The past month has been deeply heartening for singer-songwriters everywhere. Three weeks ago, British superstar singer-songwriter Adele released her new album, “25.” This is her third album, following her first, “19,” recorded when she was (you guessed it) nineteen years old, and her second album, “21,” recorded when she was 22½.
Yesterday I read in The Guardian (a highly-respected British paper that I read whenever I look up facts about Adele) that "25" has sold 5 million copies in its first three weeks of release. This, at a time when musicians everywhere despair of making a decent living by selling their original recorded music! Adele has shown to the world, over 5 million times, that people will indeed still fork $$ over to listen to new songs from beloved recording artists. You go, girl!
As a singer-songwriter, I have found Adele’s success to be enormously inspiring. I am a bit behind Adele, as it happens, with only two albums of original music to date: “Songs of Domestic Bliss,” released when I was 45, and “Don’t Check the Box!,” released earlier this year, a few months after my 50th birthday. Like Adele’s, my fans have been flocking in droves to purchase my new release! Sales to date, five months after the album's release:
- 17 physical CDs
- 5 whole-album downloads
- 84 hits on streaming websites
Those 84 hits padded the domestic coffers by a grand total of $1.04.
Honestly, I am quite sure that the number of people who have listened to the entire album is solidly north of 22. My mother has personally given away at least 126 CDs. And don’t laugh at the power of Mother Marketing! Recall Alan Sherman’s classic comedy album, “My Son the Folksinger,” which become one of the biggest hits of 1962. (I myself considered releasing an album that year, entitled, “-3”).
Clearly, I have much to learn from Adele’s success. Adele (or rather, her People) created enormous buzz in advance of the album release. She launched the first single (“Hello”) about a month before the album as a whole, along with a preview of the album’s artwork, which was as soulful and moving as her soulful and moving songs.
My next album is probably a couple of years in the future. But my People and I think it's none too soon to start the buzz! For my best-selling single, you will have to wait until a month before the album is released, some time in 2018. But hold onto your hats, friends -- I have decided to release the title and the cover art NOW:
Don't forget that you saw it here first.