"Slash" album charting

[Bodhi]

saw this topic come up in a few other threads.  What are some of your thoughts?  We can use this as a prediction thread for now till the real numbers come in.  It is reallly hard to say in todays music industry how things will do.  Promotion hasnt been too good thus far, unless you were looking for things about this album you werent going to hear anything.  I know a few friends of mine who are GNR fans, and fans of just rock music in general had no idea this record was coming out until i told them yesterday.  Solo albums dont generally sell well anywhere near as well as the actual band they are from.  I dont think 40-50K the first week is impossible.  I mean it depends on if it gets a sales boost from fans of the other bands  or if the fans of the artists on this record just buy the single off of itunes.  I think a Top 10 debut is pretty reasonable, though I woulndt be surprised if it didnt crack the Top 10 cause nobody really knows about it.  Its not on a major label.  I would love nothing more than for this thing to be a huge hit.  What do you guys think?

[Ali]

I would say top 10 is reasonable.  I would also that it is harder to predict these things than it used to be to me.  I'm surprised AIC's new record hasn't sold better despite how good it is and the presence of two hit singles.  There just isn't as big an audience for hard rock and heavy metal as there used to be. 

It'll be a very strong album, I'm sure.  But, I don't think it will sell well, to be honest.  But, in today's musical taste landscape, I would wear that as a badge of honor.

Ali

[Genesis]

I don't think it'll do all that well either, sales wise. "By The Sword" isn't even on the charts, even though it's been on radio a couple of times. The Fergie track might prove popular. I also haven't heard about any plans for any videos.

[Bodhi]

I don't think it'll do all that well either, sales wise. "By The Sword" isn't even on the charts, even though it's been on radio a couple of times. The Fergie track might prove popular. I also haven't heard about any plans for any videos.

yeah I think the Fergie, Kid Rock and Maroon 5 track all have the potential to be crossover radio songs.   I am expecting a pretty solid first week, but then a big drop off afterwards like most rock records these days, unless  one of those singles take off.  Its impossible to judge these days, especially with all the downloading.  A Chris Cornell fan probably wont buy the whole record but most certainly would download the Cornell song.

Although Slash is a VERY popular musician.  He has almost 2 million facebook fans, you figure if just 5 percent of them buy the record the first week your looking at 100,000 copies.  I know the facebook thing sounds silly, but its a decent barometer for the amount of people following an artist or at the very least being updated with new information about what the artist is doing. 

[jacdaniel]

How are they going to measure album sales?  its out on different dates in every country lol!  not to mention the classic rock exclusive and all that...

I wonder why he hasnt done a video for By the sword?  can you even physically buy the CD? (by the sword single)

[Genesis]

They can do all that quite easily, they can even count digital downloads these days via Nielsen.
By the by, the Japan release date is March 31st, not today as I previously thought. Sorry for the confusion.

[jacdaniel]

They can do all that quite easily, they can even count digital downloads these days via Nielsen.
By the by, the Japan release date is March 31st, not today as I previously thought. Sorry for the confusion.

No worries, ive heard half the songs so far now lol!   Now im most looking forward to "We're all gonna die" and "Doctor Alibi"!!!

[faldor]

I don't think it'll do all that well either, sales wise. "By The Sword" isn't even on the charts, even though it's been on radio a couple of times. The Fergie track might prove popular. I also haven't heard about any plans for any videos.

yeah I think the Fergie, Kid Rock and Maroon 5 track all have the potential to be crossover radio songs.   I am expecting a pretty solid first week, but then a big drop off afterwards like most rock records these days, unless  one of those singles take off.  Its impossible to judge these days, especially with all the downloading.  A Chris Cornell fan probably wont buy the whole record but most certainly would download the Cornell song.

Although Slash is a VERY popular musician.  He has almost 2 million facebook fans, you figure if just 5 percent of them buy the record the first week your looking at 100,000 copies.  I know the facebook thing sounds silly, but its a decent barometer for the amount of people following an artist or at the very least being updated with new information about what the artist is doing. 

Whoops, didn't notice this thread was started.  I had previously posted my thoughts in the "Starlight" thread.

I pretty much said the same thing as you though.  This is a tough one to call.  It could do very well, but I just don't feel the world is greatly anticipating this record outside of the Slash/GNR circles.  Your facebook friend analogy is interesting.  You would THINK if someone has that many fans that a good number of them would buy the album.  Although Sebastian Bach said the same thing when "Angel Down" was released.  He couldn't understand how he had so many "friends" on myspace, yet barely any of them seemed to buy the album.

[Genesis]

I wouldn't read too much into the Facebook thing. A lot of my friends have added Slash as well, since he's 'cool' and they live their lives through Facebook, but they don't follow what he does or have any idea that an album is coming out.

[jacdaniel]

I wouldn't read too much into the Facebook thing. A lot of my friends have added Slash as well, since he's 'cool' and they live their lives through Facebook, but they don't follow what he does or have any idea that an album is coming out.

Yeah read the comments!  some guy actually said "WTF, were is Axl".   

only catching on 14 years later!

Slash needs to do a video to get these songs out there.

[LunsJail]

I wouldn't read too much into the Facebook thing. A lot of my friends have added Slash as well, since he's 'cool' and they live their lives through Facebook, but they don't follow what he does or have any idea that an album is coming out.

Very true. I also know a lot of people that say "I really like <insert artist here>" but then don't own a CD or a legally downloaded copy of anything they've done.

[faldor]

I wouldn't read too much into the Facebook thing. A lot of my friends have added Slash as well, since he's 'cool' and they live their lives through Facebook, but they don't follow what he does or have any idea that an album is coming out.

Yeah read the comments!  some guy actually said "WTF, were is Axl".   

only catching on 14 years later!

Slash needs to do a video to get these songs out there.

I wonder why there's been no talk of videos to this point.  Certainly seems like something that Slash would be interested in doing.  Legal issues, contractual obligations, etc.  Could these be things holding back this process?  Santana was able to make videos for his solo effort.  Have things changed that much since then?  Maybe they're just waiting to see if one song catches fire first?  Not sure if that's what happened with Santana or if it was the video that helped "Smooth" become the hit that it was.

[jacdaniel]

He did mention that the album was a bit of a pain in the ass to make due to the legal issues involved.  i think he even said he might not have done the album at all had he forseen some of the issues.

Id be very surprised if a video didnt come out.  I know By the Sword is a single but is it actually for sale in the shops?  No video either. 

how is it supposed to enter the charts or anything?

maybe he cant make videos cos he doesnt really have a label??  So many questions 

[faldor]

I don't think they sell singles in music stores anymore, do they?  It's been released to radio and can be purchased on iTunes, I believe.  That's the route of singles these days.  And the record label usually does shell out the cash for videos, so I guess that could be an issue.  Like I said though, IF one of the songs catches fire, I'd have to think they'd be inclined to make a video for it.

[jacdaniel]

I don't think they sell singles in music stores anymore, do they?  It's been released to radio and can be purchased on iTunes, I believe.  That's the route of singles these days.  And the record label usually does shell out the cash for videos, so I guess that could be an issue.  Like I said though, IF one of the songs catches fire, I'd have to think they'd be inclined to make a video for it.

yeah as far as i know he has no label so that could be the issue...  i imagine it might be expensive to make a good one with his own money but i dont really know much about that area of things..
Surely a video of some of these songs would get good airplay on stations like Kerrang.

[Pine Barrens]

By the Sword has grown on me, and I'm a hardcore GN'R fan and usually, in some appreciate, whatever music Slash produces. But my original reaction to By the Sword was, "it's good rock song, but a first single?" Because business-wise, and I'm now speaking as if I'm talking to a boardroom full of suits wanting sales projections, it wasn't the best lead-in single. It represented exactly what you'd expect from Slash. It spoke to people who already were onboard, that didn't need convincing to buy the album. To me, By the Sword wouldn't win over the radio audience or younger listeners. And as someone already mentioned the Adam Levine, Fergie or Kid Rock songs (especially the Fergie song) would've made for a very strong, noticeable single.
Coming back to my original point, since Slash's fans are already onboard, had it been my decision, I would've gone after the non-fans. The people with preconceived notions of who and what Slash and his music is. By not doing this, I'm afraid I don't believe in high sales numbers...at least not initially, not until the album gets a less predictable song to represent it. Had he played Leno, Lopez, Letterman, Kimmel, Fallon etc. with Fergie and Beautiful Dangerous, a new audience and a very powerful consumer group would've noticed him.

Basically, I think it will sell ok around the world, but state-side, I don't think it'll sell all that well. I would love to be proven wrong, though, because this album fucking deserves to be a big seller.

[Naupis]

yeah as far as i know he has no label so that could be the issue...  i imagine it might be expensive to make a good one with his own money but i dont really know much about that area of things..
Surely a video of some of these songs would get good airplay on stations like Kerrang

Slash as no record deal, and paid for the album out of his own pocket. He has distribution deals to sell it which is good, but not nearly the same as having a traditional label to provide some muscle behind you and spend money on you.

We will see Slash hustle and take advantage of all the free media he can get because it doesn't cost him anything, but as far as videos and paid advertisements I expect them to be few and far between as he has probably already spent a good deal of money on recording that album.

He had to negotiate with over 15 different labels to get releases for their clients, which he said was a nightmare, so you can imagine that their had to be some financial arrangements made that weren't universally cheap.

I would like to see a video, and even though they don't play them on tv I think it would help to have a visual to go along with a song or 2, but I am just not sure ultimately whether that is realistic or not given what he is into the record for financially already.

[Street of the Blues]

SLASH is not LADY GAGA.

[Jdog0830]

Honestly in America, Jappan, and England its real clear to everyone Slash will get the most support.






Joe

[AxlReznor]

With the British music buying public in the state that they are, I think this album will be lucky to make it into the top 40 over here. In the US, I can see it going into the top 20, with it being number 1 on the rock charts.