Friday, March 25, 2011

Chinese Democracy Can Now Be Yours For Just $1.99


via Blabbermouth
BEST BUY, which was the exclusive US retailer for Axl Rose's decade-plus-in-the-making album Chinese Democracy, is offering a special deal on copies of the CD. You can now purchase the album via the bestbuy.com web site for just $1.99.

Chinese Democracy was a commercial disappointment upon its release in November 2008, selling just 614,000 copies in the US so far, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

The CD was officially certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on February 3, 2009 for shipments in the United States in excess of one million copies.

Best Buy paid $14 million for 1.6 million copies of the album, according to Hits.

Aside from Billboard and Spinner interviews and answering a number of fan questions at a GN'R message boards, singer Axl Rose has done no promotion for the album.

Guitarist Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal threw cold water on remarks by fellow Guns axeman Dj Ashba, who was quoted as saying at a party in Los Angeles late last year that the band was "throwing around a bunch of ideas" for a new album. Thal took to his Facebook page to set the record straight, saying, "We've yet to get in a room and write as a band. (I) know Dj mentioned something about a new album, but don't want y'all expecting anything soon. Other than old unreleased songs, songs need to be written, jammed, recorded, tweaked, re-worked, re-recorded, mixed, re-mixed, mastered, re-mastered, art, new art, label approval, a game plan from the label that Axl approves . . . not as simple when it's on such a big scale . . . Just don't want ya getting frustrated if a GN'R album doesn't happen quick."

Chinese Democracy came out 15 years after its predecessor, 1993's all-covers-album "The Spaghetti Incident?". It took more than a decade to record, during which every original member of the band except Rose was replaced and four different producers were used.

Nevertheless, Rose hinted in a 2002 interview that the lengthy sessions for the record had left him with enough material for two follow-ups.

Discussion.

2 comments:

Mack Arillo said...

Rebecca Black "Friday"

single + video total production cost: < $2,000
selling price of single on iTunes: 99 cents

Guns N' Roses Chinese Democracy

album total production cost (no videos): $14 million
selling price of album on BESTBUY.com: $1.99

Anonymous said...

After talking with one of the head Media guys at work (Best Buy), I found out a few little things that I didn't know about CD and the release. Here are a few:


- The exclusive deal was in talks long before we heard any rumors about it

- The reason the 2 other copies didn't come out was because after the exclusive deal was signed, Axl and Gn'R wanted more money for the different/extra copies and BB said "No."

- The CD and Vinyl copies of Chinese Democracy are $1.99 at Best Buy. Not 'ON SALE'. Just $1.99 now

- The deal was signed for CD and any subsequent albums, so, Best Buy has first grabs at any future Gn'R albums