Stealing Vs. Inspiring

steal

   [steel]  Show IPA ,verb,stole, sto·len, steal·ing, noun

verb (used with object)

1.

to take (the property of another or others) withoutpermission or right, especially secretly or by force:

in·spi·ra·tion

   [in-spuh-rey-shuhn]  Show IPA

noun

2.

something inspired, as an idea.

THE EVIDENCE 

                              

One of Beyonce Lastest Videos "Countdown" vs. Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, \

Beyonce Performance at the billboard awards VS.Timi Papp

Before and after Beyonce did her performance at the Billboard awards, when asked about her performance Beyonce never mentioned her performance of being inspired by Timi. I mean if someone ask you about your performance before performing and you wanted to give them a little something about what your going to do, wouldn't one say something along the lines "I don't want to give to much, I want it to be a surprise, but all I can say is, I was inspired by Timi". Now that would show some kind of credit where credit is due. Instead Beyonce never mentioned Timi and did her performance as if it was her".

We also can look at Beyonces  hit single "Single ladies". In the video below you clearly see three old ladies, dancing in sync with each other. You notice by the clarity of the video, the style of clothing, and hairstyles that you will see the video is from the 1960s-1970s. The video is actually choreography from a Broadway play by the famous Bob Fosse. After it switches to Beyonce, doing the same exact moves, with nothing different in the dance routine. 

Broadway choreographer Bob Fosse

VS.

Beyonce - Single Ladies 

Dont get me wrong, there is good out of this. I mean it did spread like wild fire that the choreography wasn't from Beyonce, and was in fact by Bob. So it does give Bob some light, for people to do history and find out who he is, since he is not part of our generation anymore. It helps sheds light to him. After the "Single Ladies" video, EVERYONE was doing the dance moves, fro, Saturday Night Live, to people uploading themselves doing it at home.  When going to the Beyonce concert back in 09' she had a little segment before she performed with different people doing it in their living room/ rooms etc. 

This will always be my favorite single ladies video though 

You be the judge? Is Beyonce really inspired by these dance routines that have once been done? Or is she STEALING dance routines from past dancers, hoping no one will find out? You be the judge!

Concert TOURS!

Another way that an artist promotes their album is by going on a US / Worldwide tour. This can be either a success or fail. Tours are not cheap now a days, and savings rates have increased, while spending has decreased. Ticket prices can range from $60-$1,000. Since it is pricey, people will want to get their monies worth, and are expecting to see a SHOW! A show meaning it includes satisfying dance routines,  and live singing (at some point). For example we will look at Britney Spears latest tour


"The Femme Fatale Tour"

In March 2011, Britney Spears had annoucned that she would be going on tour in the summer of 2011 for her "Femme Fatale" album. Before her annoucnment, she had debuted her video "Hold It Agisnt Me" (February). After the release fans continued to speculate if Britney Spears could still dance. Towards the end of the "Hold It Against Me"video 3:59 (SHOWN BELOW ), there is a break down in the song, there you see Stiffney Spears as stiff as the Tin Man from The Wized of Oz. Implementing hand gestures as if she was speaking sign language, and flipping her hair to make her "dancing " look more extreme. 

                               

Talks about Britney Spears and her "dancing" were already in blogs before her "Hold It Against Me" video". But Britneys tour was coming, and keep in mind it is known that Stifney Spears lip-syncs to her songs while performing. In the end of May 2011 right before her tour Stifney Spears had a way to redeem herself from the lack of her dancing. Stiftney had performed twice at the Billboard Music Awards with Rihanna, and Nicki Minaj. But again, during Spears performance with Rihanna, she was still stiff, and lip-syncing when not doing any hard choreography. Later in the evening Spears performed once again with Nicki Minaj. Stifney came out prancing around stage and shaking her blonde extensions once again. 

Rihanna ft. Britney Spears- S&M Remix (Billboard 2011 Performance) 

                           

Britney Spears Ft. Nicki Minaj - Till The World Ends (Billboard 2011 Performance)

                           

So why am I bringing all this up? These performances (videos) demonstrate the lack of talent from Stiffney Spears. Not only did I notice the lack of talent in performances but so did her other fans. Her "Femme Fatale" tour struggled in sales. It struggled so much that tickets were sold at a discounted price on groupoun. Im not saying these performances are the REASON that tickets ended up on groupon, but it is a factor. PEOPLE  pay to see TALENT!  For Stiffney Spears tour she might as well have walked out to the middle of the stage, take a seat, and play a boombox with her Femme Fatale setlist, and enjoy it with the audience. (Britney did sing live a couple times during her Femme Fatale setlist)

If only Godney Spears was on top of her performances again bringing in those numbers and ticket sales!

                 

Does Album ART WORK help sales?

Artist are doing a lot of different things when putting out their albums.  The new trend in RnB/Pop albums is coming out with a "Standard" edition and a "Deluxe" edition. The Deluxe edition features a different album artwork and also a few extra tracks. For example Rihannas upcoming album "Talk That Talk" which debuts November 21, 2011.




The Standard Edition

The Deluxe Edition

Now a days. I believe having both type of albums help an artist INCREASE their album sells. Die hard fans have more reason to buy the artist album(s). From the Message board CyberTLC that I frequently visit, when Rihannas album artwork leaked online here is what one memeber had posted. 

"Omg at you editing. I'm buying both because they're different covers. Usually Ill just get the deluxe."

This quote shows that some die hard fans are willing to spend more to buy both albums, which suggests that this is a way for record labels to increase revenue from album sales

Another thing that artist have done in the past are contest with their album artwork. Janet Jackson had done this type of contest. Fans were able to create and submit their own album cover design, with four winners being chosen by Jackson herself. The first million copies of the album are published with these fan-created covers. The concept of the contest was to create an image that best celebrates Jackson's past twenty years. Images that span over twenty years of Jackson's career were made available for download for use in creating the design. Here are the designs. 


Janet Jacksons "20 Year Old" (2006)

I dont know what Jackson was thinking, I personally think these album artworks are hideous. 




Heres the Official cover which is MUCH better.

Curtis Ross Post "Maybe music isn't selling because it's no good"

When doing research i found an article by Curtis Ross. The title caught my eye "Maybe music isnt selling because its no good". In the article Ross speaks basically speaks about music in the last ten years aren't selling because MUSIC in general just isnt good. He brings up the fact that artist such as Taylor Swift and Lil Wayne are able to sell, because they have "Good Music". I completely agree that if the music is good then of course it will sell. Ross states "people will always pay for amazing, good product and the music industry just isn't bringing it at the moment." I completely agree with Ross. If there is an artist that I like, and that makes good music which isnt full of autotune, and computerized beats, then of course I would want to add it to my collection, and support the artist. Songs like "Teach Me how To Dougie" are songs that I would just download for free. Douging on the dance floor is only a fad that wont last long. Whereas songs that have in depth lyrics, last a lifetime. Who wouldn't want to listen to music from the Motown catalog? 

Powerful Image

Why are both of these images powerful? They are powerful because since we have gone digital now it is easier for us to get music. Instead of paying, individuals can easily simply click a button and the song they want now in their mp3 players (ipod image). The second image is Michael Jackson Thriller album, which is the best selling album world wide. Will any artist be able to top Michael Jacksons record breaking sales of 29x Platinum in the United States.

How I got Interested in my Topic

Everyone is interested in music, when we have problems in our life's a thing a person would do is listen to music. There are all kinds of different music, and what strikes me are the sales in the music industry. From ten years ago from now you can see a complete drop in sales. Is it because of illegal downloading? or is it because artist now a days  are putting out crap? (Auto-tune, Computerized beats etc.) versus ten years ago when artist such as Britney spears actually used raw vocals on her album. I think it will be fun doing research on what exactly we can blame.

10 Year look at Album Sales year 2000 and 2010.. Difference?

Year 2000

1. No Strings Attached / 'N Sync ~ 9,936,104

2. The Marshall Mathers LP / Eminem ~ 7,921,107

3. Oops!... I Did It Again / Britney Spears ~ 7,893,544

4. Human Clay / Creed ~ 6,587,834

5. Supernatural / Santana ~ 5,857,824

6. 1 / The Beatles ~ 5,068,300

7. Country Grammar / Nelly ~ 5,067,529

8. Black & Blue / Backstreet Boys ~ 4,289,865

9. 2001 / Dr. Dre ~ 3,992,311

10. The Writing's on the Wall / Destiny's Child ~ 3,802,165

Year 2010

1.Recovery / Eminem ~ 3,415,000

2. Need You Now / Lady Antebellum ~ 3,089,000

3. Speak Now / Taylor Swift ~ 2,960,000

4. My World 2.0 / Justin Bieber ~ 2,319,000

5. The Gift / Susan Boyle ~ 1,852,000

6. The Fame / Lady Gaga ~ 1,591,000

7. Soldier of Love / Sade ~ 1,300,000

8. Thank Me Later / Drake ~ 1,269,000

9. Raymond v. Raymond / Usher ~ 1,183,000

10.Animal / Ke$ha ~ 1,143,000

Source: Neil Scan: Nielsen provides charts and insights for both music broadcast and sales. We capture in excess of 100 million song performances on more than 2,000 radio, satellite radio, network radio, and music video channels across Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the United States. Nielsen’s tracking of music sales data is used by all major and most independent record companies as well as distribution companies, artist managers, booking agents, concert promoters, performing rights organizations, government agencies, venue owners, traditional retailers, online retailers, and digital delivery companies. Nielsen’s data on airplay and sales is featured weekly in Billboard magazine and is widely cited by numerous publications and broadcasters as the standard for music industry measurement.

http://nielsen.com/us/en/industries/media-entertainment/music.html