Old-school methods pay off for Kid Rock
Music performer Kid Rock speaks with the media before the start of the General Motors Style event in Detroit, Michigan, January 12, 2008.
Credit: Reuters/Rebecca Cook
By Geoff Mayfield
LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Most commentary about the music business in the past year or so on blogs or in the press suggests that traditional radio and the CD have become irrelevant. Those assumptions are boldly refuted by a dozen consecutive weeks of sales gains for Kid Rock's "Rock N Roll Jesus," which re-enters the Billboard 200's top 10 for the first time since November in that title's third week on the chart.
The album's latest growth spurt yields a move from No. 12 to No. 7, earning the week's Greatest Gainer medal (45,000 for the week, up 27 percent). Just 14 weeks ago, it fell to No. 82, but since then has posted increases in all but one week.
And the Kid is going old school on this march, because in an era when TV and the Internet are the new radio and digital distribution owns the obvious focus of so many major-label executives, "Rock N Roll" cuts across the grain.
This long patch of sales growth is owed to nothing fancier than a good old radio hit, and not a single unit of the album's 1.1 million sales is owed to digital downloads during its 39 chart weeks, because the artist has withheld his entire Atlantic-distributed output from iTunes and its competitors.
The radio favorite is "All Summer Long," a perfect summertime confection that samples two '70s classics: Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London" and Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Sweet Home Alabama." The track draws support from multiple formats, bulleting on Adult Top 40 (from No. 18 to No. 13), Mainstream Top 40 (from No. 21 to No. 17), Adult Contemporary (28 to 27) and even Hot Country Songs (53 to 44).
"All Summer" bows at No. 80 on the Billboard Hot 100, Rock's first entry on the singles chart in five years.
Atlantic is confident "Rock N Roll" will post another sales gain next week. "I don't know where the ceiling for this will be," label senior vice president of sales Jack McMorrow says.
Reuters/Billboard
