LP is still selling albums, but is it because of the fanbase ? I mean they have a big and (relatively) faithful fanbase, even if a lot of us are frustrated : see the number of fans on facebook and youtube. But do that fanbase is really growing ? For WB, the question is "is it profitable to spend a large marketing budget ?". We're all going to buy the new album anyway, so it's not smart to spend so much on promotion, or it must bring enough new buyers. It's even more true if the new album is heavy, so it's not accessible for a mainstream audience. Another point, Adam tweeted this week an article about the new business model in music industry. Albums aren't profitable anymore; now it's all about live shows, association with brands and the "listeners" aka costumer database. Just look : - Association with brands : LP (or WB) doesn't stop to make some promotion with brands : lately Shazam, Dell, EA... - The database from facebook, youtube, twitter gives to WB a LOT of great datas they can sell to these brands. Here is the big deal about LP. Last question : when LP is going to leave WB, who is going to keep that database ? Sorry for the post, it went a little far from the topic ^^ It's just in the last years, being a LP fan makes me feel more and more like a costumer.
Living Things sold 2,5 million copies worldwide to date. Thats very impressive with only one real single. Guilty all the same is, in my opinion, not the single to promote the next album. They released it, to show us the direction they will go with there music. The real single is coming with Transformers 4, trust me..
It is impressive, but there are still artists who sell in the multi-millions in the U.S. alone (Eminem, Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake, etc.). That's what he means when he says juggernaut. LP isn't at that level anymore. Hell, the last Mumford and Sons album essentially went gold in its first week, and that came out the same year as Living Things.
Well that is true. But some of these artists are pretty much unknown in other parts of the world, just saying.
I trust you my friend . For me the big deal happens with Transformers 4 (Unless the song for the movie is a collab with Aoki, something I don't believe since TF4 promotion and airplay is LP's chance to "bring the rock music back to the radios") And everybody here knows Living Things could have sold more if the singles were beter promoted, this is a fact. LITE getting right promotion and a proper music video could have been bigger then BID and CoG is the perfect radio hit song that failed to get to the Hot 100 (but atlest CoG has really great youtube views, don't know how)
You're right, but none of those artists are under WB. WB doesn't have a whole lot artists that break sales records, as far as I know. (Here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_current_Warner_Bros._Records_artists) Linkin Park may not sell that well any more, but they might very well be one of WB's best selling artists (Even now). So it's still quite baffling that they don't promote LP properly.
Muse, Red Hot... pretty big rock acts. When I was speaking about radios earlier in the topic, in fact, rock radios here plays A LOT of Muse and Red Hot. So maybe WB spends money on them for the main rock audience.
Green Day, Muse, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Gorillaz...this are big names dude. I think LP hates WB since ATS era started. We will see
Yeah: Muse, RHCP, Green Day, Paramore, Metallica are all under WB. But even if LP is their 5th, or even 10th best selling artist, won't promoting them be financially viable? Also, none of these bands have upcoming albums (Except maybe RHCP, who just started recording). So they don't really need as much promotion right now.
Yes I think so, cause we'll buy their albums anyway ^^ Maybe they'll earn less money but they spent less, so like Mike said 2 years ago, less is more. Otherwise I've got a complot theory, WB spends less money on LP because the band is going to leave the major, so they don't want to promote a future competitor.
Thats possible. Some people said, after Recharged they will leave WB. But it didnt happen. I dont know. Hard to say.. We have to ask Mike
And which of these bands have better sales figures? Not that it would matter to me but most likely not Green Day, not Paramore, not Muse and neither Metallica with their last album I would guess. RHCP probably but I don´t know when they released their last album to compare it.
That may be true, but those other artists don't need to be. Money is money. Living Things has sold less worldwide to date than Taylor Swift's last album did in... in 2012. That is what I call a juggernaut. That doesn't mean that LP aren't a big band and that they aren't popular (for a rock band, they definitely are). It just means that they're a tier or two lower than they used to be, and realistically they probably never will be at that upper tier again. The fact that they're even as big as they are almost 14 years after their first, and biggest selling, album came out is a feat unto itself. WB probably realizes that the band plateaued in terms of popularity years ago and doesn't feel compelled to promote them as much as they used to. I don't think that's entirely irrational.
I don't really like WB but I think that they didn't need to advertise the first single as there will be another single later on.
Ok, we are comparing them to Taylor Swift now? That really doesn't make sense. And categorizing in Tiers neither because according to that logic they weren't never Tier 1... at this time pop artists also gained more sales...
Yes, I am. There was a period of time when Linkin Park sold as many albums as big pop stars. Hybrid Theory's sales are on par with groups like 'N Sync. The band was absolutely gigantic. They're not anymore. Each studio album has sold less than the last one. That could possibly contribute to WB promoting them less. That's what I interpreted Astat as saying. I don't even know what you're arguing with me about.
Sorry, I wasn't trying to argue with you. I just wanted to point out that for me a reasonable comparison would be with acts of their genre (rock, even though LP are more diverse than most other acts). And I remember the times every other rock act at Warner received more PR than LP (e.g. Green Day), even though they are selling more.
Metallica finished with WB a couple of years ago. They've launched their own label now, Blackened Recordings. Don't know about the others but Metallica have sold over 100 million albums worldwide, & Death Magnetic (2008) sold over 2,000,000 in the US.