 new tracks won't inspire more people to buy it than Gaga's album. We have nothing to worry about.

Bon Jovi are like every other old rock band these days - can't sell a studio release or a single but still pull in millions from touring due to nostalgia for hearing the old hits sang live. Critics savaged their last album anyway and I think fans were disappointed with it too. Their lead single's been out for nearly 2 months and it only has 3 million YouTube views and 60k likes. Compare that to PI and to see them as competition is laughable. Buble's the only threat, let's be real.

[Guest]

Who cares Michael Bublé is awesome

[Titan 632]

[Titan 632]