Spaceship
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I don't think it was before Invincible came out. Promotion for the album seemed to be going mostly well at first. "You Rock My World" did well both in the US and worldwide. "Butterflies" did well in the US, too, despite not having a music video. Sony didn't air a commercial for the album during the 30th anniversary broadcast, which was stupid of them, but they still planned to release singles from Invincible after the special aired, so I don't think they were actively trying to sabotage the album.
"Cry" was only released internationally because it flopped at radio testing in the US. It ended up flopping worldwide, too (and apparently, MJ was the one who wanted "Cry" as the second single following 9/11), and MJ worsened matters by choosing not to appear in the music video. He was probably afraid to travel post-9/11, which is part of why he didn't tour, but he was also unhappy with the music video's low-budget. Of course, supposedly he and the director agreed it was better for him not to appear in it. Regardless, it was seen as a lousy music video without MJ's appearance.
Despite the setback, Sony still intended to release "Butterflies" internationally as it was popular on US radio. The issue was that MJ refused to film a music video for it; he didn't respond to Sony's pitch as it would have been low-budget. Not wanting a repeat of "Cry"'s video where MJ didn't appear at all, Sony canceled the music video for "Butterflies". They also canceled the international single release of the song as they didn't feel it would do well enough without a video. "Unbreakable" was to be the next single, but Sony didn't want to spend $8 million on the music video like MJ wanted. MJ refused to film a lower-budget video, nor did he want to spend $8 million on a video himself (actually, his desired budget may have been even higher). Unable to comfortably make any videos to his liking, and upset over Sony's refusal to release "What More Can I Give" (the reason Sony didn't release was that song was because they didn't want it to compete with the singles from Invincible, as it wasn't part of the album. They might have released it later on had MJ stayed with them), MJ stopped promoting the album entirely and told Sony he was gonna leave them. With that, Sony pulled the plug.
I know Taraborrelli's book said it was due to MJ not getting his masters back in 2000 or something like that, but I dunno. If anyone sabotaged the album, it was arguably MJ. After his bad experience with the "You Rock My World" video (the director insulted him by offering to darken his skin and add putty to his nose), MJ refused to film videos that weren't to his liking. Not appearing in "Cry"'s video conveyed to Sony that he wasn't interested in promoting the album, which was exacerbated by his refusal to appear in "Butterflies"'s scrapped video. Sony wasn't going to put so much money in the videos after having spent so much on the album itself, so MJ refused to work with them. A record label is obviously going to stop promoting an album if the artist is actively refusing to work on their terms. @mj_frenzy
"Cry" was only released internationally because it flopped at radio testing in the US. It ended up flopping worldwide, too (and apparently, MJ was the one who wanted "Cry" as the second single following 9/11), and MJ worsened matters by choosing not to appear in the music video. He was probably afraid to travel post-9/11, which is part of why he didn't tour, but he was also unhappy with the music video's low-budget. Of course, supposedly he and the director agreed it was better for him not to appear in it. Regardless, it was seen as a lousy music video without MJ's appearance.
Despite the setback, Sony still intended to release "Butterflies" internationally as it was popular on US radio. The issue was that MJ refused to film a music video for it; he didn't respond to Sony's pitch as it would have been low-budget. Not wanting a repeat of "Cry"'s video where MJ didn't appear at all, Sony canceled the music video for "Butterflies". They also canceled the international single release of the song as they didn't feel it would do well enough without a video. "Unbreakable" was to be the next single, but Sony didn't want to spend $8 million on the music video like MJ wanted. MJ refused to film a lower-budget video, nor did he want to spend $8 million on a video himself (actually, his desired budget may have been even higher). Unable to comfortably make any videos to his liking, and upset over Sony's refusal to release "What More Can I Give" (the reason Sony didn't release was that song was because they didn't want it to compete with the singles from Invincible, as it wasn't part of the album. They might have released it later on had MJ stayed with them), MJ stopped promoting the album entirely and told Sony he was gonna leave them. With that, Sony pulled the plug.
I know Taraborrelli's book said it was due to MJ not getting his masters back in 2000 or something like that, but I dunno. If anyone sabotaged the album, it was arguably MJ. After his bad experience with the "You Rock My World" video (the director insulted him by offering to darken his skin and add putty to his nose), MJ refused to film videos that weren't to his liking. Not appearing in "Cry"'s video conveyed to Sony that he wasn't interested in promoting the album, which was exacerbated by his refusal to appear in "Butterflies"'s scrapped video. Sony wasn't going to put so much money in the videos after having spent so much on the album itself, so MJ refused to work with them. A record label is obviously going to stop promoting an album if the artist is actively refusing to work on their terms. @mj_frenzy
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