Kylie - Tension (Album XVI)

[FetchFugly]

Taylor aside, who else can you name?

It is pretty common though to have a few vinyl colour variants, maybe a picture disc, an alternate cover, a cassette, a standard CD, a deluxe CD...

Steps are the obvious one but a lot of the pop groups do the individual cassette or CD edition for each member. Little Mix definitely did, the likes of Mcfly, Five Seconds of Summer have I believe. I might be wrong but were the K-pop acts the first to do this kind of thing?

It isn't just the pure pop acts. Jessie Ware usurpers The Lottery Winners also had an obnoxious amount of variants.

 

[Jark]

Taylor aside, who else can you name?

literally everyone is at it. Olivia has 5 vinyl variants on her US store just to give one example. Jessie had at least 3 vinyls if memory serves. Lana had at least 7, possibly more. Dua and Billie both got their #1 singles in the week they shipped their cassettes...

 

[Jark]

this is how the industry makes money these days so I really don't see the issue.

 

[FetchFugly]

It feels like Disco was one of the first yo be ridiculously overformatted, though.

I see she’s just released a new digital edition with two bonus tracks too

Remixes on these digital editions doesn't bother me, but actual new songs is a bit annoying. It really does make you feel like leaving it until a year down the line when the dust has settled, you know what is on what, and it is all probably less than half the price.

 

[Jark]

presumably Heavenly Body (4:22) and Drum (3:31) will hit streaming this Friday

 

[Eddie]

Remixes on these digital editions doesn't bother me, but actual new songs is a bit annoying. It really does make you feel like leaving it until a year down the line when the dust has settled, you know what is on what, and it is all probably less than half the price.

I told myself this is what I would do with Tension after the Guest List Edition of Disco (but then I bought two copies of the POP-UP edition).

Also for anyone who hasn't bitten yet (including me) the extended mixes edition is available on Amazon for a tenner now.

 

[Devil]

A band like Steps with seemingly no other business ventures would surely fold without multiple physicals to help bolster sales.

Hardly. The last two Steps album scanned about 25/30k worth of physicals, and not all of them would be multiples. I’d assume it’s more the arena tours, tour merchandise and festivals that make them money rather than 15k of physicals every two years.

 

[Eddie]

presumably Heavenly Body (4:22) and Drum (3:31) will hit streaming this Friday

They had better. Given that I've heard Drum already I am reluctant to fork out a fiver for one track.

 

[Devil]

Anyhoo, 40k is great and she has a shit at 60k for the week. Should comfortably be 55k+ anyway which is great.

 

[Eddie]

Hardly. The last two Steps album scanned about 25/30k worth of physicals, and not all of them would be multiples. I’d assume it’s more the arena tours, tour merchandise and festivals that make them money rather than 15k of physicals every two years.

But they wouldn't be charting anywhere near as high without them so in turn, their profile would be much lower.

 

[Devil]

Yes it gives them a high chart position for one week; it has very limited impact on their financial situation, which is fuelled by selling tens of thousands (or hundreds if an arena tour) of concert tickets. They wouldn’t fold without a few vinyl variants.

 

[Eddie]

Yes it gives them a high chart position for one week; it has very limited impact on their financial situation, which is fuelled by selling tens of thousands (or hundreds if an arena tour) of concert tickets. They wouldn’t fold without a few vinyl variants.

But higher chart positions give them greater visibility which in turn leads to higher attendances at their tours (surely it's a bit chicken and egg?).

With so little money to be made in music these days, isn't that the primary goal anyway? To give the impression that an act is more popular than they actually are.

 

[Jark]

she has a shit at 60k

 

[FetchFugly]

They had better. Given that I've heard Drum already I am reluctant to fork out a fiver for one track.

I would be quite pleased to have a shiny HQ version of Drum at some point though. Hopefully Heavenly Body is a good one too - do we have hot credits for them yet?

 

[Jark]

Hardly. The last two Steps album scanned about 25/30k worth of physicals, and not all of them would be multiples. I’d assume it’s more the arena tours, tour merchandise and festivals that make them money rather than 15k of physicals every two years.

well every vinyl makes an easy tenner in profit so 15k vinyl (on the modest side) is 150k in revenue - for an act like Steps that can fund a couple of music videos (with change), or for Kylie a whole album's worth of visualisers...

 

[lolly]

I'd say it helps Steps indirectly - there is cachet to that #1 album which creates hype and headlines for the tours. But I agree with Devil in that it isn't the album sales that sustains them.

 

[Eddie]

I would be quite pleased to have a shiny HQ version of Drum at some point though. Hopefully Heavenly Body is a good one too - do we have hot credits for them yet?

Apparently the final version of Drum is a bit different and Heavenly Body appears to be getting some good word of mouth.

I kind of wish we had got Running instead of Drum though.

 

[Jark]

Heavenly Body is a bit of a hit, big euphoric 90s piano house vibes quite similar to Tension.

 

[Jark]

singles midweeks

39 Tension
52 Hold On To Now
54 Padam

without ACR Padam would be top 30 at least

 

[Eddie]

Heavenly Body is a bit of a hit, big euphoric 90s piano house vibes quite similar to Tension.

How have you heard it?

 

[Devil]

singles midweeks

39 Tension
52 Hold On To Now
54 Padam

without ACR Padam would be top 30 at least

With a bit of luck all three can remain top 75, would be nice to get a third charting single. Padam has a chance to get onto SCR if it holds up (they reset on the Friday), and a climb this big just give it a fighting chance to end the week up 25% on streaming.

 

[Eddie]

If it goes back onto SCR does that give it a potential chart life span of another ten weeks or is that not how it works?

 

[lolly]

So that digital version with the two new tracks is a fiver? I think I may actually buy it. How much were they charging for the regular and deluxe (which seems a bit LESS deluxe now) initially?

 

[Eddie]

I want all five bonus tracks on one physical edition but I'm not gonna get it, am I?

 

[lolly]

I want all five bonus tracks on one physical edition but I'm not gonna get it, am I?

Which are the other three?

 

[Eddie]

That would put it at 16 tracks which matches Disco's deluxe edition.

 

[lolly]

Which are the other three?

Sorry, you said physical - I thought you meant digitally.

 

[Eddie]

Which are the other three?

The deluxe three.

 

[lolly]

It will probably happen anyway, won't it?

 

[Eddie]

Yes. I'll just be patient. I've done my bit with the POP-UP vinyl.

 

[lolly]

Meanwhile my Royal Mail tracked bundle which had an estimated delivery of early Saturday afternoon appears to have gone AWOL with no updates since then.

 

[Sheena]

Remixes on these digital editions doesn't bother me, but actual new songs is a bit annoying. It really does make you feel like leaving it until a year down the line when the dust has settled, you know what is on what, and it is all probably less than half the price.

Which is one of the things that screwed the industry in the first place. A committed physical buyer like me would mostly never get a CD when it came out because of the inevitable reissue.

 

[lolly]

Presumably companies know they will make far more (and get that high first week placing) from those people who do buy multiple copies, than what they lose from those who think 'no, I'll leave it a while'. Because I bet a lot of them don't anyway - and these days will still contribute to the chart via streaming.

 

[octophone]

That's such a boot in the nuts for anyone who bought the deluxe CD for £16. Oh, here's the whole thing and two more songs that would easily have fitted on to it for a fiver.

That said, if someone could tell me the file format (mp3? FLAC? WAV?), it would very helpful...

 

[Eddie]

I downloaded the singles and they were in MP3 and WAV I think.

 

[lolly]

I particularly enjoy how they stretched the 'deluxe' album to a double cassette for those three extra tracks, just to differentiate it enough for the fans who had already bought the four different single cassettes already. God forbid you have more than 20 minutes on each side!

 

[Eddie]

It's not like anyone will be playing them! They might as well sell blank tapes.

 

[Jark]

How have you heard it?

do you believe
do you believe in
magic
magic
MAGIC​

 

[octophone]

she has a shit at 60k for the week.

Wouldn't want the poor woman constipated, I'd better go buy that download...

 

[Devil]

If it goes back onto SCR does that give it a potential chart life span of another ten weeks or is that not how it works?

Stays on SCR for three and then the standard post 9 week rules kick in (if it’s fallen three weeks in a row, it is sent back to ACR). So essentially it will give it three more weeks, which would probably see it do a 35-48-55 type thing before dropping off.