Xscape General Discussion

[HIStoric]

Re: News and discussion about upcoming MJ album [Update Pg15]

hoping for an announcement at the end of this month or early november, i wanna do a huge countdown. just hope the estate don't leave it until a month before the release, that'd be agony haha.

They better not leave until month before, they need more than a month to PROPERLY advertise this album. This is crucial because MJ isn't here to promote the album himself, therefore they really need to go all out with advertising.

 

[bobmoo79]

Re: News and discussion about upcoming MJ album [Update Pg15]

They better not leave until month before, they need more than a month to PROPERLY advertise this album. This is crucial because MJ isn't here to promote the album himself, therefore they really need to go all out with advertising.

Yes they SHOULD, but I doubt they will.
The 'Michael' album promotion - the first posthumous album! - was almost invisible. I never saw a poster, nor a newspaper magazine advert. I only saw the TV promo once. Many, many people only knew of the album because I had told them or because they spotted it in the news. The promotion was quite ineffective IMO.
Even for BAD25 the promotion was lacking. On paper it sounded as though it was going to be great. It had a Pepsi promotion, the Spike Lee documentary, TV spots, contempory remixes, singles etc.
The Pepsi promotion was invisible to most people - even those deliberately trying to find the cans in stores!
I never saw a TV advert. I never saw a billboard poster, I only saw 1 newspaper advert. The Spike Lee documentary was shown too late AFTER the album release to help sales. The DVD/BluRay release was not promoted at all and not sold in stores (except the MJ/Sony store).
The remixed single with Pitbull was never played in the UK AFAIK and several other remixes were cancelled completely.
Again, people only knew about the BAD25 album if I told them or if they spotted it in the news. The promo campaign sounded great but was executed badly. It was ineffective IMO.


My guess is the next album will be the same.
The ONLY way to push this album properly and to make it a commercial success is to get a killer single on radio, regardless of what many MJ fans here say and want.
Although music videos are less important than they were, it would really need an innovative, interesting video to get hits on YouTube too. Perhaps behind the scenes footage of MJ in the studio or some clever techy way of bringing MJ to life - something to get the news outlets reporting it!
While the inclusion of demos will please some fans I hope it won't alienate casual buyers - that's why I think it would be better to include demos on a 'special edition' rather than as standard (as long as it doesn't end up dividing sales and so reduce chart positions, as happened for BAD25).

 

[Smooth72]

Re: News and discussion about upcoming MJ album [Update Pg15]

They better not leave until month before, they need more than a month to PROPERLY advertise this album. This is crucial because MJ isn't here to promote the album himself, therefore they really need to go all out with advertising.

Really quiet on this subject. Calm before the storm?. New single coming soon? I think we are getting closer.

 

[Zakk]

Re: News and discussion about upcoming MJ album [Update Pg15]

well something needs to be done, we ain't seen a new project since september of 2012 (BAD25) we need something new. and something to wet our appetite for this new album, i think 'Chicago' or 'Blue Gangsta' should be lead single... IMO.

 

[ChrisC]

Re: News and discussion about upcoming MJ album [Update Pg15]

My guess is the next album will be the same.
The ONLY way to push this album properly and to make it a commercial success is to get a killer single on radio, regardless of what many MJ fans here say and want.

You just said how badly the promo was handled for Bad 25 so it's not the only way. Although that way would generate attention I agree, a decent marketing campaign would too. My guess is that the Estate or Sony simply don't want to throw more money at these projects once they've had them made and distributed them. Maybe it's because Sony already paid hundreds of millions to secure them in the first place. Odd situation.

Don't forget that when the Estate had a 'little' bit of attention, they decided to service to radio the weakest and most incomplete record on the whole set! Don't Be Messin' Round is lovely but underwhelming, particularly to a general audience. Giving that to radio stations to whip up interest was suicide...much like the heralded 'This Is It' single.

 

[FD1998]

Re: News and discussion about upcoming MJ album [Update Pg15]

We ALL need to email the estate so they know, please copy and paste that message and send it to them so people here about this new album!

 

[KOPV]

Re: News and discussion about upcoming MJ album [Update Pg15]

Well I think it is pretty clear they never planned for BAD 25 to have commercial success. They would not expect demos/unreleased songs from the mid 80's to have radio success without re-editing or remixing.. This upcoming album is very different, they have new producers working on the music to make the music sound a specific way. And that 'specific way' considering they have Timbaland on the album I would say is 'radio friendly' music..

Considering BAD 25 (a re-released album with some unreleased tracks) reached #6 in UK, #10 in Japan, and #23 in US.. It reached # 23 in United states considering that Billboard sepperates sales of the standard version and delux version which if it was combined like the other countries would have reached somewhere in the top 15 probably.. That is good for a 25 year old album with some extra tracks..

A new MJ album with never released music and updated!! That should do much better, this will get more radio play than BAD 25 with no promotion.

 

[Cprep20]

Re: News and discussion about upcoming MJ album [Update Pg15]

I hope this album comes with a nice documentary. Detailed liner notes. And commercial success. There's brilliant demos and unreleased track out there that the general public need to hear. Just imagine if Blue Gangsta was released on Invincible. It would have been a HIT. I just hope this album is done the right way. I always hope and wish for the best when it comes to Michaels materials being released.

 

[ChrisC]

Re: News and discussion about upcoming MJ album [Update Pg15]

Well I think it is pretty clear they never planned for BAD 25 to have commercial success. They would not expect demos/unreleased songs from the mid 80's to have radio success without re-editing or remixing.. This upcoming album is very different, they have new producers working on the music to make the music sound a specific way. And that 'specific way' considering they have Timbaland on the album I would say is 'radio friendly' music..

Considering BAD 25 (a re-released album with some unreleased tracks) reached #6 in UK, #10 in Japan, and #23 in US.. It reached # 23 in United states considering that Billboard sepperates sales of the standard version and delux version which if it was combined like the other countries would have reached somewhere in the top 15 probably.. That is good for a 25 year old album with some extra tracks..

A new MJ album with never released music and updated!! That should do much better, this will get more radio play than BAD 25 with no promotion.

The 25th Anniversary of Graceland by Paul Simon had a significantly better chart run in the UK than Bad 25 which basically went into freefall after us fans bought in week #1. The 25 year old argument is redundant.

And I'm not sure why the Estate would release a commerical product to market without aiming for any kind of commercial success?

I get your comparison though, an album like the upcoming one is perhaps 'easier' to market and sell in 2013/14.

 

[HIStory]

Re: News and discussion about upcoming MJ album [Update Pg15]

The 25th Anniversary of Graceland by Paul Simon had a significantly better chart run in the UK than Bad 25 which basically went into freefall after us fans bought in week #1. The 25 year old argument is redundant.

On the other hand Graceland 25 peaked at #51 in the US - lower than Bad 25 (even if the sales of the two versions of Bad 25 were seperated which made its chart postion lower than it could have been)...

As far as I know in the UK they showed a documentary on BBC supporting it just on its release. So it seemt that was a big factor in the UK. That's why it was a huge mistake that Spike Lee's Bad 25 was put on TV so late, not coordinated with the release of the album.

Plus Graceland is Paul Simon's Thriller (considered his best, most significant album - his signature album), so a comparation with Thriller 25 would be more appropriate.

 

[bobmoo79]

Re: News and discussion about upcoming MJ album [Update Pg15]

Yes Paul Simon was on TV promoting the album in the UK and they showed the new documentary at release time, but that just proves how awful the BAD 25 album promo was here in the UK because the BAD25 documentary was shown on TV far too late to help promo.


Peak chart positions for any album mean nothing. It's total sales that matter and BAD25 failed IMO because it went into freefall after the first week and never recovered.


It was clear as the BAD25 campaign got under way that the MJ Estate changed their mind about how to promote it. they created the 'BAD' remix with Pitbull and other remixes by Skrillex and others, but unfortunately didn't do anything worthwile with them. I think they were going to try to draw in younger music buyers but were put off by the unwarranted criticism aimed at their strategy by MJ fans. That strategy failed and so now they're going to try a hybrid strategy by throwing everything on the album - old demos and remixes - in an effort to draw everybody in. I hope it works but personally I think it could backfire.


IMO The MJ Estate missed a massive opportunity when the released 'THis Is It' as Mj's first posthumous single. Mainstream, contempory radio stations dedicated time to hype the single and premiered it on the same day. they turned it into a big event but the song just wasn't good enough. It didn't fit the mainstream market and those stations will never give MJ another chance like that. Before he died they thought he was a has-been. they stopped playing his tracks. They thought the new single could be a contender for chart success and so they took a chance but it back fired. what the MJ Estate did was provide a song that was dated and out of date.


The MJ Estate also failed when they released 'Michael' (we all know why).
They missed an opportunity by not pushing the modern BAD single remixes and promoting that album properly.


They need radio success now more than ever. If they don't get it this time then it's very bad news IMO.

 

[ChrisC]

Re: News and discussion about upcoming MJ album [Update Pg15]

Plus Graceland is Paul Simon's Thriller (considered his best, most significant album - his signature album), so a comparation with Thriller 25 would be more appropriate.

I wasn't drawing a comparison necessarily, I was intending to refute the claim that Bad 25 did the best it could have done considering it was 25 years old.

 

[HIStory]

Re: News and discussion about upcoming MJ album [Update Pg15]

Yes Paul Simon was on TV promoting the album in the UK and they showed the new documentary at release time, but that just proves how awful the BAD 25 album promo was here in the UK because the BAD25 documentary was shown on TV far too late to help promo.


Peak chart positions for any album mean nothing. It's total sales that matter and BAD25 failed IMO because it went into freefall after the first week and never recovered.


It was clear as the BAD25 campaign got under way that the MJ Estate changed their mind about how to promote it. they created the 'BAD' remix with Pitbull and other remixes by Skrillex and others, but unfortunately didn't do anything worthwile with them. I think they were going to try to draw in younger music buyers but were put off by the unwarranted criticism aimed at their strategy by MJ fans. That strategy failed and so now they're going to try a hybrid strategy by throwing everything on the album - old demos and remixes - in an effort to draw everybody in. I hope it works but personally I think it could backfire.


IMO The MJ Estate missed a massive opportunity when the released 'THis Is It' as Mj's first posthumous single. Mainstream, contempory radio stations dedicated time to hype the single and premiered it on the same day. they turned it into a big event but the song just wasn't good enough. It didn't fit the mainstream market and those stations will never give MJ another chance like that. Before he died they thought he was a has-been. they stopped playing his tracks. They thought the new single could be a contender for chart success and so they took a chance but it back fired. what the MJ Estate did was provide a song that was dated and out of date.


The MJ Estate also failed when they released 'Michael' (we all know why).
They missed an opportunity by not pushing the modern BAD single remixes and promoting that album properly.


They need radio success now more than ever. If they don't get it this time then it's very bad news IMO.

The remixes on Bad 25 would also have to be better to have a chance at success. It doesn't just depend on promotion. Timbaland looks better on paper than the likes of Pitbull, but we will see.

Also I think it's a bit overdramatic to say that because This Is It failed radios will never give another chance to MJ. If a song/remix appeals to the current mainstream taste then it will be played. As simple as that. They won't say: "oh it's good, but we won't play it, because TII failed to make an impact".

 

[Zakk]

Re: News and discussion about upcoming MJ album [Update Pg15]

i personally think the remix of 'chicago' will be given to radio stations to air, they will not air any of the demo's. they're primarily for the fans and the general public (who love raw music) i think timbaland coming in will give it a better chance of success as the younger generation are mainly who make music sales rise.. it does need a lot of promotion though, on Billboards, magazines & commercials/advertisements etc.! would be cool to see an effort put into this

 

[ChrisC]

Re: News and discussion about upcoming MJ album [Update Pg15]

Also I think it's a bit overdramatic to say that because This Is It failed radios will never give another chance to MJ. If a song/remix appeals to the current mainstream taste then it will be played. As simple as that. They won't say: "oh it's good, but we won't play it, because TII failed to make an impact".

But stations will take things like the reception to This Is It into account when considering playlisting posthumous MJ material.

 

[Themidwestcowboy]

Re: News and discussion about upcoming MJ album [Update Pg15]

Why is everybody talking like This is it is the only posthumous single released by MJ? Hollywood Tonight? Hold My Hand? Hollywood Tonight was played in the clubs here in Stockholm and Hold My Hand got airtime as well. A little sporadically yes but they still played them. Hollywood Tonight was even premiered at Ellen Degeneres. If The estate/Sony really wants this to be a major success they have to put in the work.

 

[KOPV]

Re: News and discussion about upcoming MJ album [Update Pg15]

If we want radio play we need to start requesting the songs on the radio station A LOT.. The way music is played on the radio is like this..

1. music publishing company reaches out to radio stations
2. They ask the radio to buy rights to play
3. Radio station either accepts or denies

So Basically the radio station pays to play the music, so if Sony does not do a good job building hype to make the radio stations feel like it could be success than we create the demand for the radio station to buy rights and continue playing..

 

[Annita]

Re: News and discussion about upcoming MJ album [Update Pg15]

This is it wasn`t a single. It was only availabe with the whole soundtrack-album and I remember the album was a great success. And btw the TII-song was often played in Germany in time of the release, but it wasn`t availabe as a single, so it couldn`t be a hit in the charts.

Hold my hand had also many airplay in Germany and was number 7 in charts.

 

[marebear]

Re: News and discussion about upcoming MJ album [Update Pg15]

I only heard Hold My Hand twice on the radio and on a station that isn't popular like the main ones. The most promotion I saw of anything was This is It for the theater release and the Wii dance game. Everything else hardly anything.

 

[KOPV]

Re: News and discussion about upcoming MJ album [Update Pg15]

here in the U.S. nothing from the 'Michael' album got much attention.. I think I heard Hold my Hand once, and Hollywood Tonight I heard playing in a car driving by one day while out (which was probably a CD)..

radio stations generally play the crap out of songs, hear 1 song sometimes twice in the same hour.. you hear the same stuff all day long, I would want the next singles of Michaels music to play in rotation along with the other songs.. I'm not even asking for something extra since he's the king of pop.. Just give him regular rotation on the radio..

The music would need to be music that sounds current, which hopefully the producers do that (I think they will) now its Sonys, the Estate, Radio, and our opportunity to make the radio play happen.

The only thing keeping MJ singles from going #1 again is attention.. NOT quality!

 

[marebear]

Re: News and discussion about upcoming MJ album [Update Pg15]

That's what I would want more than anything just play in rotation like the others. I notice not just with Michael but other older stars too. They don't play their music much when they have a new album out. That's not fair.

 

[Sunwalker7]

Radio clearly wasn’t interested in the singles from the Michael album, but who knows, the next single could do better. Sure, it’s much more difficult for a posthumous release to get airplay than for a single from a current, young artist. But if the next single sounds current enough for radio, it could have a chance.

It’s a huge shame that the first posthumous release wasn’t better. The hype was obviously much bigger then than now, but the Michael album didn’t live up to the expectations. I love Hold My Hand, but I don’t think it was a strong lead single. And of course there were other problems with the album, and that also had to affect the singles’ success. Radio may not have been interested in the whole Cascio controversy or the overall quality of the album, but I think many fans didn’t care about the singles’ success because they didn’t support the album. It’s difficult enough for a posthumous single to be successful, and if fans don’t care about the single either it’s no surprise if it isn’t successful.

I really hope that the next single is actually really good and that the remix sounds current, but that it’s also something that fans can support. I think it would be nice if fans requested the single on radio and did whatever else we can to support it. I don’t know if fan promotion has much effect on a song’s success, but I think it would be good for the fandom too. We’ve had so many bad news and difficult times for quite a long time now, it would be great to get a break from all that, and just focus on Michael’s music. A successful release could bring Michael new fans, and that’s always great.

 

[Sunwalker7]

here in the U.S. nothing from the 'Michael' album got much attention.. I think I heard Hold my Hand once, and Hollywood Tonight I heard playing in a car driving by one day while out (which was probably a CD)..

radio stations generally play the crap out of songs, hear 1 song sometimes twice in the same hour.. you hear the same stuff all day long, I would want the next singles of Michaels music to play in rotation along with the other songs.. I'm not even asking for something extra since he's the king of pop.. Just give him regular rotation on the radio..

The music would need to be music that sounds current, which hopefully the producers do that (I think they will) now its Sonys, the Estate, Radio, and our opportunity to make the radio play happen.

The only thing keeping MJ singles from going #1 again is attention.. NOT quality!

I agree, especially with the part of it being our opportunity to support the single. I mean, I’d love it if Sony promoted the new release in a huge way, but realistically, I don’t think that’s going to happen. The posthumous MJ releases haven’t been very successful commercially, and that means that Sony won’t be all that eager to pour money into promoting the new release.

I don’t think fans requesting a song on radio can turn a song into a hit if the general public isn’t interested in it. But if nobody’s requesting the song or talking about it or buying it then radio has no reason to think that people would want to hear it. Requesting the song on radio could at least increase its chances of being successful.

 

[Zakk]

Re: News and discussion about upcoming MJ album [Update Pg15]

This is it wasn`t a single. It was only availabe with the whole soundtrack-album and I remember the album was a great success. And btw the TII-song was often played in Germany in time of the release, but it wasn`t availabe as a single, so it couldn`t be a hit in the charts.

Hold my hand had also many airplay in Germany and was number 7 in charts.

This is it was released as a CD single on October 12th 2009. just search Google images, it's kinda rare now but I did see it in shops when it was sold!

 

[Themidwestcowboy]

Radio clearly wasn’t interested in the singles from the Michael album, but who knows, the next single could do better. Sure, it’s much more difficult for a posthumous release to get airplay than for a single from a current, young artist. But if the next single sounds current enough for radio, it could have a chance.

It’s a huge shame that the first posthumous release wasn’t better. The hype was obviously much bigger then than now, but the Michael album didn’t live up to the expectations. I love Hold My Hand, but I don’t think it was a strong lead single. And of course there were other problems with the album, and that also had to affect the singles’ success. Radio may not have been interested in the whole Cascio controversy or the overall quality of the album, but I think many fans didn’t care about the singles’ success because they didn’t support the album. It’s difficult enough for a posthumous single to be successful, and if fans don’t care about the single either it’s no surprise if it isn’t successful.

I really hope that the next single is actually really good and that the remix sounds current, but that it’s also something that fans can support. I think it would be nice if fans requested the single on radio and did whatever else we can to support it. I don’t know if fan promotion has much effect on a song’s success, but I think it would be good for the fandom too. We’ve had so many bad news and difficult times for quite a long time now, it would be great to get a break from all that, and just focus on Michael’s music. A successful release could bring Michael new fans, and that’s always great.

I agree with you! Then we have to ask ourselves what is current music? I mean, Bruno Mars music differs from Miguels music, and Justin Timberlakes music differs from Ushers music but they all manage to score hits and are constantly played in excess on the radio. Of course being alive and young helps very much but i also believe that labels have a very big hand on the songs that get rotation on radio. And if that is the case then Sony will have to step up their game.

 

[KOPV]

Re: News and discussion about upcoming MJ album [Update Pg15]

^ Well my take is this..

Yeah JT, bruno mars etc. sound different but popular music has simular production.. Sound and production are two different things.. Using the same type of sound boards, beat makers etc.. For example a base hit would have a sertain feel to it now as in 10 years ago was different.. Also engineering tactics and styles are very simular all around (often by the same people) so it creates a specific sound that many many artists have..

We hear the simularities without noticing we do, and we create a new ear of what is "in".. Those subliminal sounds that we pick up but are not trained to really communicate the simularities is why sometimes a song would remind you of another and you just don't know why..

many MJ songs use technology that was ahead of its time, always the (latest and greatest) but the latest in the 90's was "in" in the early 2000's etc.. So really much of MJ's music from lets say 2005-2009 would most likely sound very modern today in 2013.. The older stuff, we could hit the mark or miss it.. but for the songs that could possibly be a "miss" for a hit, a little updating could make the worlds difference and it could sound hardly any different but the public ear is more welcoming to it because that is what its trained to like..

 

[MIST]

I don’t think fans requesting a song on radio can turn a song into a hit if the general public isn’t interested in it. But if nobody’s requesting the song or talking about it or buying it then radio has no reason to think that people would want to hear it. Requesting the song on radio could at least increase its chances of being successful.

In the 80s there was an american student who spent a year in Sweden.She or he heard an album with the swedish group Roxette and bought the album.
When he/she came back to the states she took the album to a radiostation requested they should play it and they did.
People liked it and Roxette had several number one´s in the U.S.

 

[AlwaysThere]

Re: News and discussion about upcoming MJ album [Update Pg15]

This is it was released as a CD single on October 12th 2009. just search Google images, it's kinda rare now but I did see it in shops when it was sold!

I don't know where you saw those, but the estate said themselves that This Is It was only a radio single. If you saw a CD single in stores anywhere it was probably a fake.

 

[SmoothCriminal1995]

Re: News and discussion about upcoming MJ album [Update Pg15]

Can't wait for this new album. Really want some more unheard gems. Hoping for some conformation from the Estate or a single soon. I would love A Place With No Name to be the lead single. As for the argument for what era tracks should go on the album, I believe the best tracks should be on the album, regardless of the age of them, look at STTR that's 89. Although I would like to hear at least one 2005-09 song to see what MJ was creating for his comeback.

 

[mjchris]

Re: News and discussion about upcoming MJ album [Update Pg15]

here in the U.S. nothing from the 'Michael' album got much attention.. I think I heard Hold my Hand once, and Hollywood Tonight I heard playing in a car driving by one day while out (which was probably a CD)..

radio stations generally play the crap out of songs, hear 1 song sometimes twice in the same hour.. you hear the same stuff all day long, I would want the next singles of Michaels music to play in rotation along with the other songs.. I'm not even asking for something extra since he's the king of pop.. Just give him regular rotation on the radio..

The music would need to be music that sounds current, which hopefully the producers do that (I think they will) now its Sonys, the Estate, Radio, and our opportunity to make the radio play happen.

The only thing keeping MJ singles from going #1 again is attention.. NOT quality!

exactly. perry is the best example for this. worst quality, but big attention, radio stations always play the songs, faked downloads > manipulated charts.