Last week, Bon Jovi claimed their fourth number-one album on the Billboard Top 200 with The Circle. This week, they make history…with a stunning 70% drop in sales (from 163,000 copies to 50,153) and dropping from #1 all the way to #19. This is the third largest decline from the #1 spot ever in the history of the Billboard 200 (only Incubus and Marilyn Manson had more devastating declines). Somehow, I don't think that they will be mentioning this in their next press release.
So what does this mean?
It’s typical for established acts to have huge debuts and then drop, but considering Bon Jovi has tallied up three platinum records this decade alone, one would imagine they would have more staying power. Lost Highway debuted in 2007 with 292,000 copies sold. The drop from the LH sales to The Circle was 33% in a little over two-years, a dramatic downturn. Back in 2007, all pre-sale tickets for all ten shows at their New Jersey Prudential Center shows included a download that counted towards first week sales. This time around, if you wanted to buy a pre-sale ticket, you had to buy the digital download ahead of time. One would think with an entire tour going on-sale versus ten shows that sales would have been up, but they weren’t. What makes the drop more significant is that the album was $3.99 for the entire first week on Amazon. Not just the first day, but an entire week and it still couldn’t crack the 200,000 mark.
So what happened?
#1 Overexposure
Bon Jovi has never been a group to shy away from promotion and while normally this proves to be beneficial, I believe it hurt them this time around. The band has been on a record-tour schedule this entire decade not really allowing anyone to miss them. As a result, aside from the most fanatical fans, seeing the band all over NBC isn’t a good thing. Sometimes it’s good to leave your fans wanting more.
#2 Airing Your Documentary on Showtime
This was an odd combination, Bon Jovi and Showtime. I ordered Showtime to see the documentary and realized very quickly why I don’t subscribe to Showtime, it sucks. Yes, it has wonderful shows like Weeds, Californication and Dexter, but I’m floored at the amount of crap on this channel. I’m a film buff and watch all types of movies and most of the ones on Showtime, I never knew existed. I am sure Bon Jovi went with Showtime because they got their money they invested in the documentary back. This was a mistake. It may not have been as sexy, but they should have sold it for a discounted price to VH-1. Here’s why; the type of people who are going to tune into a documentary on Bon Jovi are already fans. In a day and age with hundreds of channels at people’s fingertips, is someone like my mother, aunt or casual fan going to sit through this? No. If Showtime (or HBO for that matter) had a documentary on T.I. or Little Wayne, I’d flip the channel. But when VH-1 shows one of these documentaries (or a Behind the Music), I find myself not changing the channel and being rather entranced. If you are watching VH-1, there is an interest of music to begin with, a connection a casual Showtime viewer doesn't have. As a result of my interest in music, I have a new appreciation for T.I. and Little Wayne because of their Behind the Music documentaries, something I wouldn’t have paid attention to it in the first place.
If the band really wanted to come across edgy or cool, they would have given it to Sundance, IFC or HBO free of charge. Yet, none of this happened, and as a result, no one tuned in and even worse, no one cared.
#3 A Lead Single That Connected With No One
Let’s be honest shall we? No one really likes the lead single “We Weren’t Born To Follow” aside from die-hard Bon Jovi fans. It’s a song that connects with no one and ultimately, feel manipulative. It's lack of connection should have cued the band to tap another song for single release around the time of the album with a video in tow. Instead, they're performing this song (not very well I may add) at almost every promotional stop. It's not giving the casual fan (or a loyal one) a reason to buy the record.
#4 The Limiting “NBC Artist In Residence”
This was a bad idea. A. Very. Bad. Idea. “Hey’ why don’t you limit yourself to doing interviews on a network that is consistently in 4th place?”. It would be akin to Michael Jordan retiring from the Chicago Bulls only to return a few years later to play for a team like the Washington Wizards. Wait? Well, you see my point. Now, as much as I would like to shoot holes through the idea, the band needs to take some responsibility as well. Just because they have shown up and done the numerous shows, from my perspective, they haven’t delivered. Their interviews on the Today show, Ellen, Inside the Actor’s Studio haven’t really shed that much new light. On top of it, because the band has done all of these shows (in some form or another) before, it comes off as not being new to casual fans well. Then there’s the continually insipid performances of “We Weren’t Born To Follow”. I’m not a fan of the song, but Bon Jovi is a great band and great bands take mediocre material and heighten it live. Every performance of the new songs I have seen has been weak at best. Not to mention the continual repeat performances of “It’s My Life” and “Who Says You Can’t Go Home”. Are they promoting The Circle or their catalog? Plus, not to mention that the band has played the aforementioned songs ad nauseam making even the most fervent follower moan with disappointment. Let me tell you, if someone hasn’t bought a concert ticket or cd the first 17,200 performances of “It’s My Life”, these recent ones won’t change their minds either.
The band had an extraordinary opportunity with the “Artist In Residence” feature. What they should have done is play the album in its entirety over the course of the two month residency. They should have made a point of never repeating a single song. This way you could showcase not just new songs but some forgotten classics as well. By repeating themselves time and time again, they showed the world they don’t have the right stuff and essentially screwed the pooch.
#5 Ill Will
Back in 2001, I was sick and tired of housing all of my Bon Jovi related imports, cd’s and extras so I decided to compile them all to compilation cd’s. The end result was a 25-disc collection of assorted soundtrack, b-side, live tracks and demos the band has released worldwide over their entire career. On average, I owned three copies of every Bon Jovi release (the domestic release, the Japan release for bonus tracks and a reissue release from the UK or Japan). In some instances, I owned upwards of a dozen copies of the albums. Do you want to know how many copies of the The Circle I own…and better yet, how many I plan to own? Zero.
Back in 2002, I bought a total of 21 tickets to their 2003 world tour (tickets for me, friends, people I thought would enjoy the show, etc.). I owned three copies of the Bounce album and bought every import cd single I could. Do you want to know how many tickets I plan on purchasing for their upcoming world tour? Zero. Do you want to know how many imports I plan on buying? Zero.
Before I wrote this article, I sent an email to fifteen fans I have known for over a decade, asking them a few questions. All of these people bought multiple copies of albums in the past and saw anywhere from five to fifteen shows per tour, not to mention, like me, they would often pay for friends to witness the magic. Of the twelve that responded, I discovered only three of them bought The Circle and between the twelve people combined, they have bought a combined total of five (5) concert tickets for the 2010 tour. This should be seen as a problem by the Bon Jovi organization, but it’s not. In their yearning desire to conquer the world and “sell out the desert…more than once”, they forgot their core audience. In a desire to move tickets in stadiums, they are trying to be everything to everyone…and in this day and age, you can’t be everything to everyone. There are numerous reasons for me not attending any shows on this upcoming tour, but a large part has to do with price. I just haven’t seen anything really extraordinary from the band in a while (I will admit to having been witness to at least two choice shows in the last 5 years), but at this stage in the game, I’m tired of giving money to a group who has been more about product than soul in recent years. Whenever you have someone as devout as I once was not throwing a single dime the band’s way, which is an issue that should keep them up at night. I doubt it does, but I was the type of person who would spread the word, expose people to the concerts and try to sway the legions of people who despise Bon Jovi to look at them in a different light. The campaign for The Circle finds them falling into the trap that the legions of disbelievers want them to fall into, the same way Brett Favre did when he couldn’t take the Jets to the Super Bowl. He became the fallguy, as has Bon Jovi. They have had so much success, they pepper their press releases with mindless and pointless facts and numbers that sadly, people are at a point in time where they want to see them fail…and get some sort of glee from it. I wish them no ill will, and their 2010 tour will be in the top-five for grosses next year without question, but The Circle may very well be the first Bon Jovi record to fail to move 500,000 copies.
One argument people want to make that I won’t listen to is piracy. I understand piracy is rampant, but AC/DC last year moved 800,000 copies in one week, despite having the album leak ten days before it hit store shelves. Ditto with Metallica who moved 490,000 copies in a mere three days of Death Magnetic. The Dave Matthews Band this past June moved 424,000 copies. Why is it these acts can move double, triple and quadruple the opening week numbers of Bon Jovi? They were all stronger albums than The Circle, but ultimately I chalk it up to each of these aforementioned bands always being true to themselves, playing to their core fans and ensuring that those fans are taken care of (with creative deluxe editions, etc.). Bon Jovi did none of this and instead of trying to build on the core audience they have built, they instead shoot for the stars which isn’t going to work every time. If you go to bat and try to hit a home run at every at-bat, you will strike out more than you connect, which is why it’s always a safer move to build a grass roots movement amidst the biggest fans and let the word spread from there.
Where Do They Go From Here?
Bon Jovi has a solid month of performances on NBC before the end of December. My suggestion would be to engage those most loyal fans. Have polls on their website, interacts with the fans on Twitter and have them vote for what will be played on Jimmy Fallon, Saturday Night Live, etc. Do an unexpected cover song no none would think of. Play a forgotten cut from New Jersey or Slippery When Wet, get playful and remind people of why you deserve to be taken seriously. Get Triumph the Insult Comic Dog to do another skit, make people laugh at you and then you will win their hearts. Only when the band doesn't play by the numbers will they create true buzz and engage those who haven't bought the album.
