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Dismal sales?

Posted:
Tue May 31, 2011 4:33 am
by brywool
Yeah, it's disappointing that Journey has such a cool album but nobody will end up hearing it because of Marketing.
Even if it's NOT Steve Perry, Jss, or Augeri- it's still a cool album. Doesn't have to be better or as good as "The big Two"
but it's still a great album that should be heard. It's better than so much of the sh*t that's out there.
It seems like fans could help them somehow, but if I were Neal and Jon,
I'd be all over their management and trying to come up with some different angles. It's cool that they're doing some
radio, but if you listen to some of the interviews, the DJs are bloody idiots that don't do their research.
I mean, God, they're still asking about the whole Youtube thing and it's super clear that that they have zero info on the
band as it is today.
I think Greg Kihn had a photo up with Augeri on his web site. Hello? I thought Greg was really
connected to Journey. He seems to pat himself on the back and say as much but he apparently doesn't even know
who's in the F'ing band. Coulda just been some dolt on their web team, but man, if my name was on something
(as Greg's is) I'd be checking it out and getting it corrected.
Then the two guys in Texas start dissing Arnel as soon as the interview was over. That's how Seattle radio is too.
They'll make fun of the bands that they are interviewing right up until they phone in, then they'll do an interview
that sucks, and as soon as the band hangs up, they're right back to making fun of them.
No wonder classic rock stations suck, they don't even believe in their own format.
It's frustrating for sure.

Posted:
Tue May 31, 2011 4:43 am
by Ehwmatt
Where are the figures? I'm out of the loop.

Posted:
Tue May 31, 2011 4:58 am
by YoungJRNY
Ehwmatt wrote:Where are the figures? I'm out of the loop.
I'm checking in here and there but the anticipated first week sales before the weekend was said to be around 20-30K I think, or atleast that's what I thought reading Don's posts. No definite confirmation?

Posted:
Tue May 31, 2011 5:23 am
by steveo777
Won't the numbers be posted somewhere tomorrow? That's a full week.

Posted:
Tue May 31, 2011 5:24 am
by Saint John
YoungJRNY wrote:Ehwmatt wrote:Where are the figures? I'm out of the loop.
I'm checking in here and there but the anticipated first week sales before the weekend was said to be around 20-30K I think, or atleast that's what I thought reading Don's posts. No definite confirmation?
Hits Daily Double begins to tabulate sales on Monday, with the final tally coming in on Tuesday afternoon, but it seems as if they're off today because of the holiday today. My guess is that we'll get all figures, in total, tomorrow.

Posted:
Tue May 31, 2011 5:32 am
by Don
Midweek projections were 30k. I'm thinking maybe 45k.
Zero promo at the stores. No one knew the album was on amazon.
After the success of revelation I thought this launch would have a bigger push.
Over confidence? Relying on new DSB fans?
Someone in marketing blew it big time.
The band did not help themselves with radio interviews. They let the subject stay on arnel more than the new album.
Bad job by everyone this launch except here at MR.
We were the only promo in town it seems.
More when I get back from the beach.

Posted:
Tue May 31, 2011 6:00 am
by Majestic
I wish the fans here that love Eclipse would go over to Amazon and give a good review. Doing that is very easy, and can help. The more good ratings it has, and the more the album becomes linked with and recommended to by Amazon customers looking at albums you have already purchased will get linked to Eclipse. For example, if you had bought Gaga previously, and bought and recommend Eclipse, others browsing Gaga may have Eclipse suggested to them because you had bought both. Of course that would also happen if you bought White Snake and Eclipse too, and probably makes more sense.

Anyway, if you like Eclipse, go leave a good review on Amazon and Walmart (if walmart has reviews).

Posted:
Tue May 31, 2011 6:11 am
by Escape Artist
I agree with the total lack of marketing and they should of gave it some kinda push, but CD sales are dismal for everyone these days. The CD will be heard by those who wish to hear it, just not everyone will buy it. Tour, tour , tour... just like the old days.

Posted:
Tue May 31, 2011 7:34 am
by pf1965
Brywool do you have a link to that Texas interview? Interested to hear what was said.

Posted:
Tue May 31, 2011 8:03 am
by JRNYMAN
I was really bummed for the band when I went to buy my copy and discovered that Eclipse wasn't even included in the "New Release" display they had for this past week. It wasn't the usual "New Release" area that they always have, it was a special one due to all the big name releases some of which were of course WM exclusives. Journey however, was not represented in that display nor was Eclipse found in the "usual" New Release area which is always there. I found my copy mixed in with the rest of the Journey albums... ("the rest" included TBF and Greatest Hits). There were 6 copies of Eclipse on the shelf. No banners. No publicity posters. No hype. Nothing. At first I thought maybe the reason I didn't find the album with the rest of the new stuff this week was because the store had sold out of them which c'mon that would have been fucking awesome! Sadly, reality set in and I discovered that they had pretty much been dissed by the very company who sought to be the exclusive retailer of their album.
I dunno... I'm just a bit disappointed overall with everything surrounding and including Eclipse - and for the most part, that's my fault for setting myself up to be let down. When they announced they were taking a full year+ off to concentrate on the efforts and endeavors associated with the new concept album, I was stoked! I thought for sure what would come out of that much time and effort would surely be Escape 2.0. I just knew they would emerge from the studio with a renewed vision and lots of backing and promos and hype and... you get the point. I remain hopeful that the album will grow on me and that I'll find more to like and appreciate about the consorted efforts which we have in Eclipse. Don't get me wrong, I fully understand that Journey owes me nothing - not a God damned thing. Like I said, the vision of what I thought would happen turned out to be far different than what actually happened with regard to the release and promotion of Eclipse. It's common for dedicated, lifelong fans of any band to want their next album to be a tremendous success, and for the whole world to hear it and be stopped dead in their tracks, and yada, yada, yada.....
I'm hopeful sales will be great for this project and will continue to grow.

Posted:
Tue May 31, 2011 8:20 am
by steveo777
If Neal was asked how he felt about the sales of this album and he responded with something like "we accomplished what the band set out to do",
I would probably understand this stance. Maybe the charts were never the mission here. Maybe they just figured this one will slowly churn out
sales while they tour this year. Maybe this was for a few dedicated fans who could appreciate this excellent album.....just maybe?

Posted:
Tue May 31, 2011 8:45 am
by Don
steveo777 wrote:If Neal was asked how he felt about the sales of this album and he responded with something like "we accomplished what the band set out to do",
I would probably understand this stance. Maybe the charts were never the mission here. Maybe they just figured this one will slowly churn out
sales while they tour this year. Maybe this was for a few dedicated fans who could appreciate this excellent album.....just maybe?
Sure.
Just like he set out to do with Arrival and Generations.
Statement's like "We are going to conquer the world" or "Arnel is the new King" doesn't sound like a guy not interested in obtaining commercial success with his new release.
Just see it for what it is. Poor marketing and the assumption, coupled with over confidence that Gleeks, and lovers of all things DSB, along with the plokker Army and Arnel's back story were still going be the big catalyst they were in years past.
Another thing to remember; Concert tickets sold does not equate to new music sold. Bon Jovi and U2 already proved that. Maybe folks in the Journey camp missed that bit of sales reality also.
A major marketing misread, pure and simple.

Posted:
Tue May 31, 2011 8:51 am
by Don
Majestic wrote:I wish the fans here that love Eclipse would go over to Amazon and give a good review. Doing that is very easy, and can help. The more good ratings it has, and the more the album becomes linked with and recommended to by Amazon customers looking at albums you have already purchased will get linked to Eclipse. For example, if you had bought Gaga previously, and bought and recommend Eclipse, others browsing Gaga may have Eclipse suggested to them because you had bought both. Of course that would also happen if you bought White Snake and Eclipse too, and probably makes more sense.

Anyway, if you like Eclipse, go leave a good review on Amazon and Walmart (if walmart has reviews).
Journey could have helped themselves here and didn't. The album is already out of top 100 on Amazon.
MR has already promoted the album more than anyone else has on the net. No need to spam Amazon because of management's marketing incompetence.

Posted:
Tue May 31, 2011 8:52 am
by Monker
steveo777 wrote:If Neal was asked how he felt about the sales of this album and he responded with something like "we accomplished what the band set out to do",
I would probably understand this stance. Maybe the charts were never the mission here. Maybe they just figured this one will slowly churn out
sales while they tour this year. Maybe this was for a few dedicated fans who could appreciate this excellent album.....just maybe?
Or, maybe, if he said that he would be full of shit and was really disappointed that his vision of what Journey should be is only shared by a few hundred internet fans and that nobody really cares to hear such a radical departure of what Journey has been for 30yrsl

Posted:
Tue May 31, 2011 8:57 am
by Monker
Don wrote:steveo777 wrote:If Neal was asked how he felt about the sales of this album and he responded with something like "we accomplished what the band set out to do",
I would probably understand this stance. Maybe the charts were never the mission here. Maybe they just figured this one will slowly churn out
sales while they tour this year. Maybe this was for a few dedicated fans who could appreciate this excellent album.....just maybe?
Sure.
Just like he set out to do with Arrival and Generations.
Statement's like "We are going to conquer the world" or "Arnel is the new King" doesn't sound like a guy not interested in obtaining commercial success with his new release.
Just see it for what it is. Poor marketing and the assumption, coupled with over confidence that Gleeks, and lovers of all things DSB, along with the plokker Army and Arnel's back story were still going be the big catalyst they were in years past.
Another thing to remember; Concert tickets sold does not equate to new music sold. Bon Jovi and U2 already proved that. Maybe folks in the Journey camp missed that bit of sales reality also.
A major marketing misread, pure and simple.
and, again, I'll ask you, where was your whining about marketing three months ago when it would have actually mattered? The ONLY thing that has changed between now and then is you are having to face the reality that Journey isn't "back" as so many in this forum thought they were. No amount of marketing and promotion can help sell something the public simply doesn't want.

Posted:
Tue May 31, 2011 9:01 am
by brywool
Majestic wrote:I wish the fans here that love Eclipse would go over to Amazon and give a good review. Doing that is very easy, and can help. The more good ratings it has, and the more the album becomes linked with and recommended to by Amazon customers looking at albums you have already purchased will get linked to Eclipse. For example, if you had bought Gaga previously, and bought and recommend Eclipse, others browsing Gaga may have Eclipse suggested to them because you had bought both. Of course that would also happen if you bought White Snake and Eclipse too, and probably makes more sense.

Anyway, if you like Eclipse, go leave a good review on Amazon and Walmart (if walmart has reviews).
Since the album isn't selling there and the import's not released yet, where do you do that?

Posted:
Tue May 31, 2011 9:03 am
by steveo777
brywool wrote:Majestic wrote:I wish the fans here that love Eclipse would go over to Amazon and give a good review. Doing that is very easy, and can help. The more good ratings it has, and the more the album becomes linked with and recommended to by Amazon customers looking at albums you have already purchased will get linked to Eclipse. For example, if you had bought Gaga previously, and bought and recommend Eclipse, others browsing Gaga may have Eclipse suggested to them because you had bought both. Of course that would also happen if you bought White Snake and Eclipse too, and probably makes more sense.

Anyway, if you like Eclipse, go leave a good review on Amazon and Walmart (if walmart has reviews).
Since the album isn't selling there and the import's not released yet, where do you do that?
http://www.amazon.com/Eclipse/product-r ... ewpoints=1

Posted:
Tue May 31, 2011 9:05 am
by Eric
Monker wrote:steveo777 wrote:If Neal was asked how he felt about the sales of this album and he responded with something like "we accomplished what the band set out to do",
I would probably understand this stance. Maybe the charts were never the mission here. Maybe they just figured this one will slowly churn out
sales while they tour this year. Maybe this was for a few dedicated fans who could appreciate this excellent album.....just maybe?
Or, maybe, if he said that he would be full of shit and was really disappointed that his vision of what Journey should be is only shared by a few hundred internet fans and that nobody really cares to hear such a radical departure of what Journey has been for 30yrsl
Where's your review?

Posted:
Tue May 31, 2011 9:05 am
by brywool
pf1965 wrote:Brywool do you have a link to that Texas interview? Interested to hear what was said.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX-okMUDPJ8
yeah, wasn't impressed with these guys at all.

Posted:
Tue May 31, 2011 9:12 am
by donnaplease
steveo777 wrote:If Neal was asked how he felt about the sales of this album and he responded with something like "we accomplished what the band set out to do",
I would probably understand this stance. Maybe the charts were never the mission here. Maybe they just figured this one will slowly churn out
sales while they tour this year. Maybe this was for a few dedicated fans who could appreciate this excellent album.....just maybe?
I'd be anxious to see a side-by-side comparison of the success of "what Neal set out to do" (and lets be honest, this is by all accounts Neal's baby) and "what SP set out to do" AKA ROR. I realize that times are very different now, so someone much smarter than me would have to do that comparison. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seemed that with regard to ROR, SP was moving
toward the day's musical climate, whereas with this project, NS is moving
away from what has historically worked for them, and given the success of DSB and the dirty dozen, etc I would say that era is still "their" musical climate. (Dunno if that makes sense to anyone but me) I guess in both cases it was somewhat a departure from the typical Journey album.
I still consider myself a dedicated fan, it's just that I'm dedicated to a bygone era. It was still Journey back then too, but the sum of the parts was a little different.

Posted:
Tue May 31, 2011 9:13 am
by Jana
I think the singles should have been Resonate, because it's just a fantastic song, and Anything is Possible, because it's very catchy and has the Journeyesque sound and would play well on radio.

Posted:
Tue May 31, 2011 9:14 am
by brywool
steveo777 wrote:brywool wrote:Majestic wrote:I wish the fans here that love Eclipse would go over to Amazon and give a good review. Doing that is very easy, and can help. The more good ratings it has, and the more the album becomes linked with and recommended to by Amazon customers looking at albums you have already purchased will get linked to Eclipse. For example, if you had bought Gaga previously, and bought and recommend Eclipse, others browsing Gaga may have Eclipse suggested to them because you had bought both. Of course that would also happen if you bought White Snake and Eclipse too, and probably makes more sense.

Anyway, if you like Eclipse, go leave a good review on Amazon and Walmart (if walmart has reviews).
Since the album isn't selling there and the import's not released yet, where do you do that?
http://www.amazon.com/Eclipse/product-r ... ewpoints=1
I did post a positive review at Walmart and it's still not showed up.
I will post on amazon too.

Posted:
Tue May 31, 2011 9:15 am
by steveo777
donnaplease wrote:steveo777 wrote:If Neal was asked how he felt about the sales of this album and he responded with something like "we accomplished what the band set out to do",
I would probably understand this stance. Maybe the charts were never the mission here. Maybe they just figured this one will slowly churn out
sales while they tour this year. Maybe this was for a few dedicated fans who could appreciate this excellent album.....just maybe?
I'd be anxious to see a side-by-side comparison of the success of "what Neal set out to do" (and lets be honest, this is by all accounts Neal's baby) and "what SP set out to do" AKA ROR. I realize that times are very different now, so someone much smarter than me would have to do that comparison. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seemed that with regard to ROR, SP was moving
toward the day's musical climate, whereas with this project, NS is moving
away from what has historically worked for them, and given the success of DSB and the dirty dozen, etc I would say that era is still "their" musical climate. (Dunno if that makes sense to anyone but me) I guess in both cases it was somewhat a departure from the typical Journey album.
I still consider myself a dedicated fan, it's just that I'm dedicated to a bygone era. It was still Journey back then too, but the sum of the parts was a little different.
Doesn't everyone pretty much have a bucket list, something they would like to do before they die, or while they still can?
I believe a
Journey album of this style was very much on Neal's bucket list.

Posted:
Tue May 31, 2011 9:17 am
by Don
brywool wrote:Majestic wrote:I wish the fans here that love Eclipse would go over to Amazon and give a good review. Doing that is very easy, and can help. The more good ratings it has, and the more the album becomes linked with and recommended to by Amazon customers looking at albums you have already purchased will get linked to Eclipse. For example, if you had bought Gaga previously, and bought and recommend Eclipse, others browsing Gaga may have Eclipse suggested to them because you had bought both. Of course that would also happen if you bought White Snake and Eclipse too, and probably makes more sense.

Anyway, if you like Eclipse, go leave a good review on Amazon and Walmart (if walmart has reviews).
Since the album isn't selling there and the import's not released yet, where do you do that?
Amazon appeared to have a 48 hour exclusivity window where they were the only ones selling downloads for Eclipse in the states. But when Neal was asked on the radio where the album could be bought, he only said that it was WalMart exclusive.
AMazon is the second largest music seller in the country and you don't mention them?

Posted:
Tue May 31, 2011 9:25 am
by donnaplease
steveo777 wrote:donnaplease wrote:steveo777 wrote:If Neal was asked how he felt about the sales of this album and he responded with something like "we accomplished what the band set out to do",
I would probably understand this stance. Maybe the charts were never the mission here. Maybe they just figured this one will slowly churn out
sales while they tour this year. Maybe this was for a few dedicated fans who could appreciate this excellent album.....just maybe?
I'd be anxious to see a side-by-side comparison of the success of "what Neal set out to do" (and lets be honest, this is by all accounts Neal's baby) and "what SP set out to do" AKA ROR. I realize that times are very different now, so someone much smarter than me would have to do that comparison. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seemed that with regard to ROR, SP was moving
toward the day's musical climate, whereas with this project, NS is moving
away from what has historically worked for them, and given the success of DSB and the dirty dozen, etc I would say that era is still "their" musical climate. (Dunno if that makes sense to anyone but me) I guess in both cases it was somewhat a departure from the typical Journey album.
I still consider myself a dedicated fan, it's just that I'm dedicated to a bygone era. It was still Journey back then too, but the sum of the parts was a little different.
Doesn't everyone pretty much have a bucket list, something they would like to do before they die, or while they still can?
I believe a
Journey album of this style was very much on Neal's bucket list.
I think you're probably right. So based on that, NO ONE should shit on SP for ROR, right???


Posted:
Tue May 31, 2011 9:30 am
by Don
ROR despite its issues did score five songs on Billboards hot 100.

Posted:
Tue May 31, 2011 9:32 am
by steveo777
donnaplease wrote:steveo777 wrote:donnaplease wrote:steveo777 wrote:If Neal was asked how he felt about the sales of this album and he responded with something like "we accomplished what the band set out to do",
I would probably understand this stance. Maybe the charts were never the mission here. Maybe they just figured this one will slowly churn out
sales while they tour this year. Maybe this was for a few dedicated fans who could appreciate this excellent album.....just maybe?
I'd be anxious to see a side-by-side comparison of the success of "what Neal set out to do" (and lets be honest, this is by all accounts Neal's baby) and "what SP set out to do" AKA ROR. I realize that times are very different now, so someone much smarter than me would have to do that comparison. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seemed that with regard to ROR, SP was moving
toward the day's musical climate, whereas with this project, NS is moving
away from what has historically worked for them, and given the success of DSB and the dirty dozen, etc I would say that era is still "their" musical climate. (Dunno if that makes sense to anyone but me) I guess in both cases it was somewhat a departure from the typical Journey album.
I still consider myself a dedicated fan, it's just that I'm dedicated to a bygone era. It was still Journey back then too, but the sum of the parts was a little different.
Doesn't everyone pretty much have a bucket list, something they would like to do before they die, or while they still can?
I believe a
Journey album of this style was very much on Neal's bucket list.
I think you're probably right. So based on that, NO ONE should shit on SP for ROR, right???

Ok. That was probably a fair kick in the nuts. BTW, I don't hate ROR in it's entirety. I love ABAWY, Suzanne, GCHI and BGTY.


Posted:
Tue May 31, 2011 9:59 am
by JRNYMAN
Love how the DJ mispronounces Arnel's last name not once but twice: "Pinotta"


Posted:
Tue May 31, 2011 9:59 am
by Monker
Don wrote:brywool wrote:Majestic wrote:I wish the fans here that love Eclipse would go over to Amazon and give a good review. Doing that is very easy, and can help. The more good ratings it has, and the more the album becomes linked with and recommended to by Amazon customers looking at albums you have already purchased will get linked to Eclipse. For example, if you had bought Gaga previously, and bought and recommend Eclipse, others browsing Gaga may have Eclipse suggested to them because you had bought both. Of course that would also happen if you bought White Snake and Eclipse too, and probably makes more sense.

Anyway, if you like Eclipse, go leave a good review on Amazon and Walmart (if walmart has reviews).
Since the album isn't selling there and the import's not released yet, where do you do that?
Amazon appeared to have a 48 hour exclusivity window where they were the only ones selling downloads for Eclipse in the states. But when Neal was asked on the radio where the album could be bought, he only said that it was WalMart exclusive.
AMazon is the second largest music seller in the country and you don't mention them?
I love how people try to guess this and that and pretend they are facts.
Please prove that Amazon had any type of exclusivity right...and that Wal-Mart didn't simply screw up and not make it available on time. Or, maybe Perry screwed up the release somehow and it was all his fault.

Posted:
Tue May 31, 2011 10:02 am
by Monker
donnaplease wrote:steveo777 wrote:donnaplease wrote:steveo777 wrote:If Neal was asked how he felt about the sales of this album and he responded with something like "we accomplished what the band set out to do",
I would probably understand this stance. Maybe the charts were never the mission here. Maybe they just figured this one will slowly churn out
sales while they tour this year. Maybe this was for a few dedicated fans who could appreciate this excellent album.....just maybe?
I'd be anxious to see a side-by-side comparison of the success of "what Neal set out to do" (and lets be honest, this is by all accounts Neal's baby) and "what SP set out to do" AKA ROR. I realize that times are very different now, so someone much smarter than me would have to do that comparison. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seemed that with regard to ROR, SP was moving
toward the day's musical climate, whereas with this project, NS is moving
away from what has historically worked for them, and given the success of DSB and the dirty dozen, etc I would say that era is still "their" musical climate. (Dunno if that makes sense to anyone but me) I guess in both cases it was somewhat a departure from the typical Journey album.
I still consider myself a dedicated fan, it's just that I'm dedicated to a bygone era. It was still Journey back then too, but the sum of the parts was a little different.
Doesn't everyone pretty much have a bucket list, something they would like to do before they die, or while they still can?
I believe a
Journey album of this style was very much on Neal's bucket list.
I think you're probably right. So based on that, NO ONE should shit on SP for ROR, right???

Well, I can...cuz I said from the start that one person having so much control is wrong, doesn't matter if it's Perry or Neal.
So, they are both assholes for sending Journey down such ridiculously stupid paths
