"Listen Up!" - Debut Week Sales (Total)

[Miguel]

I've started to wonder if some of the above stated negatives could be directly related to Kraig Fox's ouster as COO at CKx? He was, I believe, according to tHR, heavily active in promoting Haley before they changed up and sacked him. The new president that came in January, may have influenced the slowdown in Haley's promotion and that could have all tied in with Fox.

The New York Times has an article about Fiona Apple today. It begins by relating...

About a year and a half ago, after she had completed the album she’ll release on June 19 — a collection of stripped-down, percussive songs that’s as passionate, smart and cutting as anything she’s done — Ms. Apple got so angry that she started walking up and down a hill near her home in Venice, Calif.

The album was in music-business limbo. Ms. Apple was delaying it until her label, Epic Records, found a new president. She had not made a new album since 2005 and didn’t want her work to be mishandled amid corporate disarray.

The mistake from a sales/marketing perspective was the long wait...The added months of darkness pushed Haley completely out of the public's consciousness, and her sales probably plummeted by 50% as a result.

If she rolled something out back in November she would have been lumped in with all the other Idols. Coming out with an album on her own timetable makes her seem more like an artist. It could be that letting people discover her on their own is part of the plan.

This is another excerpt from the Fiona Apple article:

Before she appeared at South by Southwest her manager, Andy Slater, said he told Epic Records: “ ‘I want you to do nothing.’ I said: ‘Don’t make any posters. Don’t make any cards. Don’t put out a single. Just don’t say anything. Let her play the show. It’s been a few years. Let kids go to the show, film the thing, put it on their blogs, and you don’t need to do anything.’ ” Almost immediately after her set amateur video clips were on YouTube.

Have you noticed many videos featuring Haley's songs are popping up on YouTube? And no "take down" notices. Hmm...


The Fiona Apple article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/03/arts/m...wheel.html

[Flask Man]

If she rolled something out back in November she would have been lumped in with all the other Idols.

Please re-read my comment, Miguel. I said November was BICO, which was a great jump start to her visibility and a perfect lead-in for a Jan single/March album. Failing to strike when the iron was hot had a very costly affect on her sales. That's not strategy, it's relegating her to lower priority. As it is, she got lumped in with Adam and Kris, and was forced to share 19's resources with him.

Is Pia a "strategy", too?

I understand your positive thoughts, and giving the label the benefit of the doubt is admirable, but I'm not seeing it that way.

[My Alter Ego]

If she rolled something out back in November she would have been lumped in with all the other Idols.

Please re-read my comment, Miguel. I said November was BICO, which was a great jump start to her visibility and a perfect lead-in for a Jan single/March album. Failing to strike when the iron was hot had a very costly affect on her sales. That's not strategy, it's relegating her to lower priority. As it is, she got lumped in with Adam and Kris, and was forced to share 19's resources with him.

Is Pia a "strategy", too?

I understand your positive thoughts, and giving the label the benefit of the doubt is admirable, but I'm not seeing it that way.

Whoa, oh, wait a minute, Mr. Flaskman; wa-ait just a minute, Mr. Flaskman.

(Sorry about that, but given that you stuck "Everyday People" in my head again a couple of weeks ago, you truly did deserve it.)

You seem to have forgotten the number of tunes on Haley's CD that have a "summer sound." Given that, would it have been an intelligent choice to release this CD much earlier?

Some how, I'm thinkin' not.

[Flask Man]

LOL!! Absolutely. She could have easily lined up a summer tour, too!

[Miguel]

...a perfect lead-in for a Jan single/March album. Failing to strike when the iron was hot...

In November, Haley said if the album did well she would get to tour to support it.

In an article about the music industry not being busy around the holiday season, the head of an independent label said, “Our larger releases usually come out during the summer and fall during the festival touring season.”

The touring season explains the timing behind Haley's releases. They launched the single in March with the hope it would get noticed and prime the pump for the album in May. If everything went as planned, Haley would begin touring in the Summer (strike when the iron is hot and the kids are out of school).

"Free" has not done as well as they hoped.

Thus Haley has begun talking about the possibility of a Fall tour.

That means they're about to line up another single and try again.

Most likely "Oh My" since someone noticed it was on the media adds list. This could be a tricky proposition as she can't drag B.o.B. to promo gigs with her.

Haley's near-term future is dependent upon it though.

^^ They need a network TV appearance with B.o.B, maybe SNL...Definitely SNL, so she can sing two songs.

Edit, one problem with my plan:

The (most recent SNL) season officially began on September 24, 2011 with host Alec Baldwin, who returned to host for a record sixteenth time and with musical guest Radiohead and ended on May 19, 2012 with host and musical guest Mick Jagger.

[gillyking]

If she rolled something out back in November she would have been lumped in with all the other Idols.

Please re-read my comment, Miguel. I said November was BICO, which was a great jump start to her visibility and a perfect lead-in for a Jan single/March album. Failing to strike when the iron was hot had a very costly affect on her sales. That's not strategy, it's relegating her to lower priority. As it is, she got lumped in with Adam and Kris, and was forced to share 19's resources with him.

Is Pia a "strategy", too?

I understand your positive thoughts, and giving the label the benefit of the doubt is admirable, but I'm not seeing it that way.

Whoa, oh, wait a minute, Mr. Flaskman; wa-ait just a minute, Mr. Flaskman.

(Sorry about that, but given that you stuck "Everyday People" in my head again a couple of weeks ago, you truly did deserve it.)

You seem to have forgotten the number of tunes on Haley's CD that have a "summer sound." Given that, would it have been an intelligent choice to release this CD much earlier?

Some how, I'm thinkin' not.

There's nothing necessarily 'summer sound' about Soul On Fire, Spiderweb, Undone or Oh My! I agree that promotion was incredibly delayed and I'm already jonesing for another video or heavily promoted single.... Of course that could also be that I just can't get enough of our Hales!

[Miguel]

"Oh My" is a summer song in that it's about hooking up. So is Spiderweb in a way. I think this observation from an Amazon review holds a clue as to why many people comment that Listen Up! is a good album for the summer:

Ms. Reinhart sounds so very happy that I always end up smiling all the way through. It may be a turn-off for some listeners to hear her sing sad songs while smiling, but to me it's infectious.

Good vibrations...

[Flask Man]

Idol releases are much more time sensitive than standard artists. The built in base is huge but fickle, and I simply do not agree with any spin suggesting it was in her best interests to have her single and album delayed until Late March/Late May.

In addition, the choice summer tour opportunities are worked out in the spring. She would have had bigger sales numbers to negotiate with bigger acts if she released her album in March. Plus, she'd have been available to tour in May, which is when the big tours begin.

Her being pushed back actually jeopardized, not helped, her chances of scoring a big summer tour... of which she now has none. Management screwed her, period. At least that's my most humble of opinions.

[Flask Man]

BTW, on the good news front, Listen Up! creeped up 15 spots today to #71 on iTunes. Yesterday she plummeted all the way to #86, and all signs pointed to her sliding to the bottom of the Top 200 by tomorrow, but instead she had a nice little rally.

[midnightblues]

BTW, on the good news front, Listen Up! creeped up 15 spots today to #71 on iTunes. Yesterday she plummeted all the way to #86, and all signs pointed to her sliding to the bottom of the Top 200 by tomorrow, but instead she had a nice little rally.

That is good to here.Way to go Hales .She is never out of the race.