perryfan61 wrote:I have read that he wants a single album contract, with no touring to promote it. If this is true, then he seems to be having a hard time finding a label willing to take him up on it.
Though i can't understand why Deen can get his new album, with Revolution Saints, put out in less than a year..... with no plans for a tour yet....and SP can't get someone to sign him up. Must be something else going on. BTW, if you haven't heard Deen's new album, you really should....his voice is amazing.
Deen is signed with a basically European-only label with no promotional marketing (or even major distribution) in the US. Try and find Revolution Saints in your local Walmart or Best Buy. It doesn't exist. If you want that cd, you have to mail order it, and that goes for anyone signed with Frontiers unless they have a separate US distribution deal with another label. If Perry wants to sell 10k copies of the record predominantly overseas to an area that Journey never really targeted, it's a great place to be. I suspect he has his sights set on something higher than that. In other words, you aren't getting rich signing on Frontiers--their market is too small.
At the same time, no major label is going to take a chance on releasing an album by a hermit who has been underground for 20+ years (and basically another 10 years before that) without Perry doing the promotional routine and some agreed upon performances. Perry as a solo artist is known among the diehard Journey fans, but he's not a "name" these days. He's been out of the spotlight too long, and was never a huge draw on his own anyways. He had the chance, but that would have required releasing more solo albums through the late 80s and not going into a self-imposed exile.
Perry and Journey together would be a different story since there is name recognition there, but solo, you would have to do a promotional budget to reintroduce Perry to the general audience. If the songs are strong enough, yes it can be done. He has the voice if he has the material, but that marketing to reintroduce Perry doesn't come cheap. The other problem lurking in the background is that the "failure" of Trial By Fire hasn't been forgotten. That album sold less than half of what it would have if Journey had toured and done the promo circuit, and guess who's directly responsible for that decision. Plain and simple, Columbia (or was it Sony?) got burned on that one. If Perry wants the big label deal, he's going to have to jump through their hoops. Otherwise, just release it on Itunes and let it sink or swim.