US sales projections for SFBM Options

[NectarDan]

Judging from one day sales totals, "Songs From Black Mountain" is projected to have sales between 20,000 and 50,000 copies in the US during its first week (this projection does not include the 7,500+ digital downloads of the album that have already been sold on the internet since May 23rd). Live's last studio album, "Birds Of Pray", debuted at #28 on The Billboard 200 chart, with sales of 39,000 units. It has since sold 274,000 copies (in the US alone).

[FishOutaWater]

I have just a bunch of questions and confusion over Live's marketability. I think there is a convergeance of many factors impacting album sales. My random thoughts are:

Why was the album delayed so many times? (I wonder if we will ever know the true answer to that one)

How many records is Live committed to with Sony under this contract?

If it wasn't for the fact that Chris Daughtry is a Live fan, the album would not even be released today and NO ONE outside of the hard core fans on these Live message boards would even know that they had a new studio recording. Chris Daughtry is the reason that the album was released on June 6, they were seen by 30 million people and the album and single went into the top 100 on iTunes. But somehow that still didn't translate into satisfactory album sales!

The fact that the album was released overseas months before it was released in the U.S., and the fact that Ed did a mega promotion tour in Australia and Europe but the band never really did such a tour in the U.S., and the release date was changed so many times until it was finally rushed out in a half assed fashion, killed this album.


And finally -- and this may piss some people off -- but only if you take it the wrong way -- I think that the reason that BoP and SFBM sound the way they sound (as many have complained about), and that Ed writes happy and content songs that lack the power and emotion of everything from TDTH and before, is because of the two guys that Ed thanked specifically in the liner notes to SFBM -- Ken Wilber and Genpo Roshi. Now I don't mean that in a bad way from my perspective because I personally like Ken Wilber's work and I am into Integral Spirituality and Big Mind and zen. I find that aspect of the music incredibly satisfying and I love SFBM. But that doesn't translate into mass market appeal, album sales and commercial success. If you are not hearing that aspect of Ed's perspective come through the music, you may not like the album (as many have expressed). I think that Ed first met Ken Wilber after TDTH was released. From that point forward, I think that Ed has been pretty involved with Ken. According to the interview on the podcast that I have linked below, Ed is now writing music that he feels he is channelling as a conduit from Big Mind, at the edge of the universal consciousness. I think that Ed may be coming from a place of happiness and peace by having realized Integral Spirituality and spending a lot of time with Ken Wilber and all of the faculty and featured guests at the Inegral Institute, and that has really shaped his creative process and the product that we all see on the albums. I think that as long as Ed is writing music that is a reflection of a Big Mind practice and Integral Spirituality, the music and melodies are going to sound like The River. Ed has said that SFBM comes from Ed realizing his feminine spiritual aspect and reflecting on the sacred feminine spirit as the artistic muse. I think he is trying to do much more with the music on a personal level than write rocking songs like White Discussion. Like I said, I like the new material, and I like White Discussion too. But I don't think that it necessarily translates to the album purchasing public and that may have something to do with the sales figures of everything after TDTH.

The podcast that I mentioned is the 1/21/06 podcast here:

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore...43441&i=1780305