What's the idea of release singles after albums?

[Mad_Cactuar]

Norah Jones didn't want a tie-in because she said she hates how commercials ruined her childhood TV time.

White Stripes said it was "selling-out".

I'm sure Coldplay also had their own reasons...

[truehappiness]

I think that tie-ins are more likely with the half-singers, half-actor crowd

Speaking of that, have there been any of those, but like.. guys?

I've only known Lindsay Lohan / Hilary Duff..

[LacusClyne]

Originally Posted by MC Tatsujin

At least Japanese CDs come with obi strips. Maybe that's the stuff making CDs in Japan super expensive.

of course not....

Originally Posted by MC Tatsujin

Yeah, cost of living probably? It's ridiculous though. Maybe Japanese people earn so much so they have to spend equally as much. It's only fair?

everything in japan is more expensive, the food, living, clothes, make-up, toys......not only cds. that's why people say you had to bring a lot of money to japan for your holiday.

[Yukitora]

You know, many singles is the US sell millions anyway... you don't even need to score a number 1.

Singles is the US can stay at number one or even top 10 for months, whilst in Japan =\
The first 3 singles (if popular at all) usually have very good longevity.

[immel]

Originally Posted by Yukitora

You know, many singles is the US sell millions anyway... you don't even need to score a number 1.

No, they don't, at least not by the numbers I've seen. Singles do very rarely pass 1 million in the US. Japanese single sales is way higher. The US only beats Japan on albums.

[truehappiness]

That is WHACKY.

Beyonce's 'Deja Vu' has sold... 2,059,000. o__o The SINGLE.

United World Chart
Week 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10
Position 29 25 23 12 11 11 10 9 8 8
Total 73,000 151,000 232,000 375,000 528,000 675,000 827,000 1,025,000 1,225,000 1,422,000
Week 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Position 9 10 11 14
Total 1,603,000 1,770,000 1,924,000 2,059,000

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deja_Vu...%C3%A9_song%29

[immel]

That's... by what I understand... one of the few.

Beyonce is kind of a phenomenon... I don't know.

In general the singles sales I've seen is way lower, though.

[truehappiness]

I'd imagine that the first single of an album will sell a lot since sometimes they come out pre-album..

But then after the album comes out, sales for singles plummet.

Sexyback is probably in the millions now too..

[Mad_Cactuar]

Nelly Furtado's Promiscuous has also reached a million. Plus Natasha Bedingfield's Unwritten. And James Blunt. But the US dont sell much singles, so they count legal single downloads.

[immel]

Oh, they've already started including the downloads in their charts? I thought that wasn't until later.

That explains a whole lot.

It's good that in Japan the two charts will be separate.

[truehappiness]

I do wonder how people will chart on the downloads.. :|~~

[Mad_Cactuar]

Oh, Billboard has used downloads for quite some time now. Even Gwen Stefani's Hollaback Girl charted at #1 solely on downloads.

[truehappiness]

I wonder if Milkshake hit a million..

Same goes for many of the Black Eyed Peas tracks [My Humps, Pump It..]

[Mad_Cactuar]

My Humps did reach a million.

Unfortunately, it's all downloads. Not physical sales.. Plus I don't think they download the whole single with the remixes and crap. They just download the full song. My Humps also had an achievement in the ringtone department.

However Hollaback Girl has a record for 1st song to reach 1 million downloads or something.

[lotusoka]

Uhm, remixes. Duh!

[Yukitora]

OH! It includes the downloads! That explains a lot

Originally Posted by immel

That's... by what I understand... one of the few.

Beyonce is kind of a phenomenon... I don't know.

In general the singles sales I've seen is way lower, though.

From what I read, Deja Vu was generally panned by fans... it only peaked at #5 (i think) on the billboards and didn't have a much longevity. There must be many songs which performed better than Deja Vu.

But then again, that includes downloads, so nevermind

[extepan]

Originally Posted by MC Tatsujin

However, I don't believe star power in the US isn't enough to promote products.

Missy Elliot waas the spokesperson for GAP jeans and the sales skyrocketted.

[Dustie]

In Japan, people seem to want to stay in the spotlight all the time, so that they do not lose popularity and can enjoy publicity that brings profits (not only to music sales, but also invitations to perform on tv, live - more publicity - and join promotional campagins - even more publicity and high salaries). To achieve that, releasing single by single is the best way. You can release a single per every three months, while you can't do that with an album. Having releases regularly throughout the year keeps you present in the media, which is pretty important for all idol-kind performers.

In the west it's seen differently. An album is t h e thing to buy, while singles are an addition, a collectors item. On the side, they do generate some profit which obviously is not spendable (as no profit is ever considered so), but their main function is to start up and lead album sales. In the west artist don't seem to long to be present in the media and recieve publicity throughout the whole year, they just have their 'seasons': one or two new singles, then an album, then one or more cut singles to keep the album sales going and then it's all let to fade away, then it starts again, usually not sooner than in a year time.

On the logical side, it's just the west is used to treating the album as the actual product - and it's reasonable, why buy few CDs with single tracks when you will get them all later plus few more on one CD?... Singles are more like a collectors or diehard fans item, not really attractive to people who just happen to like that one particular song.
In Japan, people seem to be used to treating singles as full value products. It seems to be changing recently, as people there probably discovered the vast possibilities of internet where you no longer need to buy the CD itself to have all the content just if you want to listen, so only true fans who want the plastic and paper buy the singles. Maybe facing the crisis in single sales, peformers in Japan will switch to the western system.

[immel]

When I clicked this thread and it loaded I made a face sort of like the one in your avatar, and blatantly thought "long post". Good thing it was very well written.

Originally Posted by Dustie

An album is t h e thing to buy

...was. Well, I understand what you mean, I just want to mourn for the declining CD sales a bit, before I download my next one.

Originally Posted by Dustie

On the logical side, it's just the west is used to treating the album as the actual product...

...In Japan, people seem to be used to treating singles as full value products.

Love these parts especially, that's the best way I've ever heard that put, and it's so true. That is the key difference between the two markets, in great words.

[truehappiness]

You download so much <3