If you read Metal By Numbers yesterday, then you already know how Marilyn Manson’s Born Villain did on the charts in its first week. But in short, Manson’s new record fell roughly 10,000 copies short of what 2009’s The High End Of Low sold in its opening week. And in a series of massive tweets, Lamb Of God singer Randy Blythe thinks this to be a bad sign for the industry.
Blythe took to his Twitter account yesterday (May 9) to vent about Manson’s album sales, saying in a series of posts:
“So Marilyn Manson’s new record debuted at #10 w/just over 38k sold, including iTunes. He released it independently on his own record. This is a guy with 3 platinum records, 3 gold, 5 top 10 debuts including two NUMBER ONE RECORDS in the US. He also has a HUGE CULT FOLLOWING. A #10 record? 38,000 sold first week for arguably one of the biggest “underground” type acts? IT’S FUCKING PATHETIC. The industry is DYING.
All the people who argue about not feeding the record labels, the corporate machine, etc, about how artists should just release their albums THEMSELVES and THE FANS, THE REAL UNDERGROUND FANS will back them to support the artists? There is your fucking answer. I don’t listen to MM but dude has cred for making his own artistic choices. He hasn’t released a record in 3 years & his fans, his HUGE ASS FAN BASE, could only chart 38k records? That’s fucked up- MM is a MUCH LARGER BAND than LOG, & we outsold him by over 10k 1st week.
Not because we have gotten bigger, but because we had a label, a promotional machine behind us. So so much for the ‘release it yourself & we will support the artist’ ‘and not the greedy corporate label pigs’ theory. Amazing. MM is rich as fuck, & this won’t put him in the poorhouse by any means, but if a huge-ass rockstar like him can only sell 38k records 1st week, RELEASING IT HIMSELF, then how are the bands putting out their FIRST record when nobody knows who they are supposed to survive? Don’t cry for me, Argentina- I can tour til the cows come home & pay my bills. But I feel sorry for the young bands. Good luck guys & gals- yer gonna need it. ‘Support the artists no the labels…’ GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE.”
Later in the day, Blythe followed up his comments with another massive series of tweets, saying:
“Anyway, the whole point of that was not to draw comparisons to my band’s & MM’s quality of music (thanks for the compliments y’all, haha), differences in styles, who is more popular, etc.- I’m just saying that when a “underground” music star THAT BIG sells THAT LITTLE amount, it shows me that things will only get harder for younger bands as the labels sink further and further into disrepair.
There’s solid underground labels with ethical owners (I am friends with some of them) who do this thing for the love of MUSIC, TO GET IT OUT THERE, AND TO HELP YOUNG BANDS- but if truly (comparatively) no one is buying records, even from the independents, then eventually no one will be there to help the younger bands get where they need to be.
I have a good life. I’m smart with my $, & I don’t ‘live large’ (ie STUPIDLY)- don’t need to, & I don’t want to. I have a solid career as long as I want it. So I ain’t worried about ME- I’ll be FINE- but I do worry for those young bands. Because I LOVE the younger bands that KICK MY ASS and make me feel OLD & feel like I BETTER step my game up OR ELSE. I just want those bands to have a goddamned chance at making it, same chance I had. Someone has got to sing the new songs, & somehow those songs NEED TO BE HEARD.”
Blythe went further by interacting with fellow Twitter users about the industry and DIY model’s flaws. He even went on to tweet the following:
“@RobCaggiano @MattyMosesWalsh If all physical packaging disappears, then I don’t care if ANYONE says I’m just an old fart, I say it’s WORSE.
@RobCaggiano @MattyMosesWalsh Albums for me are still THE WHOLE PACKAGE- whether it be cd, cassette, or cd. I LOVE GOOD PACKAGING.”
On the one hand, one could argue that Born Villain is proof that album sales for every artist are down considerably compared to two years ago (an argument Blythe himself made shortly after the release of Resolution). At the same time, it’s hard to argue with Blythe that it’s a scary time for up and coming bands hoping to break big.
[via The PRP]
