British pop star Estelle has watched her new album, Shine, plummet down the US music charts after her record label, Warner Brothers, had it yanked from iTunes. The decision to remove the album from the download giant was apparently made to force fans to buy the entire album, rather than just singles, a move many other artists have made, including Jay-Z and most recently Kid Rock, who shares the same label as Estelle. However, turning ones back on iTunes has it’s repercussions and both Estelle’s album and single, American Boy, are feeling the effects. American Boy was in the top 10 before it’s removal on iTunes and was #11 on Billboard’s official singles chart.
Since being taken from iTunes, the single has dropped to #37 and the album has fallen to #159, after peaking at #38. A Warner spokesman told Billboard Magazine the removal of Shine from iTunes was part of a broad range of strategies “uniquely tailored to each artist and their fanbase in an effort to optimise revenues and promote long-term artist development”.
The album is still available on iTunes in the UK, and on other download services in the US, including Amazon, Napster and Rhapsody.
she’s doing well over here.
i wonder why they decided to do that? thats a big drop.
Kid Rock’s album debuted at #1 and is doing well despite not being available on iTunes so I think they are hoping the same will happen with Estelle.
oh ok. thanks for explaining.
Poor Estelle. She’s suffering from the effects of being a black musician whose music isn’t strictly American-style r&b. Kid Rock can sell records because a) he’s been around for a while and b) his new single sounds country (which seems to be the new go-to genre for fading white singers) which opens the door for country fans to want his album. Nowadays, you have to appeal to a large group of white consumers to make it “American Boy” was a double-edged sword for Estelle because featuring Kanye got attention, but it then makes everyone assume she’s an r&b singer–and you know r&b singers don’t sell records anymore. Hopefully, based on the fact that my local alternative rock station has been playing a Kanye-less version of “American Boy”, her label realizes they need to show she isn’t an r&b singer because she’s black.
I agree with Angela.
Even tho I hate hate hate radio and TV for the mattter I’ve noticed the trend as well for American R&B artists. They have no market. They are either a crossover success like Bee and Usher and Alicia or no one knows their name. But then we have the twisted sister of having white artists take ginormous amount of credit singing being hip and singing black music. Robin Thicke, Justin, Joss, Amy…I mean it’s ri-damn-diculuous. And where are the men?
Ray J, Chris Brown, Lil Bow-Wow, Soldier Boy, Young Berg, and all the other ridiculously small men sound like they sing for the lollipop guild.
All we got now is Lil Wayne? I’m sorry …but I’m a grown up sista and I don’t feel comfortable talkin bout I’m a little Wayne fan. OK…*Rant Over*
I accept that music is different nowadays; but Estelle is a good artist. I’m glad that she’s at least experiencing success across the pond.
I heard that artist’s get ripped off Itunes anyway. Unless you are willing to be on tour 8 months out of the year, today’s artist’s will not make any money. That’s why they are all acting and looking at movie roles. It’s a way to keep your name in lights and its an easy check compared to the hustle of singing, paying managers, cutting albums, hiring producers and songwriters, and being away from friends and family for long periods of time.
I like Estelle and her style, I’m sorry to hear that. I guess this economy is effecting every one in SOME way. I am surprised they did that b/c ITunes really helps some people.
That is dumb! All they had to do was just make the tracks available as “album only” and they could have left it on Itunes. People could have been forced to buy it that way. That is so odd. I agree with the above poster – it seems like R&B has no real market outside of a few key artists. So sad.
I mean downloading songs is not supporting the artists if you ask me , i have her album and i love it she is very talented but americans loves a certain type of music and she does not fall in the category nevertheless she is very talented :)
I love Estelle’s album. It’s really good.
However, being a new artist in the states, she needs all the exposure she can get. She does not have Kid Rock’s fan base or notoriety yet. iTunes isn’t killing artist, in the internet and labels leaking albums albums at least a week in advance. I downloaded Estelle’s album a week before her release….I loved it, so I bought the cd. Most people don’t buy once they’ve downloaded it. Music is available on the internet before iTunes has it, so quit blaming them.
@ Angela
Kid Rock’s music has always had some country in it. He had a duet with Faith Hill on a previous album. You made it seem like this was a new turn for him….it’s not.
I think the label did her a dis-service with that move. I personally think her music is more pop or international than r&b. People are not buying cds a lot these days for the most part people download music legally and illegally. The only reason I bought her cd is because I like it and to listen to it in my car, if it wasn’t for the car thing I would just listen to it on my mptree player.
That was a bad move on their parts. Estelle is not as established or have the fan base as Kid Rock. So she will not have the same success as him by taking her music off of i-Tunes. Sad for her, hopefully she can make up the difference in touring.
Lola–I know Kid Rock has always had a county twang, but he was reppin Detroit and singing rap-metal from the moment he came out the gate back with “Bawitdaba” in 1998. Now he’s gone really country. And like I said, country music is the new genre for white artists to regenerate their careers after the pop markets turned away from them (eg Kelly Clarkson, Jessica Simpson, etc). Black artists have no options anymore.
Stephanie I am so glad that you posted this article. I thought that I was losing my mind when I went back to iTunes a few days ago to purchase her song…it was there one minute and gone the next. I actually wanted the entire cd, however, I only saw the single American Boy – which is also great. Oh well I will go to Best Buy or Amazon.com.
@Harlem Chic,
You are so right. I’m 26 and I just feel too grown for lil wayne lol!! And it is amazing that white artists get major props for doing “black music” but black artists need to appeal to everybody other than black folks.
I love Estelle’s album and yes I downloaded the album to my Zune, i paid for it. The record labels need to WAKE up out of this fairy tale dream they have been in for the last few years. Downloading is the future, CD’s are OVER. It’s a natural progression so they need to adjust. So what if ppl are buying just one single, that’s a dollar right? It’s better than them downloading it and not paying ANYTHING!!!
Although she’s been out for a while she’s new to the US so she needs all of the exposure she can get.
Big business and technology has drastically changed the music industry. Warner, like all of the other record companies, are trying to adjust.
RnB has always been a smaller market than country or pop/rock. What is new today is a disconnect between the artist and the market via radio. Some record companies do not want to waste the time promoting music that corporate owned radio staions (Clear Channel) won’t play (payola). Even with the growth of digital music (mostly teens and 20 somethings), most folks (30 & up) still depend on the radio stations to bring them new music. Well, it ain’t happening folks.
Clear Channel make their money by selling advertising more efficiently than privately owned radio stations. Most of us here the same songs & the same DJs EVERY day from coast to coast because Clear Channel gaurantees a certain consumer listens to hear the advertising that they are selling. Privately owned radio stations in most of America could not compete with Clear Channel and have sold out or folded. THIS IS WHY THERE ARE FEW BLACK OWNED RADIO STATIONS OR STATIONS THAT PLAY REAL RNB MUSIC.
Big business and technology has drastically changed the business of music but the art of making music continues. If you are really hungry for NEW and Ole School RnB, then you must listen to internet radio stations.
http://www.live365.com/index.live
Most of the stations are free. Click on RnB/Urban. Page up & down through the hundreds of stations listed or use the search box to target the type of music you want…”70s soul” “neo soul” “slow jams”
Thanks Pearls revealed. Your comment was highly informative. I was a Communications major in college and it was predicted that corporate conglomerates would strangle individuality. All we see now is same, same, same. It’s up to these artists to be about their business cause these companies don’t care about talent; they care about ROI’s. (Return on Investment)
that was a bum move.
co sign harlem chick
I hope she can climb up i love estelle