MJ remixes not replicating major success of small artists

[ahmadnat]

For thriller 25, MJ teamed up with some of the biggest producers and singers, and yet didnt manage to get any half successful remix SINGLES.

One might just say people dont buy them because theyre remixes, which is what I used to think.
But come to think of it there have several MAJOR sucesses in MJ related remixes as well as covers in the past few years (say say say, somebodys watching me, recently Beat it, smooth criminal-a bit older, but the alien ant version, etc) and compared with Kanye west, fergie, Michael Jackson, akon and will.i.am theyre not famous artists that made them at all.

So how is it these major forces cant replicate the success of these small-time artists, as far as Mj remixes and covers go?

 

[Marni]

WBSS has pretty good success in Australia- it was in the top 10 and top 20 for ages and is still in the top 50 of 3 different charts in Australia- all with little promotion / late physical releases and no videos.

 

[damien shields]

firstly, wbss 08 has been in top50 since release in aust and hasnt left. spent like 2 months in top 20. even spent some time in top 10. anyways...

there are reasons the remixes havent had major success in the major countries (usa & uk)

the releases were not organised. no planning or co-ordination went into the way it was done.

TGIM 08 was originally slated to be a GLOBAL single release in all formats - radio, itunes and CD. This went TOTALLY wrong.

Half countries started playing it, and then got told to abandon it because sony changed their minds and wanted WBSS 08 to be lead single. Too late in UK, so UK was stuck with having to have that as their single with crap promo for TGIM 08. Alot of UK radio even refused to play it due to fearing that Sony werent permitting it (DER - its your nation's single, PLAY IT!).. Sony must not have been on their game with pushing radio to play it in UK.

Canada loved TGIM 08, and it even came out on iTunes there, but for some reason it was scratched and the radio got told not to play it, and to wait a few weeks for WBSS 08. WBSS 08 ended up coming out and success was limited and short-lived.

In Australia TGIM 08 was supposed to be the single also but was fixed quickly enough and WBSS was out in time here to benefit from T25 release and airplay and major iTunes success (hence the above mentioned success) But in Australia Sony had screwed up haulting TGIM release. It was slated to be single number two. It was to have an iTunes, physical and radio release (like WBSS 08) But....they told radio to hold off on playing TGIM as the second single for a while as the success of WBSS08 was running longer than expected and they wanted to ride on its success.. however, Sony forgot to hold off on iTunes promo and Physical CD single release of TGIM 08. Those 2 things came out while radio was not allowed to play it, and was stuck still playing the first single (WBSS) ..therefore shooting its chances of success with TGIM in the foot.

The songs have major hit potential. They are great songs, not just remixes - But they need to be put out at the right time in the right places and i dont think that who ever is in charge of that stuff has any idea what theyre doing.

 

[Marni]

Well said damien. :yes:

 

[smooth_criminal05]

I agree with Damien. While Sony has done a great job at promotion (television ads, Thriller events, huge internet campaign, etc) their organization skills suck when it comes to releasing singles. Look what they did with Rihanna... Dont Stop The Music shoulda been the lead off single from that album but they had a whole mishap with that and in my opinion prevented it from going #1 as it was immensley popular all over the world.

Thriller 25 has some great remixes. Sony should have globally released Wanna Be Startin Somethin 08 in January to every music market around the world. That would have showed consistency and allowed it to chart better. Then sometime in March The Girl Is Mine 08 should have been slated as the second single globally with the same release date everywhere. A final third single should have been released sometime in May or June which in opinion should be Beat It with fergie. If Sony followed a regime somewhat similar to that then the success would have been greater. However the release was disorganized and chaotic to say the least. That worries me for MJ's new album if Sony is behind it because it would crush me to see MJ work on all these amazing songs then have Sony come along and screw it up with a poorly organized release format. It is definitely something they need to work on.

 

[Rasta Pasta]

I agree with Damien. While Sony has done a great job at promotion (television ads, Thriller events, huge internet campaign, etc) their organization skills suck when it comes to releasing singles. Look what they did with Rihanna... Dont Stop The Music shoulda been the lead off single from that album but they had a whole mishap with that and in my opinion prevented it from going #1 as it was immensley popular all over the world.

Thriller 25 has some great remixes. Sony should have globally released Wanna Be Startin Somethin 08 in January to every music market around the world. That would have showed consistency and allowed it to chart better. Then sometime in March The Girl Is Mine 08 should have been slated as the second single globally with the same release date everywhere. A final third single should have been released sometime in May or June which in opinion should be Beat It with fergie. If Sony followed a regime somewhat similar to that then the success would have been greater. However the release was disorganized and chaotic to say the least. That worries me for MJ's new album if Sony is behind it because it would crush me to see MJ work on all these amazing songs then have Sony come along and screw it up with a poorly organized release format. It is definitely something they need to work on.

Rihanna is on DefJam/Universal .. she is not on Sony

as for the singles.. I think they changed their marketing plan since
there was no MJ tribute at the grammys...with Akon & William..

I think it was all tied together.. and

I think it was a quick business decision..

 

[Moonwalker777]

Anyone know whats the next single off the album?

 

[Dangerous Incorporated]

firstly, wbss 08 has been in top50 since release in aust and hasnt left. spent like 2 months in top 20. even spent some time in top 10. anyways...

there are reasons the remixes havent had major success in the major countries (usa & uk)

the releases were not organised. no planning or co-ordination went into the way it was done.

TGIM 08 was originally slated to be a GLOBAL single release in all formats - radio, itunes and CD. This went TOTALLY wrong.

Half countries started playing it, and then got told to abandon it because sony changed their minds and wanted WBSS 08 to be lead single. Too late in UK, so UK was stuck with having to have that as their single with crap promo for TGIM 08. Alot of UK radio even refused to play it due to fearing that Sony werent permitting it (DER - its your nation's single, PLAY IT!).. Sony must not have been on their game with pushing radio to play it in UK.

Canada loved TGIM 08, and it even came out on iTunes there, but for some reason it was scratched and the radio got told not to play it, and to wait a few weeks for WBSS 08. WBSS 08 ended up coming out and success was limited and short-lived.

In Australia TGIM 08 was supposed to be the single also but was fixed quickly enough and WBSS was out in time here to benefit from T25 release and airplay and major iTunes success (hence the above mentioned success) But in Australia Sony had screwed up haulting TGIM release. It was slated to be single number two. It was to have an iTunes, physical and radio release (like WBSS 08) But....they told radio to hold off on playing TGIM as the second single for a while as the success of WBSS08 was running longer than expected and they wanted to ride on its success.. however, Sony forgot to hold off on iTunes promo and Physical CD single release of TGIM 08. Those 2 things came out while radio was not allowed to play it, and was stuck still playing the first single (WBSS) ..therefore shooting its chances of success with TGIM in the foot.

The songs have major hit potential. They are great songs, not just remixes - But they need to be put out at the right time in the right places and i dont think that who ever is in charge of that stuff has any idea what theyre doing.

Being as this should be considered a test run for MJs new album, it scares me that Sony just cant handle promoting Michael Jackson for some reason and there always seems to be problems with them. They messed up with Invincible big time. And T25 hasnt been as smooth as it should have been considering its a 25 year old album with a few singles being released and Sony cant even decided which single to push first? This better not happen for the new album for MJs sakes. I hope he will be enforcing his opinion as he has in the past, what singles should be released and when.

 

[ahmadnat]

Being as this should be considered a test run for MJs new album, it scares me that Sony just cant handle promoting Michael Jackson for some reason and there always seems to be problems with them. They messed up with Invincible big time. And T25 hasnt been as smooth as it should have been considering its a 25 year old album with a few singles being released and Sony cant even decided which single to push first? This better not happen for the new album for MJs sakes. I hope he will be enforcing his opinion as he has in the past, what singles should be released and when.

Sony has put way more effort than they should have been putting into a re-release. I mean, come on... the poor guys created virals, got people dancing in the street, they recreated the site (crap one but still...), created podcasts, did events, negotiated for him to be on grammys, got his music on BIG commericals, and several TV shows, released singles that are not worth being released, did commercials on TV etc... all that for a re-release


And MJ DID NOTHING... NOTHING, NOTHING, NOTHING.

 

[arXter]

another thing to remember is that remixes very rarely get any success - the ones you listed are mere flukes (got no promotion) and are all Dance-oriented (with proper professional remixers) as opposed to mainstream Hip-Hop/R&B. the other successes you mentioned are covers, not remixes.

will.i.am, Kanye and Akon are not known for their A-side remixes.

 

[Marni]

Sony have been messing with MJ's singles releases since the Dangerous album- none of it surprises me one bit, in all honesty.

Arxter, very good point. These singles have been very successful for remixes of 25 year old songs.

Ahmed, seriously, it was sony that wanted this re-release so it was their job to put in the effort, not Michael's. Name one other artist that personally promoted a re-release like this. I know I can't. And that's because it's the record company's job, not the artists. Michael did his promotion 1982- 1985. It's a re-release, not a new album, and it's done brilliantly sales wise.

 

[damien shields]

Sony have been messing with MJ's singles releases since the Dangerous album- none of it surprises me one bit, in all honesty.

Arxter, very good point. These singles have been very successful for remixes of 25 year old songs.

Ahmed, seriously, it was sony that wanted this re-release so it was their job to put in the effort, not Michael's. Name one other artist that personally promoted a re-release like this. I know I can't. And that's because it's the record company's job, not the artists. Michael did his promotion 1982- 1985. It's a re-release, not a new album, and it's done brilliantly sales wise.

EXACTLY MARNDIZZ!

 

[Dangerous Incorporated]

Sony has put way more effort than they should have been putting into a re-release. I mean, come on... the poor guys created virals, got people dancing in the street, they recreated the site (crap one but still...), created podcasts, did events, negotiated for him to be on grammys, got his music on BIG commericals, and several TV shows, released singles that are not worth being released, did commercials on TV etc... all that for a re-release


And MJ DID NOTHING... NOTHING, NOTHING, NOTHING.

But this is my point. For some reason Sony cant make a decision and stick with it ever which is hurts the sales of their own artists. MJ needs to intervien when it comes to the new album and make sure his decision is the executive decision otherwise pushing and pulling singles is confusing to the public and radio stations. You dont want stations not playing MJs tracks cuz they cant be bothered with Sony's BS. Im not saying T25 didnt get promoted well, but the changing of singles is ridiculous.

 

[damien shields]

But this is my point. For some reason Sony cant make a decision and stick with it ever which is hurts the sales of their own artists. MJ needs to intervien when it comes to the new album and make sure his decision is the executive decision otherwise pushing and pulling singles is confusing to the public and radio stations. You dont want stations not playing MJs tracks cuz they cant be bothered with Sony's BS. Im not saying T25 didnt get promoted well, but the changing of singles is ridiculous.

exactly. i was furious with all the radio stations for not playing MJ tracks from T25 so i emailed them all to complain and they ALL wrote back and guess what they did.... they blamed Sony/BMG!