It appears that the latest trend in music these days is the “Pushback.” All of us have seen some of our favorite artist change their album release dates several times. The only problem is many don’t succeed; some albums have poor sales after release and others are simply shelved. There are many factors in why the pushback is so popular today compared to the past.
Poor Choice in Single: The Record Label, in most cases, chooses the singles that are released. Sadly, many don’t do a great job in their selection. For example, Ciara released three singles (“Go Girl”, “Never Ever”, and “Love, Sex, and Magic”) before her album saw the light of day. This ultimately killed the sales of her latest cd, “Fantasy Ride.”
Album Leaks: Another popular reason why albums are pushed back are premature releases via the internet. Many, if not all, cds are leaked online days if not weeks before the official release date. The labels either have the artist go back in to the studio and record more material (See: Usher, Keri Hilson, Brandy) or they push up the release date (See: Beyonce….only Beyonce).
Artist Can’t Reclaim Their Sound: Many artists, especially popular artist, can’t seem to get a hit. They try and try to create buzz singles to see how fans react and it just doesn’t work (See: Monica, Amerie, Teairra Mari and Kelly Rowland). This, in my opinion, is the most desirable option because at least these artists don’t have too many flop albums on the shelves. (See: Bow Wow, Jagged Edge, and Kelis)
Beyonce is released that week: Yes this is a sad, sad, sad problem. Many artist wouldn’t dare come out the same day as Bey! (lol)
All in all, album push backs are very detrimental to album sales. There are very few artists to overcome this problem. I personally feel if an album is pushed back too far, the record label should definitely consider repackaging. For example, Ciara should have gone back in the studio, recorded new tracks and changed the name of her album. It appears that when a title of an album is constantly promoted but never comes out, it leaves a bad taste in the fans mouths and they have no interest in buying it when it comes out because they feel it’s overdue. (See: Michelle Williams, Brandy, and Mario)
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