Kingdome Come Sales Numers Week 2

More from Bob Lefsetz on Jay-Z/Soundcan and the record industry: A fucking DISASTER! According to hitsdailydouble, Jay-Z sold 133,146 records last week, a whopping drop of 81%. In other words, ALL BETS ARE OFF! Turns out the old paradigm of tie in with everybody, get on every TV show, there's no such thing as overexposure, is trumped by the TRULY old paradigm, as in YOU NEED A HIT! And Jay-Z just didn't deliver one. Then again, playing the first week sales game has gotten us here. Where it's not about long term, not about building, not about careers, just about IMPACT! Shit, in a business of constant train-wrecks, where Britney Spears uncovers her pudenda for all to see, is it no wonder that NOBODY TAKES THE MUSIC BUSINESS SERIOUSLY ANYMORE? We've devolved to the fifties, the early sixties at best. Where music was just fodder. To be consumed today and forgotten tomorrow. Shit, Jay-Z appears no different from Perry Como, a crooner sold out to the man overexposed on television. Don't say it's sui generis, don't say you can't expand from Jay-Z. Eminem's new album? A complete stiff. You know it is. The guy lost all his cred. From a peak of "8 Mile" to you wouldn't even stop to gape if you saw him at the mall. But worse is Gwen Stefani. Oh, her record won't completely stiff, but WHO THE FUCK IS SHE? Gwen as diva is like Little Leaguer as Major Leaguer. Gwen's appeal was girl-next-door, at best dressing up for fun. Now we're supposed to BELIEVE THIS SHIT?? Like she went from behind the Orange Curtain to London and suddenly became GLAMOROUS? Shit, the photos alone are enough to make you puke. Who IS running this music business? Desperate men so out of touch with the public that they don't know what people want? Sure, you can drive a hit up the chart, but you've got no career, no long term sales, it doesn't mean much, especially since it cost you so much to get there. Let Clive Davis execute on this paradigm. He does it best. As for the rest of you, if you're not developing acts with cred, that people can BELIEVE IN, you're just driving head-on into the junk pile.