The excellent blog The Smoking Section put up a rant blaming internet hip hop fans for the “failure” of the Slaughterhouse album, which “only” moved 18,000 units. As they put it, “plain and simple it did Brooke Hogan numbers.” The conversation they sparked has been a fascinating look at all the factors that make the music biz such a complex and confusing place in 2009.
First of all, as Dart Adams already pointed out, making an album in one week on an independent label and moving 18,000 copies...that’s not failing. That’s not platinum, either, but that’s still good money.
Second of all, let’s really talk numbers. Brooke Hogan is an Amazon monster of a punchline, but “Brooke Hogan numbers” are both way better and radically worse than Slaughterhouse numbers. Her first album moved 29,000 copies in the first week. Her second...well, that one pushed exactly 3,381. Apparently she’s up to 6000 now...months later...ouch.
But enough about women who could rape Mike Tyson. The debate around Slaughterhouse brings up some really important points about where the music biz is at in 2009, especially the world of hip hop. Let’s get right into it:
1. Not Touring Enough
Nobody with a brain would tell you that internet promotion has actually replaced all the other forms of promotion that the music industry has been using since the Ice Ages. Sure, there’s been a recent, over-hyped study by the Stern Business School that demonstrates that blogs have more influence than myspace when it comes to hype resulting in actual album sales. That does not mean that blog coverage will be enough to break an album. Blogs are just part of a larger equation.
Did Slaughterhouse neglect the rest of that equation? It doesn’t look that way. Their album was released on E1, which is the new name for Koch, who have 20 years of experience distributing pretty much everyone in the industry, from Death Row to Diplomats. Slaughterhouse was also busy onstage this summer, touring on all 11 stops of Rock the Bells 2009, playing at the Paid Dues festival, and doing tons of press and radio interviews.
Here’s a fucked-up thought: maybe that’s not enough in 2009. Maybe that’s only a good start. I only say this because I’m thinking of another independent group, Atmosphere, and the opening week for their last album When Life Gives You Lemons You Paint That Shit Gold. They moved 36,000 units and debuted on the Billboard Top 10. Atmosphere also played the Paid Dudes festival, they also do tons of press and radio interviews, but more importantly, they have a much more ambitious touring schedule. While Rock the Bells was slowly lumbering across the country, Atmosphere was moving non-stop, taking only one or two days off a week. By my own non-scientific count, they have played at least 75 shows around the world since 2009 started.
Of course, Atmosphere has another huge advantage that’s even more important than their insane touring schedule...a strong back catalog.
2. The Lack of a Back Catalog
When artists drop a new album, around 50% of the sales they make come from their back catalog...not their new album. Attention for the artist is attention for their brand, and all of their products will see a rise in sales. Slaughterhouse, on the other hand, have no back catalog. There hasn’t been any mention of the four members seeing a sales boost on their solo catalog, either.
The equally high-quality blog Hip Hop is Read offered a response to The Smoking Section, titled “Laughter House,” which offered this dose of perspective:
“Pushing 18,000 units is a blessing in 2009. Little Brother, a group which I believe is a bit overrated (though I still enjoy their music), released their album Getback in 2007. Hyped by blogs the web over, LB only managed to move a little over 9,000 albums in their opening week! It took them an entire month to get to 18,000!”
And bear in mind...Getback was Little Brother’s third album. So perhaps a back catalog is no guarantee of anything in 2009.
3. The Overall Collapse of Hip Hop Album Sales
I recently covered this in detail in an article called “Hip Hop 2009: Year of the Glut.” One sentence summary: Since hip hop album sales peaked in 2000, we’ve all been competing with more people for less money, every year.
Since the attention span of the average fan is shorter than ever, this leads to the next problem, not major but worth mentioning…
4. Just Plain Bad Business
Personally, the biggest blunder I see is courtesy of Joe Buddens. No...not the high school drama surrounding a punch to the face. I’m talking about the fact that Joe Buddens moved up the release date for his solo album, Escape Route, to fall on the same day as the Slaughterhouse release.
Ever wonder why Apple never launches 2 products at the same time? Because that’s fucking stupid, and proven to be bad business. It’s really damn weird that Joe’s label, Amalgam Digital, didn’t have the sense (and spine) to veto that. I don’t mean to paint them as amateurs because they are anything but—which is why it’s so puzzling. I’d like to think they just know something I don’t...but Escape Route only sold 1700 the first week...so I’ll assume they kinda fucked up.
(As always, leave a comment if you know more than me.)
5. David Banner Syndrome
The Smoking Section made some excellent points, though. Here’s my favorite:
“No more complaining about Wale making songs with Gucci Mane and Lady GaGa. No more grumbling because Wayne has too many “Ms. Officers” on his album. Zip it. Why would a label care what you think? You’re not affecting the marketplace and in the grand scheme of things, the 18,000 albums you’re going to buy are just a drop in the bucket compared to the sales that “selling out” provides.”
I call it David Banner Syndrome because Banner has already run into this wall in his own career and re-calibrated since then: “The American public had an opportunity to pick what they wanted from David Banner. I wish America would just be honest. America is sick...America loves violence and sex.” Or, as he put it in his memorably blunt testimony before congress: “I can admit that there are some problems in hip-hop. But it is only a reflection of what is taking place in our society. Hip-hop is sick because America is sick.”
This is the disturbing question that we’re facing in 2009: Is America so fucking stupid that good hip hop cannot survive?
I hope that’s not the case. It’s worth pointing out that the consensus, on blogs I’ve been reading, is that moron-grade street rap like Maino, Ace Hood and Gucci Mane is blowing good underground music out of the water. The numbers don’t back that up, though. Maino’s last album had the exact same opening week numbers: 18,000 units. Ace Hood did 33% better, clocking 24,700 first-week sales of his boring and generic Gutta.
I’ve already used this 9th Wonder quote once, but it fits perfectly here:
“You really can’t call it underground anymore; whatever that means now. When your biggest artist like a Soulja Boy is selling 40,000 in the first week, what’s underground? It’s kind of hard to put somebody in that box and I’m glad that box is going away.”
Like it or not...this is what hip hop looks like in 2009.
So in the end, what was it? Greedy internet nerds? Joe Buddens being the King Midas of Shit? Mainstream rappers hypnotizing America’s youth?
Nah...it’s the economy. 18,000 albums in one week is not a failure in 2009.
Let’s just hope that we don’t look back on this as “better days” in 2010…
19 responses to "5 Reasons Why Slaughterhouse “Failed”"
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Aug 22, 2009 at 10:31 AM
VEe
Yeah, I pretty much think hip hop bloggers are losing perspective. What passes as internet hype, news, fodder does not translate to the analog music fans at all. Online influence is just one small factor in the music business.
1. It is safe to say that it is far better to do a show every week some where as opposed to dropping weekly mixtapes. Free summer concerts really help spread the word. I’m sure it is working wonders for Big Daddy Kane and KRS-1.
2. And some people are wondering why Nas makes so much money and is able to pay so much money in child support and spousal support. He has a serious catalog of material.
4. I didn’t even know he had a solo CD coming out. Same day, why undercut SlaughterHouse? Yeah, that doesn’t make sense.
BTW, I need to purchase the CD.
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Aug 22, 2009 at 10:44 AM
Mister Piven
My beef with the TSS piece was that it’s not realistic to spend weeks telling people—“GO OUT AND BUY IT”—when it’s not getting distributed like that. I went to Best Buy to check it out and it wasn’t fucking there.
Go through the comments at TSS.
There’s like 100 fucking people around the country saying the same thing.
But of course, that’s not E1’s fault...that’s our fault...for what? Not being real enough? Not living in a city with cool independent record stores that would even know what the fuck Slaughterhouse is?
Anyways, this was awesome, and the comment above me might be spam but it’s informative spam.
Good piece.
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Aug 22, 2009 at 1:20 PM
Justin Boland
^^You mean the Dutch Massive one?
I got no problem with artists leaving links as long as they’re dropping some science, too.
Gonna be marinating on the comments, thanks fellahs.
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Aug 22, 2009 at 5:39 PM
Justin Boland
@Dutchmassive
So wait...Rawkus just went bankrupt AGAIN? What happens to the digital rights on that Rawkus 50 catalog?
And...will someone else buy the name/brand and resurrect the monster for a third round?
Were you happy with the Rawkus 50 experiment? I did an article on that back when I first started this site.
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Aug 23, 2009 at 4:40 PM
jasisfresh
Nice breakdown Dutchmassive. Equilibrium? Did ya’ll do a track called Windows 98 with a bunch of Windows 98 samples? I could of swore I downloaded that back in the day off of Cipher Divine…
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Aug 23, 2009 at 8:00 PM
hook
To everyone throwing shots at the Maino album: Have you listened to it yet?
To call Maino’s music “moron-grade street rap” makes you look very uninformed. I’m not saying he’s a great lyricist, but listen to that album and tell me it’s not powerful. You can’t throw him in with someone like Gucci who ONLY talks about his jewelry. Maino is saying some real shit on his joint, which is a fucking CONCEPT ALBUM about his road to success after doing a TEN YEAR BID at age 16 (!!) If you can listen to When Tomorrow Comes and tell me it’s doesn’t make you feel something, well then so be it. But at least give it a chance. To compare dude to Ace Hood is damn near criminal.
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Aug 23, 2009 at 8:52 PM
Hydro
Yah the TSS “forum” on the issue brought up some good discussion.
I just want to add...if they wanted to sell more, they’d have NeYo or some shit on the hook...instead, they have Pharoahe fucking Monch! I applaud them...sure they wanna sell as much as they can but first and foremost is the music: they haven’t let potential sales and $$$ influence their music…
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Aug 23, 2009 at 11:30 PM
Justin Boland
@Hydro - although I haven’t liked any Maino I’ve heard, I will definitely give his album a chance if it’s getting a co-sign like that.
I appreciate the heads-up, and it’s a good chin check for me to get reminded how often I form opinions based on very little evidence.
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Aug 25, 2009 at 11:11 AM
Wesley Verhoeve
great post Justin. all super valid points. really didn’t understand budden putten out that ep on the same day either. seems misguided selfishness
I can’t believe Ace Hood sold that many records. Half of those have to be DJ Khaled buying them himself. Wholesale.
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Aug 25, 2009 at 1:12 PM
Vertical Paul
Wait, E1 is Koch?
Pretty much everyone I’ve talked to about distribution has warned me to avoid Koch, so how do they keep getting business like that? It was probably pretty smart of them to get a name change. Even Koch employees I’ve spoken with talk shit about that company.
For a future article, I’d like to see you apply that mind to distribution. I’m betting that everyone who is honest enough to work with is also pretty picky about who they work with, but hopefully I’m wrong. Also, my crew is looking into Tunecore but we’ve never used it. Is the ReverbNation and WaMusic basicly the same thing?
Thanks for yer site, tho!
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Aug 26, 2009 at 8:16 AM
MusicBizGuy
I have been a part of the hip hop hit making machine for almost 15 years. Among the many clients I have had, from 1995-2004 I worked every Def Jam record nationally and from 2004- until May, 2009, I worked every record on Koch/E1. I have helped bring home a lot of hits for a lot of great artists.
Hip Hop as a successful genre of moneymaking music has had an incredibly long run. All of the elements, culturally, politically and financially that allowed it to flourish for so long have changed. Radio has become less and less friendly towards establishing new artists. Radio has done an enormous amount over the past few years to alienate a large portion of their listeners forever. With few exceptions, unless you are associated with a major camp with major juice and credibility like a Cash Money, new artists have little chance of breaking through. Mix shows are no longer identifying and championing new music they way they used to. The streets have become less influential, though it appears in some areas mix tapes have still maintained their edge. The Internet will eventually figure out a way to break deserving new artists.
As “JK’s Wedding” and “Stanky Legg” will attest, the right song with the right video that goes viral will still sell lots of downloads if not physical product. With massive record store closures, P2P free downloads biting into sales, albums becoming less important and the life cycle of a song being much shorter, digital sales repplacing physical, album sales physically and digitally have taken a major hit.
Today’s hip hop artists need to build their own aggressive 360 business model to be successful. It is my belief that the more time artists spend on working the streets themselves, the more they perform wherever they can, the better chance they have of selling anything and making money. It’s definitely a new day out there but no one is really sure what kind. Once we figure this out, we can better reinvent the way artists generate a critical mass of fans for support.
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Aug 26, 2009 at 5:03 PM
Mario Mendoza
Dope breakdown of the Slaughterhouse campaign. I saw their album sales though as a success in this new social media atmosphere.
Im a late 70’s baby that grew up around good Hip Hop, as I perceived it. I remember growing up and watching the LA Riots in my hometown and listening to Ice Cube discuss injustice and uprising. Music has a different meaning for me.
I was very impressed the day their album launched and I logged in to Twitter to find #slaughterhouse as a trending topic. Weeks of their “talks” of a new approach to album promotion was intriguing and I am a Crooked I and Joel Ortiz fan, those rappers got more bars than California state prisons.
The buzz here on the westcoast was good for slaughterhouse, but as more people I talked to liked their music, the same question always came up: Who is in the group?
I actually commend their efforts to actively build a strong Music 2.0 approach. I don’t buy the fact that its a failing model and we have to go back to the drawing board and increase touring. I do believe that increased promotion will have a snowball effect for their future releases.
The holes on their plan came due to new approaches to selling digitally, whether through social media and communicating with fans. Live and learn. Big labels and even famous rappers on smaller labels aren’t doing this. If that was the case, Trent Reznor wouldn’t be mentioned with his new music models.
I have to agree with Mr Piven that their album promotion was good but when it came time to click the link to their album on Best Buy it had a price and no album art. I found it disappointing since I even have my album in stores available and they couldn’t get that right. It may have represented even more numbers for them.
The lack of a back catalog of their work and Joe Buddens solo release date was a bad idea. These artists need to think smarter.
As an Hip Hop emcee, I’m glad to see this example as way to improve my own operation.
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Aug 26, 2009 at 11:04 PM
Justin Boland
@Vertical Paul
I’ve also spoken to a number of rappers who had bad things to say about Koch...they also had bad things to say about everyone, and a long list of people to blame for their problems. Curiously, they themselves showed up nowhere on that list.
I think a lot of the Koch hate is coming from artists who expect Koch to do all the work for them. (This kind of entitlement + ignorance combo is not unique to hip hop, of course.)
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Sep 10, 2009 at 1:46 AM
yaowa
good read wombat
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Sep 15, 2009 at 12:49 AM
Edmond Lee
You should do an update, because Jay Z just clocked 476,000 units for the opening week of Blueprint 3. So even though we’re looking at smaller numbers, still, the high end of the market is way higher than what Slaughterhouse clocked. According to Billboard, as of today they’re at 28,000 units total. We’re still in a market where Eminem moved 1.3 million albums.
Side note: Queen Latifah did exactly the same opening week numbers as Slaughterhouse, and she did that with a whole album produced by Cool and Dre and a promo campaign sponsored by Cover Girl, so the four-headed monster didn’t do that bad, either. Latifah’s got her own label, Flavor Unit, but I’m pretty sure they’re still distributed by EMI, just like Raekwon does with Ice Water.
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Sep 30, 2009 at 9:42 PM
Hans Gruber
It is funny reading this after the blog-manufactured controversy had died down. You did a very thorough job of focusing on the actual facts and factors behind this story, instead of complaining about “the fans” or talking about your opinions about the music. It makes me wonder: what were your opinions about the music? Based on your tracks (you are Thirtyseven, right?) I would imagine you find music like this to be fairly tiresome material. Then again, perhaps not.
An excellent website. I enjoy your marketing insights, I work in video gaming but often find your content to be 100% relevant to my field. That’s a compliment, by the way.
-----Hans.
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Oct 09, 2009 at 1:29 AM
HubertGAM
I am sure you understand, Mr. Boland, but I didn’t read all the comments, but this piece is excellent. More perspective like this needs to be divulged. Expect an e-mail. I plan to get an interview out of you.
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Oct 09, 2009 at 2:53 AM
Justin Boland
@Hubert:
Definitely down for an interview. I love talking this stuff out with people and being forced to question my assumptions.
Grab your avatar at Gravatar.
My name is Justin Boland and I work for
Aug 21, 2009 at 11:02 PM
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