Garth Brooks

Major announcement on his website tomorrow @ 11:45 am. There is supposed to be a news conference on there with an announcement.
Hate country fine, but with inflated prices for reunions and such I can remember seeing him perform for $20 at US Air Arena. The next day I saw the Foo Fighters first head lining tour for $30.
Whatever the cost (probably low), I would recommend going to see a show for yourself. He is a true entertainer in the purest form. Got to respect the fact that he writes a majority of his music unlike some of the popular country icons (Tim, Faith, Rascal Flatts, to name a few).
Let the Country Bashing Begin.

Who bashes country music on this board? Have you ever been here before?

I love country music and I "bash" shit music and people who have exclusive deals through WalMart. Garth Brooks is shit music.

wahh, my wife left me, wahh, my ford won't start, wahh, the race is on and my nag won't git of my back, wahh, all this music fucking sounds the same. but then again, so does rap, and speed metal, and most nineties alternative, and jam bands, and gospel, and comedy central late night. i can name that it's country music within the first three notes, though.

wow, garth brooks is being a real trail-blazer… totally bringing it to the fans :roll:

Garth Brooks to release hits album

Sat Aug 18, 9:52 PM ET

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Garth Brooks may be retired from touring, but he's not slowing down.

Brooks announced Saturday that a greatest hits package called "The Ultimate Hits," with four new songs and a DVD full of videos, will be released on Nov. 6.

Brooks, 45, retired in 2001 to be a stay-at-home dad. He said he has no plans to tour, but he assured more than 200 radio executives and music retailers that he will be promoting the album.

"You're going to see us everywhere," said Brooks. "It's my job to let people know it's out there. And then after February, I'm going to go back to whatever I was doing before this."

Brooks' hits include "Friends in Low Places," "Shameless" and "Longneck Bottle."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070819/ap_en_mu/people_brooks

Hey Hoya Paranoia, if you can recall from the Live Earth show, there were a number of people putting down GB and country.
As for him being shit, it seemed a revolutionary move to have one retailer sell his music and at the lowest price (damn him). Some artists only sell their music online via their websites.
Garth does not provide online sale, itunes, or other music downloads. It is saving the consumers money.
The Ultimate Hits will feature two CDs containing four new recordings and 30 of the most popular songs from his 18-year recording career, along with a DVD of 33 music videos. Brooks said the package is likely to be discounted for a retail price of $11-14.
The Smashing Pumpkins double dish MCIS, is still $25.
Garth is aware that he will sell millions, so why screw the consumers?
IMHO he seems to be honest and is not entirely about the all mighty dollar.

Originally posted by martinrob:
As for him being shit, it seemed a revolutionary move to have one retailer sell his music and at the lowest price (damn him).

that doesn't address the main point here: his music is shit (regardless of the distribution channel and price)

Originally posted by martinrob:
Some artists only sell their music online via their websites.
Garth does not provide online sale, itunes, or other music downloads. It is saving the consumers money.

offering fewer option is rarely going to save consumers any money. one currently has to pay $8 for an entire album of his crap, vs. $0.99/track for the one or two tracks that one might want (why one would want any at all i have no idea, but bear with me here) through an online retailer. also, digital sales are better for the environment and generally put more money in the pocket of the artists. do feel free to explain why you think no online sales is a good thing.

Originally posted by martinrob:
IMHO he seems to be honest and is not entirely about the all mighty dollar.

that may well be true, i'm not familiar with his political and/or economic views. whatever these may be, it doesn't address the issue of the crapiness of his music.

Originally posted by martinrob:
Hey Hoya Paranoia, if you can recall from the Live Earth show, there were a number of people putting down GB and country.

yes, people on here frequently put down shitty artists and treacly "countrypolitan" schlock like garth brooks

but there's a lot more chatter on here praising great country music than there is pissing on nashville dreck

Garth Brooks sucks, but Chris Gaines ROCKS. He's so dreamy.

Originally posted by martinrob:
As for him being shit, it seemed a revolutionary move to have one retailer sell his music and at the lowest price (damn him). Some artists only sell their music online via their websites.
Garth does not provide online sale, itunes, or other music downloads. It is saving the consumers money.
Garth is aware that he will sell millions, so why screw the consumers?
IMHO he seems to be honest and is not entirely about the all mighty dollar.

So let's take care of Garth Brooks fans, and phuck the rest of the world in the process? Without going into a diatribe about Walmart, is that really a position you want to defend?

Because I can assure it's ONLY about the almighty, dollar, yen, euro, and any and every other currency that can line the pockets of those bastards at Walmart, but at least Garth Brooks fans who apparently didn't already have his "greatest hits" will be taken care of.

As to the merit of the music, that's subjective, and I won't judge…but to portray this as some altruistic endeavor is naive at best, Garth and every other artist make decisions based on both what's best for them and can be sustained by their relative leverage in the market place.

Even the Mighty SP's seemingly generous gestures of cheap tickets, etc was to reingratiate them with a sceptical public undoubtedly looking toward a larger pay off in the future, but I digress….

Originally posted by Relaxer:
Garth Brooks sucks, but Chris Gaines ROCKS. He's so dreamy.

HAHAHAHA….swoon

i wish i could stick around for more of this, but i'm off to lounge around the greek islands … see you suckers after labor day!

Originally posted by Hoya Paranoia:
i wish i could stick around for more of this, but i'm off to lounge around the greek islands … see you suckers after labor day!

i thought you were a lawyer, or at least a law student… you have a client in the greek isles? this certainly can't be a holiday, can it?!?

RELEASE THE HOUNDS!!! BUT I WANT HIM ALIIIIIIIVE!!!

Originally posted by sweetcell:
one currently has to pay $8 for an entire album of his crap, vs. $0.99/track for the one or two tracks that one might want (why one would want any at all i have no idea, but bear with me here) through an online retailer. also, digital sales are better for the environment and generally put more money in the pocket of the artists.

So will you be posting a similar thread regarding the lack of Beatles digital sales? Or is this just about how much you hate Garth?

I thought I read that artists don't get as much $$$ from digital sales? I could be wrong about that though.

Originally posted by Bombay Chutney:
So will you be posting a similar thread regarding the lack of Beatles digital sales? Or is this just about how much you hate Garth?

if someone ever posted "the beatles don't sell online in order to save consumers money", yes i'll complain just like i did above. but this fanboy didn't post that claim about the beatles, he attributed it to GB. blame him, not me.

wait, are you a GB fanboy too? i caught a whiff of defensiveness there… :p

Originally posted by sweetcell:
wait, are you a GB fanboy too? i caught a whiff of defensiveness there… :p

Not at all, although there are people out there whose music I hate much, much more than his.

As for his business practices, I don't think they're as totally evil/self-serving as people make them out to be. He's giving people a product they want - way below market-value - while still managing to make a buttload of money. Yeah - The Walmart thing sucks, but like it or not - most people love Walmart.

Originally posted by sweetcell:

Originally posted by Bombay Chutney:
So will you be posting a similar thread regarding the lack of Beatles digital sales? Or is this just about how much you hate Garth?

if someone ever posted "the beatles don't sell online in order to save consumers money", yes i'll complain just like i did above. but this fanboy didn't post that claim about the beatles, he attributed it to GB. blame him, not me.


wait, are you a GB fanboy too? i caught a whiff of defensiveness there… :p

Fanboy. That shit makes me chuckle.

Let me put you all up on some game right quick. Please don't get this twisted like Garth is doing this for his fans. This is nothing more than a not-so-thinly veiled ploy to have Garth pad the #1 spot for highest selling U.S. artist of all time & some bangin' ass marketing skills. It's no secret that Garth has wanted that spot for quite some time. (I believe he has it already & has for some time.) Doesn't anyone else find it convenient that his past couple of albums have all come in multi-disc packages??? And that he took a lot of his back catalog off the market a while ago????? Only to re-release them in a "limited edition" 6 CD box set???? Garth sees no loss in profit, as his CDs still get sold to said retailer @ the list price $18.98 a pop (maybe less for these "bargain" box sets but you get the picture), & I'm sure he gets a crazy points deal for an artist of his stature. 20 points per CD at least, I'm sure - if not 25. Big box stores like Best Buy, Wal-Mart, etc. sell CDs/DVDs at a loss with the premise that they reel you in with cheaper prices & get you to buy other shit while you're in there. You ever notice you walk by a LOT of shit to get to the CD section in a store?????. Not a coinki-dink I assure you.

Furthermore, while said Garth boxed set (re-released for the umpteeth time at that) gets SoundScanned at one copy, the RIAA certifies & hands out platinum plaques by units shipped. i.e. 2 CD boxed sets counts as 2 copies, same for 6 CD boxed sets & so on. For the slower boardies, Garth selling/Soundscanning 1.5 million actual copies gets certified by the RIAA for triple platinum @ 3 million copies. Thus padding his status as highest-selling artist ever. Which comes in quite handy when renegotiating points on his record deal. Garth is one of those "special" 10% percent artists. As in he's in that 10% of artists whose record sales help keep the other 90% artists that don't sell on the record label afloat & profitable. As far as him charging lower for his ticket prices, that's all well & good. What one sees as "sympathy for his fans" is nothing more than shrewd business skills. Which I can't begrudge that man for. Get your hustle on, fam. I surely can't knock it. He's in touch with his demographic, as I'm willing to wager that more than a decent percentage of Garth's fanbase wallow in the corporate mud that is Wal-Mart's rollback prices. When he comes out
of "retirement" for a tour in a few years, just don't get all shocked when said retailer becomes the sponsor for his comeback tour picking up production costs, therefore increasing Garth's bottom line. So he really can charge moderate prices for his shows, but still ride back to the ranch with bananas profits & more whiskey for his men & beer for his horses than he knows what to do with.

And to the boardie who asked earlier, artists AND record companies see smaller returns from online digital sales as opposed to physical CDs. The online mess, if you will, has completely fucked up the corporate model known as the record business but digital sales was a quick fix to a monster the labels still have no idea what do with. It's all relative. Ever notice how said new song you love from an artist/album you do not love & don't plan on buying usually isn't available until SoundScan numbers for the first week are returned. Or how iTunes doesn't let you purchase said great song a la carte forcing you to purchase an album you otherwise had NO plans on buying? It's all relative. The truth is out there, baby. Call me Fox Mulder.

A lil' Director-ology 101. I'm more than just eye candy. I kick some knowledge from time to time. You're all welcome. :cool:

Originally posted by TheDirector217:
artists AND record companies see smaller returns from online digital sales as opposed to physical CDs.
(…)
It's all relative. The truth is out there, baby. Call me Fox Mulder.

you say it with authority, now back it up. 15 minutes of poking around online and i haven't found a definitive answer to this - i came across sources that said digital downloads are better for the artist (what i've seen most), others said physical CD sales are better. please don't reply with "trust me" - unless you're an artist with major label releases or a record exec, i trust your opinion as much as mine (i.e. not that much :) )

fox mulder… he wanted to believe. one shouldn't consider him an objective source of information.

Originally posted by sweetcell:

Originally posted by TheDirector217:
artists AND record companies see smaller returns from online digital sales as opposed to physical CDs.
(…)
It's all relative. The truth is out there, baby. Call me Fox Mulder.

you say it with authority, now back it up. 15 minutes of poking around online and i haven't found a definitive answer to this - i came across sources that said digital downloads are better for the artist (what i've seen most), others said physical CD sales are better. please don't reply with "trust me" - unless you're an artist with major label releases or a record exec, i trust your opinion as much as mine (i.e. not that much :) )

fox mulder… he wanted to believe. one shouldn't consider him an objective source of information.

I have several sources on that. I know a decent number of record company types, plus I'm around "artists" with somewhat of a degree of regularity. I hear it direct from their mouths. If record companies could help it, copping albums online wouldn't be an option. And of course you won't find a definitive answer. It's the elephant in the room they don't wanna address. Beyonce busted her ass @ a live show recently trpping on her high heels & that was off websites, YouTube, blogs, etc. in a matter of hours. They'd much rather have you run to pick up a physical copy. But the "monster" got waaaaay out of control. They were forced to be REactive as opposed to being PROactive. Why do you think there's such a huge hang-up now over DRM-free music??? EMI (oddly enough, I think that's Garth's parent label - just to wrap shit in a bow for you. And Garth has no interest selling online unless it's in album ONLY format. That's documented.) may have have jumped into bed with iTunes on that, but I can assure you that the other labels are in NO sort of rush to do so.

Furthermore, just do the math. $18.98 for a CD, or the $9.99 - $12.99, you see on iTunes/Zune????