"Who cares about flops? it's all about the music" AKA the decline of Hip Hop

[kingwell]

That is just wrong.  If you are all about the music, you should be concerned with your favorite artist having a successful album, so NEXT TIME, he gets more MONEY, better FEATURES, better PRODUCTION, more MOTIVATION, BETTER STUDIO EQUIPMENT, MORE PROMOTION, etc.

Go back and check the history and look at the labels platinum artists have been under, look at the all star team they had to work with...  If your music isn't selling, you don't give a shit if the people like, it's all about if you like it.  I know this seems how it should be, but it's not.  They are making the music for us, the customers.

ON THE OTHER HAND

Let's look at Obie's album.  The production is known names, (JR, Em, Akon).  But some of the songs are really bland.  This isn't a sophomore slump either.  Why didn't Em pull another "got some teeth" out for the single?  Why didn't he keep Stay Bout It on the album (give Stat some more exposure).  Not that many people heard it alot, and it's still a good track today.  Why was there such a lack of promotion (Cheers can't be blame, 50 cent just dropped and they were riding that).  Can Em/Dre/Iovine no longer adjust to what the people want to hear?  Is the South really taking over?  Obie's flow on alot of songs are below average too.  So did he expect his album to sell because he had all the shit I just mentioned in the first paragraph? Did he not take his time to truely put together an a GOOD album (props to Dre, we know you are gonna bring a revolution with Detox).

IS THERE NO HOPE AT ALL?  <end rant>

[J Bananas]

that doesn't really make sense to me because these days what fans want to hear doesn't coincide with sales. watered down club shit 15 year olds can bump at their schools parking lot equals sales. real music fans spend time on the internet bootlegging.

[Cowboy]

Why does it matter if something flopped in sales anyways? people on here act like its a big deal so they make a whole thread about something thats flopped. If an album is good its good who cares if it fuckin flopped and if an album from someone a person doesn't like comes out and it flops keep it to yourself and don't brag about it.

[Javier]

Why does it matter if something flopped in sales anyways?

He just explained why. 

[jeromechickenbone]

fuck first week sales.  That's retarded industry jargon anyway for how much product they sold.  It is no way indicative of the quality of the album.  It's important to labels because they have to see an immediate return on their investment.  Labels want consumers to believe first week sales hype because the quicker the $ in their hand the better.  All they want is that one hot single when the album drops, collect mad bank and call it good.

It was a lot more common back in the day for albums to start out slow and low on the charts and steadily climb their way up the chart. Thats when word of mouth drives sales, which is a lot better indicator of a quality ALBUM.  Labels aren't concerned with albums anymore, they want that one single to drive sales for a month or so and then move on to the new product.

[Narrator]

That is just wrong.  If you are all about the music, you should be concerned with your favorite artist having a successful album, so NEXT TIME, he gets more MONEY, better FEATURES, better PRODUCTION, more MOTIVATION, BETTER STUDIO EQUIPMENT, MORE PROMOTION, etc.

This is a really good point that a lotta people ignore.  If an artist sells well enough with one album, their label is willing to give them far more creative control.  Look at Jay-Z for example...he put out several "sellout"-type albums like "Hard Knock Life" for wider audiences when he first came out, but once he'd been doing that and selling multi-Plat for a couple years, Def Jam gave him the lattitude to make the kind of music HE wanted to make.  And for the most part, he used it well...first he put out "The Blueprint", his best album since "Reasonable Doubt", then he made a few slight misteps with the 2nd volume of that, but finally, he gave us the fantastic "Black Album".

So in that respect, people shouldn't act like rappers can only get worse once they go mainstream and start selling multi-Plat.  It's not inaccurate to say that often happens, but a true artist will make better music once he (and his label) doesn't feel the insecurities of trying to get a foothold in the mainstream.

[youngmessnucca]

Cant believe how quick people are to hate on Obie's album.

[BigBDrugStores]

i dont get paid off of their cds. so why should i care if it does good or flops?