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What sells 20 million plus albums instead of 5 to 10 million

Datsymay said:
That is the absolute truth. What some fans seem to forget is that MJ has done it all. Every popstar out there want to be where MJ is. He has nothing to prove anymore. Furthermore, he is really where the real money is. he is the boss now. Ask Akon, Emenem and all the bigtime postars out today, who is really making the money in music and they will say it is MJ.
Music catalogue is where the real money is, not making records or record sales. Mj making music is like a little hobby for him now. He is taking his time over it too. Fans need to have patience and stop worrying about MJ's success., He has already made it. Read MJ's thank you to john Branco in the Ultimate collection. He has already done all there is to do in music. More than any other popstar in music history. just because the press denies it, doesn't make it less true.:yes:
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I love Mj for the music he used to make, not because of all the mony he makes....that is a stupid thing to say.
There are plenty of big artists thats makes much more powerful performances than Mj has done in his last tours. History was boring.Maybe all the money and business is making him lazy?

Im not a fan of a business man, im a fan of people that can make powerful and music with and intelligence.

And let´s pray for mj to do that. He has much to prove! "hold my hand" is a really awful song (yes he sings nice, and it+s nice to hear his voice) but nobody in here wold like that song if akon was singing it all alone.


So michael...com one!
 
Michaelsson, we're gonna hold you to it... if Mike hits that 15 mill mark you gotta shave your head..


4 REAL!


! u down or wut?
 
speedway said:
I love Mj for the music he used to make, not because of all the mony he makes....that is a stupid thing to say.
There are plenty of big artists thats makes much more powerful performances than Mj has done in his last tours. History was boring.Maybe all the money and business is making him lazy?

Im not a fan of a business man, im a fan of people that can make powerful and music with and intelligence.

And let´s pray for mj to do that. He has much to prove! "hold my hand" is a really awful song (yes he sings nice, and it+s nice to hear his voice) but nobody in here wold like that song if akon was singing it all alone.


So michael...com one!
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I love MJ for the artist that he IS. I thank him for the memories that he has provided.

Having said that, I totally disagree with your premise that MJ 'USED' to be great or that he has gotten lazy. HIStory was NOT boring, at least not to me.

Furthermore, MJ has NOTHING left to prove. Not to me and not to you. MJ has been where many still yet wishes to go. He's been there and done that.

He's had his peak and if peeps persist on setting bars that he can't jump over, then you will surely be disappointed.

Oh and lastly, you are WRONG about your presumption on HMH. I liked the version that was leaked with only Akon's vocals on it.
 
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I think it's quite logical that artists don't sell 20 million records anymore. Those were times where they didn't had internet, if they wanted to hear the song they had to listen to the radio or watch mtv whole day long in the hope the song they wanted to hear would be played. People were almost forced to buy an album if they wanted to listen to their fave artists.
We have internet now, most of the people download their music for free or watch it for free via youtube. Many people don't buy cd's nowadays anymore, so it's kind of hard to say how much albums or singles an artist REALLY sells. Of course there's payed downloading, but a lot of people prefer the free downloads, because they simply cant or dont want to spend money on the songs or albums if they can get it for free.

An example of this is myself, I'm just going to be honest about this, I buy Michael CD's because I know I'm going to like it and I know I never get tired of his songs. I like Uffies music, but I won´t be buying her album because I probably get tired of it after a while, so I´ll just listen to her music for free on youtube or anything like that.
If I would be living in the 80s or 90s, I would be forced to buy the albums of the artists that I like, because it´s the album or watching MTV whole day long.
 
well lemme reprhase that lol if mikes new album sales over 20 mill within 4yrs or less ill do it
 
Flat-out, it's not about album sales anymore. It's about quality music and legacy. Plus, most of the artists selling 5 million copies today won't sell in the future. These people rushing out to buy the latest Young-this and Lil-that... they make all their album sales in the first few weeks/months of release. Whereas the living legends we all know will sell their albums for years and years to come. Look at how many of us weren't even born when people like the Bee-Gees, The Jacksons, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, etc. were alive or were making album in their peak, yet we go out and buy their albums.

Long-term album sales/legacy > album sales here and now.
 
^ I totally agree. It's all about longevity and quality. I get the feeling people don't even realize that what they buy these days are not really worth the money in the long run. They think what they hear now will always be, but that's not the case. Noone knows what real music is anymore. But we all know MJ will remind the ones that don't know any better how it's really done!!

Christian
 
michaelsson.. I gotta wait 4 years to get u to shave ur head?? and u up it 5 mill??

lol! aight.. Man I aint even gonna remember this by then.
 
P.S. video games do not sell more units than music.. NOT AT ALL..

the BEST SELLING game of all time is just over 40 million.. (Mario)

A LARGE selling game today is 6 million.. The top selling game on xbox360 is 8 million.

The average game today sells 2 million.. Now if your talking about MONEY made from it.. Yes way more.. now that games are $60.00 per game..



If Mike wants to make a big sale amount, he'll have to add more than music to the album.. He'll have to have something that cannot be found anywhere else BUT.



Movies though.. HELL ya they sell much more than music today.
 
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I don't think that we should all underrestimate Mike when it comes to album sales. I remember when just before Thriller 25 some fans were saying that it will only sell a few thousand copies but it ended up selling three million copies world wide

I'm not saying that MJ is gonna reach the 15-20 million mark but we shouldn't underrestimate him
 
People thought Mike was aiming WAY too high when he said THRILLER would become the largest selling album.. What did he do??

We don't know what he has up his sleave.. Much more goes into selling an album than the MUSIC alone..

Mike and his brillient PR, promotion, and sales tactics can make it up there..

Never under estimate.
 
album sales have declined, but really pay attention to the percentage and numbers..


Back in the mid 90's a big album would sell 20 million..
Now in the mid 00's a big album sells 10 million

Back in the mid 90's a decently large album would sell 15 million
Now in the mid 00's a decently large album would sell 7.5 million

Back in the mid 90's a 'mainstream' accepted album would sell an average 10 million
Now in the mid 00's a 'mainstream' accepted album would sell an average 3.5 million


Basically it cut in half.. Well Dangerous sold 30 million.. so cut that in half.. I see that he can hit a 15 million mark.. To me that is very possible.. 20 million is TOUGH but not out of the question.. It's still only 2/3 of dangerous sales..
 
15 is very possible. if vince sells 10 just mainly off the fanbase well do the maths lol. at the end of the day regardless of what mj has been through hes the only artist that can sell big numbers because of how far and wide is music spreads. his sales have always shown that. no one comes close
 
^ Yup..

And, people need to keep a couple things in mind:

* Michael has a larger market than any other of todays artists.. He sells well in places that have a very small download percentage.. YES many places around the world STILL buy CD's..

* Many people that will buy Michaels albums are people that were fans through the 70's,80's,90's, 00's.. People that were in there mid 20's while OTW was out is now in there mid 50's. Most downloaders are from the ages 12-28.

* partially the music has not sold aswell due to the music quality, and it's failure to attract people from all walks of life, and ages.


Now lets just say each one of these had a small percentage effect in sales.. when you put them together it makes a reasonable difference..
 
MJ can absolutely sell more than 10 million albums. I can see him doing 15+, but it's going to take promotion to do it. He could probably do close to 10 million without any promotion, but with appearnces, a concert on TV and a few short films, he'll be put over the top.
 
I would not be surprised if Michael offers some unheard of quirks with his new CD and changes the way music is marketed. I really wouldn't. Michael is an innovator. And if he can do it back in 83, he can do it today.

I know the climate and industry has changed, but you can't underestimate someone like Michael. Dude is a visionary.
 
KOPV said:
^ Yup..

And, people need to keep a couple things in mind:

* Michael has a larger market than any other of todays artists.. He sells well in places that have a very small download percentage.. YES many places around the world STILL buy CD's..

* Many people that will buy Michaels albums are people that were fans through the 70's,80's,90's, 00's.. People that were in there mid 20's while OTW was out is now in there mid 50's. Most downloaders are from the ages 12-28.

* partially the music has not sold aswell due to the music quality, and it's failure to attract people from all walks of life, and ages.


Now lets just say each one of these had a small percentage effect in sales.. when you put them together it makes a reasonable difference..
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Good points, except for the bolded part.... cuz uh... I ain't downloadin' entire MJ albums fo' sh*t :lol: He is too special!

Going to the store to buy it, BELIVEVE IT! :dance:
 
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Still some people buy street CDs, which would cut into sales of real albums. Perhaps he can do like the Eagles, put out the album himself and not with a record company and sell it for a lower price. Since there's no middleman, there's a bigger profit margin. Or put a few copies in newspapers, give it away at shows, or lease it to a record company like Prince and let it sale by word of mouth. With these methods, the artist automatically owns the master tapes.
 
well wasn't music NOT selling well or poor like nowadays back before thriller came out. Even with NO INTERNET ppl still wasn't buying! So is the NET all to blame. No. The quality has went down big time and saturation. Everybody and their grandmama cuttin an album. Its just TOO MUCH. Then the albums will have like 2 good songs on there. But this brings us back to pre-thriller.

I honestly think that the Cd and mp's need to be move away from in order to get ppl back into buying. If someone can come up with another way for music to be distributed without being so easily copied then that would be a big help to sells.

This could be a cycle like how nobody was buying much pre-thriller and then afterwards sells shot up. Now we're back to the lowest of lowes with sells and in a few more year of low sells. Maybe sells will eventually go back up. But with cds and mp's music isn't gonna sell like it used to. Every few years the way music is distributed changes anyway so we will see whats next. I don't know if he can sell that much. I prefer to just wait and see. I would never underestimate him though.
 
KOPV said:
album sales have declined, but really pay attention to the percentage and numbers..


Back in the mid 90's a big album would sell 20 million..
Now in the mid 00's a big album sells 10 million

Back in the mid 90's a decently large album would sell 15 million
Now in the mid 00's a decently large album would sell 7.5 million

Back in the mid 90's a 'mainstream' accepted album would sell an average 10 million
Now in the mid 00's a 'mainstream' accepted album would sell an average 3.5 million


Basically it cut in half.. Well Dangerous sold 30 million.. so cut that in half.. I see that he can hit a 15 million mark.. To me that is very possible.. 20 million is TOUGH but not out of the question.. It's still only 2/3 of dangerous sales..
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Sorry KOPV, but you are dreaming if you think that the new album will sell anywhere near 15 million. You’re expecting the new album to sell way better than any other recent albums and Mike simply isn’t the biggest act in the world at this time. As a whole I do agree with the figures you listed though, I just think you’ve over estimated the appeal of a new album.
Thriller 25 has sold a little over 2 million in the few months since it was released, even without any successful singles released. I think it may reach 2.5 million by the end of the year, possibly more if there is a real good marketing drive around Halloween. (I don’t know why some people say it has already sold 3 million).

I think that IF Mike participates in a proper promotional campaign for the new album ( multiple TV appearances, TV/radio/newspaper/magazine interviews, performances, concerts etc) and IF the album has strong singles material on it, then I can see that it may sell somewhere around 5 – 6 million worldwide. But after the poor quality of the T25 remixes, the poor quality (IMO) of One More Chance, We’ve Had Enough and the mediocre Hold My Hand, not to mention the bad song choices on Vince, I’m not convinced he will rise to the challenge. Also, his past record at promotion is also terrible with very little going on compared to other successful artists, so I wouldn’t count on anything too different this time around. We might get a couple of music videos, one TV interview, one awards performance (or just appearance) and a couple of concerts but that will be about it I’m afraid. I just don’t think he’s got the hunger to do it any more.

If it plays out the way I think it will then I am anticipating sales of around 2 to 3 million.
If I’m wrong I’ll be more than happy and I’ll be man enough to admit it.
Come on Mike, prove me wrong.
 
bobmoo79 said:
Sorry KOPV, but you are dreaming if you think that the new album will sell anywhere near 15 million. You’re expecting the new album to sell way better than any other recent albums and Mike simply isn’t the biggest act in the world at this time. As a whole I do agree with the figures you listed though, I just think you’ve over estimated the appeal of a new album.
Thriller 25 has sold a little over 2 million in the few months since it was released, even without any successful singles released. I think it may reach 2.5 million by the end of the year, possibly more if there is a real good marketing drive around Halloween. (I don’t know why some people say it has already sold 3 million).

I think that IF Mike participates in a proper promotional campaign for the new album ( multiple TV appearances, TV/radio/newspaper/magazine interviews, performances, concerts etc) and IF the album has strong singles material on it, then I can see that it may sell somewhere around 5 – 6 million worldwide. But after the poor quality of the T25 remixes, the poor quality (IMO) of One More Chance, We’ve Had Enough and the mediocre Hold My Hand, not to mention the bad song choices on Vince, I’m not convinced he will rise to the challenge. Also, his past record at promotion is also terrible with very little going on compared to other successful artists, so I wouldn’t count on anything too different this time around. We might get a couple of music videos, one TV interview, one awards performance (or just appearance) and a couple of concerts but that will be about it I’m afraid. I just don’t think he’s got the hunger to do it any more.

If it plays out the way I think it will then I am anticipating sales of around 2 to 3 million.
If I’m wrong I’ll be more than happy and I’ll be man enough to admit it.
Come on Mike, prove me wrong.
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T25 sold 2 million albums in a couple of month, a 25 year old album, and not just any album, the biggest selling album EVER, most people already had T25 and many fans refused to buy T25 because they thought it was just SONY trying to earn extra on Thriller. You said yourself that you belive T25 will sell 2.5 million this year.

Then I simply just don't see any logic in what your saying.

You think that a 25 old album will sell just as good as a new one?? You think the new album will sell 2-3 million, just like T25?? That doesn't make any sense to me!! None at all!!

Surely his new album could outsell T25.

With good promotion, concerts, music videos, more great promotion and some kind of TV special like Oprah, I see no reason this new album couldn't sell 7-10 million records worldwide! I would be dissapointed if his new album didn't sell 5 million copies around the globe!! Honestly!
 
Yeah, it could be twisted logic, but to my mind T25 has a greater attraction to many people than the new album does. Thriller was the era when people in general think most fondly of Mike. Plus, the fact that it is the biggest selling album in the world was a big selling point, not a handicap, hence Sony used it so heavily in their campaign. Thriller is a nostalgia product and has that attraction. Many people that bought Thriller 25 wouldn’t even consider buying the new album. People find the old, cool, Michael Jackson much more acceptable than the current Michael Jackson and it’s easy to see why. Of course, the same works in reverse too – people that didn’t touch Thriller because they already have it may buy the new album.

As we both said, with good promotion, the album could do very well (I actually suggested optimistic sales of 5 – 6 million with good promotion). Unfortunately I don’t think Mike will participate in much promo and so I’m sure it will sell less. 3 million would be a lot in that case. Just my opinion. As I said, I’d be happy if I’m wrong. Don’t forget that Mike isn’t young any more and so doesn’t attract the younger listeners who traditionally buy most music (but now also download the most for free I suppose), so as long as he competes well (sales wise) with other artists of a similar age (i.e. Madonna or Prince), then he will be doing good. He also doesn’t get the radio or media support that Madonna gets, which will be a handicap for him. When Madonna’s latest offering has run its course, we’ll have a target for the new album to beat coz she’s the most successful artist in her age range at the moment.
 
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I can easily see Michael selling at least 10-15 million worldwide. Michael still has a very large fanbase and his supporters all around the world are willing to go out and actually buy it for his benefit.

I'll be honest, I had my doubts, but when I saw the buzz around "Hold My Hand", it's obvious to me how people are just ready to hear something from Michael. Michael has too large of a fanbase worldwide to go down with 2-3 million. Also, I think the majority of the public appreciate Michael's music regardless of what he does in his personal life. Whether one agrees with Michael's actions or not, there's no denying he's a musical genius who knows exactly how to promote himself and his music.
 
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Mikejoefan said:
well wasn't music NOT selling well or poor like nowadays back before thriller came out. Even with NO INTERNET ppl still wasn't buying! So is the NET all to blame. No. The quality has went down big time and saturation. Everybody and their grandmama cuttin an album. Its just TOO MUCH. Then the albums will have like 2 good songs on there. But this brings us back to pre-thriller.

I honestly think that the Cd and mp's need to be move away from in order to get ppl back into buying. If someone can come up with another way for music to be distributed without being so easily copied then that would be a big help to sells.

This could be a cycle like how nobody was buying much pre-thriller and then afterwards sells shot up. Now we're back to the lowest of lowes with sells and in a few more year of low sells. Maybe sells will eventually go back up. But with cds and mp's music isn't gonna sell like it used to. Every few years the way music is distributed changes anyway so we will see whats next. I don't know if he can sell that much. I prefer to just wait and see. I would never underestimate him though.
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I was around then, and the sales wasn't as bad as it is now. Anyway the whole era in the US was different, there was only 4 networks (including PBS), not a lot of people had cable and it didn't have many stations like there is now with satellite. There were home video games but the market wasn't as big. Most people went to the arcade rather than get Atari (which was the most popular console at the time) with their crummy graphics. The home video market wasn't that big, because the average pre-recorded tape (like movies) cost $60-$99, and the people who had VCR's or Betamax mostly used it to record TV programs. There's a lot of competiton now that didn't exist back then. Also an album was much cheaper then, about $6 - $8 and it was way shorter than the average album now. Radio had more variety in the 80s. You could hear Culture Club, Van Halen, Billy Ocean, MJ, New Order, Men At Work, Journey, Gloria Estefan, Sade, Depeche Mode, Paul Simon, Whitesnake, The Jets, Hall & Oates, New Edition, Lionel Richie, Yes, Motley Crue, The Police, Lisa Lisa, Madonna, Run DMC, & Suzanne Vega all on the same station. A lot of the producers were more varied then - Def Leppard and Billy Ocean had the same producer (Mutt Lange) and they didn't sound alike. So there wasn't a bunch of soundalike songs and no playing the same song every 20 minutes like today.
 
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