I know we're disappointed on her Cd sales.

[ALS]

There is a major change in the Music industry going on and as the singer Bob Dylan says, Times are a changing.

Hello people over 30. You had record collections, tapes, CDs. Then you downloaded music into your computers or devices. Well, guess what? Kids today don’t want any of that. They’re happy to pay an annual fee and “stream” it all. They are not buying CD or downloading anything. What the heck am I supposed to do with twenty boxes of 45s and a room full of CDs????

According to Nielsen, during the first six months of 2014, sales of all albums both physical and digital were down 14.9%. And sales just of digital downloads (from iTunes mostly) were down 11.6%.

But dig this: sales of CDs were down 19.6%.

What was up? Streaming jumped 50%. And sales of vinyl LPs were up 40%.

Music-biz-alarm-all-albums-down-14-1st-six-months-2014-streaming-way-up-kids-dont-want-to-own-the-music (http://www.showbiz411.com/2014/07/03/music-biz-alarm-all-albums-down-14-1st-six-months-2014-streaming-way-up-kids-dont-want-to-own-the-music)

Her older fans who are 40 and over, may make her uneasy because she doesn't understand the fascination they have with her, are the same ones that are physically ordering and buying her Cd's. :)

[Lucas]

I think we all know the situation in music industry changed much, and still changing. And of course all singers feel it, including Alizée.

But in case of Alizée, this is not the main reason.

[Antares]

While the younger generation is more reluctant to pay for music, this is a problem that should affect all artists more or less equally on a percentage basis. Other artists still have successful CD sales despite a trend towards streaming, so there must be something more unique to Alizée's situation that is causing disappointing sales. A lack of popularity is the most convenient answer, but the reason for this decline in popularity is harder to pinpoint. Perhaps older fans have lost interest (as suggested by negative critical reception of Blonde), and new younger fans are harder to gain because they've already missed 14 years of Alizée history and there are newer artists who are more likely to catch the media spotlight.

[Junkmale]

Her older fans who are 40 and over, may make her uneasy because she doesn't understand the fascination they have with her, are the same ones that are physically ordering and buying her Cd's. :)


ALS

Just curious but i can't recall her ever saying that she feels uneasy about fans over 40?? Is there a direct quote of that somewhere that i've missed?

[Scruffydog777]

Well to be sure, cd sales are more than ever affected by streaming and piracy. But I think they made a couple of major mistakes with this album, an album that I think has ( at this point it's more like had) potential. The purpose of rushing this album out was to take advantage of her new found popularity gained from her performance on DALS. Well shouldn't they have come up with some more videos of her songs featuring her dancing? I think they should have come out with at least 3 music vicdeos from that album which should have been released at least by the time of the album release if not earlier.

Another mistake they made was the same one they made with Psych and putting too much focus on the theme song of the album, a song that was not the best on the album. You add to the fact that it wasn't that good a video and it's no wonder the album isn't doing well. They did some performances of Alcaline, a very good song in my opinion, but these were very forgetable performances. I thought the dance routines were good, but it was wasted by the way she looked. Were we really supposed to be amused when she sprayed water on that i phone? Now I really would have liked it if that woman had got up and the two of them started kick boxing. That would have made for an interesting video as opposed to the boring one it was.

She hasn't learned a thing since she left MF/LB and has too much say in her own career and is running it right into the ground. All she should do is sing and dance and leave all the choreography, all the planning and especially all the costume design to someone else.

I think Sony has done a lot to promote her, but they are going about it the wrong way. While they are putting lots of effort into promoting the lack luster "Blonde" and promoting the good song Alcaline, although it in a forgetable way, the rest of a good album is being left behind.

Like I said, they should have had at least 3 videos made for this album. Alcaline was a great song and would be the strongest candidate for one. I think K.O. too would have been another good one, maybe even featuring some scenes of her boxing. I'd love to see that.

So I think it's a good album and sales should have been much better, if they had done a better job in the way they promoted it to the public.

[lefty12357]

“Blonde” is more mainstream pop. The type of audience that Alizée gained from DALS is not necessarily into mainstream pop. I have a feeling that her DALS popularity has not significantly contributed to sales of “Blonde”. Looking at the numbers, sales of her new CD appear to be about what you would expect from her small but loyal fan base that has stood with her through it all. Hopefully, the DALS audience will show up for the live performances where she has promised to do a lot of dancing.

When Alizée burst on the scene, she was a phenomenon. A combination of the right girl, the right music and the right timing, along with many other factors, allowed it to happen. When you look at sales from her second album, you can see that the phenomenon was already starting to fade. You can’t engineer a phenomenon because there are too many variables out of your control. All you can do is to do your best and hope you hit the timing right. Of course, the changing realities of the music industry are also playing a big part in all of this. And unfortunately for me, the whole "Blonde concept" promo has not been very inspiring for me.

The public generally does not like returning someone to the pedestal that they once occupied previously. They prefer someone new. That’s why DALS was such a good thing for Alizée because it exposed her to a different subset of the public that was willing to look at her as if she was new. I just don’t think her album has appealed to this subset of the public. As I mentioned before, hopefully her concert tour will draw these people out. But my guess is if they come, they will come for the dancing, and not as much for the music.

The last thing I will say is that I have liked Psyche, UEDS, 5, and the current music. They are all different styles, but I have found things to like in all of them. My interest has always been mainly for the music and I would defend all of her albums as having been worth the effort.

[Panther]

If the idea of producing this latest album was in any way prompted by a desire to cash in on her DALS success then, in my opinion, it was a fairly dumb idea to completely change her image in the process.

I think it's probably true that 'older' people buy more CDs than 'younger' people. I buy them because I have a decent hi fi system to play them on and I'm not interested in the low quality of an Mp3 download.

As for the disappointing sales more generally I don't know why that should be but I think Blonde is by far the worst album she has made to date. It doesn't sound 'new' or 'fresh' to me at all. It is stacked full of pop music cliches and sounds extremely derivative and 3rd rate to me. :(

[Junkmale]

I think too that we are all perhaps 'getting ahead of ourselves' a little?
Sales have been disappointing so far there is no denying that but we have to remember that the tour doesn't start until..what...November.
I've no doubt whatsoever that the tour will increase sales significantly. That's what tours do.
Have a little patience.

[Un-rêve]

In the old days I would buy multiple copies of Alizée's album ( atleast 15 copies ) cuz believe it or not in 2001/2002 when I first discovered her here in the UK I thought I was the only one here who was actually buying her Gourmandises album lol. Anyway there was something very special about that time as I felt I was doing something good for her and didn't really care too much if anyone else was buying her album cuz I kinda wanted her all for myself as she was my rare gem and my angel from Corsé.

Subsequently though, I joined forums such as MF International and lurked on AF for years and I realized that many fans there were also buying multiple copies of her albums such as GMD and MCE and so I realized she was special to many and wasn't just my rare gem.

Well to get to the point I still never believed back then that she would be recording albums ten years on as she is and it's great for her.. the only difference for me is I have only purchased one copy of Blonde (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd2B6SjMh_w) but I hope she will be OK with that.

[Mon Maquis]

I can tell you that Sony is expecting to make there money off the tour and the merchandise sales from the tour. The CD is mostly an ad for the tour to get attention. Any sales on the CD is just a bonus. The real concern is not really the CD sales as much as the sales of the up coming tour. If they fail to not sell out those shows, it's not going to be a good thing.

[Lucas]

Well that makes sense. You need to put out something before a tour. If they really concern on the tour, I hope they will promote it more... and not only 1 video on youtube... Really hope the budget (400.000€) is for the tour promotion.

[Scruffydog777]

I think a lot of her new DALS fans took a great interest in this album and I think that is reflected by the good number of views for the Blonde video, over 1.5 million to date. There were also a good number of registered dislikes and I'm sure there were many more viewers who weren't impressed with what they saw, but did not "express" their disappointment with a vote.

We all know by now the French public are a tough sell. So now these new fans are probably wondering what will they be seeing during this tour; will it be the DALS Alizee or the Blonde Alizee? If they think they will be getting the Blonde Alizee during this tour, they will not buy into this tour.

If they are hoping for the DALS Alizee to show up, they will be wondering exactly what they will be getting. So much of the DALS story line is gone; the intense competition between popular stars; the comradery of the group as a whole; Madonna's boy toy; the close bond formed between Alizee and Tal; the inside stories that were revealed to us; the question fo whether Alizee and Greg were an item. That's all gone now. What will they use to entertain a public that is not easily entertained? If it's the album and Alizee is calling the shots, look for most of these shows to be cancelled; not because the album isn't that good, but because of the way it will be presented to them.

But I'm encouraged by what Jacotey had posted in the Blonde tour thread,

"Alizée will be surrounded by 5 dancers on the BLONDE TOUR, in a setting inspired by a famous musical film, whose title is still kept secret... On the 18 songs that she will perform 13 choreographed. The public, they can afford for a few euros, a blonde wig. "

As far as the 5 dancers, that's totally meaningless to me. When she's packaged right, she's the only one I care to look at on that stage.

But the 13 choreographed songs along with the setting inspired by a famous musical film sounds like a great scenario. It sounds like it will be in the form of a musical play and I think that would be perfect for Alizee. One of the main reasons is because they will have to have someone outside of Alizee and Sony choreograph this show and if you take her out of the process, your chances for success increase dramatically.

Look at Les Enfoires, despite her best efforts, year after year, they put her into some great looking outfits, so with this show, I'm anticipating that who ever is choreographing it will choose outfits that will bring out the beauty that is still remaining.

So I anticipate this will be a great show, but I think they will have to sell it to the French public first in order for them to sell enough tickets and they will have to start doing it soon because I'm of the opinion that tickets are not selling well at this point and these theaters will want tickets to start selling now. What will they do to start selling this show? I think it's far too early for them to have snippets of the what they have in mind yet or is it? They will have to come up with something.

[Lucas]

Who said tickets are not selling well? Yes, it is weird dream to think she will fill big arenas, but according to her popularity, I think it is going good. In some places more, in some less.

[Scruffydog777]

At this point I believe we have zero information on whether the tickets are selling well or not. It could be sold out or there could only be a handful sold so far. I am speculating that they are not selling well for two reasons. First is they needed for this album to be successful to want people to see a concert and it apparently isn't doing well.

The second is they are depending on her new found fans, fans won through her great showing on DALS to want to see her dancing on this tour and I don't think these people will buy a ticket just because she did well back in December. I believe they will want to see first hand what they will be seeing in these shows or at least have a much better idea of what's going to happen other than that very short description that we have so far.

[Panther]

believe it or not in 2001/2002 when I first discovered her here in the UK I thought I was the only one here who was actually buying her Gourmandises album lol. Anyway there was something very special about that time as I felt I was doing something good for her and didn't really care too much if anyone else was buying her album cuz I kinda wanted her all for myself as she was my rare gem and my angel from Corsé.



I believe it because I was thinking exactly the same thing :))

Oh well, that makes a grand total of four fans from the UK that I'm aware of now. Still a fairly exclusive club I'd say ;)

[Euphoria]

Believe it or not, corporations don't pay much attention to dislikes on videos. I listen to a lot of conference calls for video game companies and they always cite the massive amounts of Youtube views they get, but they don't ever mention the like/dislike ratio.

[Lucas]

At this point I believe we have zero information on whether the tickets are selling well or not.

On site where are the tickets selled, we can see each date how it is with the places. As I said - somewhere more, somewhere less.

But personally for me... after 2 flops and and other things, it goes surprisingly good.

[Rev]

...The second is they are depending on her new found fans, fans won through her great showing on DALS to want to see her dancing on this tour and I don't think these people will buy a ticket just because she did well back in December. I believe they will want to see first hand what they will be seeing in these shows or at least have a much better idea of what's going to happen other than that very short description that we have so far.

Exactly. her new-found fans will likely want something similar to DALS. A show featuring Alizée, but not much else, may not be enough to bring them in.


Believe it or not, corporations don't pay much attention to dislikes on videos. I listen to a lot of conference calls for video game companies and they always cite the massive amounts of Youtube views they get, but they don't ever mention the like/dislike ratio.

Any press is good press... :)

[Un-rêve]

Her older fans who are 40 and over, may make her uneasy because she doesn't understand the fascination they have with her, are the same ones that are physically ordering and buying her Cd's. :)

Hahaha.. tell that to Gérard Depardieu. :D

Seriously though it's true that 11 years ago when she was just 19 years old she couldn't understand why people of all ages turned up at her concerts, but that's because she was expecting a younger audience, nonetheless we know now if we didn't then that she appreciates all her fans (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyCom4PuAHI).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O040xuq2FR0

I believe it because I was thinking exactly the same thing :))

Oh well, that makes a grand total of four fans from the UK that I'm aware of now. Still a fairly exclusive club I'd say ;)

Hehe I guess so.. btw I always liked the beach at Sandown and the last time I was there many years ago it was noted as the cleanest beach in the UK and there were Jet Ski's for hire at 20 pounds for 20 minutes. :)

[Morten_DK]

Hahaha.. tell that to Gérard Depardieu. :D

Seriously though it's true that 11 years ago when she was just 19 years old she couldn't understand why people of all ages turned up at her concerts, but that's because she was expecting a younger audience, nonetheless we know now if we didn't then that she appreciates all her

Has she said that ,I find it weird if she dance alot with her older bandmembers in that concert and do not like her older fans.


The CD sales I think major problem is spotify that kills alot of cd sales but I love the cd now I can see the text of the songs.
Back in time why do a song like A contre courant only hit 22 place on france chart ,I love that song:omg:

[daniel1985]

I believe it because I was thinking exactly the same thing :))

Oh well, that makes a grand total of four fans from the UK that I'm aware of now. Still a fairly exclusive club I'd say ;)

Make that Five! :D

[Ray4AJ]

Taylor Swift has some thoughts on the industry...

http://entertainthis.usatoday.com/2014/07/07/taylor-swift-autographs-are-obsolete/

from here...

http://online.wsj.com/articles/for-taylor-swift-the-future-of-music-is-a-love-story-1404763219?mod=wsj_streaming_latest-headlines

[Scruffydog777]

.......................................
Back in time why do a song like A contre courant only hit 22 place on france chart ,I love that song:omg:

I had not heard before that it only reached 22. That is surprising to me because I consider it one of her best songs.

If I remember my Alizée 101 correctly, one of her singles JPVA did not do well when it was released (another very good song in my opinion). In fact I believe they pulled the cds off the shelves saying there was something wrong with them.

[Fall]

Has she said that ,I find it weird if she dance alot with her older bandmembers in that concert and do not like her older fans.


I'm sure she has never said she doesn't like her older fans :)

[Un-rêve]

Has she said that ,I find it weird if she dance alot with her older bandmembers in that concert and do not like her older fans.

OK I guess "couldn't understand" wasn't the best terminology, but yeah she said in these ( the first questions in each one ;) ) interviews that she was suprised/astonished and even found it funny to see so many adults at her concert as she was always told her fans were especially children.

http://www.alizee-forum.com/content.php?720-Ici-Paris-2003-10


http://www.alizee-forum.com/content.php?727-Candy-Star-(2)-2003-10

I'm sure she has never said she doesn't like her older fans :)

Of course.. she even said she was deeply happy to see them.. 2nd question answered of this interview. ;)

http://www.alizee-forum.com/content.php?710-Stars-Live-2003-10

Back in time why do a song like A contre courant only hit 22 place on france chart ,I love that song:omg:

Yeah that was discussed in the past and many thought that ACC should've been released first as it could've reached NO.1.. but nonetheless she got to number 4 with JEAM and that's nothing to sneeze at! There's also that amazing outfit she wore during her tv performances that's most likely still attracting fans all over the world but yeah ACC and the outfit she wore there was something special too. :cool:

[ALS]

Un reve thanks for digging that interview up. It's always good to hear it straight from her mouth. I was going on what another member said in post a few years ago that she was uncomfortable with older male fans. Thanks again for clearing that point up. Scruffydog is going to be thrilled to read that interview, knowing that Alizée doesn't think that fans his age are geriatric stalkers :D

[Ray4AJ]

Thanks for those Un reve. I can't remember if I've read them before or not, but they were great to read in any case. She really is amazing.

[Fall]

Of course.. she even said she was deeply happy to see them.. 2nd question answered of this interview. ;)

http://www.alizee-forum.com/content.php?710-Stars-Live-2003-10


No need to reassure me, she's older by a few years :D
I was just sayin' to Morten_DK that she hadn't said anything to that effect, in case that's what he was thinkin'

[Morten_DK]

Thanks ,I been in germany last week.Because I love her songs like Parler du bas even that she only are 15 and if I was a fan at that time I would go to one her concerts even that I am 10 years older than she is.
But songs like Moi Lolita for me is more "teen and adult song" than for kids if they know the story from the 50's
I like what she said music do not have any age ,I also big fan of Jean Michel Jarre and he is 64