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 Blend Music reports that as many of you reading this have no doubt heard by
now, Guns N' Roses have set an actual release date for the ten years
plus in the making album Chinese Democracy.
Billboard Magazine is reporting that Chinese Democracy will finally see the light of day on November 23. As earlier reports had indicated, the album will also be released in one of those increasingly prevalent retail exclusives, with the rights of sale going to mega-retailer Best Buy this time around.
As a former music retailer myself, I’ve got my own opinions about these so-called exclusivity deals, and as you can probably also imagine, most of my feelings about them are not necessarily good ones. That said, I also think I understand them. In the currently depressed climate of not only the music industry, but of the economy in general, an artist has gotta' do what an artist has gotta’ do to get the music heard.
There really just aren’t that many options anymore. Radio formats have become so fragmented that it’s really hard to figure who fits where anymore – that is at least unless you are the Jonas Brothers or Miley anyway. Making a music video is pretty much pointless anymore, since MTV no longer plays them, and the remaining video music shows have a combined reach and appeal that comes nowhere near that of the once mighty moonman.
The internet? Hey, we all know it’s a great place to find new music – that is as long as you happen to like searching for needles in a haystack anyway.
So as distasteful as these retail exclusives may be to some folks (and particularly to the few remaining independent retailers out there, who once again take it right in the ass on these deals), the fact remains that to artists with ever-shrinking marketing avenues, they represent a win-win situation. Which is why everyone from The Eagles to the Police to AC/DC to now Guns N' Roses have lined up to sell their souls to the “man” (who in these instances goes by the name of WalMart or Best Buy).
With Chinese Democracy however, Guns N Roses -- or excuse me, make that Axl Rose -- have taken the concept of marketing an album to an entirely new level. First off, and let us make no mistake here, Chinese Democracy is not a Guns N' Roses album. Not anymore than a Mick Jagger record without Keith Richards is a Rolling Stones album.
This is in fact an Axl Rose solo album.
Read the full story here.
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