Allows them to stay on a major with poor sales? They did under 13k first week. They've been on Warner forever. Do they even need Warner now? I know Warner doesn't need them. They still my niccas though.

http://www.hitsdailydouble.com/sales/salescht.cgi

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Their catalog-sales are pretty decent as well since they are a cult-band; the label probably think it will continue to sell and generate a small stream of income for the label.

Also, acts like Flaming Lips have built-in audiences that don't really need the same amount of money, time and staff spent on promotion as a new pop act will need in order to break so that's another thing.

Actually, that's why bands like Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, Meat Puppets etc. were signed to majors *before* Nirvana broke through-they weren't expected to sell a lot of records (shit, even Nirvana were signed on the expectation that they would sell like 50000) but rather, their signings were based on a "many small streams..."-attitude; the cost on production, videos, promotion etc. was small (a bit higher than in their indie-eras but not too much) and the labels knew that they had guaranteed sales in the 50000 range based on their built-in fanbases who had previously managed to find those acts indie-records with a, by major-label standards, minimal promotional push. The majors obviously spent more but not much, at least not compared with the "mainstream" acts. Basically, the bands were allowed to continue to be "alternative" and "college-rock"...

*After* Nirvana of course, everything turned to shit with too much money spent with the hopes of finding and pushing "the next big thing" and labels even started to sign bands that weren't even big by indie-standards (Steel pole bath tub anyone?) which resulted in cut-out bins filled to the brim with "alternative" records and lots of fired A&R men...

Anyway, Flaming Lips were one of relatively few bands that survived all this...

>Their catalog-sales are pretty decent as well since they are
>a cult-band; the label probably think it will continue to sell
>and generate a small stream of income for the label.
>

You're right. I didn't think about that. I'm sure The Soft Bulletin
and Yoshimi are still solid catalog sellers.

>Also, acts like Flaming Lips have built-in audiences that
>don't really need the same amount of money, time and staff
>spent on promotion as a new pop act will need in order to
>break so that's another thing.
>
>Actually, that's why bands like Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr, Meat
>Puppets etc. were signed to majors *before* Nirvana broke
>through-they weren't expected to sell a lot of records (shit,
>even Nirvana were signed on the expectation that they would
>sell like 50000) but rather, their signings were based on a
>"many small streams..."-attitude; the cost on production,
>videos, promotion etc. was small (a bit higher than in their
>indie-eras but not too much) and the labels knew that they had
>guaranteed sales in the 50000 range based on their built-in
>fanbases who had previously managed to find those acts
>indie-records with a, by major-label standards, minimal
>promotional push. The majors obviously spent more but not
>much, at least not compared with the "mainstream" acts.
>Basically, the bands were allowed to continue to be
>"alternative" and "college-rock"...
>
>*After* Nirvana of course, everything turned to shit with too
>much money spent with the hopes of finding and pushing "the
>next big thing" and labels even started to sign bands that
>weren't even big by indie-standards (Steel pole bath tub
>anyone?) which resulted in cut-out bins filled to the brim
>with "alternative" records and lots of fired A&R men...
>
>Anyway, Flaming Lips were one of relatively few bands that
>survived all this...

All of this was very informative. Thanks for the feedback and glad
The Lips are still going.

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Geto Boys, Poison Clan, UGK, Eightball & MJG, OutKast, Goodie Mob

13k sales is like , what, a maximum of $100,000 to the record company?

You think the studio time, the fake blood, and the research done on packaging material can be paid for with that??

For fuck's sake, the 3" bonus CD is going to cost 3% of total sales.

Maybe they signed a huge deal after The Soft Bulletin - or after She Don;'t Use Jelly or something.

...I didn't say it was good but it's not awful in todays climate. and in the UK-where the band has been quite successful in the past decade apparently selling gold (of course, UK gold<<<US gold in numbers but still) with three of their albums (source:wiki)-the album reached the top 50; you can not ignore the world even if I know americans have a tendency to do that.

Critical respect + catalog + considerable following

www.twitter.com/seandammit

They're doing Journey numbers compared to these fools.

and that TV audience ain't bought the past three albums. they haven't hit 200k since Game Theory.

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with no single or promotion.

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>

They performed songs from the album on the show leading up to the release. Free promotion fam

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However, it only edged "Embryonic" and had a lower chart position (which is just a crap shoot, I realize - it depends what else is out at the time, and how the industry's doing that week).

Also, they did have a single. It was "Make My."

It's weird to me to compare the performance of a two year old album to the Lips' new one. Was their label supposed to drop them yesterday or something? "Embryonic" is a more meaningful measurement to me. "The Terror" is their second "difficult" album in a row, following several years of goofing off and less-than-quality musical publicity stunts; doesn't really surprise me that people were uncertain about this, and they lost a lot of first-week sales from former fans. Maybe the label WILL punt them after this, who knows.

--

Neil Young has been on roster for years and he hasn't sold records in years. Same with Flaming Lips...only band I can really think of them letting go of prematurely was Wilco. When it comes to Rock at least they still do the old school artist development and keep artists around who are critically acclaimed.

>

by hardcore touring for YEARS? I could only think of two, and one of them owns the site.

Actually I can think of one more, a possible future candidate, Janelle Monae, and lord knows the only reason they keep her around is because it's not hard to see her on that Roots/Flaming Lips path (critical acclaim, 365 days a year touring, tastemaker sense of style, high long term career viability, corporate shilling).

>by hardcore touring for YEARS? I could only think of two,
>and one of them owns the site.
>
>Actually I can think of one more, a possible future candidate,
>Janelle Monae, and lord knows the only reason they keep her
>around is because it's not hard to see her on that
>Roots/Flaming Lips path (critical acclaim, 365 days a year
>touring, tastemaker sense of style, high long term career
>viability, corporate shilling).
>
>

Eric Benet
Brian Mcknight
Blu
Jay Rock
J Davey
Jean Grae
Murs
Wiz Khalifa

They dropped the ball big time on all of these artists and either cut bait with them while they were still doing enough numbers to warrant them staying on roster or dropped them before they ever released an album. Like I said WBR has a great track record when it comes to White Rock records but when it comes to Black music they have always been pretty clueless.

>Eric Benet
>Brian Mcknight
>Blu
>Jay Rock
>J Davey
>Jean Grae
>Murs
>Wiz Khalifa

My point was, and it's my fault for not explaining it, that those white artists are relentless when it comes to touring/keeping contact with the fanbase/working on their brand...pretty much a band like the Flaming Lips are self contained, so are the Roots.

Outside of Murs and Jean Grae the above artists aren't really that self contained...so while they may have critical acclaim it's pretty much all on the record company to keep their names out there, have critics care about their new records, etc...basically they have to actually do their jobs, lol.

With a critically acclaimed artist with a built in fanbase...all you gotta do is release it and reap the rewards. Obviously it won't translate strictly to sales, but don't underestimate the cultural worth of being 'cool'.

WBR has the absolute worst track record when it comes to Black Music besides maybe Capitol. They are completely clueless and their repeated attempts at it have been pretty embarrassing.

For me they've produced a great record (SB) and two okay records (YBPR and AWWM) and the rest is too experimental for me to care about.


SOMEONE loves them at Warner Brothers.

In no way are they in the "prestige" league of artist like Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan , Barbara Streisand /etc.

Truth be told, they sold out red rocks last year in a heartbeat. I'm guessing their stage presence garners them the green light. FYI - google redrocks flaming lips. They played the entire soundtrack to Dark side of them moon AND wizard of Oz. banananananers
werd.

Even if it's just sending Wayne out on tour with a bunch of other bands under his wing that you're trying to tour/get the word out, it's worth it.

You guys talk like it's late 90's and selling less then platinum a week is still a factor.

There's ALWAYS ways to monetize cred, particularly with a band that has no problem licensing their music and can easily because the creatives that make those song choices have a good chance of being fans.

I think they fucking suck but it's pretty easy to see their worth their weight in gold particularly in the current musical climate.

Of course it just took 32000 in sales to achieve that (or did at the time - could be even less now).

They also get good internet buzz - constant and lots of it. Wayne's started working the weird elder statesman thing and appearing in commercials and so forth. They're basically a band that will stay on a label based on all the stuff other than album sales that they do. Until/unless they're selling absolutely nothing.

--

>Of course it just took 32000 in sales to achieve that (or did
>at the time - could be even less now).
>
>They also get good internet buzz - constant and lots of it.
>Wayne's started working the weird elder statesman thing and
>appearing in commercials and so forth. They're basically a
>band that will stay on a label based on all the stuff other
>than album sales that they do. Until/unless they're selling
>absolutely nothing.

this album got them the #30 spot. they still my niccas though

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I actually did an interview with them years ago and asked them that question. Basically it boils down to the fact that Warner Bros. know that they'll sell a certain amount of records and if they go beyond that, great. So they do have a bit of the legacy tag. And they are for the most part self contained so it's not like the label has to throw a lot of money at them. Also they are consistantly a big touring act so they generate enough money so that they can go on flights of fancy.

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