HAVE A ROCK ’N’ ROLL CHRISTMAS
Old Boomer hits ‘repackaged’ to spur seasonal sales.
Album sales are falling, kids only download singles and stream music for free … but who is this charging in to save Christmas? Why, it looks like Pink Floyd and Neil Young, leading a herd of red- nosed reindeers being whipped into a frenzy by Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, Genesis, David Bowie, AC/ DC, the Who, Bruce Springsteen and Freddie Mercury. It’s the Charge of the Dad Brigade. Or at least that’s one story the record industry is telling to keep its spirits up. Dismal figures suggest 2014 could set an all- time low for album sales, unless the traditional seasonal retail boom comes to the rescue.
But what music will we actually spend money on this Christmas?
“This is going to be the oldest Christmas I can remember,” says music industry consultant Nick Stewart. “The biggest album of the year is going to be the new old Pink Floyd album. It’s going to be huge.”
A “new old” album might sound like doublespeak, but Endless River is just that — concocted by David Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason from leftover instrumental sessions with late keyboard player Rick Wright.
A kind of ambient chillout set, it is dinner- party Floyd, the aging experimental rock legends. But it is, nevertheless, a new product from one of rock’s most venerable brands and has pre- orders of more than 100,000.
“There is a big market in selling back to the baby boomers the music they bought once before,” says Stewart, who has overseen re- releases for U2, the Eagles and Cat Stevens and is setting up a 50th anniversary campaign for Donovan.
“It’s all about what you remember, the sounds you were brought up to, danced to, kissed to, and you buy it again and again and again. Which is why there have been seven versions of Dark Side of the Moon since it first came out.” Dad Rock is firmly established as a staple of modern music. Ten years ago, when illegal downloading and Internet piracy were biting into sales, the record industry came up with the concept as its potential saviour. It was for the middle- aged fan with a disposable income.
The key to successful repackaging is adding value. On the cheaper side, this usually means remastering old recordings to bring them up to 21st century sonic standards ( an effect that can be even more cheaply achieved by turning up the volume on your stereo).
To charge top price, though, you need to offer something new, as Led Zeppelin and Oasis are doing by releasing their entire remastered back catalogues with outtakes and live sessions.
But what do you do when the bottom of the barrel has been scraped clean?
David Bowie and the Who have got around that by recording new tracks to bump up Greatest Hits compilations. The remaining members of Queen have added a bit of studio wizardry to some old Freddie Mercury demos for their own Best Of.
But most impressively in terms of value for money, Bob Dylan released his complete Basement Tapes, the entire legendary 138- track session from 1967. The fact that it’s mainly a bunch of stoned musicians goofing around with old folk and country songs on a cheap two- track tape recorder is unlikely to put fans off.
“Fans are extremely loyal and they love hearing new versions of old stuff,” says Stewart. “In fact, a lot of people would rather listen to that than a new album.”
But, let’s face it, an industry that depends on selling an aging audience something they already own is in big trouble. Thankfully, not all veterans are relying on their back catalogues.
Neil Young and AC/ DC have new albums scheduled. And U2 might have been expected to boost Christmas sales with their new album, but instead they gave it away free on iTunes. Explaining their motives, Bono said “the charts are broken.” He has a point. Album sales have been in decline for most of the 21st century. CDs still account for nearly 80 per cent of those sales, although there are kids obsessively listening to music now who wouldn’t know what a CD was if you broke it over their heads.
Meanwhile, streaming services such as Spotify and YouTube are rapidly expanding, claiming worldwide listening numbers in the billions. These are forums where you can access music without actually owning it.
To put it in perspective, U2’ s 1987 album The Joshua Tree sold more than 25 million copies, but U2’ s Songs of Innocence has already been downloaded free more than 26 million times and listened to by more than 80 million iTunes users.
U2 has opted to put their music where most fans might actually find it. The bigger point is that just because older fans still want a physical object in their hands, it would be a mistake to think this means oldies are taking over pop.
The truth is the kids are just having a different kind of conversation in an era of big pop singles, where individual tracks accessed online are all that really matters.
But you can’t put a download or a stream in a Christmas stocking. I suspect the traditional end- of- year sales surge will still be led by the generation who care about pop music the most.
And, no, it’s not the boomers. I predict the Christmas top five albums will be by Taylor Swift, One Direction, Sam Smith, Ed Sheeran and, yes, Pink Floyd.
It will be interesting to see who buys the Floyd record, though. “Box sets are great value, better than a regular CD,” notes Stewart. “It’s a quality gift at Christmas for children and young people to give their parents, grandparents, uncles and aunts.”