Gorillaz - Song Machine

[thespider]

Song Machine has dropped from number 2 in its first week to number 33, just behind the re-release of What's The Story Morning Glory.

THE BLUR v OASIS RIVALRY IS ALIVE AND WELL IN 2020! BRING IT!

[Neal Zeal]

Went in at #7 on the global album chart with first week sales of 73,000.
So about 25% sold in the UK.
248,000 for B Springsteen.
www.mediatraffic.de/albums.htm

[idreamofpikas]

Went in at #7 on the global album chart with first week sales of 73,000.
So about 25% sold in the UK.
248,000 for B Springsteen.
www.mediatraffic.de/albums.htm

Pretty disappointing compared to the Humanz (260k),the Now Now (129k) and Magic Whip (124k). Damon's Every Day Robots even got 65k in its first week, thought that was 6years ago.

Obviously sales are now secondary to streams, but Damon has got to be a little pissed about how poor this album has been marketed in comparison to the last two Gorillaz albums. Jamie and the studio seemed to have dropped the ball on a project that is being praised by a lot of critics, is loved by the fanbase but is struggling to get any traction outside of that. Same goes for Merie Merie land, a project that should have done better numbers than it did considering the critics response and the opinions of his more dedicated fans.

Damon's likely not going to be ruthless at his age and start wielding the axe, but it seems he has been let down by his own team. Yesterday the video of the new single was taken down because Jamie had not bothered to check with Rockstar if he could use footage of GTAV for the video.

The positives are the streaming figures for the album on Spotify, (not Great but the album already has over 100 million streams) and Gorillaz youtube channel (the new album has seen a large increase in the Gorillaz catalogue on that platform). Also a tour next year will make the project more profitable and if the Netflix film ever materializes a potential exposure to new fans.

[Neal Zeal]

Went in at #7 on the global album chart with first week sales of 73,000.
So about 25% sold in the UK.
248,000 for B Springsteen.
www.mediatraffic.de/albums.htm

Pretty disappointing compared to the Humanz (260k),the Now Now (129k) and Magic Whip (124k). Damon's Every Day Robots even got 65k in its first week, thought that was 6years ago.

Obviously sales are now secondary to streams, but Damon has got to be a little pissed about how poor this album has been marketed in comparison to the last two Gorillaz albums. Jamie and the studio seemed to have dropped the ball on a project that is being praised by a lot of critics, is loved by the fanbase but is struggling to get any traction outside of that. Same goes for Merie Merie land, a project that should have done better numbers than it did considering the critics response and the opinions of his more dedicated fans.

Damon's likely not going to be ruthless at his age and start wielding the axe, but it seems he has been let down by his own team. Yesterday the video of the new single was taken down because Jamie had not bothered to check with Rockstar if he could use footage of GTAV for the video.

The positives are the streaming figures for the album on Spotify, (not Great but the album already has over 100 million streams) and Gorillaz youtube channel (the new album has seen a large increase in the Gorillaz catalogue on that platform). Also a tour next year will make the project more profitable and if the Netflix film ever materializes a potential exposure to new fans.

Good points. I think perhaps the biggest problem has been too many singles in too little time, so none really had the chance for decent radio exposure. Releasing just two (or three max) before the album would prob have propelled it to much bigger sales. I'm still not that familiar with the album but I get the impression that the Peter Hook song could have been a big airplay hit, maybe even reaching Radio 2 (as well as the smaller/indie stations) which usually makes a huge difference.

[baxter]

I have no idea how to even judge success nowadays in the music industry. Albums can get to number 1 whilst selling hardly anything by old standards.

Desole is on at the moment - what a song! Amazing vibe and arrangement.

[John_d]

Went in at #7 on the global album chart with first week sales of 73,000.
So about 25% sold in the UK.
248,000 for B Springsteen.
www.mediatraffic.de/albums.htm

Pretty disappointing compared to the Humanz (260k),the Now Now (129k) and Magic Whip (124k). Damon's Every Day Robots even got 65k in its first week, thought that was 6years ago.

Obviously sales are now secondary to streams, but Damon has got to be a little pissed about how poor this album has been marketed in comparison to the last two Gorillaz albums. Jamie and the studio seemed to have dropped the ball on a project that is being praised by a lot of critics, is loved by the fanbase but is struggling to get any traction outside of that. Same goes for Merie Merie land, a project that should have done better numbers than it did considering the critics response and the opinions of his more dedicated fans.

Damon's likely not going to be ruthless at his age and start wielding the axe, but it seems he has been let down by his own team. Yesterday the video of the new single was taken down because Jamie had not bothered to check with Rockstar if he could use footage of GTAV for the video.

The positives are the streaming figures for the album on Spotify, (not Great but the album already has over 100 million streams) and Gorillaz youtube channel (the new album has seen a large increase in the Gorillaz catalogue on that platform). Also a tour next year will make the project more profitable and if the Netflix film ever materializes a potential exposure to new fans.

I don't think this was ever intended to be an album project. In fact I was a bit surprised to hear an album would be released. Sales have collapsed across the board (as proven by the fact that "disapointing" sales have still got this album to #2). So I am pretty sure any album sales at all are a bonus. Isolating just Aries and a couple of other songs would have made this a more normal singles/album kind of project and would have had IMO very slim returns - a third new Gorillaz album in 4 yeras - so what. They got great returns from scarcity and big gaps between the albums but that tactic is now exhausted. They needed to reinvigorate the way Gorillaz music was being released and I think they've done terrifically well to do that.

For me, the live show has to now kick on and be world class. I'm not sure the Humanz show was quite world class despite it presumably being very profitable and headlining many festivals. I think the U2 show is the benchmark. "Song Machine Live" has to entertain and sort of amaze. I get the feeling they are working quite hard on it.

The Valley of the Pagans video looked strongly like creative burn out on Jamie's part. The aim was probably to make a video while doing the bare minimum. Excusable, as so many of these videos have been superb. I'm incredibly surprised rights weren't sought from Rockstar - were did you see that? That *IS* a case of the team letting them down.

Lastly, Merrieland was very niche. I don't think the songs were as compelling as the first album. My wife is a casual fan who accompanied me to TGTBATQ live show. She remarked that there was noticeable (for her) leap in quality in the second half of the show when they performed first album songs.

[dougharrison]

Has anybody still not received their order from the official store? I got an email on the 26th saying it has been despatched and not received anything, with an estimate of 1-3 days (being UK based).

Have tried emailing customer services twice now and only received token thank you for your email replies. Not had an issue using Gorillaz (or any other Blur related project) official sites before.

[stephen]

Do you really think management are bothered about chart positions? Measurement of success from their side I imagine is $$$ and if it's been a good return for them

[lumaka]

Music Week: Gorillaz co-manager Niamh Byrne talks the Song Machine campaign

[Rubi]

Yesterday the video of the new single was taken down because Jamie had not bothered to check with Rockstar if he could use footage of GTAV for the video.

No way!

That's elementary. You're using footage of GTA V for all of your video, you don't even check with the studio behind the game? Jeez... Of course they were gonna take it down.

[Rubi]

Anyway, I don't agree that Song Machine hasn't been promoted properly. The campaign on Instagram and YouTube has been huge. Most artists don't even care for this much publicity.

The promo videos for the singles have also been relatively OK. Obviously the budget is minimal so you can't have another Feel Good Inc. or Saturnz Barz, but they've mostly been enjoyable and creative.

If the album dropped to #33 it's because the demographic that listens to Gorillaz doesn't care about physical copies and just streams the songs on Spotify or Apple Music. I haven't even ordered the physical copy myself yet.

[bugman]

Has anybody still not received their order from the official store? I got an email on the 26th saying it has been despatched and not received anything, with an estimate of 1-3 days (being UK based).

Have tried emailing customer services twice now and only received token thank you for your email replies. Not had an issue using Gorillaz (or any other Blur related project) official sites before.

im still waiting for my deluxe cd....3 weeks.....

[dougharrison]

im still waiting for my deluxe cd....3 weeks.....

Did they say it had shipped already?

[dougharrison]

Music Week: Gorillaz co-manager Niamh Byrne talks the Song Machine campaign

An interesting read thanks for that. Something that should have crossed my mind much quicker than it has, is that the collaborative nature does make it a natural platform for streaming. By means of a less current example, but I can imagine paid fans who wouldn't dream of buying a Gorillaz album, but would want to hear we've got the power. Or elution John fans who aren't really going to care about slowthai and slaves etc etc

[Rubi]

My god, I'm in love with the bonus tracks. Perhaps Simplicity is the only track I don't care that much about, but even that has its moments.

The production and instrumentation on this album is amazing. And all the guest appearances are spot on. Damon's done it.