'Smile' Limited Covers

[TaylorSwiftQueen 41]

Amazing love it 

[BoomBig 273]

4 hours ago, gagaisitalian said:

Tell me which artist in the last few years who sold 5+ different covers of the same album in the US.

Miley for example

 

[gagaisitalian 3,573]

47 minutes ago, BoomBig said:

Miley for example

 

Six years ago.

We rarely see artists do this. And Smile originally only had one cover. It's no coincidence that Katy all of a sudden added more covers right after Taylor has a record-breaking week.

[gagaisitalian 3,573]

1 hour ago, 776673564747836765 said:

Taylor didn't  invent it 
She is not so original, she is not first and last artist doing it.
What about this? 

 

Did I say Taylor invented it?

I said we rarely see this happen, so Katy deciding to throw multiple copies up after originally only offering one RIGHT after Taylor broke records by doing so is a clear indication that Katy took some inspiration from her.

[jimmytimestep 2,488]

I'm sorry, ALL of these covers are so much better than the one they picked. Seriously WHAT IS HER TEAM SMOKING?

[HookerDotGov 530]

2 hours ago, gagaisitalian said:

I get selling a different cover to highlight different members of the band so that fans can pick their favorite member.

However, Katy and Taylor are the only SOLO, U.S. acts that I have seen in years do this, and Katy did it right after Taylor. Katy also never originally offered this. She saw Taylor, THEN added different versions to the store.

Are y'all delusional?

I think it had more to do with her fans trashing the original cover and Katy is clearly trying to salvage the era with her upcoming projects and merch (for example, I assume new NRO and HIH videos will feature visual aesthetics more in-line with the current album). It appears negotiations to purchase the fan cover began shortly after the tweet went viral, which would've been before Taylor announced Folklore, much less the merch options. 

[MANiCURE 6 10,217]

5 hours ago, gagaisitalian said:

Tell me which artist in the past few years released 5+ covers of an album in one country.

In 2018-2019, Jenifer (a French artist) sold 3 different covers of an album and 5 if we take the reissue in count. 

[Spock 20,290]

2 hours ago, gagaisitalian said:

I get selling a different cover to highlight different members of the band so that fans can pick their favorite member.

However, Katy and Taylor are the only SOLO, U.S. acts that I have seen in years do this, and Katy did it right after Taylor. Katy also never originally offered this. She saw Taylor, THEN added different versions to the store.

Are y'all delusional?

Do you honestly think she was able to find an available pressing plant for the vinyls, book the pressings, license the fan artwork and develop the 8 new physical copies in a week? Lmao ok 

also Katy teased different editions last month so we knew they were coming 

[gagaisitalian 3,573]

17 minutes ago, SabadoDeGloria said:

I think it had more to do with her fans trashing the original cover and Katy is clearly trying to salvage the era with her upcoming projects and merch (for example, I assume new NRO and HIH videos will feature visual aesthetics more in-line with the current album). It appears negotiations to purchase the fan cover began shortly after the tweet went viral, which would've been before Taylor announced Folklore, much less the merch options. 

Could be. But I remember when Katy originally saw the cover, she tweeted that she would contact him for her next album. So at that moment, it seemed like they had no plans to purchase it or change the cover. When they made the decision to release multiple covers (which I highly believe was inspired by Folklore), she could've easily negotiated a price with him extremely quickly and then they just used other album art images and slapped the title on it.

I just think her/her team/her label were inspired by Taylor. And now that she and Tay are pals again, I wouldn't be shocked if she told Taylor she'd be doing it so quickly after Folklore.

[gagaisitalian 3,573]

1 minute ago, MANiCURE 6 said:

In 2018-2019, Jenifer (a French artist) sold 3 different covers of an album and 5 if we take the reissue in count. 

Let me clarify that I'm talking about artists of Katy and Taylor's level of fame.....

[bionic 44,364]

Can't believe she stole artwork from an American Horror Story: Freak Show fan art

[HookerDotGov 530]

8 minutes ago, gagaisitalian said:

Could be. But I remember when Katy originally saw the cover, she tweeted that she would contact him for her next album. So at that moment, it seemed like they had no plans to purchase it or change the cover. When they made the decision to release multiple covers (which I highly believe was inspired by Folklore), she could've easily negotiated a price with him extremely quickly and then they just used other album art images and slapped the title on it.

I just think her/her team/her label were inspired by Taylor. And now that she and Tay are pals again, I wouldn't be shocked if she told Taylor she'd be doing it so quickly after Folklore.

I wouldn't say just because Katy tweeted "we'll contact you for the next album" means they weren't in the works of trying to acquire it as an alternative cover. The fan artist was under an NDA until these dropped yesterday. Further, the other images were not existing album art. The were all styled, photographed, and edited within the last 7-10 days. Several brands were used (jewelry, clothing) as were hair stylists and make-up artists who all documented the process. 

I don't doubt that there is Taylor inspiration (she's always been solid at creating collectible physical editions for her fans and I feel like perhaps this is reminiscent of the four separate Target editions of Lover). I just think the balls were already rolling for these covers when Folklore was announced. If not, it's an impressively quick turn-around for Katy and her team...so they deserve credit for that. 

Maybe I'm just in a bubble, cause I recently was hoping Kylie Minogue would offer alternate covers (or at least one for the vinyl presses) of her new album DISCO...only to see Taylor and Katy grace their fans with multiple covers a week later while Kylie just give me the one. 

[jimmytimestep 2,488]

1 hour ago, Spock said:

Do you honestly think she was able to find an available pressing plant for the vinyls, book the pressings, license the fan artwork and develop the 8 new physical copies in a week? Lmao ok 

also Katy teased different editions last month so we knew they were coming 

It does explain the two week "production delay". 

[MonsterofFame 1,780]

On 8/3/2020 at 9:43 AM, SabadoDeGloria said:

The concept of "buying the charts" via fans buying physical copies of music is so wild to me. Like, is that not what the charts originally were? It's not like the record label is buying radio spins or paying for the song to be included in popular streaming playlists...these are normal people throwing down money for a collectible physical edition of a song/album. I actually like the idea of having a collectible cover, especially in this case when people seemed to be underwhelmed by the official cover art. 

Further, is this any different than Gaga offering a digital download with her merch products? I know people who purchased several copies of Chromatica with each merch product they bought. 

The charts heavily relied on radio. Single sales were a part of it, but the only option was to purchase multiple copies of the same product. The new wave basically included bribery bonuses -- different cover art, signed copies, etc. People are a lot more likely to buy multiple copies the new way. Also, sales are weighed heavier now since they are rarer.

The other part of the problem is that as Billboard said, they were not actually manufactured until AFTER the sale and usually ONLY to the quantity ordered for the charts. This means that the record labels don't have to bear any risk of production numbers since they only produce exactly what they sold for the charts.

That's a lot different than making something to actually sell with the risk of not making enough or being left with too much inventory. This made it way to easy for everyone to play the game since the risk was taken out.

---

Also, the digital downloads included with merch is no longer allowed unless it's OPTIONAL. The bundling of Chromatica with every merch and tour ticket was indeed part of the problem, and it's why my family owns 6 copies of Chromatica when we really only needed 2!!! 

[Spock 20,290]

On 8/3/2020 at 9:48 PM, jimmytimestep said:

It does explain the two week "production delay". 

That was for the already announced editions, and these new ones ship end of October so not sure