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A story by Reuters reports a terrible sales season for music in 2007, particularly during the holiday season. Chuck D, formally of Public Enemy has a business plan that he would implement if he is given the head reins at Def Jam, a position recently vacated by Jay-Z (Jermaine Dupree is rumored to be named the new head), that would involve embracing digital technology.
During the late '70s and early '80s, a similar situation existed when disco peetered out, making the timing ripe for that one break thru performer and that person was Michael Jackson.
Can MJ do it again in '08?
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We have had this conversation before when the interview with Will.I.AM was first release with him talking to MJ about making his next major new project a digital release -- fore going the traditional record company route altogether. Madonna's 100 million deal seems to reflect a changing reality in the music business.
Will Michael revolutionize the industry once again with marketing his future works with the full embrace of digital technology? What are your thoughts?
During the late '70s and early '80s, a similar situation existed when disco peetered out, making the timing ripe for that one break thru performer and that person was Michael Jackson.
Can MJ do it again in '08?
Music business ends year on another weak note
updated 6:34 p.m. PT, Fri., Dec. 28, 2007
NEW YORK (Billboard) - Just when it seemed erosion of music sales during the holiday season couldn't get worse, December snowstorms compounded the retail industry's misery.
Album sales for 2007 are now down 15.3% for the year, compared with 2006. But for the four weeks beginning with Thanksgiving week and ending December 26, U.S. album sales were down 20% to 84.2 million units from 105.3 million a year ago, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
The last week before Christmas didn't help matters much, with sales totaling 25.6 million vs. 31.3 million units in the same period last year.
The season got off on the wrong foot when Thanksgiving sales failed to ignite due to a lack of new hit titles, with retailers reporting anywhere from 5% to 15% comparable-store declines. And then Mother Nature blew in.
"It just makes things worse in one of those already bad holiday selling seasons," says Rob Perkins, president of Marietta, Ga., chain Value Music.
Snowstorms are to be expected at this time of the year, but a December 5 shooting in an Omaha mall "led everybody into a malaise for about a week," says Mike Fratt, who heads up the six-unit, Omaha, Neb.-based Homers chain.
In Brighton, Mass., Newbury Comics CEO Mike Dreese says sales were down 80% on December 16 -- a decline he attributes to snow and a New England Patriots game keeping people home.
Beyond the weather, a lack of big hits is grated on retailers' nerves. "I was astounded: There was no CD to give as a gift," Dreese says. "I have never seen that before."
The formula for holiday selling success is a plethora of obvious hit titles and a couple of surprise hits, and this year retailers have had few of the former to rely on. But at least one title has far exceeded expectations: Since its October 9 release, Josh Groban's Christmas album "Noel" has sold 3.6 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan; it is now the top-selling album of the year.
Indie retail chains are also citing Lupe Fiasco's "The Cool," Robert Plant & Alison Krauss' "Raising Sand" and Mindy Smith's "My Holiday" as strong sellers. And Fratt reports that Homers has sold "a ridiculous amount" of the Eagles' "Long Road out of Eden" and the Tom Petty "Runnin' Down a Dream" DVD, which, respectively, are exclusives at Wal-Mart and Best Buy.
Eric Levin, who owns the Criminal Records indie store in Atlanta, says this year's dearth of hit titles inspired the chain to move its usual January sale on its top 100 titles up to December 1. That change, he says, has helped the chain increase sales by 8% so far in December.
One bright spot across the board, retailers and wholesalers say, has been online physical sales. Dreese says December will be Newbury Comics' first $1 million month for its Web store.
DVD sales, meanwhile, were flat, though retailers had expected them to be up slightly. And while videogames had a decent December, merchants say, sales could have been better if enough Wii game systems or "Guitar Hero" games had been available.
But for music, retailers say, the message is clear. "Unless we get some innovation put into physical music," Value Music's Perkins says, "we will see a continuing of this bad sales trend."
Indeed, senior executives at two of the major labels say they are forecasting a similar drop in CD sales for 2008. The decline could be accelerated by a continued reduction of shelf space devoted to music. Retail executives say they are unsure how poor sales will affect such matters in 2008, but 2007 saw a number of chains reduce music space to expand other product lines.
Chuck D Makes Bid for Def Jam President
As Jay-Z vacates his post as Def Jam president, another Def Jam legend is vying for the high-level music industry position.
Chuck D of iconic group Public Enemy says he is the person for the job.
"After 10 years looking on the collapsing of the record industry, and upon hearing the news of Jay-Z stepping down from Def Jam, I would throw my name into the hat of somebody who understands how the hell Universal should establish the name-brands they acquire with stockholders money," Chuck D told AllHipHop.com.
Chuck D, real name Carlton Douglas Ridenhour, recorded under the Def Jam banner from 1987 to 1998 and churned out some of the label's biggest hits as the lead rapper of Public Enemy.
The rapper has always been a proponent of the internet and launched Rapstation.com in 1999 to offer readers free MP3 downloads and even downloadable ringtones, among other progressive elements.
Chuck D, who also runs his own Slam Jamz label, said that running Def Jam is a more viable option than tossing his hat into the political arena.
"So instead of me running for politics, this is an easier run into the world of influential culture," he continued. "I'm in Los Angeles, Atlanta and New York on the regular as well as I [thoroughly understand] the international picture," Chuck said. "There would be some seismic changes, and I would be a little Huey Long-ish at it. If folks are clueless about this parallel that's precisely the problem." [Editor's note: Huey P. Long was a Great Depression-era politician that was hugely popular and successful. He was killed shortly after announcing a bid for the presidency.]
Chuck D also said that Jay-Z didn't quite have time to grow as the CEO, but cited what has been speculated that he'll be with Def Jam co-founder Rick Rubin at Sony Records.
"I think a person like Jay-Z needed a bit more time, but I could imagine his corporate limitations, and he's gonna be working alongside a true music cat R.R. [Rick Rubin] to do his thing."
The music business' chief concern these days is monetary return and Chuck D, who is renowned for his political and social consciousness, said he could generate revenue as well.
"I'd show them how to make a profit, if they care. I will bring the noise. It will be interesting to hear the requirements here [for the job]," he concluded.
No successor to Jay-Z has been named at Def Jam and there is speculation as to who will become the next president of the legendary label.
Jermaine Dupri, Jimmy "Henchmen" Rosemond and Damon Dash have all been mentioned as potential candidates for the position.
Chuck D outlined his plan for Def Jam, as seen below:
1) Being ahead of the technology curve; preparing for a thinned out industry; and managing budget efficient acts is very noteworthy of my resume which is simple. I told these cats the online revolution was coming and they needed big adjustments. They relied on lawyers, courts, and accountants only to now look upward at Apple, etc.
2) Their cost factors didn't fit the times, I come from a world where the $50,000 investments resulted into 6 - 7 figures. Now it's a business where 7 figures are invested to make 6.
3) I would run it like sports. These artists would be busting their tails on tour and on the stage to gain a fan. They would be coached on how to do their thing right. Braintrust will be high, and subcontracting to the right contributors will be comparable of the efficiency of these labels like Jazz and catalog departments. You cannot have people working, that haven't the slightest clue of what they are in the middle of.
4) Any criminal mindedness in artistry, and management would have sit this one out, go their own way. It's like bad apples the long run ain't got nothing to do with entertainment. You can't mix the stage and off stage parodies.
*******************
We have had this conversation before when the interview with Will.I.AM was first release with him talking to MJ about making his next major new project a digital release -- fore going the traditional record company route altogether. Madonna's 100 million deal seems to reflect a changing reality in the music business.
Will Michael revolutionize the industry once again with marketing his future works with the full embrace of digital technology? What are your thoughts?