David Cook Single – Light On – Released to iTunes Today

I’ve already downloaded mine, too! Yay!

I really hope it does well. *Crosses fingers*

Let’s support our man!

Light On is listed in the What We’re Listening To section on the front page of iTunes. (Thanks to LadyMadonna for the tip.)

Light On is listed in the What Weà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢re Listening To section on the front page of iTunes. (Thanks to LadyMadonna for the tip.)

Yep. I actually mention that in my post…

I downloaded mine and gifted a copy for a friend in Indonesia. I went to iTunes through your link on your front page…hopefully I’m helping to support two great people

I downloaded mine and gifted a copy for a friend in Indonesia. I went to iTunes through your link on your front pageà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦hopefully Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m helping to support two great people

Thank you so much Gingerly! .

I’ll have a direct link to the song up as soon as it’s available on Linkshare.

WooHoo!! Just bought mine! This past week has been the longest wait, lol Oh, and Gingerly, thanks for the tip of opening iTunes thru MJ’s link – I never would’ve thought about it if you hadn’t mentioned it. Always looking for ways to help out our dear MJ!

Oh Goody goody goody! Can’t wait to receive LO from my doner! Have read it sounds far clearer and much better than the streaming versin…do you agree MJ? Others?

I got my legal copy through the DCO thread that arranges one to one gifting and I have to say that listening to the itunes version, I have to take back most of the negative things I had to say about the song.

David’s voice comes through much clearer on the itunes release. Furthermore, the backup vocals come through clearer so you really get the big anthemic feel of the song. And since it’s not an easy song to sing, David proves that he has great vocal chops in addition to that magic touch in terms of arrangement.

And despite my initial misgivings, I have to concede that it’s a great transitional first release.

Yay, sleepyinsomniac, so glad to hear you’ve changed your opinion in favor of the song! (btw, fellow sleepy insomniac here) Yes, Layla, I think the iTunes version sounds much clearer than the one we’ve been listening to for the past week. That was the first thing I noticed.

Downloaded this baby right away. I love this song.
It would be nice if it got a more visible ad on itunes front page since it is competing this week with the brand new Nickelback single.
It doesn’t seem like RCA is putting in much of an effort here; airplay isn’t great either (maybe they are waiting for the adds date to push the song).
Have any Idol singles ended up doing well (coronation songs notwithstanding) that were just thrown out to radio with minimal promo and no major market debut?
I hope this single (and the album) do well. I need more Cookie!

I’m not crazy about this song…still…sorry…Cookies…I need more time to be hooked…However, I downloaded it to support David Cook. haha…

i just got mine via a relative in the states.
when is it up on Amazon too? i want to get it from there too.
still not digging this song but i want to support this crazy talented man.
GO DAVID!

to layla
it’s much better, YES!

Bizarre- for some reason he is listed as two different artists- with ToML as David Cook “Pop” and LO as David Cook “Rock”…. and I had to search for it under david cook light on to even find it- I see no reference to it on the front page

Yeah, I finally have it on my ipod! Thanks for the link mj!

DivaE, that’s strange, I thought it was listed on my ipod list as “pop”. I’ll have to look again.

It’s on the front page, but you have to scroll down to “What We’re Listening To”.
Thanks for the heads up on that too mj.

It would be nice if it got a more visible ad on itunes front page since it is competing this week with the brand new Nickelback single.

Nickelback just gave their single away for free for the last 24 hours so that might take a bite out of their sales. The denizens over at Pulse think this might be the biggest non-post-Christmas iTunes week ever.

efrank listed some of the big releases:
new albums: T.I., Jennifer Hudson, Robin Thicke, James Morisson
new singles: David Cook, Nickleback, All American Rejects, The Killers, Christina Aguilera, Perez Hilton, Ciara & T-Pain, Alicia Keys & Jack White

LOL at Perez. What, is he the King of New Media?

Anyway, the more songs out there, the more people hitting iTunes which is always a good sign. Cook has a big ad at the top of the Pop Music page.

Have any Idol singles ended up doing well (coronation songs notwithstanding) that were just thrown out to radio with minimal promo and no major market debut?

But Light On had a big debuted on AOL which isn’t chump change. All Idol singles are different. “It’s Not Over” kind of just got chucked out there and went on to be a huge hit for Daughtry, but they later went on to sing it on every talk show in the free world and it was used in TV Promos. “Tattoo” got a big market debut, but just kind of got tossed out and went on to be a big hit. “Crush” really got no promo (except for that big market debut) and went to number one on iTunes the next week. Idols have a built in market to get them started and then the song has to sell itself.

Thanks for the post, mj.

OK, Ace Young actually had much better placement on the iTunes front page for his single than DC does. (If you click on music new releases, it’s just not there at all). I think TOML will actually sell better this week since that’s at least on the radio. Oh well, it will still do fine over time.

I probably just need a cup of coffee, but I remember Archie’s Easter portrait, er, Crush artwork, being splashed all over iTunes on release day and it’s making me cranky, lol. I want to see David’s ugly cover art all over my iTunes page, too.

David Cookà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s self-titled post Idol debut drops on November 18à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦

Do you know something we don’t about the album title? FWIW, iTunes has the song on their Best of Store mix and says that David’s full-length “Optimistic to a Fault” will be coming soon. That title was in the running for David’s unreleased pre-Idol album.

eta: Thanks for making so much sense, as usual, Kirsten. I’m still cranky, though.

I probably just need a cup of coffee, but I remember Archieà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Easter portrait, er, Crush artwork, being splashed all over iTunes on release day and ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s making me cranky, lol.

Having seen the artwork for “Light On” on iTunes, I think Mr. Cook is a little cranky too. LOL. What is WITH that picture? “Did you just leave the light on? Did you? Did you? Do you not realize there is an energy crisis in this country? No? What have you been living under a rock? Never heard of global warming? Listen missy. You turn off that light right now”.

Meanwhile, Nickelback is singing about “diamonds in the rough”. “Magic Rainbows” and now “Diamonds in the Rough”. What next for the rock radio? “Pretty Pink Princesses?” LOL. As Idolator said…at least Mutt taught the Nickelback crew a new chord. Game on!

And maybe Sony/BMG needs to hire a new photographer. Between Archie’s Easter Picture, Kristy’s bored horse and Cook looking cranky, this hasn’t been a good year for Idol pictures. Well, at least they are better than Angry/Evil Bert and Sexy Bee from a few years ago. Or last year’s My Pink Little Pony album. Ahem. Bring back Fantasia’s photographer!

But Light On had a big debuted on AOL which isnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t chump change.

A few days ago, David’s Crush video got a news item in the aol front page (not the music page), He has a picture, and a news headline called “David and his crazy crush” or something. When you click on it, it takes you to his video page. I wonder whether this costs money. It is essentially an ad pretending to be news. The video has since became AOL’s top 5 video.

Well Crush got a piggy ride on the Jonas Bros, Demi Levito part of why it sold so much that first week. Maybe LO would be the same. Go Cook!

I got my copy! Woohoo!!!! I’m excited to see how this single does for David

ETA: I hate that picture of him. Just sayin’.

I wonder whether this costs money. It is essentially an ad pretending to be news.

Probably. Or some exclusive deal of some sort. As it went to number 5, it was probably money well spent.

Well Crush got a piggy ride on the Jonas Bros, Demi Levito part of why it sold so much that first week. Maybe LO would be the same. Go Cook!

Yep. Jive and RCA are being pretty smart about these releases. Minimizing illegal downloads. Pairing with like-artists to attract business (I know Nickelback gets a lot of abuse, but you can’t argue that they aren’t successful movers of units. Their last album has been on the BB200 for 155 weeks. Second place on the current list is 131 weeks (Flyleaf) and third is 119 weeks (Three Days Grace). Nickelback’s last album has sold almost 7 million units and still going strong. You could pick worse horses to be paired with)). And maximizing revenue while minimizing expenses. Barry (who replaced Clive) is famous for getting the most bang for the buck. And that works out for the artist too because then there is less recoupment (promo money they have to pay back). Now, if only Barry could hire a new photographer.

Wooooooooo!!! Got my copy. Now, I’m going to learn the rest of the song. :happy_tb:

I found it interesting that when I clicked on Jennifer Hudson’s album the heirarchy was home/music/rock/jennifer hudson. David’s genre was pop…go figure.

Woohoo got my copy!
I’m not too sold on the song but just hearing David’s voice singing something new is enough for me. Hope it does well for him and roll on Nov. 18th!

YES! I got mine. This song has earwormed its way into my brain and there’s no going back.

I’d just like to thank Chris Cornell for the word ‘naked’ in the chorus.

I like the picture. I think it works, especially for people not already familiar with David.

Jan, I’ll second that. Cook looks muy caliente in that picture.

I can’t look at that picture. Not smiling, I understand. Frowning, I do not. :dry_tb:

I wonder if the “What we’re listening to” thing is a paid ad or it is indicitive of how well the sales are going? When Archie’s video came out, it showed up in What we’re watching.

Yea, the single covers have been weird this year. All I see when I look at Cook’s is his ear sticking out. I’ve never noticed his ears before. I wonder why they chose to highlight it on the cover? I can think of better things to highlight.. .. like his kneecap. ( I know all you dirty minded people were thinking other things but I’m :innocent2_tb:)

à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“What weà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢re listening toà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  is not a paid placement, it’s a nod from iTunes editorial team.

(Thanks ladymadonna, so I know this~)

Jan, ITA. I think the single artwork serves its purpose. (It’s a whole lot better than the earlier more close-up version. That was too much David, even for me. LOL!) The intensity in David’s expression should make potential buyers take a second look. The placement of the song title/graphic right next to his eyes is a smart move. It draws people’s attention to one of his better features. I also see the need for a bit of guyliner, and I think it was pretty subdued in this shot.

I like the pic but then I always imagine he’s about to double over in laughter as we have seen him do many times after acting real serious…

Thier is something off about that picture personally it is like he had a make-over at glamour shots . It is like a falshback to some “80′s” bands cover. I prefer more of a raugh edge or his pre-idol look. The guy just seems different overall post idol maybe it is just PR hovering.

I think he’s too manscaped. But I doubt the cover of a single download means much in the long run anyway.

But Light On had a big debuted on AOL which isnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t chump à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Crushà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  really got no promo (except for that big market debut) and went to number one on iTunes the next week. Idols have a built in market to get them started and then the song has to sell itself.

I think the fact that Crush was splashed all over iTunes the day it went on sale had to help things. Having a built in fanbase isn’t much of a help when for even fans who know about it it’s a struggle to find it on iTunes. There’s also nothing on his MySpace, no bulletin was sent out yet, nothing updated on his official page. The link to buy next the media player doesn’t even work.Good going RCA!

I get that this is a competitive week for albums and singles and obviously banner space may be harder to obtain, but not even being listed under “new releases” I don’t think is very smart.

its showing under new releases on my itunes

hope it does well i love the song.. as for the single”art” who cares its his voice i love lIMO

I like the picture too. But then again, I don’t think there’s been a picture of this man that I haven’t liked. It’s got that slightly raised eyebrow look which he is so fond of making (and I am fond of looking at).

Mine is under “new releases” as well.

I get that this is a competitive week for albums and singles and obviously banner space may be harder to obtain, but not even being listed under à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“new releasesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  I donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t think is very smart.

You’re so right, Trina. I was looking for it under “new releases.” I was surprised that I had to actually scroll down to even find his face among the vast sea of other faces. You would think RCA could afford to splurge on that “new releases” spot for their winning Idol. He deserves to be treated better than this.

Do you know something we donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t about the album title? FWIW, iTunes has the song on their Best of Store mix and says that Davidà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s full-length à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Optimistic to a Faultà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  will be coming soon. That title was in the running for Davidà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s unreleased pre-Idol album.

No. Actually, I have no idea why I wrote that, except that I was getting three release posts ready last night–two of them “self-titled” albums. lol. I edited my post.

Bought it! Better mix on the Itunes version. Go David!

What Trina was referring to about the new releases page is that it’s only listed on the front of the pop page meaning you have to click on the pop tab to see it. With Crush, you didn’t have to do that.

My friend initiated the Pass The Light On gifting project for the international fans over at DCO but I have yet to sign up for it. I’m afraid I don’t understand all that iTunes gifting stuff very well. (I tried it on my old PC last year to get Elliott’s Christmas tunes but even after 3 “giftings,” I don’t think I ever managed to redeem a song. :s)

I hope I can figure it out this time.

efrank listed some of the big releases:
new albums: T.I., Jennifer Hudson, Robin Thicke, James Morisson

(Now, if only there were a James Morrison gifting project, maybe I would be able to figure it all out and fast. Heh.)

Well, now it’s “In the Spotlight”…

Mine is under à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“new releasesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  as well.

Interesting. I haven’t checked in an hour, but this morning, I couldn’t understand why everyone was talking about it being under “What we’re listening to”, when mine was under “Spotlight”. Now some folks are finding it under “New Releases”. Are they moving it around? Color me confused re: RCA’s strategy as well. Not only did I have to search for the single last night using “David Cook Light On”, the link from DCO didn’t even work!

Give it a few hours for all the advertisments, links and what not to work on ITunes. This is only the first few hours of availability.

Having seen the artwork for à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Light Onà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  on iTunes, I think Mr. Cook is a little cranky too. LOL. What is WITH that picture? à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Did you just leave the light on? Did you? Did you? Do you not realize there is an energy crisis in this country? No? What have you been living under a rock? Never heard of global warming? Listen missy. You turn off that light right nowà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ .

:lol_tb: !!!!!

Thank you all who mentioned the difference in the sound quality. I listened to the song at several different links over the past few days and I thought I heard a difference there too. When no one else mentioned it I thought it must be wishful thinking on my part.

Can we talk about my beloved James Morrison and his awesome new album, can we? Well this is not his thread… so I guess not, sigh!!!!

Anyway, LO is under à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“What weà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢re listening toà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  of iTunes music front page, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“New Releasesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  of pop page, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“In the Spotlightà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  of…um I donno, but I saw that as well.

Can’t wait to get home and download – I’ll be doing it through this site, MJ, and thanks again for all you do. Go David!

PS – Call me nuts, but I think the picture’s yummy.

Layla, unless I’m mistaking you for another Layla on DCO, you should have LO now.

Anyway, LO is under à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“What weà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢re listening toà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  of iTunes music front page, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“New Releasesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  of pop page, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“In the Spotlightà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  ofà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦um I donno, but I saw that as well.

I think you’re on to something, elisad. On the home page of iTunes (click on the little house icon), LO is under “What we’re listening to.”

If you click on the Music link, it’s under “In the Spotlight.”

If you click on the music genre Pop, it’s under “New Releases.”

So, Trina’s point is still well taken. With Crush, it was splattered all over the place. There was a big banner at the top of the page plus it was prominently under “New Releases” on the home page. You couldn’t miss it wherever you happened to be on the iTunes site.

Hoe long before it gets released to amazon? I bought it from iTunes but don’t have an iPod so can only listen to it while on the computer. I’m really clueless how to get it from their format to Windows Media Player where I can get it on my mp3 player and burn it to a disc. I know you can do it but it makes my brain hurt to even think about trying to figure it out.

So, Trinaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s point is still well taken. With Crush, it was splattered all over the place. There was a big banner at the top of the page plus it was prominently under à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“New Releasesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  on the home page. You couldnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t miss it wherever you happened to be on the iTunes site.

I don’t think people need to worry about this. Archie’s team spent their money on iTunes ads while Cooks re-directed some of their money to get a big splash on AOL. Different songs. Different strategies. It’s still the morning and “Light On” has already hit 33 on iTunes (or so they are reporting on Pulse). By the afternoon, it will probably be in the top 10. It’s reaching an audience and will sell a boatload of singles. Yay! Right?

^^ where you can see the position???, in my iTunes Demi Lovato is at #33

imo, the Popeater preview didn’t do much good if they make it difficult to find the song on the main iTunes page. People are lazy and have short attention spans. If they can’t find it by typing it in the search bar and don’t see a banner, they might just figure it’s not there. I know I don’t normally scroll down the whole iTunes page to see what’s “in the spotlight,” nor do I ever click on the “Pop” page.

The 33 is just in pop, not overall. Overall, he’s at 98 as of 2 hours ago.

If you want to compare cover art, take a look at the portrait on the Killers new song. Now that’s scary. I’ll take DC, thank you very much!

Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s still the morning and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Light Onà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  has already hit 33 on iTunes (or so they are reporting on Pulse). By the afternoon, it will probably be in the top 10. Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s reaching an audience and will sell a boatload of singles. Yay! Right?

I’ll bite. Yay!!! Double yay, this is an exciting day for DC fans– it’s just the beginning of a long ride, so let’s not go crazy unnecessarily hand-wringing the whole day away. Kirsten, you are awesome, not only a constant source of info and insight, but a voice of reason. Let’s take DC’s advice– I’m determined to “enjoy the experience”, not just “experience the experience”.

^^ where you can see the position???, in my iTunes Demi Lovato is at #33

I can’t see him on the main chart either. iTunes is frequently messed up. He’s showing up as 11 on Pop which is ahead of Demi Lovato. I tend to believe the charts that are showing changes that make sense (ie “Light On” wouldn’t be above Demi Lovato unless it was true). The iTunes watchers over on Pulse tend to know how to make that those charts work.

In the pop Demi is there too me… so or Demi has taking over my iTunes, help!, or iTunes has gone crazy… can you share the link where you see the changes Kirsten… please… thank you…

BTW… the Nick song, I get it for free yesterday and is really a good one… so I ´ll suppose it will go up fast…I can ´t understend why thet put Cook under pop, they should have put him under Rock and by the side of Nickelback…oh welll…

Yay! Right?

:clap_tb: For real.

Clicked MJ’s link & got my copy! The cover art reminds me of a futuristic Elven Male. Kind of a “Dr Who meets Lord of the Rings in 3050″. Still likin’ the song. I do believe it will do well on the ra-did-de-o.

“This iTunes Charts, is a ‘real-time’ look at the Top 100 Songs on iTunes in the USA. Includes both Singles and Albums. This data is provided by Apple iTunes so you’ll not find a more up to date iTunes Chart anywhere!”

Click here.

Yeah my live feed bookmark says 98 on overall itunes.

The song is now showing up at #33 on the top 100 songs feed. You can see it HERE. That is the overall chart.

Just check my ipod which now shows as #33 overall. It wasnt showing up a minute ago.

Well, he’s #33 here. And that’s not pop, right? Gosh, iTunes charts suck. I never know which to follow.

Well, heà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s #33 here. And thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s not pop, right?

That is indeed the overall chart.

Yay!!! Stayed up until I could buy it this AM. Yes,it was a little difficult to find at first. I am really loving the song. Yes, it’s different from his pre-idol days, but it has a strong anthemic rock sound to it that I like.

About the picture – I kmow there was alot of disappointment about David Archulteta’s photo as well. It seems rather obvious to me that TPTB want these guys to look like serious artists instead of reality TV show winners. I understand this, but DA looks a little tough and DC looks a little P.O.! Can’t they find something between the the two extremes? I am just kidding, but I can’t help but think of all those photos of David with a pen up his nose. Now, that would be an interesting ambum cover! LOL! Crazy guy with mad crazy vocals!

Thank you elisad for answering my question!

but DA looks a litlle tough and DC looks a little P.O.!

Maybe that AI finale boxing theme went to their heads?

Maybe that AI finale boxing theme went to their heads?

Possibly. :laugh_tb:

Jan – FWIW, I love The Killers (scary cover art or not) and will be buying their new single as well, but tomorrow because I don’t want it to chart against Dave today. I’m hoping he’ll have the top selling of today’s releases.

I can’t be the only person who actually loves that picture. The outfit is pretty cool, but honestly, the lips? The freaking lips… get out!

I wasn’t expecting it to go to top 50 this soon, after all I think only internet fanbase knows about it now, no?
I mean, no promotion. No banners on Itunes. Not listed in new releases on Itunes. No alert to Myspace fans.
And it still gets to be ahead of all the other strong releases of the day.

Pretty good so far. Lets see if it keeps up.

it’s just the beginning of a long ride, so let’s not go crazy unnecessarily hand-wringing the whole day away.

Reminder to all: State your opinion without lecturing your fellow posters. Handwringing is part of the experience, and folks here are free to do it. Folks are also free to disagree, but please do so without telling peeps how to behave.

Thanks a bunch, and have fun today.

I can’t see it charting but so high this week. Top 5 perhaps, but that’s it. Not because the song is bad, but it’s not getting any major market airplay yet and it’s got A LOT of competition from major acts also releasing right about now. He did no press to speak of. There are adds on ITunes but they are not really that high profile. So only the hardcore fans really know that its available.

But, the song will climb the charts once it stats getting played IMO. It’s a very radio friendly song that does well on repeat listens. And his album, if that gets pushed at all (and I expect that will be the case) will KILL.

Hi, mj. I just noticed that this rapidly lengthening thread does not appear in your “Latest Posts” column. There may have been a glitch somewhere. . .

Also, love your site! It’s so addictive! : )

I just bought it at iTunes (no trouble spotting it under “What We’re Listening To” at all) and stuck it on my playlist between Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida” and the Eagles’ “Lying Eyes.” Oddly enough, it fits there quite nicely.

I’m reacting to it much like I like TOML.

Stage one: Listen and think, it’s okay, but it’s not for me.

Stage two: Sneak another couple of listens. Still think it’s okay.

Stage three: Find myself humming chorus. Wtf?

Stage four: Find myself singing chorus. With words.

Stage five: Find myself playing it on my iPod in my car and singing along, the whole thing, not just the chorus, quite loud, with the windows down and next to other cars where other people can hear me and everything.

I’m not quite to Stage five with this one, but I’m getting close.

P.S. I love the picture, elfin ears and all.

Stage four: Find myself singing chorus. With words.

Yeah, I’m there. :laugh_tb:

IGC- Maybe the AI finale boxing theme went to their heads? Great comeback(get it?!)I mean comment!

did i get it right? are you saying that LO made a jump from #98 to #33 in a couple of hours?
is this the same chart or different charts?

PS – Call me nuts, but I think the pictureà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s yummy.

Hi lucyfan! As long as those eyes and that mouth are in the picture…I like it. hee. Got mine early this AM, had to search for David Cook and find it cause I’m not very used to getting around the iTunes store anyway. Already on the iPod. Already listening at work. This morning in the car, it played between Creep and I believe it was Makeover. Sounded like a DAVID COOK thang to me! I saw the “ad” on iTunes for Nickelback this AM and the deal for the free song yesterday. I don’t have any NB and I have never considered buying any – until now, since a bunch of people have said they think Nickelback sounds like David Cook. BWHAAHAHHAHAHHA! Go David! YAY Light On! I cannot WAIT for the album. Is it November yet? Yet? Yet? Now? Sigh. You’re killin’ me, Cook. :help_tb:

Oops, sorry MJ! I made sure to leave out “we’s” and use “I’s”, but neglected to get rid of the “let’s” before submitting. I’m learning, promise! I only meant share that comment as something that was helpful for me, not a lecture to others. I have to admit, I also find the hand-wringing kind of fun in that stressful kind of way, haha!

Question about the charts– when does a song “debut” on Billboard’s Hot 100? After the first week of sales, or after the radio impact date? Cuz LO isn’t impacting radio until next week IIRC?

justic, that’s right. 98 to 33 on the same chart–iTunes overall Top 100. That elevator went up fast.

eta: The news of it being on sale is not even featured on DCO yet, which is weird, and I read that the iTunes link there isn’t working. Hey, webnerds, whatcha waitin’ for?

This looks like a tough week with so many new singles released. I’m not sure David Cook will beat Christina Aguilera whose song is very catchy and commercial. The Killers’ new song is kinda OK, far from their best, and Nickelback’s is quite mediocre IMO.

imo LO should be underrock not pop. would sell more then.

Question about the chartsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ when does a song à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“debutà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  on Billboardà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Hot 100? After the first week of sales, or after the radio impact date? Cuz LO isnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t impacting radio until next week IIRC?

It will debut on the Hot 100 as soon as it accumulates enough points from the combination of downloads, radio Audience Impressions, and official streams to make it onto the chart. Even though the single has not officially impacted radio yet, it will have more than enough points through sales and light airplay alone to debut next week (Billboard charts are published Thursdays and usually leak late on Wednesday afternoons).

Question about the chartsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ when does a song à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“debutà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  on Billboardà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Hot 100?

Whenever it has enough points to chart. One could chart on the Hot 100 with only airplay or only sales (and possibly streams, but that would be tough to do since that only counts for 5%).

After the first week of sales, or after the radio impact date? Cuz LO isnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t impacting radio until next week IIRC?

The the sales week for the Hot 100 goes from Monday morning to Sunday midnight. The airplay week for the Hot 100 goes from Wednesday morning to Tuesday night (although, airplay charts are from Monday to Sunday…confused, yet?). The get added together to make the chart (55% airplay, 40% sales, 5% streams).

Bottom line? “Light On” did not get enough airplay last week to appear on this week’s chart, but should appear on the October 18th chart (next week. This week’s BB chart is dated October 11th…surely, you are confused, by now!)

I canà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t be the only person who actually loves that picture.

You’re not – I love it too! :wub_tb:

Hmmm. . seems like everyone knows DC fans are downloading today!

This morning, Boing Boing got hold of an e-mail from Wal-Mart that said the company was no longer going to support files with digital rights management (DRM), meaning any DRM-encoded files purchased from the Wal-Mart digital store would no longer be supported by the company. According to the e-mail obtained by Boing Boing, Wal-Mart states that it had been offering DRM-free music since February of this year. Any recent purchases are thereby safe (David Cook fans just let out a sigh of relief).

But from August of 2008 to early this year, Wal-Mart’s files came with DRM-encoding to limit copying. Those files will need to be backed up — burned onto a CD –to ensure that that they will continue to be playable after Oct. 9, when Wal-Mart will no longer support its DRM software. After that date, music and videos will only work on the original authorized computer, but should you reinstall your operating system or should the computer crash, the files will be worthless.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/extendedplay/2008/09/the-danger-of-b.html

now available at amazon too
http://www.amazon.com/Light-On/dp/B001GZMN8A/ref=dm_ap_trk2

but weird, the link from DCO goes to the DL of ToML. You have to click on performer:David Cook to get to it.

About the cover art- I actually preferred the close up version to this version, for some reason, they have been choosing really “fore-heady” pics of him. But I do like this cover art better than the main pic on DCO- which looks kinda alien to me. I think he is SO hot, why not show him in all his hotness? There are so many pics of him I prefer to these.

The single has not grown on me yet, but I plan to play it on repeat in my car starting today. Fave part is the softer part in the middle. Go Cookie!

Really surprised there isn’t more press about this…

There is now an announcement on DCO:

Light On Is Available Digitally Now-1-million plays on AOL

SEPTEMBER 30, 2008, 1:20 PM

You did it: Over 1,000,000 plays of “Light On” since last week’s AOL premiere. Thank you!

And now you can finally buy it on iTunes!

Click here to get it now

Let’s take “Light On” to the top of the charts!

1 million plays? I’m pretty astonished by that, since there wasn’t any Idol finale to jump start those plays. Wow. No way that’s just hardcore fans. We are many, and we might play it a lot, but we are not *that* many, and we surely couldn’t have played it *that* much, lol. Bodes really well for the sales success.

First we had the power of the Mighty Rainbow, now we have the power of This Little Light of Ours, but I think it’s really all about the power of The Voice. Oh, and the face he sings off.

p.s. I love the photo, too. And the other one. And all the other ones.

I got it! I got it! Yippee..thanks to one of the very kind and generous doners!! It was bloody easy to redeem and download. I was actually so nervous i would screw it up!

It sounds so freakin’ good! The sound quality is so much better than the streaming version.

And it is shooting up the Itunes top 100!

Go DC! Go!

1 million plays!!! Like I just said! Go DC! Go!

I’m a number’s whore and I can’t wait to hear what the numbers are after the first 24 hours on Itunes!

I am LO’s bitch! It’s wormed itself into my ear and heart. I wail when he does…too bad my glory note sex face doesn’t look as attractive as his! LOL

Okay MJ,

I’m not spamming…I’m just excited to get a song of his legally!

I love the pic too…depending on my mood he looks like an Elf or a vampir…I find both very sexy. uh…Lord of the Rings type of Elf An the Angel/Spike type of vampire.

Wonder if the title of the album is really going to be “optimistic to a Fault” ? Hope so as that it is a great title. The album! The Album! :clap_tb:

Okay…I’m done and stepping away from the keyboard.

I am LOà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s bitch!

:laugh_tb:

the marketing of this album is terrible! you have to have a banner on iTunes! No one will no its out until a week from now and by then there will be nerwer releases to buy !!! david A’s people were smarter. and what weirdo is picking out his awful cover art?????

The banners on top of the main ITunes page have changed since this morning. Now I see Nickleback and Jennifer Hudson, among others. My guess is that a banner for David will pop up over the course of the day/week. At least I hope. I would also hope he eventually gets listed under “new releases” on the main page.

What Trina was referring to about the new releases page is that ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s only listed on the front of the pop page meaning you have to click on the pop tab to see it. With Crush, you didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t have to do that.

Crush didn’t have a big banner ad on the main page when it was first released (it did for the video, probably because the single did so well Jive put a few more bucks into promotion the second time around). It got a banner ad on the Music page and was listed in the “What’s New” section on the main page. Light On has a banner ad on the Pop page and is listed in the “What We’re Listening To” section on the main page, so while RCA didn’t spend as much money (Music page banner versus Pop page banner), it’s not like Crush was plastered everywhere right as you entered iTunes.

Having said that, I think Light On will sell extremely well. It may not get #1 (because of T.I. and Christina and Nickelback all releasing today, too), but its actual sales will be great.

LO is now listed at #16 on i-tunes.

LINK

Pam – are you sure that’s the right link? I don’t see LO on the list at all, nor the Nickelback or Killers songs, which were also released today and charting in the top 50 last I looked.

I see it. It’s right above Nickleback and below Christina and T-Pain.

I can ´t see it…

I see it here: http://www.apple-news.net/itunes-top-50/

Now, is this just today’s numbers on this top 50 list, or cumulative since the songs on it have been available for purchase? Because Cook at 16 is creeping up pretty fast on Archie at 13 for just one day’s numbers and with little radio play or promotion except for within the established fanbase. Archie’s numbers (and those of most others on the list) are representing more widely released and promoted material.

GO DAVID!
what about TOML? is it up too?

I too would like to know if these are numbers just from today….anyone?

I see it here: http://www.apple-news.net/itunes-top-50/

Thank you!

Cumulative for the week maybe? It’s only Tuesday, so if it includes yesterday’s sales then the chart rise makes sense. New releases would sell a lot more than established releases on the first day, but they would take a minute to catch up to the stuff that has been on sale from the day before. Does that make sense?

Now, is this just todayà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s numbers on this top 50 list, or cumulative since the songs on it have been available for purchase? Because Cook at 16 is creeping up pretty fast on Archie at 13 for just one dayà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s numbers and with little radio play or promotion except for within the established fanbase. Archieà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s numbers (and those of most others on the list) are representing more widely released and promoted material.

The popularity and ranking represent more than one day. Apple doesn’t say how many days it represents. It might be a full week, but I’m not so sure it’s cumulative sales as much as some sales-per-time-period type of deal. Again, Apple doesn’t really give up that type of info.

But first day sales are generally amplified as fans rush to buy the single, so songs in their first days get to #1 or top 10 all the time, despite having only that day’s sales. In fact, every Tuesday fans of songs that are already on the chart prepare themselves for the influx of new top 10 songs. I’m sure you and other Cook fans will be doing the same thing next week. Unless the song is a T.I. single or Pink’s juggernaut “So What,” songs generally get bumped a bit on Tuesdays.

Yeah, those are rankings from probably just a few days. Archie’s single is nearly gold. I seriously doubt Cook’s sold that many in won day. :eek_wp:

Archie went pretty high up on the charts on his first day didn’t he? I only thought downloads for Cook were permitted as of midnight this morning.

Laurie, haha!

ptslittlecomment, Archie’s went to number one pretty quickly but you can’t look at that because you don’t know how much the songs around them are selling. Cook could stay at number 10 all week and still have more downloads than Archie’s number 1 week.

I wasn’t trying to compare the two Cranked, I was just pointing out that it probably is today’s numbers being reflected on the ITunes chart currently. But thanks for making that point. I am sure that there will be someone somewhere that will be speaking on behalf of the mythical rivalry between the two Davids!

Doesn’t it seem like iTunes is extremely slow with the updates today? And I’m still shaking my head at his MySpace not sending out a bulletin with over 122,000 friends.

You did it: Over 1,000,000 plays of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Light Onà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  since last weekà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s AOL premiere. Thank you!

Mindboggling. Imagine how many streams it would have gotten if it wasn’t up for streaming on Clear Channel sites as well?

ptslittlecomment, I guess I wasn’t clear with my response. I thought you didn’t understand how it worked. I wasn’t trying to compare either. Goodness knows we don’t want fanwars here. I adore them both!

I’ll just shad-ap for awhile!

Cranked, please don’t ! I always enjoy hearing from you!

Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m still shaking my head at his MySpace not sending out a bulletin with over 122,000 friends.

I honestly don’t get it either. They still have the banner to buy TOML from i-tunes on that page. It’s time they change it.

Light On stuff (link to buy it on iTunes, Light On on the playlist) IS on his myspace page now, although I don’t know anything about a bulletin (or even a blog!) Plus they put the banner and the link underneath the Pre-Order the Album banner and Buy TOML on iTunes banner, so you have to scroll down to see it.

ptslittlecomment , *hugs* I’m just supposed to be working. *darts eyes back and forth and looks behind me*

Keep udating guys!

Good luck to David Cook and Light On!

I don’t think he needs it but I’ll toss that in here for solidarity.

Now, is this just todayà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s numbers on this top 50 list, or cumulative since the songs on it have been available for purchase?

It’s a rolling chart and people who watch the chart think it’s window is about 3 to 4 days. It certainly isn’t cummulative for all songs because there are some 3 million sellers out there that would still be dominating the chart. The idea is to show what’s selling now. There’s a few days in the rolling window to smooth out the bumps.

I also think Itunes is working slowly today, I think when it was Time Of My Life the updates were faster.

If the song gets there in the middle of T.I, Pink, CA, Nickelback… it will sell pretty well, even if it’s not #1 or #2 on Itunes.

Hm, okay, I was thinking it was an hourly snapshot of popularity but on second thought I was probably thinking of Amazon. The 3-4 day rolling window makes more sense.

iTunes does seem to be updating more slowly than, er, other times I obsessively tracked it. Isn’t it usually updated hourly?

Well it’s likely that iTunes is getting slammed with all the big releases today. Just shows how powerful we can be when we come together in massive numbers. I would not be surprised to see LO in the Top 5 or 10 by the end of the day.

Real life has really gotten in my way this week, so this was such a delight to see that iTunes released it today. :grin1_ee:

I just now received an email from DCO announcing the availability of “Light On” on itunes. Hmm.

Just check the top songs- it’s now #7!!

I am SO HAPPY to finally have Light On in my playlist!!!!!

I think Innocent, The World I Knew and Always Be My Baby are my favorite DC songs from Idol, and Light On isn’t quite in that league but I still like it and am looking forward to what else will be on the upcoming CD.

Go Cookie!!!!!

LO is now showing up under new releases on i-tunes.

It’s still showing up as #16 for me. It looks like it’s #7 at pop though.

LO is now up to #14 overall.

LO is now at #14 (in the overall list) at this link:

http://www.doipod.com/itunes-chart/top-100-itunes-songs-usa.html

There’s been a whole lot of shifting around since the last update. Pink has lost her #1 spot to T.I.

It’s #14 overall and it’s now on the new releases.

Yes, I see it at #14 too, just above Archie’s Crush. Did you guys notice that LO is now listed in the “new releases” section of the home page as well as on the music page? There’s also a banner now, but so far I’ve seen only on the Pop page. RCA must be listening to us. This is a good move because there are a lot of people out there who don’t know DC’s single has been released today. It’s an important sales tactic for pulling in all the impulse buyers out there who happen to be just casually shopping around iTunes.

LO was added to 26 stations (19 monitored) today according to All Access:

KRBE-FM Houston (#6)
WWWQ-FM Atlanta (#8)
KMXV-FM Kansas City (#32)
CKEY-FM Buffalo (#52)
KQMQ-FM Honolulu (#64)
WKRZ-FM Wilkes-Barre (#70)
WTWR-FM Toledo (#88)
WAOA-FM Melbourne (#97)
KHOP-FM Modesto, CA (#108)
WZYP-FM Huntsville (#109)
KSXY-FM Santa Rosa, CA (#118)
WAKZ-FM Youngstown, OH (#119)
WHOT-FM Youngstown, OH (#119)
WWCK-FM Flint, MI (#127)
KRCK-FM Palm Springs, CA (#133)
KMCK-FM Fayetteville, AR (#134)
KQXY-FM Beaumont, TX (#138)
KBEA-FM Quad Cities, IA-IL (#144)
WHHY-FM Montgomery, AL (#153)
WAEV-FM Savannah, GA (#157)
WKFR-FM Kalamazoo, MI (#188)
WBZN-FM Bangor, ME (#220)
WZNS-FM Ft. Walton Beach, FL (#229)
KROC-FM Rochester, MN (#232)
KKCT-FM Bismarck, ND (#286)

AllAccess.com is showing that “Light On” is impacting ROCK on 10/14. I guess it was all the fans complaining about David’s shouting and screaming, lol. We’ll see how that goes.

Still no freaking Chicago stations :wallbash_tb: I subjected myself to top 40 radio going to and from work in hopes that I would hear it…

lol Cheese. There were 2 on Hot AC shown on All Access as well:

WQAL-FM Cleveland (#28)
KSII-FM El Paso (#76)

There’s a small banner up for “Light On” on the main page and it’s under new releases on the main page too. Is this new? I thought it was only on the pop page earlier…

Is this new? I thought it was only on the pop page earlierà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦

Yep, it’s new.

Is this new? I thought it was only on the pop page earlierà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦

Yep, ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s new.

Yay! Talk about a slow leak on to iTunes. A banner here, a banner there. It feels like I’m stalking the single all over iTunes…but it makes it interesting :biggrin_wp: !

It’s at #13 now. Hard to tell sales based on ranking this week with all the new releases, but if anybody checks popularity bars on iTunes, it should be around the popularity bar of American Boy because it just passed American Boy.

When I downloaded from Amazon a couple hours ago, it was listed as #73 in mp3′s – now it’s at #27. And I’m lovin’ watching it move up on itunes. Yipee!

very surprised this hasnt even cracked top 10 yet…

I just linked on Amazon and it said #1. Go figure! This is confusing. Also, when I gifted on i-tunes about 45 minutes ago, it showed up at #6 in most popular songs. When I finished though, it wasn’t showing in the top 10 even. I am confused and tired!

Considering stiff competition from established artists and the fact there has been little airplay, I would say he is doing really really well.

I don’t like the cover picture. Cook looks like a scary Russian hairdresser. LOL. As for the song itself, yeah, pretty generic but far from horrible and pretty solid piece of ear candy (like “Crush”). A nice pop-rock song.

Considering stiff competition from established artists and the fact there has been little airplay, I would say he is doing really really well.

Yup, I agree wholeheartedly. It’s now at 13 on itunes according to the link above.

I shared it with a couple of friends today who didn’t spend hrs. voting and unfortunately don’t have ipods or mp3 players, and they both loved it!

I agree, both Crush and LO are pop songs and not what either would prefer to do..but Crush made it to #1 by 6 p.m. on first day. That made it the highest debut single since 2007. Pretty impressive for the big “D”. I keep forgetting he is only 17!

I just have to say, I just came home from a venue where the number one Tavern in our area opens its doors to original artists every Tuesday night.

Virutally EVERYONE there tonight was awesome (inclucing my husband ). The attendance? LOW. Why? Bummer, the economy.

My POINT (trying to encourage myself), it is HARD to break into the music industry and it’s not going to get any easier.

Having said that, I am proud to be a David Cook supporter and have to honestly say my OWN expectations for this single were OTT.

In closing, I’ll say there (God willing) is always tomorrow. I believe this single has only begun to show what a new artist can do.

ETA: Where did your post go mj?

I donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t like the cover picture. Cook looks like a scary Russian hairdresser.

In fairness to Russian hairdressers I’ve never seen one that looked that bad. Lol.

That is a terrible picture though. What were they thinking?

i’m excited that LO is finally out. just downloaded it (from mj’s link). i really love the song. i’m also surprised it hasn’t reached higher on itunes but i really don’t want to start the comparsion game. da being successful does not diminish dc’s success.

It’s #11 now. No idea what the popularity bars look like because my iTunes hasn’t updated from when it was #14, so I can’t gauge whether its close to #10 (which is Disturbia-gosh, hard to imagine a top 10 without Disturbia in it). Unfortunately for everybody, the album version for T.I.’s Whatever You Like is rising once again on the chart after the single version was taken down. It was top 5 when it was removed, so it’ll likely get back up there. It’ll be a high-selling week all around because the traffic on iTunes is probably massive compared to other, less competitive weeks.

but Crush made it to #1 by 6 p.m. on first day. That made it the highest debut single since 2007. Pretty impressive for the big à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Dà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ . I keep forgetting he is only 17!

Yes, that’s very nice for Archie. Except the topic of this thread is David Cook and “Light On”, not Archie and “Crush”.

Just a reminder: Do not bring Archie’s numbers into this discussion unless you have a point. And that point needs to be something more substantive than “My Idol is doing better than your Idol.” This thread will continue to be a no fan war zone.

Carry on.

Well said, MJ. Crush is Crush. Light on is Light on.
I think this week is one of the toughest days for everyone. Top positions were already taken by famous musicians. For example, Nickelback is alrleady top 10 even though they spreaded free mp3 files. TI is everywhere. New artist is hard to build up that level within few hours. Overall, Light on is doing very well. I hope David cook’s fans are not tired. Keep going cookies!!

Thanks Mj….let’s keep the 2 separate. LO is up against some hardcore releases today (yesterday) so its position is fine.

I am anxious to see what happens once there is wider airplay.

I like to think that RCA knows what their doing…a slow build up to ensure that the single continues to sell until the album release…which I gather will be called “Optimistic to a Fault”?

Oh my, I hate feeling this anxious. I want him to do so well.

p.s. If the title is “Optimistic to a Fault,” then the single has to be in the album, right? Yay, because I like that song so much.

Isn’t the real title of Optimistic to a Fault “The Truth”? I would love a worked over acoustic version of that on the record.

I think once the PR starts and with wider airplay, DC will do very well….very well indeed.

Remember folks, this is just day one…heaing into day 2. I got a newsletter from David Cook’s official My Space page, announcing the release of the single…which actually should have been sent out DAYS ago…oh well.

LO is doing just fine. Look at the big name competition he is up against. I know that in the AI world, everyone is well aware of who DC is and the die hards are completely “in the know” regarding this single. But….this is not May, right after the finale; this is not August, during the tour; this is October, smack dab in the middle of what is the biggest new release week of the year so far. How many casual fans are clueless that this song is even out there? This is not a single that people were aware of a month in advance of its release; even the mega-Cookies knew nothing until last week. He does not have the benefit of the tour (and the coinciding press), the Teen Choice Awards, a Larry King appearance, a major market debut (complete with instantaneous 7 spins per day- amounting to 84 spins and an audience impression of over 6 million prior to itunes release) or an otherwise slow-selling music week in addition to an AOL stream and multiple (and random) web ads and MySpace bulletins.
He has virtual silence on the media front (unless you count shoe ads that never mention a song), a front page itunes ad that didn’t appear until late today, an AOL stream, the closest thing to major market play being 11 spins in Houston (with an audience impression of a little over 1 million), no MySpace bulletins and the only Internet advertisement coming from his own website. In addition, he is fighting for sales with brand spanking new releases from T.I., Christina Aguilera, Nickelback, Kanye West, Akon and The Killers (as well as the super hot Pink, Katy Perry, Rihanna and Taylor Swift and newly hot Kevin Rudolf – I downloaded that track – it is awesome). He could very well end up having fantastic opening numbers and still not be able to hit #1 in this week. Would that mean he failed? If so, I am so glad I am not in the music industry, because, silly me, I thought sales figures meant just a little bit more than chart position.
Count me among those with my fingers and toes crossed in hope that there is a method to RCA’s madness and that there is a strategy in the works. The fact that he is able to hold his own in the pack of wolves that is this week’s new releases with so little promotion should be reason enough to promote the hell out of him.

Isnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t the real title of Optimistic to a Fault à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“The Truthà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ 

No, the titles are confusing, aren’t they? That song is named Better Never Than Late.

The fact that LO got to #11 in one day without any major radio or promotion is a testament to just how large his hardcore fan base really is. I bet most of David’s AI fans still don’t even know he has a single out yet. It is only those who participate in fan boards who are even aware of it so far.

I think this strategy of incremental exposure is going to be mega-successful. The number of radio stations playing LO is increasing every day and they all look to be quickly increasing their plays. My guess is that this song will be all over the radio and at the top of the charts in a couple of weeks and stay there for months, giving David a big boost in preparation for his album’s release in November.

Having this intense a level of competition now will only go to show that David Cook can stand toe to toe with the biggest in the industry, and that is going to be nothing but great for his career.

BTW, It looks to me that songs #7 through #11 (LO) have nearly identical bars on iTunes. So I wouldn’t be surprised to see LO well into the Top 10 by later today.

I’ve come out of months of lurkdom to comment on Light On. The strategy of RCA v.s Jive is interesting. It seems that both Davids are medium sized fish in the music pond. They are totally new artists, but both have major label backing and AI fanbases to help them out in the beginning. However, Jive seems to have decided to bring Archie out into a relative small pond in August, hoping to get traction without much competition. RCA let Cook try to swim with the sharks and see how it shakes out. I can see advantages to both. Archie gets time and exposure he might not get if he came out with the big hitters, however Cook can get sales and exposure to people that are going to itunes right now for other artists. Chances are that if you are going to buy Nickleback or The Killers (love their single BTW) you might click buy for an extra .99 on David Cook. I think both are sound strategies. I have a feeling both will do just fine. (AI lucked out this year with two very commercial contestants.)

I personally love LO. It has a bit of 80′s flavor, back when singers put the power in the power ballad. To me it is a total dude power ballad. I know the target audience of the power ballad was discussed in an earlier thread, but I believe there are guy power ballads (e.g. Billie Jean) and girl power ballads (e.g. ABMB). This one is for the dudes. It’s for the guys who want to wail and play air guitar. (And the women who love them.)

When Crush was released, there was Jonas Brothers, Chris Brown, Lovato, Taylor Swift but I guess they are not big like Aguilera, Nickleback etc. I agree one thing Jive is good at is promotion. Next week Britney’s song will go on itunes and she’ll probably has no problem getting near the top since no big release next week.

I have no doubt LO will sell extremely well. Cook’s fans have nothing to worry. Cook has over 120000 friends on his myspace. The hardcore fans will buy multiple copies and then there will be casual buyers. I expect him to sell close to 200k by the end of the week. Come on Cookies!

Actually E now that you mention those artists that came out with Archie, maybe RCA and Jive aren’t as far apart in their strategies as I thought. Both Cook and Archie released singles with big names that are musically similar. Archie in the lets get the kids before they go back to school rush, and Cook with the older pop/rock crowd. It looks like Cook is now in the top 10. It might take 200k just to make the top 10 this week. What a crowded calender.

I hope RCA change their attitude toward David’s myspace.
His new site is ok for hard-core fans, but they should let his myspace running for casual fans.
That is how I use my myspace to get infos about musicians I am interested in, but donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t have time to follow them up.

LO is now #9 if I am right he should sell more now.

“When Crush was released, there was Jonas Brothers, Chris Brown, Lovato, Taylor Swift..” and became number 1 on iTunes notwithstanding, even before the lapse of 24 hours from its release…? is this correct?

in my opinion david’s promotion totally sucks but he is climbing the charts thanks to his devoted fans.
LO is also #6 on amazon. we can take him to the top of this chart cookies.
i asked my relative to buy more copies.
i wish amazon downloads was available to international fans and i could support this guy even more.
GO DAVID!

I really could give a shit about Crush…reallly and truly. Good for DA-sweet kid and all that. But this is about Cookie!!!

LO is number 9!!! How cool is that…and with hardly any airplay or promotion!!!

I really believe that RCA knows what they are doing. It’s the slow burn!

And the competition is stiff and he’s still doing a fuckin’ okay! :clap_tb:

I hope RCA change their attitude toward Davidà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s myspace.
His new site is ok for hard-core fans, but they should let his myspace running for casual fans.
That is how I use my myspace to get infos about musicians I am interested in, but donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t have time to follow them up.

Excellent point. I know my daughters find out about a lot of new music on myspace.

yeah…Amazon…those bastards get so much of my money both .uk and .com. If they can take my oney for books and dvds, they can take my money for dowloads!

Isnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t the real title of Optimistic to a Fault à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“The Truthà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ 

No, the titles are confusing, arenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t they? That song is named Better Never Than Late.

Thanks elisad…I was qyuite confused there. Love both songs.

mj,
I only brought up the Crush #1 in such a short time because it was brought up in the comment right before mine. The post ASKED if Crush had made it #1 in a short few hours and I responded. So, it was brought up RESPOND to as a question and response, not to boast.
And Cook is getting big time help with radio stations which is the strategy of RCA it seems. He is already playing in Atlanta…the day of his release. Radio stations are adding him. So, that is a different strategy all together than Archie who had the opposite. He did not get the radio support at first, and if it had not been for the fanbase it would have been very hard to get the support radio wise. The radio market is set on a Daughtry or else Lewis or Rihanna audience mainly. Cook fits right in with that radio audience and will tested there. That will be very helpful.
And response to the competition during Crush, Disturbia by Rihanna and Katy Perry had just come out right before and was a very tough competition for Crush.
So, I think with the playing on the radio strategy like what is happening with Daughtry’s song, it will be a gradual climb and it seems like that is what the company is planning for.
Crush needed that big support at the beginning because of the decision of Archuleta to introduce himself to a broader age base…he had sung so many songs geared to the older crowd that he wanted to reach out to the younger crowd since he was so young himself. Likewise,Cook’s base fits right in with some of the songs that just came and that will help him.
Trust the record company..the know what they are doing. And if we try to read into the whys and compare it just makes things sour. Time, time, time. Breath, breath, breath.

I think Light On is holding its own against very tough competition. We wont know anything until the final numbers come out, so it’s really hard to judge based on iTunes rankings.

Back in August #1 on iTunes could be achieved with 160,000 downloads since there wasn’t too much going on on the charts, but it’s certainly not the case now. Last week the number 1 song by Pink sold 253,000. #2 and #3 also sold over 200,000 downloads.

LO is doing well right out of the gate, and once the radio play picks up, I hope it will stabilize and be on the charts for a long time.

à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“When Crush was released, there was Jonas Brothers, Chris Brown, Lovato, Taylor Swift..à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  and became number 1 on iTunes notwithstanding, even before the lapse of 24 hours from its releaseà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦? is this correct?

Not quite. Crush did get to number 1 on iTunes, but I think Lovato was the only other signficant single release that week (Jonas Brothers released an album, Chris Brown and Taylor Swift all released the previous weeks). Perhaps that’s the reason comparison with Crush is so unwelcomed in this thread, half-truth gets spread around, and that’s how fans war gets started?

This week is probably unusual with so many big-hitters releasing their singles, but I think LO will probably get into top 5 today, will have to see how it does the rest of the week to see if it will perform well in the Billboard chart.

I think once the PR starts and with wider airplay, DC will do very wellà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦.very well indeed.

On that front, RCA has put an ad for Light On the Mediabase Login Page that would be aimed directly at getting airplay (ads can change so it might not still be there). I can’t see the ad myself (for some reason, my ad blocker hates All Access and Mediabase ads and refuses to show them), but the people over on Pulse are talking about it on their iTunes thread(unfortunately, they like it less than his iTunes ad picture. I had to LOL at this one so I hope it’s okay to quote this one comment from Acetic Acid: ‘OMG. That looks screams, “The lights are on… but nobody will be home… WHEN I’M DONE WITH YOU!”‘. I don’t think that picture matters though because this is an ad to industry (and the Killers picture is probably still more scary anyway). The important thing is to get information out there)

There are a lot of different strategies out there. If I had told you that an artist was thinking of dropping a song to iTunes and going for ads on radio on the same day without releasing it to radio first or having streams on AOL or anything and then give it away for free for 24 hours prior to doing this, you might think this plan was CRAZY. But Nickelback did that yesterday. They have the number 7 song on iTunes. They have charted on 3 charts with ONE day of airplay (21 Rock, 35 Active Rock, 47 HAC). Of course, they are Nickelback, but Christina is as big as them and used a totally different release strategey (her song has been tearing up the airplay charts for weeks). Different artists, different songs, different strategies. All in my opinion of course.

BTW “Crush” is totally a summer song. That’s another reason to release it then. “Light On” is more of a fall song. IMO.

“OMG. That looks screams, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“The lights are onà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦ but nobody will be homeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦ WHEN Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢M DONE WITH YOU!à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ Ãƒ ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹. ”

That cracked me up…speaks to the psychotic vampire side of that pic…

No that you said it, Kristen, I agree that Crush is a summer song while LO is not yellow and bright, instead it’s more burnt orange and somber. Heh. Sorry, this is a hangover from me & my mom talking about her colors and how she’s a spring.

hypertwink–just be glad you didn’t have that colors conversation with Pauler.

Kirsten, it’s the photo of him in the blue shirt and jacket, standing but kind of bowing forward, if you know the one. Not my favorite DC photo, but I can’t say that I’ve been getting a serial killer vibe from it.

I am annoyed that itunes is slow updating the “Top Songs” page with the popularity bars. Those make it so much easier to judge how a song is doing relatively speaking, much better than simply the rankings. Of course, those aren’t perfect, either, because it all depends on how well the number one song is doing. T.I.’s numbers seem like they are so huge that they are skewing how the other popularity bars appear.

Okay, can someone tell me how to see these “popularity bars.” I see them when I click on an artist but I never see them on the top songs on iTunes. All help will be much appreciated.

LO is #8 on iTunes now. Popularity bars show a virtual tie between song 6-9.

jpfan. When you click on Top Songs go to View, then click on View Options, then click Popularity and the bars will appear.

ETA: All of this is within itunes. I hope this makes sense.

Oh I thought Kristen was talking about the LO pic. The one where he is taking a bow…well I like it…as well as the LO pic. The cooment still cracks me up tho’

Number 8…and DC is playing with the big boys…and girls

I canà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t say that Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ve been getting a serial killer vibe from it.

Hmmmm…in that one he totally looks like Dexter.

Jlyn, thank you so much. Now I finally understand what people are talking about.

So, that is a different strategy all together than Archie who had the opposite. He did not get the radio support at first, and if it had not been for the fanbase it would have been very hard to get the support radio wise.

That’s a misconception. Crush started getting radio play on other radio stations immediately after it premiered on Z-100. It’s add-rate was no different than what LO has had so far. Crush also had almost two full weeks of airplay prior to its Itunes debut.

Your welcome, jpfan. I finally figured it out because I wanted to know what everyone was talking about too! It is fun to compare, but beware, as this thread exemplifies it is way too easy to get caught up in them.

It is way too easy to get caught up in them.

So true.

I think a premiere and immediate addition to the playlist on Z-100 probably reached more people than the AOL thing (doesn’t one spin during the morning show have a HUGE audience impression)

“Light On” is still well under 2M total audience impressions since its release and David’s team still hasn’t sent a bulletin to the 122,000 myspace friends or had him set foot inside a radio station. All things considered, I think he’s doing well at #8. I heard Nickelback’s new song (which, to my ears, sounds pretty much like Chad Kroeger singing a Hannah Montana song), and Christina’s song two times each in about 30 minutes this morning. I’m ready for that impact date. I’m expecting David to peak and drop fairly quickly until his radio play picks up.

I think the stations that will ultimately play Light On the most (HAC) are going to be slow to add it since they’re clinging to the magic rainbow.

Great. Now I’m going to look at that picture and think Dexter.

Jlyn, if getting caught up in numbers-related stuff is wrong, I don’t want to be right.

I canà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t say that Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ve been getting a serial killer vibe from it.

Hmmmmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦in that one he totally looks like Dexter.

Oh my god is does!!! LOLOLOL

I think cheese is right, unfortunately. It probably will drop in numbers until the radio adds go into affect.

One more reminder. When I mod a poster can y’all please refrain from piling on afterward? Let my mod stand without comments. Just move along with your conversation as if I didn’t say anything. Thanks.

Also, I’ll repeat that its OK to bring DA into the conversation here as long as it’s on topic. Again, thank you!

It looks like RCA is rolling out the promotion bit by bit. Perhaps trying to get sustained sales over the course of the week? On the first day, they relied on the hardcore fans, then they gradually moved the adds over to the Itunes front page, then they sent out an email to fanclub later in the day, now they started pushing it to radio so adds should be increasing over the course of the week. Perhaps a myspace bulletin will go out later today? I have no idea if what I am saying makes sense. LOL.

All right. I’m sorry for giving half truths. Serves me right for just reading the net and not doing my own research about the other song and the runner up. He had it easy in August. I’ll shut up now.

Congrats Cook! Impressive indeed LO is holding its own and more against the established artists.

Thanks for the Mediabase ad, Kirsten. 10/13 seems like a long way away, waaaa.

I actually love that photo, even though it makes me laugh every time. It looks to me as if he’s saying, “Okay, I did your damned Three Magical Tasks and I killed the effing dragon and I beat all those lame-ass knights, and now I’ll bend over and enter your damned cave, but once I get in here it better be good, Princess B*tch.”

I don’t really know which is better to get a song out there. I can think of positives and negatives for a Z100 premiere and the AOL premiere. With AOL you’re reaching a huge internet audience but without the luxury of getting immediate major market airplay. Z100 has a huge listening audience but for the NY/NJ metro area and outside of that you had to stream it off the Z100 website. This helped Crush get more airplay to follow. Light On was being streamed off the Z100 website until this past Monday as well as other Clear Channel stations so that at least tells me something is in the works on the radio push front. Or I could be talking out of my ass..

That said I agree whoever is operating his MySpace needs to get on the ball. They’re putting too much focus on the official site which is nice for the hardcore fans but not the more casual fans who need reminders of important happenings. There are so many artists I’m a fan of I don’t follow every move but yet when I get a MySpace bulletin it’s a huge help.

Looking at itunes 100 right now 7 of the top 100 songs are from Idol. (I wonder if David Cook could have guessed a year ago with his fauxhawk and sweater vest that he would have 2 songs in the top 100.) When Idol started they were trying to get a small piece of the, at the time, giant music industry riding high on CD sales. Now they are in the vanguard of the new digital age (the AI/Apple partnership with weekly downloads was genius) and account for a large chunk of music sales. Not too bad for a cheesy reality TV show.

Spritely: Heh.

I definitely think that there is some push on the radio front, between the clear channel streaming and the mediabase ad. Light On is also listed as a hot song on the Top 40 page at all access. So, no, you’re not talking out of your ass….

I may be the only one, but I admire the whole “slow burn” approach to David’s promotion.

This is the guy who had – what – 11 songs on the chart immediately following Idol, and probably all of that could be attributed to his fans, hardcore or otherwise.

He’s #8 on iTunes right now, most likely on pure fan power. That’s saying a lot.

I also got that late newsletter about the single release. Me, being the fanatic that I am, had been waiting for 9/30. However, to someone on that list, who signed up for the newsletter, then forgot about it, it served as a reminder. “Hey, David Cook’s single is out. You may want to pick that up.”

I have to believe that some people signed up for that newsletter on his MySpace page as well as at the official site. So, I’m sure it caught people from both places. MySpace is a great promotional tool, but one can never discount word-of-mouth.

No Gwen,

You are not the only one who thinks RCA is doing a good thing with the “slow burn” approach. I don’t think that they want to do a flash-in-the-pan it thing approach. I think they want DC to make his mark.

If you do the bar view thing at Itunes, Light On, looks like it’s virtually tied with Nickelback & Kanye West’s songs, and not far behind Katy Perry.

Okay, I did your damned Three Magical Tasks and I killed the effing dragon and I beat all those lame-ass knights, and now Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ll bend over and enter your damned cave, but once I get in here it better be good, Princess B*tch.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ 

I spat my Sprite zero all over my keyboard!!! That is too effin’ funny!

Layla,

I like the slow burn, too, even though it tests the few non-frazzled nerves that remain in my body after following DC on Idol. I get the sense of a powerful, purposeful plan behind the man.

I have pretty much discounted the idea that LO can get to number 1, so if they are indeed aiming for the “slow burn” and hope for a long stint in the chart, then that might be a better alternative. The song can do better than the Nickelback one (LO is a better song anyway), but I don’t see it overtaking Christina Aguilera’s. But what on earth is that Numa Numa song doing at the top of the chart?

I really hate that Nickleback song, and not just because it’s ahead of DC.

I still am loving the song. I know this may sound illogical, but when I hear his voice, it just sounds important to me. Last night very late around 1 or 2 AM LO was #1 on Amazon in the Movers and Shakers section. And it showed LO at #6 on itunes. By the time I finished buying it on itunes, it was no longer #6. I am just happy for David that he is doing so well against more established artists.

By the way, I personally like the full body shot on Media Base. I think his look is somewhat tentative, which is probably how he is feeling. I actually like the LO shot as well. His face looks very handsome. But his expression puzzles me and maybe that is the point!

Just a line to reinforce what has been said by a few above: it SUCKS that iTunes does not let me buy from outside the US. My money is good too you know?!?

(Actually, let me add, since we’re on topic, that it also sucks that they regularly charge more for the same download in the UK than in the US…).

I like, don’t totally love LO, but would definitely get it if I could.

Thea,

Go over to DCO and sign up on the gifting thread! I got mine that way and I’m really happy I did. There ae some fans there who are so generous.

As a Cook fan, I’m happy to see Light On holding its own so far and I hope it has a great debut week. That said, I’m not as concerned with high debut sales and chart position as I am about this song having staying power. To me, that is more important.

He does not have the benefit of the tour (and the coinciding press), the Teen Choice Awards, a Larry King appearance, a major market debut (complete with instantaneous 7 spins per day- amounting to 84 spins and an audience impression of over 6 million prior to itunes release) or an otherwise slow-selling music week in addition to an AOL stream and multiple (and random) web ads and MySpace bulletins.

But he does have the #1 song on AC radio in TOML, a song that has been on radio since late May. TOML has had exposure on some popular TV shows, including the biggest “show” of the summer, the Olympics (not to mention an appearance on Oprah’s season premiere). It’s not like David Cook is a relative unknown at this time-he is the American Idol winner, after all. I think more stations will be willing to add Light On to their playlists right away based on the success of TOML.

However, Jive seems to have decided to bring Archie out into a relative small pond in August, hoping to get traction without much competition. RCA let Cook try to swim with the sharks and see how it shakes out.

I don’t know if I agree with that. The pond wasn’t all that small for Archie when his song debuted in August. The competition might not have been as stiff or as crowded as it is this week, but it’s not like he had a cakewalk. I could be wrong, but I really don’t think that was the rationale Jive used in deciding to release his single in August. Unlike Cook, Archie didn’t already have a song on radio since early summer, and he didn’t have any music available for purchase anywhere. Maybe his label wanted to get some new music from him out there and available. Archie is swimming with the same sharks right now. The only difference is his single has been out for about a month and a half and is having to stay afloat without the benefit of the huge fanbase buying support that he had in his debut week.

.

I’m not worried about LO getting to #1. There’s too much competition up at the top and it probably won’t. But, because of all the big names in the top 10, the download numbers will be impressive for those top place-getters. I think he’s doing terrific for being the new kid; he’s more than holding his own against some very established names.

And, he has scratched and clawed his way up one more spot, to #7. Yea!

http://ax.phobos.apple.com.edgesuite.net/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wpa/MRSS/topsongs/sf=243441/limit=10/rss.xml

(Urg! So sorry about the mile-long link!)

DC has now passed Kanye. LO is at #7 now. You can see it HERE.

Number 7…go DC go!

Rather than being concerned with being #1, I am more concerned with how many singles he’s sold. As we all keep saying, he really is in the mix with big established artists….and really holding his own.

Can’t wait to see the numbers.

shell29, I think your post is right on the money. I always think the first week sales of singles are 90% the Idol fanbase. It’s usually only the faithful who even know the song is out since they’re not getting much radio play before release. After the first week blowout, the longer the song stays on the chart the better as that means new fans are buying in.

I think Cook will also benefit from the new fans who bought TOML and will be interested in a new single. But I still think most of these downloads are bought by the Idol fans which is great. Without AI, it would be impossible for new artists without massive airplay to sell like this. This will be the model for the album sales as well. The Idol fans almost come out in force for the first week.

Unlike Cook, Archie didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t already have a song on radio since early summer, and he didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t have any music available for purchase anywhere. Maybe his label wanted to get some new music from him out there and available.

Archie was in a unique position as a runner-up with no runner-up single. I think the early release of his lead-off single was a brilliant move, as his Idol fans were still very much hungry for a new song and paying attention in July when the single was announced and the tour was gearing up. Jive has done a great job, the song is decent, the video is good, and the song is holding up very well over time. If they keep feeding him Jordin songs, he’s probably going to follow in her footsteps and have hit after hit.

Having TOML be #1 on AC is great, but AC “hits” don’t exactly move a lot of units. Top 40 never really took to TOML, so we’ll see how they respond to LO. For all the concern that the song sounds too much like Nickelback, the new Nickelback song doesn’t even sound like Nickelback – it sounds like Rascal Flatts or something to me. I think LO might actually have a chance of standing out as a little different from what’s on the radio right now, although the song itself isn’t anything special apart from Cookie’s vocal, imo. There really aren’t any ballads out there. I can only “Shake It” so many times before I get tired, lol.

If DC can stay in the Top 10, we might find that his numbers aren’t so far off the numbers for Crush. I don’t think 166K would be anywhere near #1 this week. (What is the record for 1 week download sales? if that T.I./Rihanna song keeps outselling “So What” 2 to 1, it might sell 300K)

I love this thread and I can’t leave! Thanks to all the discussion and insight here, I’ve gone from angsting about first day rankings to full confidence in the RCA master plan– slow burn FTW! Haha. As long as LO stays at Top 10 on iTunes this week until radio impact, I’m a happy camper.

Having TOML be #1 on AC is great, but AC à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“hitsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t exactly move a lot of units.

I agree with that, and yet TOML has sold over 900K– you guys think it’s due to all those other exposures post-finale exposures (SYTYCD, ESPYS, Olympics, Oprah, did I miss any?)?

I think LO might actually have a chance of standing out as a little different from whatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s on the radio right now, although the song itself isnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t anything special apart from Cookieà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s vocal, imo. There really arenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t any ballads out there. I can only à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Shake Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  so many times before I get tired, lol.

ITA. While the song sounds same-old-same-old to people who don’t like “corporate rock”, I do agree that it is not really like anything on the radio right now. It also may be different in the context of “corporate rock”, you know? Kinda like how if you don’t like rap it all sounds the same, but if you do then TI is very different from Lil Wayne, who is nothing like LL Cool J and the polar opposite of Kanye. Its all about context.

About the scary pictures LOL My daughter and I have a bet going in regard to whether RCA will ever release a picture where he doesn’t look he’s in a coma or completely pissed. She thinks we will eventually see maybe in the liner notes a picture of him smiling I think they will continue to make him look angsty. Everytime I look at the combination of the MySpace/DCO background picture, the TOML single cover and the LO cover I just want to scream “smile damn it!” Don’t get me started on the Mediabase ad. I’m surprised he wasn’t required to look pissed in the Skechers ads.

Having TOML be #1 on AC is great, but AC à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“hitsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t exactly move a lot of units.

If AC radio helped move units then Kim Locke would be an enormous seller. Also having success with a debut single isn’t a guarantee the same people who bought that will run off to by whatever else they put out. I became hooked on the song Bleeding Love, but I never downloaded Leona Lewis’ follow-up single or her album.

I agree with that, and yet TOML has sold over 900Kà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ you guys think ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s due to all those other exposures post-finale exposures (SYTYCD, ESPYS, Olympics, Oprah, did I miss any?)?

Off the top of my head I think TOML was used on the Olympics twice, Oprah, Americas Got Talent, SYTYCD twice and the ESPY’s.

The initial large sales I chalk up to the Idol fanbase/David’s fanbase but the sales that continued I attribute more to the exposure it got on TV rather than all the AC airplay.

The slow burn approach is going to keep this song lighting up the airwaves for a long time. I have no doubt this song is going to be a huge hit. I think some people were just panicking when they didn’t see a full-out attack for this song. But, the label is looking at the larger picture, tying LO to the record’s release which is more than a month and a half away. I’d be willing to guess that LO will still be at the top of the charts at that time, gaining stations and sales steadily week by week, building up huge anticipation (and sales) for the album. And making way for the next single!

You go, LO!

I like the way you think movin2thabeet

Having TOML be #1 on AC is great, but AC à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“hitsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t exactly move a lot of units.

Maybe not, but the success of TOML could help grease the wheels (so to speak) for Light On on radio. Having one successful single under your belt can’t hurt. The more airplay for Light On, the better chance it has of moving units in the long run. I’m not saying that having a #1 AC hit will automatically translate into huge sales for a song. Obviously that’s not the case.

Don’t forget that TOML is still in the Top 10 or at least Top 15 in HAC as well. And it seems to me that LO is more likely to fit in that format than in AC. And I believe that HAC does move units a bit better than AC — though nowhere near the same as Top 40.

So far, it seems that a few Top 40 stations have started to play LO, so we’ll just have to wait and see whether the Top 40 format as a whole ends up embracing LO.

Of course, the real curiosity for me (being a rock fan) is whether rock stations will add LO to their respective playlists when the official 10/14 “add” date for rock stations comes around. I’ve heard that Daughtry’s first single was not picked up by rock stations when it was released and that it has only been recently (with the album’s phenomental success) that rock DJs have been more accepting of (or at least resigned to) Daughtry singles being played on their stations. Can’t wait to find out.

The rock station here embraced Daughtry eagerly and play his stuff all the time. But I’m in the Carolinas, about an hour away from Chris’ hometown, so I’m not sure whether that has anything to do with it or not.

But since DC isn’t from this area, I’m curious to see whether or not the same holds true for him being added to their station. I certainly hope so, because I can’t wait to be driving down the road and hear LO come on.

I have been subjecting myself to the pop stations for the past week to hear LO but to no avail. Today I turn on the radio and catch the new Nickleback right away but still no LO. To make matters worse they send out the teaser for the next 10 songs and who’s on there but Daughtry, Archuletta and Jordin Sparks, no DC I live in NH and don’t understand why no LO yet. I downloaded it today from this site , thanks Mj and really do like it.

I have been subjecting myself to the pop stations for the past week to hear LO but to no avail. Today I turn on the radio and catch the new Nickleback right away but still no LO.

mar_4DC, Light On hasn’t hit it’s impact date when the label really starts pushing it to the stations. Stations that play it now are really being mavericks by playing it ahead of it’s impact date.

Intentionally or not I think DCs label and Archie’s label are doing everyone a favor by pursuing different strategies. Both sides will have triumphs to crow about. It will be very hard to compare because if one side can point to chart placement, another side may be able to point to sales figures, or longevity, or the next release. I don’t think they chose different strategies to please the fans. I think it is to suit the artist and the product and what might be the best long-term strategy in each case. I will be a happy camper though if the result of it all is some mish mosh which means success for both.

“He’s more than holding his own against some very established names”–Emmajk
I love it!!

Light On is at #6 (it’s weirdly traveling up the chart with Nickelback – both songs moved past Katy Perry). Excuse my ugly link:

http://ax.phobos.apple.com.edgesuite.net/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wpa/MRSS/topsongs/sf=143441/limit=45/rss.xml

I think his heaviest competition is right on top of him….

GUH! I am SO excited for Mr. Cook! I can hardly contain myself. A couple people I know weren’t buying the single soon enough for me, so I gifted it to them heehee! They wanted it, they just hadn’t gotten around to it. ANYWAY…from way back when, in my life before Cook when I listened to mostly country radio, I just got an email from the main station I listened to that Kellie Pickler has a new single out! Now, I need to sign up for listener emails from other stations I think might play Light On and see if I get any email from THEM!

I can hardly sit still, y’all. I really like David’s song and I can’t wait to see what he gives us next. I feel like I’m back in those Idol days-weeks-months, watching, waiting to find out what is going to crash into my life from Cook next! ARGH. Did I say I’m SO excited for him? Yep, #6 now on iTunes, which I have open at work heehee! HOORAY David! :clap_tb:

Light On is at #6 (ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s weirdly traveling up the chart with Nickelback

I think it was very smart of RCA to have Light On released on the same day as Nickelback’s song. They are attracting the same audience. I don’t know if the label meant to do that, bit if they did, it was brilliant!

It’s like a Nickelback Piggyback. Very cool.

Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s like a Nickelback Piggyback. Very cool.

Here’s more evidence to support this fact. Go to LO’s main page and click “See All” on the section marked “Listeners Also Bought”. Not surprisingly, fifteen of the seventeen items on the list are from MWK/ THH. However, #1 on the list is the new Nickelback single. Since Cook’s AI fanbase seems to roundly despise Nickelback, this suggests to me that he’s now already being carried on by non-AI fans.

On a separate note, I’ve got an Itunes related questions. How can I see the comparative “popularity bars” of different songs? I haven’t been able to figure it out. Thanks.

There’s actually a guide to gifting “Light On” at DCO.

On a separate note, Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ve got an Itunes related questions. How can I see the comparative à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“popularity barsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  of different songs? I havenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t been able to figure it out. Thanks.

On the iTunes store homepage, to your left, you’ll see the Top Songs chart (TI should be at the top). Next to “Top Songs”, you’ll see an arrow pointing to the right. Click on that. It should bring up a list of the top 100 songs. If you can’t see the popularity bars to the extreme left, click on View on the menu bar and select “View Options”. Check the “Popularity” box and then OK. It should show up then.

noctem,

I did the reverse and clicked on the Nickelback single and that list included Hinder, The Killers, All American Rejects, and Light On. So you may be on to something.

Looking at those popularity bars, you can see how stiff the competition is right at the top. TI is blowing everyone else away, and Pink is pretty damn strong too. And so many of those songs have massive airplay right now. If he can even crack the top 5 it will be a minor miracle.

TI’s popularity bar is reminiscent of DC’s during Idol. Geez. Makes me wonder how much he sold back then.

ETA: DC is now #3 on Amazon. He was #6 earlier today and did actually reach last night after #1 yesterday.

Light On is at #6

:thumbup_tb:

I am actually unconcerned how this single does (other than the ugly headlines that will be comparing apples with oranges, I suspect). If he’s a huge hit, he will be a rich man. We will spend big bucks to see him in a huge stadium with sucky acoustics. If he doesn’t end up being a superstar, we will have the joy of seeing him in smaller venues with often awesome acoustics. I can’t imagine him going back to being a barrrrtender. It’s a win/win for me

If he doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t end up being a superstar, we will have the joy of seeing him in smaller venues with often awesome acoustics.

Or in the touring company of Grease! No, I think David will do just fine.

I’m not even too worried about ugly headlines for next week – honestly, he has no chance of pulling a #2 or #1 and anything less will lead to ugly headlines. I’m ready for it.

Alrighty. Just for fun, I went to the iTunes top songs. I gave a test listen to Nickelback, The Killers, Jason Mraz, Katy Perry, Pink, and even T.I. I could not even finish the test listen to T.I. or Pink. NONE of these sound like David Cook, to me anyway. Darn, I wanted to like Jason Mraz too. Maybe I should test another one of his songs, I didn’t like “I’m Yours.”

What’s with the dance vibe? Is that what’s popular now? Clubby dance sounds and rap/hip-hop? Is this what they play on the radio? I don’t think I’ve heard any of these on the Top 40/AC couple stations I’ve been trying to hear “Light On” on. I hear LOTS of Daughtry though. I’ve heard Kelly Clarkson a couple times and some country crossover songs. I can’t tell you much else because most of it goes in one ear and out the other. Mostly, it’s the lyrics, music, and voices that put me off. HAHAHA! Except for David Cook, I suppose….

noctem,

I did the reverse and clicked on the Nickelback single and that list included Hinder, The Killers, All American Rejects, and Light On. So you may be on to something.

And if you click the full list on the Nickelback page, Light On tops the list. So, RCA definitely knew what they were doing by coinciding DC’s release date. And if I’m not mistaken their albums drop the same date too?

I think Cook is more prepared to be a poor musician than a comfortable broadway actor…

Oh and I love Jason Mraz and I’m Yours. That’s actually much more similar to what I listened to before I was Cookified. I can’t really abide dance/hip hop/rap crap though (yeah showing my age :tongue_wink_ee: )

gingerly,

I am actually unconcerned how this single does (other than the ugly headlines that will be comparing apples with oranges, I suspect). If heà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s a huge hit, he will be a rich man. We will spend big bucks to see him in a huge stadium with sucky acoustics. If he doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t end up being a superstar, we will have the joy of seeing him in smaller venues with often awesome acoustics. I canà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t imagine him going back to being a barrrrtender. Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s a win/win for me

HEE! Me too. Maybe he will be a superSTAH AND we’ll get to see him live in smaller venues with awesome acoustics! I can DREAM, can’t I? Hey and at intermission, he could serve drinks. Yeah, that’s it. I’d tip him. OK back OT – since I’ve been exposed to TONS more new music because of Mr. Cook, I am looking for more that I like. This is a good way to find it – test the songs swirling around David’s right now. I haven’t heard anything I think sounds like him right now, and the more I listen, the more singular Light On sounds to me. I’m listening to the Foo Fighters’ “Baker Street” now…rawk on, boys! Could David write with Dave Grohl next perhaps?

I’m more of a James Morrison fan, and I’ve never even listened to Nickelback (or anything similar) at all. So, I prefer to think that Nickelback must be benefiting from my David Cook purchase. :laugh_tb:

Noctem and Aileen,

That was really interesting to see the section ” Listeners Also Bought” and to see that LO seems to be spreading out to hopefully non-AI fans…especially interesting to see LO together with The Killers “Human”, which is an alt band. Never thought to check that out-thanks

Alrighty. Just for fun, I went to the iTunes top songs. I gave a test listen to Nickelback, The Killers, Jason Mraz, Katy Perry, Pink, and even T.I. I could not even finish the test listen to T.I. or Pink. NONE of these sound like David Cook, to me anyway. Darn, I wanted to like Jason Mraz too. Maybe I should test another one of his songs, I didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t like à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m Yours.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ 

Aww, I actually downloaded Jason Mraz’s I’m Yours and Pink’s So What last week before Cook’s single came out. I think those songs are terribly addictive and fun.

Anyway, the comparison I did was amongst the songs in the same genre as Light On — namely the new singles from Nickelback, The Killers, All American Rejects, and Hinder. IMHO, there was no compraison. DC’s stood out by a mile. Nickelback’s, at least, was catchy. The others (and I am sad to lump in The Killers because I do like them) just were bad to mediocre songs sung badly (yes, even Mr. Flowers).

I love Jason Mraz and Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m Yours

Completely OT, I know, but me, too. And it totally sounds like something Jason C. could be singing.

I’m going to circumnavigate the interwebs next week very carefully so as to avoid the inevitable media comparisons. Cookie is going to be just fine.

Between the DC angst this week and the Cubs playing tonite, I’m about all done in.

Aww, I actually downloaded Jason Mrazà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m Yours and Pinkà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s So What last week before Cookà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s single came out. I think those songs are terribly addictive and fun.

I have those two, Paper Planes, Human, and Disturbia out of the iTunes Top 20. (for some reason, I am unable to resist any upbeat Rihanna song)

I wish I could see the current popularity bars for Light On, but I’m still seeing it at #8 when I click on the Top 100 songs page.

Do you all think that there is going to be headlines next week in the media in whic DC comes out with the short end of the stick???

Why???

Yeah, I have to decide between sitting here watching this thread and the charts or watching the Cubs. At least I don’t have to throw the Biden/Palin debate into the mix…

I hear you, EmmaJK, on the angsty feelings. For me, between DC and watching election stuff, my eyes are glued to various computer and t.v. screens! (And, with the Yankees out, I’m rooting for the Cubs to get their due after a whole century.)
But I too think that David will be just fine.
The whole slow burn approach, to quote GwendolynD, reminds me of how a new store can be open for many weeks — building interest and word of mouth and customer loyalty — before its Grand Opening.

Once LO starts getting the big-time radio airplay in the next couple of weeks, LO can get into that rarefied air of the top 3 on iTunes. ‘Light On’ is the only song in the Top 10 that is not getting major radio play right now. When you think about it, it’s pretty incredible that David is holding at #6 in this situation. I think it speaks to the power of the fanbase, the power of David Cook, and the power of the song, which I think is going to explode when we hit the radio impact dates.

Crush reached #1 in less than 24 hours, not 1 week!

Crush was up against big time artists…Rihanna Disturbia had just been released right before his and Pink’s “So What” was at the same week as well as Katy Perry’s “Hot n Cold” the same week. And Daughtry’s newest single was released the same week. And , yes Jonas Brothers too. And Cold Play was just booming at the time as well as Better In Time by Leona Lewis.
These songs he was up against have been the biggest hits this season and still are. He had no easy feat there.

Just wanted to give the correct info. on this subject.

Anyway, the comparison I did was amongst the songs in the same genre as Light On à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’  namely the new singles from Nickelback, The Killers, All American Rejects, and Hinder. IMHO, there was no compraison. DCà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s stood out by a mile.

I did the same thing, Keel, and came to the same conclusion. I was one of those DC fans that weren’t immediately thrilled with LO, but it has been growing on me, and now, I love it! Haha, call me sheep when it comes to DC, I don’t mind. I love the Killers and like AAR, so I was disappointed their new singles were so boring, but the success of that Nickelback baffles me– it is terrible! Whoever called it a Hannah Montana song being sung by Chad Kroeger was spot on.

Incidentally, comparing Crush to some of its other pop siblings on the chart had a similar effect. I already kind of like that song, but it sounds even better compared its peers. Except Jason Mraz and I’m Yours. I love that song.

Reminds me of how a new store can be open for many weeks à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’  building interest and word of mouth and customer loyalty à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’  before its Grand Opening.

I like….

Oh, thanks, now you guys have given me another obsession–checking out the “listeners also bought.” It’s too bad there’s apparently no cross-over at ALL between T.I., Pink, and LO, ’cause as long as they’re doing so well, the least they could do is pull our boy up with them.

Crush reached #1 in less than 24 hours, not 1 week!

Point taken! But, if Crush debuted on this week’s chart, he would not have reached #1 with the same sales numbers. “So What” started a little more slowly, but it’s been selling at 190-250K over the last three weeks. I don’t think Archie has had those types of sales in any given week or he would probably be platinum already. Throw in T.I. who seems to be selling twice as many units as Pink, and it’s a very tough week.

Well..I’m still a believer in the slow burn….and it’s working. Go DC! Go!

I have to admit that I like Kanye’s song and The Killers song. The Nickelback song is pretty bad…oh yeah, DC is playing with the heavy hitters but continues to hold his own.

So anxious to see what happens with REAL airplay.

I know Amazon doesn’t account for many sales, but because LO is now #3 it means his photo is up at the top. I’m always happy when his photo is on a page. Now if Pink and Katy Perry would just do the polite thing and move out of the way. . .

Do you all think that there is going to be headlines next week in the media in whic DC comes out with the short end of the stick???

Why???

Because LO has no chance of debuting at #1 or #2 on the Hot 100, so the press will say that he was “Crushed” again. They will disregard the fact that the competition is much stiffer this week than it was when Crush dropped.

The one saving grace may be if LO outsells Crush which is conceivable, since we don’t know what Cook’s (current) #6 placement on Itunes approximates to in terms of sales pace. When Archie snagged the #1 spot, he moved 166,000, but it’s clear that this week’s #1, TI, is selling way more than that.

I just hate TI this week.

That is all.

Yes movin2thabeet, that is such a good point. DC has made it to #6 with very little radio airplay, and really very low key promotion. I can’t wait until the song hits the airwaves. He has done this with no interviews that I am aware of.

My friend who likes DC, but isn’t a diehard fan just emailed me saying she loves the new song and can really feel his passion in that song. She went on to say that now she understands why I love him so much. I feel so proud!

When Archie snagged the #1 spot, he moved 166,000, but ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s clear that this weekà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s #1, TI, is selling way more than that.

Quick question- Archie got to #1 on iTunes in 24 hours, did he stay there the whole week to get to 166K? Sorry about the dumb question, getting confused between daily/weekly rankings… =P

The one saving grace may be if LO outsells Crush which is conceivable, since we donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t know what Cookà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s (current) #6 placement on Itunes approximates to in terms of sales pace.

I have no idea if Cook’s #6 placement will equal more or less than 166K, and will not pretend to guess, but my fear is that even if he does move more units, that won’t save him from the media. Weren’t there articles touting Archie’s (very impressive) #2 debut on the Hot 100 as an indication he’s the first runner-up since Clay to out-perform the winner (I forget the word choice)? And correct me if I’m wrong (I’m really not sure, and don’t want to spread half-truths or inadvertently start fanwars), but didn’t TOML sell more units than Crush the first week, but debuted lower on the Hot 100 due to the competition at the time?

ETA: Not trying to unnecessarily compare the Davids– I’m just curious about the numbers, and discussing some things that were brought up re: media comparisons, etc.

Thanks Noctem.

Well, if it’s a good reviewer then I think those variables will be mentioned…but I have found most of the reporting during AI, and the reviews of the tour and the singles of both Davids, so superficial and poorly written. I also wonder how many people outside of the AI bubble actually read those articles/reviews.

This fan war will continue with some people. I guess. Although it’s been said a zillion times…they are such two different singers! And Cook won and DA came in second. End of story…or it should be.

but didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t TOML sell more units than Crush the first week, but debuted lower on the Hot 100 due to the competition at the time?

Yeah, I think TOML sold 220-230K in 4 days (it came out on Thursday instead of Tuesday), but it was still “Crushed” by the 166K units of Crush. I blame Jive for picking a song called “Crush” – I think it’s irresistible to the media – they can’t resist bad puns in their headlines even if it means prolonging a fan war.

That was pretty much how it went sma11ie…they failed to mention the numbers. They failed to mention that DC sold over 800,000 downloads that week, that he had 11 songs debut in the hot 100 etc. etc. etc. (TM Yul Brynner)

Here’s a bit of news I’m sure you all will like…

For those of you have TiVo, you know that you can set what’s called the “Wishlist” to tape any show that contains the name of the star or title on that wishlist. I have mine set to tape any show featuring either David Archuleta or David Cook. My TiVo reports that the show “Entertainment Tonight” will be featuring David Cook this Friday, October 3rd. This is the exact wording of the caption…

Entertainment Tonight
“Photo shoot with David Cook” (2008) A photo shoot with singer David Cook; new movies (CC, Stereo)

Here in Houston, where I am, it will be showing on Channel 2, KPRC (NBC affiliate), from 6:30 to 7:00 pm. Be sure to check your local listings for the specific times in your neck of the woods.

And correct me if Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m wrong (Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m really not sure, and donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t want to spread half-truths or inadvertently start fanwars), but didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t TOML sell more units than Crush the first week, but debuted lower on the Hot 100 due to the competition at the time?

Yup. TOML moved 236,000 units with virtually no airplay (Thursday through Monday) before its debut on Billboard at #3. TOML debuted as #1 on Hot 100 Downloads though. And even then, you really can’t say that TOML did better because it had the 40 million plus (I think) viewing audience for the AI finale to propel its numbers. So how do you adjust for all these variables and make an apples (TOML) to sorta kinda apples (Crush) comparison at all?

As far as the Crush debut at #1 within 24 hours vs. LO not even breaking into the top 10, then a Cook fan will inevitably bring up the fact that Crush had debuted 2 weeks prior to its iTunes release and had radio airplay with audience impressions of 7.669 million leading up to the release, compared to LO’s 1 week lead time on the radio/internet and 1.675 million audience impressions leading up to its iTunes release. To which an Archuleta fan will then counter with the fact that Cook was coming off a single that had already sold 900,000 and was #1 or #2 on AC by the time LO came out, so his name was already out there when his first “real” single came out, and therefore, shouldn’t that count as promoting LO more than radio airplay of the actual song to the general public.

Now, how do you adjust for those variables and decide who’s doing better?

It’s a losing proposition and I think the fanbases are better off ignoring all of it, and concentrate on whether these guys are putting out great music or at least better than what’s out there in their respective genres. From that standpoint, it seems to me that both guys are succeeding and the music industry is all the better for it.

This is my 2 cents. Light on is under a tough market now.

I don’t wanna talk about crush vs light on any more. Again…crush is crush. light on is light on. Light on is not fighting against crush. Everytime everything is different. Nobody knows what’s happening.
Good luck “Light on”!!

At this point, I wanna give tons of kudos to Jive. They picked the really good timing. Smart ppl..

I also think this fan war topic is for the main audience old news.
When crush came out, there was the tour still going on to relate it to, but now most people will only think it is odd to bring it up.

Now, how do you adjust for those variables and decide whoà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s doing better?

Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s a losing proposition and I think the fanbases are better off ignoring all of it, and concentrate on whether these guys are putting out great music or at least better than whatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s out there in their respective genres. From that standpoint, it seems to me that both guys are succeeding and the music industry is all the better for it.

Keel, so much word to that! Amen!

Reminder: I’m deleting and editing posts from people who are telling other posters how to feel and what to post. Please respect your fellow posters opinions and leave the modding to me.

Please read the guidelines if you haven’t already.

And I feel this thread is beginning to slip. Stick to the topic, please. David Cook’s “Light On”.

Please be polite when you answer a post. If you feel annoyed TAKE A WALK. Don’t respond.

And please, no reactions to this post. If you have a question, send me an email.

Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m more of a James Morrison fan, and Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ve never even listened to Nickelback (or anything similar) at all. So, I prefer to think that Nickelback must be benefiting from my David Cook purchase.

I’m a fan of James Morrison too! I couldn’t stop playing his last album and this new one is promising as well. I think part of his magic is that every single song sounds so personal and has a rough edge as well. I hope that if not on this album, but on the next, David Cook moves to having a rough, perhaps at least partially acoustic, and especially personal edge to his music. You can hear the difference when James sings; he means what he says. While Light On does its job and I like the song, the lyrics are too finished and elevated. It would be nice if the other songs on his upcoming album were brought down to a more down-to-earth, imperfect level (e.g. the lyrics to “Makeover” or “if you want to know the truth, you make or break my day). Keep it simple, keep it specific, and keep it personal. Connecting to audience doesn’t require generalized lyrics; an artist connects when the audience is allowed in his/her head.

I’m getting a headache reading about all these statistics (I’m an English teacher, not math!). What really annoyed me was some of the reviews from David Cook fans. It’s one thing to point out the song’s shortcomings in a forum like this, and it’s another to go on iTunes, where both hardcore fans and newcomers might read the reviews and form opinions. Just say you like the song and don’t overanalyze it and say “We’re kind of disappointed in David, but we’re buying the song anyway!” What kind of message does that send?

David (Cook) has a new blog up on DCO thanking everyone for their support. He said the fans had actually crashed the entire Sony/BMG database ( or something like that – it was only a couple of seconds or so explanation ) logging onto the DCO site after LO became downloadable!

see it at

http://www.davidcookofficial.com

the direct code is very long!

that he had 11 songs debut in the hot 100 etc. etc. etc. (TM Yul Brynner)

Thanks for the sound to go along with your words. LOL.

but annoula…a review is supposed to be just that….an honest opinion of the song. I’m more annoyed by the over the top statements that come across as fans who LOVE everything. Now, I am a HUGE supporter and fan of David’s, but I can appreciate an honest, well-worded critique or opinion. People coming to read those reviews are going to be turned of by people who are just talking about how much they love David Cook. I don’t want to read that when I look at other reviews on itunes. I skip right by those type of writeups.

But, that’s just my opinion. YMMV.

DC seems happy and I’m happy to that the song is in the top 10 tonight (might be the top 5 by now)…without a lot of outside promotion. I agree with Gwen…slow and steady wins the race.

How does one “know” where this will debut in the Billboard charts? and what date is that supposed to happen? Oct. 13th is what I’ve heard as the first official radioplay date?

I think the song is doing great and it didn’t get a launch like Crush had on Z100 with Archie promoting it.

I’m not sure why, exactly, but I’m sure they have their reasons.

I think in any case… Light On is a huge success.

sfbb, you’re right. However, the comments that annoy me are the type that say the song’s not great but “I’m buying it because I love David Cook!” I mean, yes, a lot of us are in that position, but to say it on iTunes, if I wasn’t already a David Cook fan, a statement like that is not going to persuade me to buy the single. If anything, those statements sound just as (if not more) unreasonable and “fangirly” as the over-the-top statements (which I, too, hate and skip over). Yes, analyze the song, yes, be temperate in your praise, but don’t contradict yourself. The impression left is that David Cook had fans, but not necessarily for his music, which is not the point.

edit: Read my guidelines before you post again. Posters who don’t follow the guidelines eventually get banned.

Nothing will help lighten the worry and handwringing here. It is what we do, and we do it well. :smile1_ee:

The “slow burn” promotion, if that is the process (and a brilliant one at that), is going to give us ulcers and gray hairs. We will welcome them with open arms.

I’m simply of a mind that David Cook, as someone a couple of pages back stated, is more than your “flash in the pan” artist. I fully expect him to be around for quite some time. Therefore, it would seem that the plan is not to have him become a “one-hit wonder”, but to promote him as someone with substance.

I’d hate for him to be here five years and gone the next, like one of those teenybopper artists who have no depth. I want to think that he won’t become boring in the next 10 minutes. I want to believe that I saw the beginning of something special on Idol and that he has more to offer us than we could ever imagine.

That’s why I feel that it’s so “a little at a time”. It’s to introduce him slowly to those who don’t know him in a way that they won’t quickly tire of him, and it’s to keep us hardcore crazies wanting more.

It’s working.

Hey Wordnerds – you know I don’t really agree with this “slow burn” theory you’ve got going – the single is in the Top Ten at iTunes! That’s not really slow! Just cuz Archie had his #1 debut doesn’t mean a #1 debut is the only measure of success. It seems like it was a more crowded pool this week. Also, not sure they would have wanted to premiere the song on Z100 – it’s possible (but my entirely made-up theory) that DC is trying to move away from “pop” and towards “rock” – and so they may have not wanted to do promo on a Z100 type station. Or it’s possible Jive just has an amazing relationship there and RCA doesn’t. Anyway I don’t think you guys have anything to worry about. I think RCA probably banked on getting alot of attention and buzz about DC’s song since he is the AI winner and TOML was a big hit. So while they didn’t invest in heavy promo for release day, I think it will be rolling out soon. I expect the song to do very well.

I just went to the All Access site and found this:

Last updated on: Oct 1, 2008 @ 12:50 PM (PT)
Published on: Sep 27, 2008

Mainstream Top 40
TAKING OFF: Sep 23 – Sep 30

Artist Title New Spins New Stations

BRITNEY SPEARS Womanizer 1210 57

HINDER Without You 216 15

BRANDY Right Here (Departed) 141 9

NICKELBACK Gotta Be Somebody 127 13

DAVID COOK Light On 116 10 :clap_tb:

So we may be hearing Light On from our radios sooner than we all thought! GO COOKIE!
(with a special shout-out to RCA)

Peace Out and Poke Smot!

I just took a look at the popularity bars on iTunes, and it looks like songs #4-6 are neck and neck right now. Hopefully, LO will move into the Top 5 tomorrow. What with the iTunes email notice, Davids Vlog and an increase in radio play, I think LO will find a nice comfy berth for a good while in the Top 5.

Just want to mention that “Light On” is #1 on Amazon right now and hanging tough at #6 on I-Tunes. However, the disturbing thing in my eyes is if you look at the tags on “Light On” at Amazon and some of the comments at I-Tunes reviews that there are still some of the public “not likin’ it” that he’s doing so well, if I could quote Danny N. I still miss that kid Sorry, MJ, I had to give a shout out to Danny. I’m sure David C. wouldn’t mind.

I don’t think that some of these reviewers realize that it’s a person’s career that they’re playing light and loose with. IMO it’s a sad commentary about personal integrity, or lack of it – but I guess I’m straying from the topic.

Movin2thabeet, I agree with you that there is a strong possibility that Light On has the potential to move up another spot, if those e-mails motivate some people to buy. Their popularity bars are very similar. But if it stays where it’s at, I’m all right with that. The big prize is what’s going to happen in November.

Movin2thabeet, I agree with you that there is a strong possibility that Light On has the potential to move up another spot,

…he did

Woohoo!!!! #5 on iTunes and #1 on Amazon!!!!

Wow, Great news. Movin2thabeet, you were right. Now can we hope for #4? Shall we DREAM BIG?

Oh yeah! There’s still 4 more steps left! Light On is now #2 on the Pop chart with only Pink’s song ahead of it. I think LO will pass it, possibly later today, which would probably put LO into the #4 spot overall. I’ve noticed that even though the Nickleback release was long anticipated, it’s got very mixed reviews on iTunes and less than half the number of reviews that Light On has. I think LO can leap over it, especially with increased radio play. And Christina Aguilera’s song appears to be quickly dropping in bars. Darned that TI!

apparently TI is the shit! Dont know if anyone is going to be able to overtake him

Nevertheless, DC at number 5!!! Whohoo! I am one freakin happy DC camper!

Burn baby burn!

its not just TI it’s a collaboration with Rihannah. this explains why the popularity bar is really high for TI
Rihannah is really huge right now so i don’t think DC can top those 2 collaborating. i’m hoping he can top nickelback and pink though.
don’t know about christina.
AWESOME news about amazon.
GO DAVID!

Keep on climbing, Cookie!
I can’t wait to see what this guy can do if/when RCA decides to throw some support his way (read: airplay/promo).

Tatiana, it does seem kind of hilarious that we’re talking about a “slow burn” when he zoomed from 98 to 5, lol. But I know that when I say it, personally I’m referring to the advertising rollout for the song and the pr rollout for him. It’s beginning to seem faster than it looked at first, but it still seems like a steady drip-by-drip progression (drink!) instead of a blitz. It still also seems as if they’re building toward the album, but YMMV, fer sure.

I have a question for anyone who saved the link for LO that Kirsten gave us last week. I of course saved it and I’m in the process of trying trying to get it to load but I am unsuccessful at this point.

Is it this one, Pam?

Yea, I think we’re talking slow burn as in promo over the course of the 1st week as opposed to blitzing everyone in the first few hours of availability. And it seems to be working. The song is slowly working up the chart instead of shooting up and drifting back down within a few days. These guys know what they are doing. And they still haven’t emailed his Myspace yet, have they?

I’m with the slow burn theory. It has raced up the charts but I think the intent is to keep it up there as long as possible. So we still have a bulletin or blog from myspace to go out, the impact date for the radio, radio interviews, a video?, and then the album release. Each event should increase sales and help keep the song up there on the charts. (Look what happened with TOML.)

^ Wait, a myspace bulletin hasn’t gone out yet? I thought I read that it has. What are waiting for?

sma11ie, my understanding is that they’ve emailed the people who signed up for his official site, and last night they sent something to everyone who ever bought a song of his off Itunes, but nothing to myspace yet. I suspect that will happen soon.

LO just went to #3 on iTunes top 100 and it’s #1 on the pop list!!

Which is more up to date? The RSS feed or the iTunes front page? Because he’s still showing at 5 overall and 2 on pop on the RSS feed. Do we know for sure? Regardless between him and Christina RCA must be happy this week!

Nevermind the RSS feed is showing 3 now too!

Honestly, I was totally surprised since it leapfroggged to 3 instead of what we’ve been used to for the past days or so of LO inching one position at a time.

iTunes front page is usually most current, but only for the top 10. The feeds are now also showing #3! LOFTW!

I wish that the popularity bars would update on itunes. I want to see how close LO is to Xtina.

Yeah, I’m eager for the popularity bars, too.

Wow! Just wow. What did we say yesterday, that he was holding his own against the big guns? Yep.

I also noticed that TOML is inching upwards a little bit as well. It’s at #75. It’s the rainbow that will not die!

I think he can catch Christina.

WOW! Ahead of Nickelback! Sounds like our DC has successfully gone from piggybacking to leap frogging the biggest seller in modern rock! I expected him to pass Pink, but Nickelback is just awesome. If you listen to LO and GBS next to each other, it’s so obvious to me which is the superior song. As a fan, I somehow feel so… vindicated b/c the public is showing good taste! I’m crossing my fingers (DC vlog style) and toes (for extra credit) that it surpasses Xtina and stays at #2 for the rest of the week.

Is it this one, Pam?

Yes, that’s it. Thank you. I finally got it to load a few minutes ago. lol

smallie, I so agree with you about the LO/Nickleback comparison. I’m glad RCA brought LO out now, so that tons of rock fans can finally, really hear the difference, a difference that I think DC wins by a mile or five. NFMMV. (Nickleback fans mileage may vary.)

edited: nevermind, false alarm

Go Cookies Go!!! DC FTMFW!!!!!

edited: nevermind, false alarm

Too late! I already read it and had a mild coronary! :laugh_tb:

So can we project sales from looking at the popularity bars? I’m looking at Crush’s bar, and speculating that it will sell in the neighborhood of 50,000 this week (it sold 70,000 last week). And LO’s bar looks to be at least three times as large as that of Crush.

So is this a reasonable basis upon which to conclude that if LO maintains its current sales pace, that it will be end up in the vicinity of Crush’s first week sales (166,000)? Or is it impossible to deduce that based on what I’m trying to use as my “evidence”?

I think it’s impossible….

I think it’s definitely possible and here’s why. . .

Last week’s sales figures for last week’s top 3 on itunes:

1 T.I. WHATEVER YOU LIKE 193482
2 PINK SO WHAT 189646
3 WEST*KANYE LOVE LOCKDOWN 188482

You can find the whole list in the fabulous charts & mediabase thread at DCO.

I seriously doubt that this week’s chart toppers will sell fewer than last week’s did. There’s been such a huge burst of sales due to new releases. I expect big numbers for all of them. .

When will we get the figures for the first week? And will they combinne itune sales with Amazon?

Anyone?

Kristen would know….our numbers queen.

I’m predicting he’ll sell around 130-140k.

The first week sales will probably not be released until Wednesday of next week. That is usually when we get the sales figures.

But he hasn’t really maintained his chart position while those big 3 did to get those numbers. Don’t you have to remain pretty high to end up with high numbers by the time the chart cuts off? The only one for sure I’m expecting to have HUGE numbers will be TI, the rest I’m iffy on.

I’m wondering if that e-mail sent from iTunes to previous buyers caused this latest jump.

Talking out of my ass, but I’m being cautiously optimistic and predicting over 150K…

Wait, a myspace bulletin hasnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t gone out yet? I thought I read that it has. What are waiting for?

This is probably a dumb question, but has anyone (or ones) sent “him” (obviously, it’s not going to him, but to the people running his myspace) a message suggesting that they sent out the mass emailer? It’s technically possible that they haven’t thought about it, especially if his space is still run by the bumbling 19 interns and not by RCA.

i predict 210k considering all the promotion this song is getting.

When will we get the figures for the first week? And will they combinne itune sales with Amazon?

Didn’t see this answered. I’m quite sure the week’s sales figures will combine all units sold including iTunes, Amazon, Walmart, anywhere that song happens to be sold. But because iTunes is by far the biggest digital music seller, the Hot 100 Digital Downloads tend to end up looking very much like the iTunes Top 100.

i predict 210k considering all the promotion this song is getting.

As much as that would thrill me, I don’t think a #3 song this week outsold the #1 song from last week by over 10K, especially one with almost zero radio promotion so far. Its spins are tiny compared to the other songs up there. Besides, as Trina pointed out, LO wasn’t at #3 all week, it just got there. I do think the new TI/Rihanna song had HUGE numbers, but I’d guess #2 might be hovering near/around 200K, and #3 definitely under 200K.

ETA: I found this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_Digital_Songs_2008_number-ones and had a lot of fun checking out how many downloads it took to reach #1 each week in 2008.

As much as that would thrill me, I donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t think a #3 song this week outsold the #1 song from last week by over 10K, especially one with almost zero radio promotion so far.

Apples and oranges. Sure, it hasn’t had the big radio push yet but it was a highly anticipated release. Like an established artist, this song had a fan base waiting anxiously to purchase. Plus, you have to factor in that while T.I. is #1 on iTunes, he’s #11 on Amazon.
LO is #3 on iTunes and #1 on Amazon.

Ok, here’s another possible way that we can project. Based on sales figures at DCO, Pink sold about 190,000 last week. That, in turn was a 13% drop from her previous week’s sales.

So, to be conservative, let’s assume that Pink starts to drop more significantly this week– say by 20%. We would thus predict that Pink’s single will sell 152,000 copies. David is currently two spots ahead of her.

Now it’s only Thursday, so who knows if he can maintain his place and his pace. But, so far he at least looks well-positioned to approximate Archie’s first week numbers.

I’m predicting and hoping that the top 4-5 songs from this week all sell 200K . In the last few weeks, the top 2-3 songs have been in that neighborhood, and this is a big week for singles.

The DCO mediabase/billboard/etc. thread is awesome, isn’t it? Hand claps for ladymadonna for setting it up. And not just golf claps—nice loud applause.

Re: receiving eml from iTunes – I bought every song and video by David that I could from iTunes. And I have not recvd ANYTHING from iTunes or apple or anything connected with those purchases. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm. Is that what you all are saying when you say “they” sent out eml to everyone who purchased any Cook songs on iTunes? Is “they” itunes?

I have emls from DCO dated 9/19, 9/23, and then 9/30 about his single. The 9/30 eml says DOWNLOAD NOW!

As for sales predictions, I have to just wait and see! I don’t even know what “radio impact date” means, so I’m not going to try to learn everything about the numbers while I’m trying to just listen to David sing…can’t concentrate on anything else anyway…THANKS, COOK! Will I ever get my L.B.C. back?

I didn’t get the iTunes email either, but I do remember that I didn’t check off the box about receiving information on music I may be interested in. I do get the newsletter from iTunes once per week that summarizes new music.

Ah HAH! Thanks, Aileen. I just updated my iTunes account! Light On is still #3 when you look at the iTunes store home page! WOOHOO!

iTunes finally updated their popularity bars – and David is closing in on the #2 spot!!

And TOML has jumped up to #67!!

I think it’s still impossible to predict the sales, but I agree that this is looking like a week where the songs that come out 1-3 are likely to sell >200. I think 150-175K is a reasonable estimate for LO unless he starts to drop significantly.

Looks like TOML might be heading back up to the 20K range, too. It might hit platinum in November!

I thought I read somewhere (perhaps it was Kristen) that the iTunes rankings are based on a rolling 3-4 day sales total, so for Xtina, Cook and Nickelback to shadow T.I. this closely and just plain shove Pink out of the way after only 2 days of sales tells me that those three are putting up some gangbuster numbers on their first few days of release. (And the feat is even more insane for Cook because he’s hardly getting any airplay compared to the other two. I personally have not heard the new Xtina on the radio but I don’t usually listen to Top 40; however, I have already heard Nickelback twice (and The Killers’ and AAR’ new ones as well) but sadly no LO yet. Hopefully, he gets more radio stations playing the song today and SOMEONE AT 19 FINALLY GETS A CLUE AND SENDS A MYSPACE BULLETIN TO A FEW (122,000!) CLOSE FRIENDS.)

But, so far he at least looks well-positioned to approximate Archieà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s first week numbers.

he should sell more than archie since he DID win didn’t he? it would look prety bad if he didnt. but why are you comparing this to crush anyway?

I just saw something exciting over at DCO, which came via, I think DC42, so I’m not sure where to link, lol. But what it says is. . .

Multiple TV appearances mid November. Video filming now; impacting end of October. Tons of press on deck, including Blender and RS, leading up to CD release on 11/18

Video shooting now!!

I’ll link to DCO, just to give somebody credit somewhere!
http://www.davidcookofficial.com/content/twopers-lets-find-each-other
Scroll down the thread a bit to find the whole quote, which has other goodies.

I just saw something exciting over at DCO, which came via, I think DC=42, so Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m not sure where to link, lol. But what it says is. . .

That was posted in the Headlines thread. You can see it HERE.

Someone asked about when you would see sales numbers. Billboard reports every wEdnesday for previous weeks sales. Tuesday some who have accounts with Billboard can get them early.

There have been no new releases of signifigance that I can see except for Nickelback.
Pink’s song did not just get released. It’s been out since August 19. Neither did TI . The only other new release on the top ten itunes is Nickelback, which should only help LO since they have same fan base probably.

Who are you referring to by Xtina, is that Christina Ag? Her single was released Sept. 9. None of these are new new releases. they have been out for awhile and there numbers have remained high. 200,000 a week pretty much. Again, TI came out 8/12, Pink 8/19, Christina 9/9. They are just hitting a wider market. Nickelback just came out with LO.

There have been no new releases of signifigance that I can see except for Nickelback

Nope. TI’s song with Rhianna just came out this week and so did Christina Aguilera’s. Her song hit radio weeks ago but this was the week it went on sale at iTunes.

TOML is now at #60. The Light is pulling up the Rainbow, lol.

I have to be blind because I missed the HDD blurb LOL

Multiple TV appearances mid November. Video filming now; impacting end of October. Tons of press on deck, including Blender and RS, leading up to CD release on 11/18

RS is Rolling Stone? Interesting because he had a feature in that after he won. Can we have the video NOW?

I notice it also confirms Simon Fuller is in fact his manager.

I notice it also confirms Simon Fuller is in fact his manager.

Yeah, I’m glad to see that confirmed, too. Good work so far, Mr. F.

TOML is now at #60.

Hilarious! The little rainbow has more lives than a cat. DC will still be singing this song when he’s 90.

The little rainbow has more lives than a cat. DC will still be singing this song when heà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s 90.

So true! :laugh_tb:

So they’re shooting the video. That’s probably why we haven’t seen a hi or hello from David up until the Thank You vid recently. Yay, and I’ve been dreaming about the vid. I always think of black & white, with only splashes of color (like the light or his eyes or something).

I’m hoping the little ET segment tomorrow on David’s photo shoot will turn out to be a video shoot instead, but I guess that’s probably wishful thinking. I hope David gets to “act” in the video.

I keep wondering what the video “story” is going to be. I have a feeling it may just be DC looking pensive with lots of rainy streets and fog and smoke and all those moody things, with a house in the distance with the light on (of course). Rather than a specific firefighter/soldier kinda thang. Will he be performing avec guitar, or just standing around looking sad and tragical and throwing his AT&T cellphone away at a dramatic moment because he can’t get a signal? Will there be a girl, staring out into the pouring rain and wondering why he doesnt call? If there is a girl, will it be Kimberly Caldwell? Note: even though Elliott was dating Jaime Paetz, a video girl, by the time he filmed his video, she is not the girl in his video. So I think they will probably find some other, less controversial “girl in the video” than KC for DC, too. Or maybe they can get Mandy Moore.

The Rainbow is stubborn as well as magic. Maybe platinum by the end of the year really is possible….

My friend and I were talking earlier on how both the Davids’ singles seem to follow the track of their AI trajectory. DA & Crush rocketed to #1 very early while DC & LO started slow, gaining ground as the days went by.

And yup, we think too much about Cookie.

That stubborn, magical rainbow has moved up to #58. I wonder how high it will get before it starts to dip again. It’s kind of fun watching it climb, although I don’t know if David would agree

Re: The “Light On” video

There was a rumor circulating on Monday at the Word Nerd Home (amongst other places). Basically an employee of a lighthouse near LA reports that there was a video or movie shooting there. Employees and the public were not allowed near the shooting, and the place was full of security.

Could this have been DC?

Hehehe. That Magic Rainbow will be the death of me. David just might see platinum yet.

The other day, I heard the symphony version of TOML. I almost croaked. It’s not going anywhere any time soon.

Loverly!!!

So the Magic Rainbow is definitely piggybacking “Light On”. I do that when I find a great author – buy everything he/she has written.

I’m sure those who liked LO purchased his other song as well.

Great to know he can sell the song.

The last number I saw for TOML was 915K. Not that far to platinum… It seems as if anyone who wanted it would certainly have bought it by now, but I guess somebody still wants the Magic Rainbow. Hee.

Someone asked about when you would see sales numbers. Billboard reports every wEdnesday for previous weeks sales. Tuesday some who have accounts with Billboard can get them early.

This is not true. Billboard issues its charts every Thursday. It is impossible for people with accounts to access the charts on Tuesday because the Billboard week is not even over. For instance, the Hot 100 chart uses airplay statistics that run from Wednesday morning until Tuesday midnight. This information is clearly outlined on their website (www.billboard.com). Any statistics posted before this are preliminary and partial.

Further, Billboard produces charts. The numbers associated with it are rankings on those charts (though their press releases will include some numbers). SoundScan generates the sales numbers. Because sales weeks go from Monday morning to Sunday night, one can sometimes have press releases come out on Tuesday night trumpeting some success or other. Typically though, you don’t see the numbers leaking form people who have SoundScan accounts until Wednesday morning at the earliest. Unlike the cheap-o BB accounts, having a SoundScan account costs thousands of dollars so not many people have them (so there are fewer sources to leak). BDS generates the airplay statistics used by Billboard (but there are other airplay monitoring firms like Mediabase).

There have been no new releases of signifigance that I can see except for Nickelback.

This is not true. TI, Christina and the Killers all released songs to iTunes this week. This is a HUGE release week because its setting up for the November releases. There were a couple of albums (with all their tracks) released as well and those are eating up the iTunes charts as well.

Plus, you have to factor in that while T.I. is #1 on iTunes, heà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s #11 on Amazon.
LO is #3 on iTunes and #1 on Amazon.

If TI isn’t number one this week on the download chart, I will eat my calculator. I know that one shouldn’t make predictions like this, but TI’s “Live Your Life” is kicking so much butt it isn’t even funny. iTunes is at least 80% of the download market so download charts almost always mirror iTunes. If having the number 1 song on iTunes by a mile isn’t enough, well “Live Your Life” is also number 22. The sales of those two versions of the songs are going to be combined so his lead is actually quite a bit larger than it looks. I just can’t see anybody beating him this week (though, I have heard that ketchup goes well with calculators).

I found this link that says Keep getting better was not released to Itunes on Sept. 9th. http://talk.livedaily.com/showthread.php?t=635550
Hopefully, I did that link right. Feel free to delete if I did it improperly, thanks.

Where Amazon could make a difference is in the battle between DC, Xtina, and Nickelback. Xtina isn’t showing up at all in the top 100 on Amazon, Nickelback has started climbing up the chart there (now at #4), but DC has been #1 for a while now. So, if things are close on the itunes numbers, Amazon could be the difference. But as I understand it, Amazon is so much smaller than itunes in terms of share of the market that it won’t make a difference if one of those acts is substantially ahead of the others.

So Nickelback went back up to 3 again, so I guess it’s time to energize his mySpace friends, right?

he should sell more than archie since he DID win didnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t he? it would look prety bad if he didnt. but why are you comparing this to crush anyway?

Shuld he sell more singles? Not necessarily. Rock doesn’t sell nearly as many singles as pop.

Why am I comparing LO to Crush? I wish I didn’t have to. But, did you see what happened when Crush on a full week outcharted– by one place– TOML on 2/3 of a week (even though TOML still outsold it by 70,000)? The press isn’t big on explaining context. They just like splashy headlines. “Archuleta crushes Cook” more than fit that bill.

This time around LO has no chance of debuting at #1 or #2, considering the competition this week, so more lovely headlines may be in store. However, if LO sells about the same number– or more– actual copies then perhaps writers will at least mention that inside their articles.

But, I’m not holding my breath. Like I said, context is unimportant to the media. If it was they might also mention that Crush’s radio impression numbers were seven times higher than LO on the day that each dropped.

It is unfortunate that months after the finale we fans of the David’s – whether fueled by the media or by internal motivations – cannot just enjoy watching two of the best finalists on the show ever succeed separate and apart from the other… Both can and I believe will have great success in their respective genres… A lot of us, I’m sure, have faves we love and follow across many genres, and can appreciate their success without the constant comparisons foisted upon David and David… I find I can love the Doors with as much passion as I love the Beatles and the Stones, I can love Jimi Hendrix with as much passion as Eric Clapton without thoughts of “who’s the greatest”? or “who’s sold more albums”?, “who charted higher” gunking up the works… they’re standalone artists with their own unique appeal one can appreciate… the media will come round eventually, as will the fans still letting the competitive aspects overshadow the joy in the music being produced by these two talented young men…

True. When was the last time that the first single from the two finalists both reached gold status? And that you could realistically conceive that each of those first singles could make platinum? All the way back to Ruben and Clay, right?

And LO looks like a strong second single for DC, so you have a situation where you could see the first three singles put out by these two finalists hitting gold or better and getting notable radio play. Shouldn’t that be win-win?

Focusing on DC (as this is his thread and he is the one in whom I am most interested), I am extremely impressed with what he’s managed to do so far. ToML, despite the Magic Rainbow line, is still in the top 40 on three major formats (top 15 in one and #1 on one of them) over four months after the finale and is sitting at the Top 60 on itunes, having already sold 915,000 copies. LO is having a strong sales week against tough competitors, despite not having gone for radio adds yet, despite being in a format that isn’t a huge seller of singles, and despite the fact that (from what I can tell) there is a healthy chunk of DC fans who have decided to wait to buy the record, rather than buy the single.

True. When was the last time that the first single from the two finalists both reached gold status? And that you could realistically conceive that each of those first singles could make platinum? All the way back to Ruben and Clay, right?

And LO looks like a strong second single for DC, so you have a situation where you could see the first three singles put out by these two finalists hitting gold or better and getting notable radio play. Shouldnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t that be win-win?

THIS… FTW :happy_tb:

I don’t think this has been said yet. If so, sorry for posting twice! I just got an eml from Amazon that David Cook has a new single available. So I went there and looked. Light On is the #1 downloaded song right now. AND…TOML is #23 on Amazon! hahahahaha! Well I may download the mp3 from Amazon, just so I have an mp3 as well as the iTunes format file.

I’m so excited for David! Proud to be a Cook groupie, as my boss calls me. I told him I could do a better job as a groupie if I had more time off work and more money to travel. And then immediately asked for a raise and more vacation time. Hmmmmmmm…nothing along those lines forthcoming as of yet….

I listened to Light On FINALLY on my iPod with the headphones. WONDERFUL! His voice is just in-f-ing-credible. WARNING: If you’re already addicted to Cookie Crack, do not do what I did. Unless perhaps you’re enjoying your addiction as much as I enjoy mine. hee. squeeeee.

May I ask a dumb question…will LO be available as a hard copy in shops/stores? Or is is just available for downloading?

Rock doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t sell nearly as many singles as pop.

but light on isnt rock. its pop lol…

there is a healthy chunk of DC fans who have decided to wait to buy the record, rather than buy the single.

Word to this. I hope that just cuz I’m speaking as a DC fan, I don’t sound like I’m making excuses in case the single’s sales don’t meet expectations (though that’s a nebulous concept as well, since we’ve been having a whole separate debate on what those expectations are/should be), but I know a bunch of people who liked DC during Idol, are waiting to check out the record, but are not going to get the first single. Someone mentioned, and I totally agree, that singles off rock records aren’t typically meant to be huge sellers in and of themselves, but rather serve their purpose most by getting enough airplay to promote the actual album. I think my friends are pretty representative of the general public, who will buy the record if they hear LO or the next single a bunch on radio and decide they like it/them enough to get the whole album.

That said, I will still obsessively check his itunes ranking and rush here for the sales figure next Wednesday, cuz you know, how else are DC fans supposed to occupy themselves until November 18, right?

and despite the fact that (from what I can tell) there is a healthy chunk of DC fans who have decided to wait to buy the record, rather than buy the single.

Who are these people? What board or boards do they populate? I may have to go these forums and deliver a strongly worded lecture or two.

Seriously, I don’t care if these fans HATE the song. It’s a $.99 investment to jumpstart the guy’s career. And he needs every sale he can get so he can have the best possible jumpstart.

Concerning LO’s current Itunes placement, it’s true it’s back to trailing Nickelback, but the difference in their popularity bar is almost imperceptible. And it’s still noticeably (though not significantly) in front of Pink. As I said upthread, she sold 190,000 last week. So assuming Pink isn’t looking at a precipitous drop this week, DC is in a good position so far. The key will be if he can stay ahead of her through tomorrow night.

One other thing I’m interested in is where he debuts on the Hot 100. There are quite a few songs that, in addition to still selling high numbers, are getting tons of airplay. But, I think he should definitely crack the top ten at least.

the not buying the single and waiting for the album theory applies to all artists. not just cook lol.

Hi all, first time poster here, been lurking around here for some time now. I gave the single a listen, didn’t buy it (not really a fan). But I have no doubts that this single will do well on the radio and appease the core DC fans until his album drops.

but light on isnt rock. its pop lolà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦

It’s pop/rock. Just like Nickleback, Hinder, Daughtry and all the other “rock” bands that get played on Top 40.

Not a fan forum. Pop culture loving blog. And at least one of the persons involved almost never buys music of any kind, so a record buy is definitely a big thing there. So, I ain’t lecturing or handing out urls to enable lecturing.

I’ll also say this: I’ve never bought a single before where I have bought or have every intent of buying the CD that includes the single. I typically buy singles where I don’t want the rest of the CD. So I definitely understand the mentality of “I love that singer—I am going to buy the whole record when it’s available in November!” Just as I did with Ben Folds. “Ah, new single is out. Let’s see—9/30, record is available. I’m so there.” Really, that’s the normal thing to do, is to acquire the song once. It’s great that there are people who are willing to go that extra step for an artist, and I’m a little surprised to find myself being one of those people in this instance, but I can’t say that it’s surprising that, for plenty of people, they’re saying that they will acquire his stuff once, and only once. The great thing is that there seems to be a good group of people who want to buy his music at least once.

Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s pop/rock. Just like Nickleback, Hinder, Daughtry and all the other à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“rockà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  bands that get played on Top 40.

yes but he was using that as an excuse when obviously NB is in the same genre and their single is selling just fine.

technically light on is pop though. thats how its listed on itunes. i guess rca considers it pop.

technically light on is pop though. thats how its listed on itunes. i guess rca considers it pop.

I think the iTunes label is messed up. I think RCA wants LO as Rock, but iTunes put it as Pop, cuz when you search DC, you find TOML under Pop, then LO under Rock– but then LO itself is labeled Pop. Sigh, anyway, I basically think the iTunes labels cannot always be trusted.

yes but he was using that as an excuse when obviously NB is in the same genre and their single is selling just fine.

I won’t speak for Noctem, but I said something similar about rock not moving as many singles, so I’ll speak for myself. That’s a general statement that I believe can be proven statistically if you compare rock and pop’s album sales vs. single sales– I’m talking about the genre as a whole. Nickelback is not really representative of how the rest of the genre sells because they are HUGE. Though, if we’re lumping DC with the biggest rock sellers in recent history, I ain’t complaining (as long as we’re talking just sales, not quality). Also, it’s nice to see DC is neck-and-neck with NB’s new single. If NB is “selling just fine”, I’d like to say that so is LO .

I rather thought that comment about the rock “excuse” might have been addressed toward me. (Not that I’m a he, but I digress.) And I’m with smallie here. My guess is that expectations for LO are higher than for the typical rock or pop-rock song. So far, it looks like he’s meeting those expectations. I rather suspect that DC’s going to take a hit in the headlines next week when he is not #1 (or even 2 or 3) on the Hot 100, but as a fan and taking into account different genres, etc., I am satisfied and even impressed with how he is holding his own against some real heavy-hitters. I don’t see that as an “excuse,” but YMMV.

Light On is doing very well. It is a great song. I like NB, have bought their albums, went to see them in concert. I like Light On better than their new single, just do, I must disclose I am avid David Cook fan. I don’t think anyone is “making excuses” for anything just giving their honest analysis. Since LO is right behind NB new single and was right in front of NB new single last night it is selling “just fine” too pop or rock. My opinion: It is a rock song.

yes but he was using that as an excuse when obviously NB is in the same genre and their single is selling just fine.

One more reminder:

Do NOT to question the motives of your fellow posters or put words in their mouths. Continual disregard of my guidelines = eventual banning.

Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s pop/rock. Just like Nickleback, Hinder, Daughtry and all the other à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“rockà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  bands that get played on Top 40.

yes but he was using that as an excuse when obviously NB is in the same genre and their single is selling just fine.

Huh? When all is said and done, David’s sales for the week are likely to be pretty much the same as Nickelback’s, who have the advantage of releasing on their radio impact date and, well, being Nickelback. In general, pop/rock singles don’t tend to become quite the monster hits that r&b-tinged pop songs become although there are exceptions. The next “Bleeding Love” is not likely to come from Nickelback, Daughtry or David Cook.

I do think “Light On” is more “rock” than the new Nickelback song, some Daughtry songs, and certainly more rock than, say, the Killers’ new Blake Lewis song, but YMMV.

who have the advantage of releasing on their radio impact date and, well, being Nickelback.

they also have the disadvantage of giving their single away FREE.

personally i dont find light on to be rock at all but ymmv.

I do think à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Light Onà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  is more à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“rockà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  than the new Nickelback song,

Yes, the big problem I have with the Nickelback song is that it is too “pop”, and so obviously “pop” it is embarassing that call it “rock”. After listening to it a few times, I have to say it is catchy, but I still wonder why they decided to do a single like this.

Sigh. Nevermind.

You know what makes me happy? Listening to Light On. The man’s voice is audio prozac. I’m starting think he’s a warlock.

the Killersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ new Blake Lewis song,

Excuse my ignorance, but what song is that?

the Killersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ new Blake Lewis song,

I had to lol at that…I’m assuming they meant the new Killers single “Human”, which has some of that synth dance/pop flavor that ran through ADD.

yes but he was using that as an excuse when obviously NB is in the same genre and their single is selling just fine.

David’s single is selling just fine too, but thanks for the concern.

Davidà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s single is selling just fine too, but thanks for the concern.

I like that. :clap_tb:

It’s dropping though. Those who know about the song the song and wanted to buy it would have bought it already, so unless there is another push to spread the word, I’m not sure the song will make the top 10 in the Billboard chart.

May I ask a dumb questionà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦will LO be available as a hard copy in shops/stores? Or is is just available for downloading?

I’ve heard that it’s just a digital single. They very, very rarely release physical singles these days and most stores won’t carry them.

I checked on eBay, though, and you can pick up DJ copies, though. Record labels still send out physical CDs to DJs for some singles. These are for promo purposes (the stations download the copies they actually play from a service only open to the industry (and much better quality than what the public buys from iTunes)). DJs often sell these to make a few extra bucks.

This time around LO has no chance of debuting at #1 or #2, considering the competition this week, so more lovely headlines may be in store.

I don’t think there will be many such headlines at all. The press isn’t all that involved in Idol fanwars (though, they can certainly generate hits). They like to print “news”. If I’m right (and not having to eat my calculator), TI is going to be number 1 next week. TI is going to be news. TI is going to get the headlines. He is looking to having a HUGE week in general and may even break some records (tough to tell with popularity bars). He is almost guaranteed to have the number 1 and 2 songs on the Hot 100 (his other song has ridiculous airplay) and he will be replacing himself on the Hot 100 (his number 1 song this week will be going to number 2). That’s news on the music pages. “Crush” got headlines because it was the “news” that week (highest debut in 18 months and topping downloads).

The headlines not going to TI will probably go to Nickelback since they had they re-wrote the script on releasing a single (from 0 to full release in one day) and they gave the single away to start it off. That will get people talking about what direction the industry should take. Plus, they are Nickelback. LOL. They are massive and they are widely despised by many. They generate news for anything.

Cook is having a fantastic week given the context. First week numbers are fun (well, all numbers are fun, IMHO), but it’s the longevity that matters. And you know what, maybe LO falls on its a$$. Even that may not matter. On Beyonce’s last album, she had two flop singles to lead off. The third was “Irreplaceable” and it was a MASSIVE hit that drove album sales like crazy. Sometimes, it takes the label a few tries to figure out what single will click. Or take Nickelback’s “Rockstar”. When it was first released in August of 2006, it was a moderate hit on the Rock, but didn’t do anything on Pop. Peaked at 54 on the Hot 100. So, they re-grouped, made a kick-a$$ video and went for re-adds in June of 2007. Massive hit. It is their biggest selling digital download to date (and was the 14th best selling digital song of 2007. Best selling video of 2007). There are tonnes of stories out there. The record lables try to quanitfy what will be a hit, but they are constantly surprised.

I think the label has a lot of confidence in Cook. Don’t forget what he did to the Hot 100 charts back in May. I think that gives strong evidence he was moving major units before the blackout was lifted on Idol sales reports. RCA is not run by idiots (granted, it’s tough to tell sometimes). They know that if they do their jobs properly, they can make money of this kid. They like money. I think they will be patient with him and I think the numbers he is showing this week mean they don’t even have to be patient with him. He’s certainly going to have a much better first week than last year’s winner and there is nothing to do, but go up when they start their proper promo. I know it can be nerve wracking, but there are a lot of factors at play here.

Once LO gets more radio support, it will shoot up again and then linger on the charts for months and months. That’s the measure of a hit song moreso than shooting to number one and then falling fast.

Hey Kristen,
thanks for the response re singles in hard copy and the extended info on DC etc. Quite interesting to read.

I think that DC will be fine. I do wonder, however, when the next single will be released….will it be after the record comes out? It’s only about 5 weeks until the record drops and I can imagine that RCA will focus on LO.

It is trà ©s exciting to think that there will be another 9-11 DC songs to listen to and to analyze….cannot WAIT!

As I posted on DCO, given LO’s slippage to #7 (and falling) on Itunes, I think my initial projection (175,000) definitely has to be revised. But, the unknown quantity is Amazon, where he’s still #1 (last I checked), and how many units he reasonably may have moved there. I found an article from earlier this year that asserted that Amazon does approximately 10% of the total mp3 volume of Itunes. So, if he managed to sell 150,000 on Itunes, he still could check in for the week at around 165,000.

Layla I think it will be quite a while before we see a 2nd single. Labels hardly release a second one so quickly.

I really don’t know what will be with the numbers this week, though I agree longterm is key. Didn’t Tattoo only sell like 35,000 it’s first week? I’m just getting concerned because I’m seeing a lot of very high predictions looking around the boards, and truthfully I’m not expecting a huge number. If he stayed in the Top 3-4 more consistently I would have aimed higher but wasn’t he only in the top 3 like a half a day?

I think the blogs and sites that are heavy on the AI angle will jump all over the comparisons, but if TI does in fact manage to debut at #1 I agree with Kristen that will definitely be the huge story of the week.

Update: LO has moved back up to #6.

Unfortunately, Itunes still hasn’t updated their popularity bars to even reflect where he was at #5, let alone where he was at #7. So, we can’t tell if he’s experienced a slight boost since his last placement or if somebody else just slipped.

I really would like to see how his bar stacks up to Pink today, because based on her sales last week and the percent of decline, I’m pegging her for 160 – 170 k thiis week. So, she’s the one to keep track of, I think, if you want to use another artist as a barometer to gauge what his finishing numbers might be.

He’s back at #6 on iTunes and #2 at Pop.

He’s #1 on Amazon and #16 for album pre-orders

…and TI’s second single is moving up FAST!

Athough I have watched every episode of one season-season 5- I have seen clips of the other seasons. I am somewhat aware of the fanwar thing, and I don’t get it…is it just sport to some?

I just don’t see what people get out of it-just my opinion. Maybe being emotionally invested, coupled with the anonymity of boards, allows for people to say things they wouldn’t say in real life..and to revert to childish behavior…dunno- just a thought.

Anyway…. What I care about is DC doing respectable numbers for his first single with the hopes of buildng a more extensive fan base. It is a fact that considering the two peroxide blonds and TI, not to mention pop-rock NB, he has some heavy heavy duty competition and along with no radio play to speak of…well he is hanging tough.

I have made my peace with the fact he is NOT going to be number 1 on itunes…at least not yet.

Thanks Trina…I was just a-wonderin’

I think that DC will be fine. I do wonder, however, when the next single will be releasedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬ ¦.will it be after the record comes out? Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s only about 5 weeks until the record drops and I can imagine that RCA will focus on LO.

That’s a tough question. I’m frequently mystified by what labels do. I think it depends on how the single does.

If LO is considered a flop and programming managers for radio stations are completely unenthusiastic about playing it (and I think that is a huge if…I don’t think that will happen), the label has a great opportunity to release a new single when they release the album. He’ll be going on every show known to mankind, so he can promote the second single.

If LO is a good single (and remember, this is a rock song so it doesn’t need to go to number 1 on the Hot 100. At most, 52 songs a year go to number 1 on the Hot 100 and the number is generally fewer), I think they will release the second single to coincide with the Idol season (get him to sing on one of the early competition rounds). This is what happened with Kellie’s “I Wonder”.

If it’s a megahit, that causes issues because it’s hard to clear it off the airwaves in order to get your new song out there. In that case, I think they would probably keep it until the end of the Idol seasons. That kind of situation caused problems with “Home” because it had to be released to coincide with the start of the Idol season, but INO wouldn’t get out of the way. “No Air” was released mid-season because “Tattoo” was still eating up the charts.

A reasonably successful single is usually out there for 3 to 4 months. Christmas mucks that schedule up a bit.

Please note: This is all extremely speculative.

Thanks, Kirsten. As always, I find your thoughts to be interesting and useful.

I’m of the opinion that Pink will be moving up on the download numbers and not down due to influx of new music. Numbers tend to go up on high sale weeks and down on low sales weeks for all top 10 that were there before. I think TI could easily go to over 250,000 if not more. We’ll just have to see. The wait is just so damn hard.

If ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s a megahit, that causes issues because ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s hard to clear it off the airwaves in order to get your new song out there.

You mean like TOML?! Seriously. That. Song. Will. Not. Die.

Itunes finally updated the popularity bars, but only to reflect when LO was #7, not its current placement at #6. From the looks of it, #5 (TI’s first single– that dude is just a MONSTER), #6, and #7 are within a hair of each other.

As far as Pink, David is noticeably but not significantly behind her. I hope your speculation is right about her totals for this week, Aileen.

What the popularity bar like for TI compared to the others? Is it still twice the number of the second and third place in the chart?

Oh, yeah. TI is still holding strong, maybe a touch less than double #2. I’ve got to think that Christina Aguilara will sell in excess of 200,000. If that is right, it means that LO’s numbers will be strong, but it also means that TI’s numbers will be ridiculous.

So, now I’m reading that the reporting period may not end until Sunday at midnight rather than Saturday. Can anyone clear this up? With an official link where my question is answered in writing, if possible.

Here you go, noctem:

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/about_us/bbmethodology.jsp

Generally, charts reflect sales and airplay between Monday and Sunday of any given week. However, the mixed data charts (The Billboard Hot 100, Pop 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs) use an airplay cycle of Wednesday through Tuesday.

There aren’t any charts that are based on sales through Saturday.

What the popularity bar like for TI compared to the others?

Can anyone provide a link where I can view the popularity bars? I haven’t been able to find them except for the bar on the side of the song.

Boy! Am I getting an education about charts, sales, downloads, etc. Thanks guys, for all the info. It is much appreciated.

Thanks, cheese. I’m wondering then why LO didn’t drop on Monday instead of Tuesday, if Monday morning is when the reporting period actually begins.

Looking at the last two weeks’ top ten sales figures, I’m getting a clearer picture of where David is probably situated. He’s two spots up from Katy Perry, whose “Hot and Cold” sold 121,000 last week, which represented a 7% increase from her totals the prior week. That prior week, in turn, saw her numbers jump 8% from the week before that one.

Let’s say she only goes up 5% this week. She’d be looking at around 127,000 then. Now David’s bar is measurably longer than hers; in fact it’s about the same length longer than hers than it is shorter than Pink’s. I surmised that, looking at Pink’s sales trend, she would drop 15% (well, I chose 5% and 15%, respectively, to make the math easier!) which would put her at 162,000.

Splitting the difference, then, between Pink and KP, would be 145,000, if LO’s current sales pace holds up. I’ll add 5,000 to that total to account for the fact that DC’s Amazon sales are stronger than the other two and also because I intentionally computed my tabulations so that if I erred it would be on the conservative side. Anyway, my new prediction for DC is 150,000. All in all, not bad.

(Complicating this picture is Kanye West. Last week he sold 188,000, which was a 12% drop from the week before. But, this week he is well behind Katy Perry, and if my projections are right for her, that means he may be looking at a 40 – 50% drop this week. That’s hard to believe. So maybe what some posters have suggested is correct– Itunes numbers are up overall across the board this week.)

Do singles ever drop on Mondays? I thought Tuesdays were par for the course?

Every new entry is on Tuesday. So come next Tuesday we’ll see Britney’s impact.

Generally, in the US, new media drops on Tuesdays—CDs, singles, DVDs, and books.

I just read an interesting post on DC42 which stated that the bars on I-Tunes (as well as the numbers) might be subjective and not related to amount of sales at all. This posting’s original source is http://www.rickey.org/?p=7491

Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ve posted here many times about the charts and how they are confusing. I actually emailed itunes to get a clarification and they said neither the number in front of the song, nor the popularity bar, has anything to do with sales. They werenà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t super specific, but the popularity bar is a current rating based on peopleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“rankingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  of the song.. ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s a subjective bar, is what they were saying, and not based on sales. So, when I see posts like this, it is a little frustrating b/c Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m fairly sure the posts are made with certain assumptions that are, in fact, not true.

Virginia5 on March 29, 2008 at 9:59 pm

If this is true, our whole discussion in which we try to use the bars to predict sales is flawed. We will need to wait until the actual sales figures are released.

Generally, in the US, new media drops on Tuesdaysà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ CDs, singles, DVDs, and books.

Yep. It’s thought that the pent up demand will make up for that extra missed day. Maybe they do it because Mondays are more likely to be bank holidays? Anyway, it’s the tradition.

From the looks of it, #5 (TIà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s first singleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬’ that dude is just a MONSTER), #6, and #7 are within a hair of each other

If you are trying to estimate final placement on the top 100 downloads, don’t forget that there can be multiple versions of a song for sale (e.g. single, album track, radio mix, clean, etc). There are a number of songs in the Top 10 that are also elsewhere in the top 100. TI’s “Live Your Life” is at 1 and 22 while his “Whatever You Like” is at 5 and 49. Kevin Rudolf’s “Let it Rock” is at 7 and 55. Those sales will be combined in the final chart.

but the popularity bar is a current rating based on peopleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“rankingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  of the song.. ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s a subjective bar, is what they were saying, and not based on sales.

Does this person have any source about this? From what I’ve seen in the past, the popularity bar is pretty much based on recent sales. If it’s not, how come songs from the same album have different bars when you can’t rank them separately?

Ok, here’s another comment from another web page about popularity bars. (Looks like a lot of “double speak”)

The iTunes Store popularity bar is calculated based on sales and multiple Apple internal processes.”

Officially, you can also contact Apple support to ask them questions.

Unofficially, I’m able to say that both sales AND searches factor into it.

More info as I get it!

–Peter

Source page: http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/post/tunecore/vpost?id=2676664

How long has it been since there were this many comments on a Cook thread?

The purpose of this comment was to get to #415. I just like that number.

How long has it been since there were this many comments on a Cook thread?

Actually not that long ago.

That is interesting about the itunes popularity bars. I’d always assumed that they were straight-up sales?

I just read an interesting post on DC42 which stated that the bars on I-Tunes (as well as the numbers) might be subjective and not related to amount of sales at all.

Ok, if that’s the case, then that just totally wrenches our attempts to predict the numbers, doesn’t it? Of course, that was essentially the point you were trying to make.

I was just popping on here to say that I was now reducing my expectation for LO to 130,000 sold, since it has now fallen behind Katy Perry’s single. But, if what you’re saying is right, then who the hell knows?

I guess what I need to keep in mind is that what happens with this single, in the first week, or even overall, does not indicate what is going to happen to DC in his career.

I believe that blogger headlines, and even news headlines are something to be taken with a grain of salt.

No matter what happens with the single, I am SO VERY proud to be a DC fan!!! I CANNOT wait to see him live again!

The popularity bars on iTunes are about equal from 5-8 (now that they finally showed up). Pink is really making a move and may overtake Christina A. next update. Nickelback is now behind her at #4. These numbers next week are going to be almost impossible to predict. If I were to venture a guess, between iTunes and Amazon, LO will probably do 170,000.

TOML is still sitting pretty at #57 (when LO went on sale it was at its low point of 92) and may sell over 20,000 this week.

Noctem, I think the bars are related to sales, however, it is a 3-4 day moving average. (I don’t know what else may go into Apple’s analysis.) That means the current bars would not include the first day sales numbers and maybe not even the second (when he hit #3). It is indicative of how he’s been selling the last 3-4 days. Looking at the bars now for sales predictions would underestimate his numbers I believe. The songs that have already been released are going to have more steady numbers (no big spike on Tues. & Wed.). If you look now Pink is back at #2, but I doubt she will have more units moved than Nickleback or Xtina. The monster numbers from day 1 of the releases are not being factored into the rankings now. (I hope I helped rather than confused the issue more.)

Every new entry is on Tuesday. So come next Tuesday weà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ll see Britneyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s impact.

To throw a wrench in things, I heard that Britney will actually release her song to iTunes on Monday. My guess is Jive wants every possible chance to get as high a digital chart debut as possible in sales. They want the headlines to read that Britney’s back.

As for the discussion on popularity bars, I’m not sure where the whole “it’s subjective” thing came from. The bars aren’t subjective. They’re based on sales (and maybe other factors, but I’m convinced it’s mostly sales). If you watch the alignment of the songs during a week and then their ultimate ranking on the charts, the only thing keeping them from placing in the exact order they were on iTunes is (1) multiple versions of songs, and (2) Amazon (sometimes, it doesn’t make up much of the market at all). And a few other factors such as songs moving around during the week.

But, then again, the popularity bars can be deceiving. I think Christina will sell around 200K this week (just a guess), but I don’t think T.I. will sell 400K, even though his popularity bar is double hers. Maybe searches do make some difference in how those bars look, but it’s still mostly sales.

This week is too difficult to venture a guess as to how most of these songs will fair. More new songs in play means more iTunes traffic. That generally means that sales are higher overall (not just for new songs, but for older ones). So what a #10 song sold on iTunes last week won’t be what a #10 song sells this week. As an example, the week that “Crush” was moving between 7 and 10 on iTunes it wound up #10 on the digital charts (multiple versions of other songs account partially for its placement). It sold 90,000 that week. Another song (can’t remember which one) that made about the same moves the week prior and wound up at #10 on the digital chart sold in the 70K range. You just never know.

I think we’ll find out that the 11-15 ranked songs sell much more than those placements did the week prior. And 1-10 will have quite a few 100K-plus sales, and possibly more than half will be 150K-plus. I suspect that Pink, Christina and T.I. will be the only 200K-plus sales (remember that Pink had an extra day, so her drop earlier this week won’t have as much effect as it otherwise would have).

Then again, I could be totally wrong. lol.

Noctem, I think the bars are related to sales, however, it is a 3-4 day moving average. (I donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t know what else may go into Appleà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s analysis.) That means the current bars would not include the first day sales numbers and maybe not even the second (when he hit #3). It is indicative of how heà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s been selling the last 3-4 days. Looking at the bars now for sales predictions would underestimate his numbers I believe.

That actually makes a lot of sense, and I’m kind of annoyed at myself that I didn’t think about this point on my own. Anyway, I’m now prepared to essentially toss almost all of my previous analysis out the window. Except because I’m certifiably OCD, I can’t resist making a few more observations about the way other artists’ songs are trending to see if we can find any more measuring sticks to use by looking at their placements.

1. TI’s “Whatever You Want” has been incredibly resilient over the past few weeks. Last week it did 193,000 copies which was only a 4% drop from the week before, which itself was a 0% drop from its sales the week before that. With a new single out, we might expect WYW to see a bigger fall. But, then again looking at the effect LO has had on TOML, sometimes a new single has the opposite impact on an old single. Anyway, TI is currently #5 on the Itunes chart (although having a dirty and a clean version of his song out inflates his numbers (and seems like cheating)).

2. Taylor Swift sold 113,000 copies of her song last week, which was a 28% drop from the prior week. She’s one place behind DC on the list currently and her bar is slightly shorter.

3. MIA moved 113,000 copies last week, a 3% drop for them, after their sales ticked up 1% the week before. They are currently at #12, well behind DC.

4. Rihanna is at #10 right now, slightly behind DC. Last week she sold 112,000, which was a 12% drop for her her from the last week. That week the drop she experienced was 10%.

I could also noticed trends for Jason Mraz, Akon, and Estelle, which I could write up, but won’t. However, looking at all this information, my final conclusion about DC’s figures is………… inconclusive. There’s too much contradictory data. So there’s a few minutes of your life that you’re never going to get back. I guess I need to heed the repeated advice of others in this thread and just wait and see (very frustrating for an obsessive-compulsive….)

I think using the old TI song and Pink as a constant trending of 200k (give or take 10%) is useful. LO was selling above that trend for a while and has now dropped below. I doubt either song will drop numbers this week, in fact they will probably increase do to more itunes traffic. I do think that this will be a big selling week for many of the artists in the top 100 as people pick up their songs while they picked up their favorite new releases. (I know I clicked buy on a few when I went to get LO.) With all the new releases this week I think that will happen a lot.

Just for fun, using TI and Pink and his relative position on the chart in relation to their songs over the week, I think he will be in the 180-200L range. I would be very surprised to see below 160, and very surprised to see above 220. If it turns out to be a relatively normal week with only a bit of increased traffic then it will be in the lower portion of the range, if it is a strong selling week with increased sales for songs old and new, then it will be in the upper portion of the range.

In short, I have absolutely no idea what I am talking about and am just guessing. But guessing is fun and we will know soon enough.

Could anyone please provide a link where I can see these popularity bars everyone is talking about. Is this a chart with all the bars or just the bar that is on the side of each song? Excuse my ignorance on the subject, but I’m learning. I promise I am!

Barbariba, it’s just the bar that is on the side of each song. To see them, click on the words “Top Songs,” then go to the menu bar, click on view, then click on view options, and place a check mark on “Popularity,” then press OK.

Just checked in to iTunes. I see that Nickelback fell to #5. TI has #1 and #4 spots and may soon overtake Chrsitina A.

The fact that Nickelback is also falling is actually making me more optimistic about LO in general (not necessarily the first week numbers). Nickelback is huge and the radio play for the song since the release is also solid, yet even though it’s doing better than LO, it’s not doing that much better and is also falling due to more hip/hop pop artists dominating the charts.

TOML is now at #55. Rhiana’s Disturbia is back in the top 10 – now that’s a monster hit.

The fact that Nickelback is also falling is actually making me more optimistic about LO in general (not necessarily the first week numbers). Nickelback is huge and the radio play for the song since the release is also solid, yet even though ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s doing better than LO, ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s not doing that much better and is also falling due to more hip/hop pop artists dominating the charts.

I think what we’re seeing, basically, is that all the new songs (save T.I.’s) are decreasing in average daily sales. To determine whether an old song is rising, or a new song is falling, you have to think about outside factors that would affect sales. If there are none, the old song is probably just rising because the new songs are falling. Pink is probably selling about the same amount she always was. But since she’s a lot more consistent than the new songs, she rose back to #2 because Christina, Nickelback and yes, Cook, fell in average daily sales.

Pink sold 190K last week, and while that seems like a decent marker for sales this week, it probably isn’t. She had an extra day of sales. That could account for more than 27K in sales that she had even before the new songs debuted. She may get a sales bump this week… or not. If you go to the pages for the new songs and see what their buyers also purchased, “So What” isn’t on those lists.

noctem I think it’s going to be pretty much impossible to make a prediction for all the reasons you list. The only thing I’m positive about is TI is going to sell some insane number.

I’m not sure if I we could base LO’s sales on Nickelback’s. There was maybe a day and a haf when they were running next and neck and kept jumping over each other, but then Nickelback jumped further ahead with a much higher popularity bar. Not that I could figure out the bar thing but still.

I’m still really annoyed RCA never sent out a MySpace bulletin. How stupid. For all they’ve been accused of being desperate by initiating spam e-mails, the one simple, free method that would reach a huge amount of people went ignored.

Pink sold 190K last week, and while that seems like a decent marker for sales this week, it probably isnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t. She had an extra day of sales. That could account for more than 27K in sales that she had even before the new songs debuted.

This is another factor I didn’t consider. All these artists that we (ok me) are using to try to gauge Cook’s sales had the benefit of Monday sales. He did not. So, really we have to project his sales against 84% (6/7) of their sales totals, not 100%.

Also, this was from way back, at least a couple days ago, but I just had to comment:

The Taylor/ Chris fan wars are still raging two years later.

Um, if you’re a Taylor fan sholdn’t you have conceded at some point? No offense to any Soul Patrollers here, but at some point you pretty much had to wave the white flag….

It very well might be time for DC fans to wave that white flag. It is definitely disappointing to see him doing so poorly so soon.

Yup. I’m ready to call it a day and kiss his career goodbye because a single without major airplay has been in the Top 10 in downloads for 6 days. What a flop.

Last month the angst of the moment was that he wasn’t even getting a single before the album. Good lord.

Nope, no white flag here. In a year’s time I could reconsider, but I just don’t see that happening.

I don’t think I’m ready to throw in the towel just yet. I think Cook will do just fine. I’m sure all of Jordin’s fans should have waved the white flag when she sold very few downloads of her first single in the first week that ended up going double platinum. I think Daughtry’s and Carrie Underwood’s fans should also be really disappointed as none of their singles debuted #1 on iTunes either.

There are still a lot of people who do not d/l from iTunes or any of the other digital d/l places. 3 generations of Cook fans in my family. My mother only wants CD’s. I do CD’s and iTunes. My daughter mainly iTunes but wants Cook’s CD. I think I will wait until I see his CD sales figures. IMO, iTunes figures are not the basis for success or failure.

It very well might be time for DC fans to wave that white flag. It is definitely disappointing to see him doing so poorly so soon.

White flag? What the heck is this? A pirate ship?

That’s hilarious.

Ià ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢m still really annoyed RCA never sent out a MySpace bulletin. How stupid. For all theyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ve been accused of being desperate by initiating spam e-mails, the one simple, free method that would reach a huge amount of people went ignored.

Maybe, someone should have a sign up sheet in DCO to remind them to release the bulletin. Who knows, right?

Anyway, you know that the Philippines is Cook-crazy, right? Yay us! Well, LO is now popping up on radiio there.

http://community.livejournal.com/davidcookai7/641643.html

No Retreat!! No Surrender!!!

It very well might be time for DC fans to wave that white flag. It is definitely disappointing to see him doing so poorly so soon.

LOLOLOLOL

Thank GAWD MJ has her rules!!! So I’m keepin’ my mouth shut.

Just read that Rolling Stone gave LO 3 stars and said the following:

“For the American Idol’s power ballad on Red Bull, co-writer Chris Cornell- whose own “Billy Jean” cover served as a model for Cook’s victory performance- tosses some “Black Hole Sun”- style arpeggios under the verses. Cook summons all of his throaty passion, turning out a performance Simon might call “commercially viable.”

Throaty passion! I will take 3 stars from RS any time…yeps…I’ll take it! :clap_tb: Apparently NB got 2 1/2 stars.

ozarka

Oct 5th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
Barbariba, ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s just the bar that is on the side of each song. To see them, click on the words à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Top Songs,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  then go to the menu bar, click on view, then click on view options, and place a check mark on à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Popularity,à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬  then press OK.

Thanks for the help. Now I can understand what some are talking about.

“It very well might be time for DC fans to wave that white flag.”

In AI competition DC won , could we say it very well might be time for other contestants fans to wave that white flag? We shouldn’t say that. We can not say only #1 doing well, #2,#3,…#10 doing pooly,right?

I think DC new song’s numbers on iTunes and Amazon are pretty good.

I have gotten a newsletter from David’s myspace last wednesday, it just got lost in my spam folder.

Perhaps I should clarify my original post, as it appears to have been misconstrued.

In regards to Light On:
The single is underperforming on itunes. When TOML can stay at #1 for a week and LO can barely hang on in the top 10, I don’t know how it can be viewed as anything else.
The single is being shunned by radio. I know that some people cling to the impact date like a lifeline, but a song that is going to perform well on radio generally has some traction within the format before “going for adds”. In the past week, LO has lost 1 spin on AC, gained only 8 spins on HAC and gained only 216 spins on Top 40 (songs that become hits on pop generally show 500 increases). It has no rock spins. I believe that soundscene can confirm that the lack of radio support thus far (especially on HAC and the zero rock support) is alarming.
In regards to DC himself:
The media that was in his corner during AI has turned against him in earnest (for reasons unbeknownst to me). It is very difficult to find an article outside of the Kansas City press that doesn’t reference him as the de facto loser of S7.
He has been receiving what my grandmother would have called the “stepchild’s share” of promotion for the past two months. I see nothing to indicate that 19/RCA are going to change that now.
I would also like to address the “Rockstar” and “Irreplaceable” comparisons that were mentioned upthread:
These are fine examples of labels working patiently to capitalize on proven artists (Nickelback had been cranking out hits for 5 years prior to Rockstar and Beyonce had been going strong with Destiny’s Child and then solo for 9 years before Irreplaceable). David Cook is not an established artist; he is an American Idol winner. He is expected to get radio play NOW, move units NOW and make lots of money for the label NOW or risk being dropped. That is what baffles me about the lack of promotion outside of the existing fan base that the single received before being released for sale (but I guess that all goes back to the “stepchild’s share”).
All of these things (barring unforeseen changes) point to the Word Nerds buying a one-way ticket on the Soul Patrol Express. That doesn’t mean that I am no longer a fan. I bought the single on Tuesday – one for myself and one for my brother in an effort to get him to just say no to file sharing. I have pre-ordered the album (just one copy, thanks) and will happily buy a ticket when and if he ever performs in my neck of the woods. However, it is quite possible to acknowledge that DC has failed (albeit perhaps through no fault of his own) and someone else has succeeded (congrats to Archie) and still be a fan of Cookie and his music (I personally think LO is fabulous). Of course, YMMV.

I would not argue whether LO is underperforming or not, because YMMV and all that jazz, IMO it’s doing very fine. I’ll just say one single(‘s first week) doesn’t make or break a career.

For me, I’ll wait until November before I hang it up. And maybe, not even then.

In reference to LO’s radio airplay, I think it’s doing fine on CHR/Pop right now (top 40 radio). Yeah, it’s not the fastest start, but it’s not the slowest either (that probably goes to The Veronicas’ “Untouched” or Natasha Bedingfield’s “Angel,” both of which have been out awhile and haven’t seen much traction). I think maybe it’s getting a little lost in the influx of new material. Not only did Britney eat up a lot of airtime last week (and this week), shooting “Womanizer” into the top 30 in 1 single week, but you have new songs by Nickelback, Taylor Swift and even Jennifer Hudson vying for spins. Nickelback may be taking some of LO’s spins if stations are hesitant to put two rock songs into light-medium rotation at around the same time. And when you’ve got the poppiest Nickelback single yet, CHR/Pop stations are likely to go that way. Then again, they could start playing both. There’s really no rules other than what program directors think their audience will respond to.

It’s true that its Hot AC plays aren’t what I would expect at this point. LO seems like a Hot AC song. CHR/Pop has become more rhythmic-leaning in the past few years. While rock songs do get played (some quite a bit), pure pop and urban pop generally get played more. Hot AC still has more of a mix of rock, pop and R&B, without the side dose of T.I. and Lil Wayne. Then again, Hot AC is slower than CHR/Pop at picking up songs. Pink is #3 on Pop, but is much further down on Hot AC.

The rock spins are a bit perplexing in that, well, there are none. At least this week. There was one monitored Alternative station that played LO once last week. The add date for Rock is also October 14th. Since I don’t follow that format closely, I don’t know whether they’re generally slower putting songs into rotation. That could be it. Maybe rock stations are waiting to see how it does on pop.

Anyway, my point is that we can’t tell yet how LO will do because it’s just too early. There are too many unknown factors, and even the add date won’t provide much answers (it’s not as if radio stations all of a sudden start spinning LO because it’s October 14th). Some songs start slow and then make it up to the top. Pretty much all of Natasha Bedingfield’s songs do that. Elliot’s “Wait For You” took *forever* to get to top 5 on pop. Months and months and months. But it got there. “Tattoo” took a really long time as well–and that’s a major label song. But I don’t think LO is starting *slow,* I think it’s starting average. Cook is trying out new formats here. TOML did okay on CHR/Pop, but was mostly confined to AC. Now Cook has to capture a much bigger audience and many more radio stations on CHR/Pop, Hot AC and Rock.

Now, as for the sales–I agree with elisad that opening week numbers for a first album single don’t make or break a career. “Tattoo”‘s numbers weren’t that great yet it eventually went platinum. LO will sell much more than “Tattoo” did its opening week. And, to be honest, I have only a very vague guess as to what LO’s opening numbers will be. The top 10 on iTunes moved around way too much. Higher iTunes traffic may mean that it sold more than its current position would indicate. Plus, it spent about a day at #3. But even if it sells, say, 130K, 140K, or 150K, (1) that’s still very good, and (2) that’s not the end. There’s more weeks. More airplay, more sales; a music video, more sales; promotion, more sales; album gets released, more sales (singles get bumps when the album is released). The key is not necessarily to get the big bang at the beginning, but to stay a consistent player. Maybe not the best seller ever, but consistent enough so you’re still in the game when it counts (i.e., when the album is released and beyond).

BTW. as for how the media is treating Cook, I haven’t seen anything like that, but maybe I’m not looking. The press will be the press. Any time they can knock somebody from their pedestal, they’ll do it. It happened to Archie during American Idol and, if they’re doing it now to Cook it’s because he won, and any sign of weakness they’ll exploit. It’s just how it is, sadly. He’s not an underdog anymore–he’s top dog. To them it means that he’s fair game. Fortunately, Cook has every opportunity to prove this type of press wrong.

No. Much too early to write LO and DC off. He may not have gotten the #1 spot on itunes, but his sales are going to be impressive no doubt. I think this song has longevity, and whoever said LO is gonna be the goodbye song on AI 8 on result night, I agree! It’s got the vibe.

Can we have a bet? I don’t think it will be the goodbye song. It’s too loud for that.

Unless they let DC rearrange the song and lengthen the piano bit, then maybe…

I don’t think there’s even the slimmest chance that Light On will be the goodbye song. Not because it’s too “loud” though.

As far as “Light On” and airplay, I think that if RCA had really wanted to push it out of the gate, they would have found some way to squeeze it into a premiere in a big market (but then again, looking at the Clear Channel Top 40 playlist, maybe they’ll never even play it. Maybe David should try his hand at r&b, hip hop or girl anthems). Hopefully they intend to do a little more once the song reaches its impact date – I know DA was interviewed on XM and added to some major markets well before his add date. Cook has not had any press at all since the tour ended.

The media that was in his corner during AI has turned against him in earnest (for reasons unbeknownst to me). It is very difficult to find an article outside of the Kansas City press that doesnà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t reference him as the de facto loser of S7.

Is this still about “the crushed” articles. That ones never were mainstream only a short living thing in the internet subculture.

I have seen DCà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s album listed on all of the major fall release lists, I have seen.
There are no other news at the moment and I am quiet happy that DC concentrate on his music.

As for the marketing. It seemed clear that RCA goes mainly for marketing the album and not the single. It would be wasting it to go now for the big guns.

And in my perspective I donà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢t even expect David to go number one not with LO and maybe not even later.
If you look at the charts today it is very difficult normally to get past Hip Hop, Rap and R&B.
There just should be enough people, who interesting in his music.

“Light On” is going to enjoy incredible longevity because of it’s multifaceted theme. Case in point: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isOoEmKZiEc
I hope no one dismisses it too quickly. It’s an amazing song and an amazing performance by a very gifted and talented musician.

Here’s Archie lovin’ him some Light On at last night’s Disney event.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rlxgfShFsHY

I’m pretty sure it’s a safe bet that promotion for Light On and Cook’s new album will kick into high gear pretty soon! I think he’s doing well on sales and will steadily gain in the coming weeks.

That Archie video is adorable! Isn’t there also video of DC singing Crush?

I have seen DCà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s album listed on all of the major fall release lists, I have seen.

Same. And in all these lists that mention it I haven’t seen any mainstream media, media call him the defacto loser.

I think Cookie is getting all rested up for the PR blitz of the album. Love being able to say hat it comes out next month!

Yeah…Cookie is doin’ just fine. Wish he was listed under rock instead of pop.

…and am patiently waiting for real news/articles/reviews on LO and more importantly the record.

I can’t see the vid- can someone explain what happened?

and am patiently waiting for real news/articles/reviews on LO

Rolling Stone gave LO three stars (about as good as it gets for an Idol product)and managed to review it without invoking the name of Daughtry. I can’t look for the review right now, but it called it a “rock anthem on Red Bull,” mentioned Chris Cornell and the Black Hole Sun-like arpeggios, mentioned David’s “throaty passion” and said Simon would deem it “commercially viable.” I haven’t seen the issue yet, but apparently it was