One Hot Pistol: Kacey Musgraves Earns Gold & Platinum Certs
Kacey Musgraves may not be the typical country music commercial powerhouse or the perennial chart topper, but the hard work on her debut major label album Same Trailer, Different Park, and the resonance and appeal of her breakout single “Merry Go ‘Round” have finally paid off for the country star in RIAA certifications.
Announced today by the Recording Industry Association of America, Kacey Musgraves’ Same Trailer, Different Park is officially a gold record, denoting 500,000 copies sold, and “Merry Go ‘Round” has been certified platinum with 1,000,000 singles sold. Her third single “Follow Your Arrow” was also certified gold in the certification class covering 7/1/2014 to 7/31/2014. The certifications come despite Kacey’s general lack of support by country radio, and the lagging sales environment in music in general.
READ: Willie Nelson & Kacey Musgraves To Record Together
Though Kacey Musgraves may not be the cash cow as some of country’s other current mainstream stars, she has not run short on industry accolades. Kacey will be able to display her new gold and platinum plaques beside the Grammy Awards she won for Best Country Song for “Merry Go ‘Round”, and Best Country Album for Same Trailer, Different Park in 2014. Same Trailer also won the Album of the Year at the ACM Awards in 2014, and Kacey was awarded New Artist of the Year by the CMA’s in late 2013. This is all from an artist who has only managed to get to #10 on any singles chart, but shines when it comes to critical praise and appeal towards more distinguishing listeners.
“Does this mean a gold tooth is now appropriate?” Kacey tweeted out after the certifications were announced on Friday.
The certifications are also the result of Kacey’s heavy touring schedule that saw her playing with Willie Nelson & Alison Krauss earlier this summer. And despite not being released officially as a single, her song “The Trailer Song” actually showed up on the charts at #46.
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August 1, 2014 @ 10:21 pm
Congratulations to Kacey! She has my gratitude for serving as a true beacon of light amidst the pitch dark skies of today’s mainstream country music.
August 1, 2014 @ 10:26 pm
This kind of acknowledgement by fans ( sales ) and industry (awards) is the most encouraging kind of press coming out of Nashville. Fans recognize this artist’s creative , dare I say , brilliant approach to song-writing while never straying from the more traditional side in her arrangements . Her songs are always ABOUT something …they are entertaining and engaging narratives with to-the-point production which NEVER gets in the way of the vocal and the story . Her talents are conspicuous on country radio , when given airplay , because all of the aforementioned is so much better than most of what radio considers ” good “. I only hope that Kacey stays true to herself and her ability to infuse her writing with an intelligence , depth and freshness sadly missing on commercial radio ….no matter the genre.
August 1, 2014 @ 10:33 pm
I’m actually more interested in seeing how she holds up with her sophomore release.
Because let’s not kid ourselves here: Kacey Musgraves was buoyed by a massive amount of publicity that is fairly unprecedented for a legitimate country artist who hasn’t received massive airplay. Any other artist who isn’t an A or B-lister would kill to have the generous amount of PR she received: which happened well BEFORE “Same Park, Different Trailer” was released. Ashley Monroe probably didn’t even get one-tenth of the publicity Musgraves got. Nor Caitlin Rose. Nor Brandy Clark.
Hence, her sophomore effort, from a commercial standpoint (unless she sells out and releases music that appeals squarely to Katy Perry’s Top 40 demographic, which I just don’t see her doing) is going to say a lot more about who is actually genuinely interested in her music, and reveal who only latched onto the bandwagon because everyone said it was critically cool to love Musgraves. And if she maintains a sound that is close to the style of her major label debut and enjoys consistent sales, then that will look especially impressive.
That said, despite my criticisms of the relentless publicity campaign surrounding her album and the fact I don’t regard “Same Trailer Different Park” quite as highly as virtually every professional critic has who is basically deifying Musgraves as a savior to the genre…………….at any rate there’s plenty more I like about Musgraves than am less thrilled by, and I’d rather have her dominating the headlines than Luke Bryan.
August 1, 2014 @ 10:37 pm
Note: When I said “sophomore release” above, I meant sophomore major label release. I’m aware she previously released three full-length albums either independently or on a minor label.
August 1, 2014 @ 10:53 pm
Kacey Musgraves is an example of why major labels still mater. The fact that she’s on one of the big Nashville labels is the reason she received so many accolades, and Caitlin Rose, Ashley Monroe, and Brandy Clark didn’t. It’s really that simple.
August 2, 2014 @ 3:27 pm
“Kacey Musgraves was buoyed by a massive amount of publicity that is fairly unprecedented for a legitimate country artist who hasn”™t received massive airplay.”
True, but arguably the discrepancy between Kacey Musgraves’ publicity and her radio play is just as much a reflection of the rigged nature of country radio as it is Musgraves’ critical favor. For all we know, she could be a radio mainstay if country radio were currently still chasing the female audience it was targeting s recently as a few years ago.
The relatively minimal publicity for artists such as Brandy Clark, Ashley Monroe, and Caitlin Rose is pitiful, and in my opinion speaks to the need for some kind of organization or infrastructure to promote independent country artists that fall through the cracks of mainstream country and Americana, but I digress.
Personally, I remain optimistic that Kacey Musgraves’ second major label album could be even stronger than her first. For one thing, I think she’ll only improve as a songwriter. Also, I’ve never seen her live, but from what I’ve seen on Youtube and such, I don’t think her first album captured the potential strength of her vocals.
August 2, 2014 @ 4:11 pm
As much as I think that country women of substance are significantly undersold, let’s not act like Brandy Clark, Ashley Monroe, and Caitlin Rose have been ignored and are the sisters of the poor. 2013 is the year all three of these women became big players in the independent music scene, and found quite a lot of positive press and commercial success. Certainly it should have been more, but once again, you cannot expect ANY artist on a smaller indie label to compete with someone like Kacey Musgraves who clearly has the strong support of one of the biggest labels in the business. I also don’t think it’s fair to somehow discount Kacey because of that.
I am not fully sold on Kacey Musgraves by any stretch. But I do believe she is a country music success story, and should be celebrated.
August 2, 2014 @ 4:17 pm
I think radio will more readily embrace a Kacey Musgraves release next time around …if only because it has , hopefully , become aware of the fan base she’s garnered with the first release
August 1, 2014 @ 10:50 pm
I have also been very happy with the single releases from Kacey’s album thus far. My 5 favorite songs on the album were “Merry Go Round”, “Follow Your Arrow”, “Silver Lining”, “It Is What It Is”, and “Keep It to Yourself”. The fact that three out of her first four releases were from these songs has thrilled me.
“Keep It to Yourself”, in particular, provides a great blueprint for how country music can evolve while remaining truly country. The storytelling structure is maintained, although in a somewhat abstract form, and the gorgeous air guitars do a stellar job of recreating the heartfelt melodic sounds that defined classic country music.
August 2, 2014 @ 2:33 pm
They screwed up not releasing “The Trailer Song” as a single. It would have done 3x better than “Keep It To Yourself”.
August 2, 2014 @ 2:41 pm
I would have put “The Trailer Song” on her next album as the lead release to radio. That next album should be interesting, She has a few good songs that she sings live that are not on any album yet.
It is also suspected that Katy Perry could write a song on the album as well. She has good writing skills so that could be interesting. one of her writing influences is Allison Krauss.
August 2, 2014 @ 10:36 pm
Yes, I think those are good songs. But I expect Kacey to continue to struggle with country radio. Her strengths, including her traditional sound and her willingness to express opinions that don’t conform to Nashville stereotypes, are precisely what country radio wants to avoid. I don’t expect her next album to be a huge hit, unless her music goes viral and becomes a big success in spite of country radio. It has happened before (the soundtrack for O Brother being the best example I can think of) but unfortunately it is very hard for country albums to succeed without heavy radio airplay. Country radio wants “safe”, conventional, conformist women like Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood.
August 2, 2014 @ 10:43 pm
I would argue that country radio right now does not want women at all. I rarely hear any Taylor Swift song on KRTY these days.
August 2, 2014 @ 10:53 pm
That’s because Taylor Swift doesn’t want you to hear her songs on the radio right now. Give it two weeks, and trust me, you’ll be hearing Taylor Swift …
August 2, 2014 @ 10:56 pm
The question is: will we hear her on pop radio or on country radio?
August 2, 2014 @ 11:47 pm
I think consumers will be hearing more of her on both pop radio and country radio than most people can stand, once the marketing blitz for her new album starts. She’s a great match for commercial radio since she is safe, conventional, and business savvy. Unfortunately I think country radio will play her even if her music isn’t country at all and even if she doesn’t want to be country. Unfortunately for those of us who are real country music fans, God made a pop singer who happens to be a perfect fit for “country” radio.
August 4, 2014 @ 11:29 am
Actually, country radio will no longer play Taylor Swift. To be honest, country radio will never want to play Taylor Swift again and the only time Taylor Swift was on radio is pop. Pop wants Taylor Swift on radio for consumers, country doesn’t. Plus, consumers only listen to pop Taylor Swift, not country Taylor Swift. What Big Machine Records can do is to get of of country music industry and replace them with pop so that way Big Machine Records can make Nashville pop music in Nashville. No country music needed. Have the entire music industry to move away from Big Machine Records and have Big Machine Records move to pop. Trust me, Big Machine Records needs a pop music department. That’s just my guess. I’m sure Scott Borchetta will know about pop music in Nashville instead of country. So Eric and Adrian, I think country radio can retire playing Taylor Swift so that way country Taylor Swift will be moved to pop radio. With Taylor Swift retiring her country music career at the age of 24, she can move her country music to pop stations. That would be awesome if you asked me. That way, Taylor Swift will be making new pop music in Nashville instead of making new country music non-stop. Plus, Taylor Swift will now tackle different genres too besides country and pop. So I was expecting Taylor Swift to move away from country and move to pop. That way, Taylor Swift will play her country songs in general on pop radio non-stop. That’s how Vevo categorized her country videos as pop. On her fifth album, there won’t be any country for her fifth album. Only Nashville pop songs. Plus, many of them are produced by Max Martin so that way her country songs will not be in her fifth album. Pretty cool. Scott Borchetta suggests that her Nashville pop music will on play on pop radio, not country radio. So that was a close call. I hope you like my suggestions, Eric and Adrian. 🙂
August 3, 2014 @ 3:24 am
I wouldn’t call Swift conformist though. Safe? Maybe. Conventional? Maybe. Conformist? No. Not in any way. I think her resistance to genre labeling will be remembered in the history of country music. Yeah, I know Shania went pop before her, but she Shania never said or implied that she’s done with country music and doesn’t want to be called country anymore. Unlike Swift who apparently doesn’t want to be called country or pop or anything else. What I got out of her op-ed is that she thinks that committing and sticking to a certain genre hinders creativity. Agree or disagree with her, it’s up to you, but that way of thinking of hers is definitely not what I’d call conformist or traditional in any way.
August 3, 2014 @ 11:44 am
Her music is conformist. It is vanilla. She won’t say anything that might potentially be perceived as controversial. Other “country” artists have been crossing or ignoring genre boundaries for a long time. There is nothing new or original about her opposition to genres. I think her comment about genres is simply vocalizing what many mainstream artists have believed for a long time, and trying to say it in a way that makes her sound more innovative and futuristic than she is. There is nothing new about a Barbie doll with expensive clothes, lots of lipstick, and a guitar.
August 3, 2014 @ 12:20 pm
“There is nothing new about a Barbie doll with expensive clothes, lots of lipstick, and a guitar.”
Adrian, despite our political differences, I generally enjoy discussions with you due to your intelligent commentary on the nexus of music and socio-politics.
Cheap shots like this are beneath you.
August 3, 2014 @ 12:41 pm
Except that the Barbie doll with the expensive clothes, lots of lipstick and a guitar is actually talented.
And the fact that other artists have resisted genre-labeling before her doesn’t make her any less of a non-conformist, especially when the vast majority of mainstream country artists don’t take any sonic risks and are intent on being called country, no matter how pop sounding their music gets. She could have kept it cute and stayed making her pop music while calling it and letting other call it country, and not comment on the whole topic at all, and it wouldn’t have affected her career in any way. But she didn’t. She chose to call out genre-labeling when she didn’t have to, and refused to conform to the industry and the general public’s expectations that artists have to be classified in genres and formats, and if they decide to crossover, they’re sell-outs by default.
This is the girl, who, at the height of her country success, decided to branch out into other genres, when there was no need for it, unlike those mainstream country artists, who sound so desperate to go full-on pop, but can’t take the risk.
August 3, 2014 @ 3:23 pm
The point I was making is that fashion and cosmetics have been a big part of her marketing message, and that the themes and lyrics of her music are bland and vanilla. If the record industry had tried to design a new and “improved” Britney Spears, targeting the same demographic but tweaking a few features, they probably would have ended up with something sort of like Taylor.
August 3, 2014 @ 3:41 pm
About the only similarity between Britney Spears and Taylor Swift is in their appeal with little girls and teenage girls. Nothing else.
August 1, 2014 @ 11:36 pm
Great news, very happy for Kacey. She’s one of the few mainstream artists I feel is really “herself,” not what anyone else says she should be. And it comes through in the honesty of her music.
I have a hard time judging hits these days, but I think the Trailer Song could be one. It’s catchy and fun and her voice is engaging.
August 2, 2014 @ 5:29 am
I’m still having trouble getting past a lot of things with her (like her jaded attitude, seeing her boot lick Katy Perry, and seeing her repeatedly suck up to gays). I don’t have a problem with gays, it’s just odd to see her (more than once) stand on a stage and single them out. She doesn’t stand on a stage and do the same thing for Mexicans, or Military vets (etc).
The recent crossroads with her and Katy Perry was impossible to watch. The only interesting thing was how Katy Perry (socially) just dominated Kacey who went almost passive and took a back seat in the crossroads interviews.
Ashley Monroe on the other hand (to me) has a really warm and pleasant attitude.
I really liked Kacy and was hopefully about her, but I don’t like to watch or listen to her anymore. Jaded brooding females make me cringe.
August 2, 2014 @ 6:19 am
I agree Phil. Her, and her fellow left-wing activist and Waylon Jennings tribute artist Sturgill Simpson are never going to save Country music. Plus, I’m just not really impressed by her. Being a little better than bad is still not that good.
August 2, 2014 @ 7:13 am
“… and her fellow left-wing activist and Waylon Jennings tribute artist Sturgill Simpson”
That’s a troll comment, Clint. He’s not the topic of this article or even mentioned in Phil’s comment. Sturgill Simpson is no kind of activist that I’m aware of. Writing a song or two that offends your sensibilities does not make him one. Steve Earle would be an example of an activist and I would be shocked to ever see Sturgill go that route. And just how many times do you have to tell us that you think Sturgill Simpson is a Waylon clone? I know I got it about at least ten comments ago.
August 2, 2014 @ 7:27 am
Naw Jack, I’m no troll. I just always associate those two together because they seem to be the two biggest nominees for the saviours of Country music, and because in my mind, they have some similarities:
Overhyped by desperate traditional Country fans
Openly left-wing
Intentionally controversial
August 2, 2014 @ 7:57 am
Clint. Why.
August 2, 2014 @ 10:08 am
I am curious as to some examples of his alleged left-wing behavior. I am not agreeing or disagreeing with you, I honestly have just never picked it up from his music or what few interviews I have read. I could just be blind, though.
August 2, 2014 @ 2:20 pm
Kacey Musgraves is definitely overhyped, but how in god’s name is Simpson overhyped?
Half the country still has no clue that he exists, and even if he did, the material is there to back it up. He’s as good as advertised, and traditionalists celebrate that because he could be the lighthouse finally coming into view.
August 2, 2014 @ 2:26 pm
Other “Left Wing” country artists
Merle Haggard
Willie Nelson
Waylon Jennings
Kris Kristofferson
Both she and Sturgall are doing fine
FYI: Brandy Clark actually is a lesbian, she is who “Follow Your Arrow” is written about.
Country Music is about controversy sometimes. that is the way it is, the genre is about life and “the left wing” is part of life.
August 2, 2014 @ 4:24 pm
Sturgill is , unfortunately , up against all the pretty boys of country music ( you know who they are ) and in that respect he’s not marketable . He’s got no guns , to tats, no hat , bandana……he’s just too f*****g ‘normal’ looking ….like the guy bangin’ out four sets a night at the bar down the street. Much as we’d like to THINK its all about the music , we all know better . Now Kacey Musgraves is ‘ the package” labels love …great writer / musician/ singer and a terrific looking woman .
August 2, 2014 @ 8:33 pm
Overly left-wing, she’s supported ron Paul, she’s nt Left-wing, Left-wing is Communist, and that’s not Obama either, That’s Parti socialiste, from france, or other actual Communist parties, when she starts demanding nationalization ofindustry then we can talk about left wing, but she’s not, if anything she’s helping the sterotype that country fans, are redneck white supremicist bigots.
August 4, 2014 @ 6:05 am
Clint, it’s a good thing Ethan Hawke didn’t “overhear” you making that comment to Kris Kristofferson. He would have made up a story to make you look like a tool.
And, yeah, if we’ve gotten to the point where a message of acceptance is now “policital” instead of simply “human,” let me off this ride.
August 2, 2014 @ 10:28 pm
I think Kacey would do better commercially if she were to keep the music and the politics separate. At the same time I don’t personally have a problem with artists having political views that are different from mine, as long as they make good music. Kacey is clearly the best new country artist on mainstream country radio in the past couple of years, in my opinion.
From my perspective an artist like Kacey that speaks her mind and expresses herself freely is much better than someone like Taylor Swift who plays it safe and avoids saying anything that might be considered controversial.
August 2, 2014 @ 10:39 pm
Kacey Musgraves has been hurt by entering the political fray as can be seen in this very comments section, and this is why I always advise any artist to never mix music with politics. At the same time, she is being herself, and I find it hard to disrespect that whether I agree with her or not. If someone doesn’t like Kacey Musgraves because of the politics she espouses, I totally understand that. At the same time, one or two political songs shouldn’t completely sour anyone’s taste on any artist. This is an unnecessary limitation on your music experience. Willie Nelson thinks 9/11 was a governmental conspiracy perpetuated by neo-conservatives. It’s not going to change my opinions about his music though.
August 3, 2014 @ 12:31 am
The fact that a song that asserts that gay people should, y’know….be gay and not ashamed of it, is considered “political” or controversial is a sad enough statement in and of itself.
August 3, 2014 @ 10:52 am
But that is the reality, and all you have to do is look at Clint’s and other’s comments here to see that.
August 3, 2014 @ 3:14 pm
But it’s not political, at all. She doesn’t make any statement about gay marriage, abortion rights, immigration, anything that politicians actually argue about. If anything, she makes a religious/moral statement, which, if you listen to her other songs, she doesn’t shy away from talking about religion. Country music has a long history of talking about religion.
Same with Sturgill – no politics, some religion. I’m a Christian, and I don’t agree with everything they say, but I appreciate the artful way in which they express themselves. Sad that some people write off good art as being political.
August 4, 2014 @ 1:42 am
I’m guessing that she might be libertarian rather than pure liberal, which is actually a pretty big difference in philosophy. But she has probably been slowed down on country radio by the perception that she’s too liberal for country. Perception is often everything in the entertainment world, unfortunately.
August 4, 2014 @ 3:28 am
Libertarians are as anathema to many country music fans as liberals are, due to libertarians’ cultural liberalism.
August 4, 2014 @ 11:23 am
Her “political” song “Follow Your Arrow” was written about Brandy Clark. It is not a political song more than it is a tribute song to Brandy.
August 4, 2014 @ 9:23 pm
Liberal messages play well with culturally sophisticated, white collar audiences, e.g. Grammy judges and critics. The same messages play poorly with culturally conservative, blue collar constituencies, e.g. country radio listeners.
On the one hand I think the perception of liberal politics in Kacey’s image has turned off some country audiences. But I don’t know whether or not the critical attention she was able to get outweighs the skepticism from country radio. For the past couple of years country radio has been very unfavorable to female artists, and very unfavorable to artists with a traditional sound. Even if Kacey were a traditional sounding female with a conservative image, like Lee Ann Womack or early Sara Evans, I doubt she would have gotten a huge amount of radio airplay.
August 4, 2014 @ 9:53 pm
“For the past couple of years country radio has been very unfavorable to female artists, and very unfavorable to artists with a traditional sound. Even if Kacey were a traditional sounding female with a conservative image, like Lee Ann Womack or early Sara Evans, I doubt she would have gotten a huge amount of radio airplay.”
I think that this is the real reason why Kacey decided to take a risk and release her politically oriented songs early in the album cycle. If she would be unlikely to get radio play anyway, why not just throw caution to the wind and perhaps even try to get attention through controversy?
While “Merry Go Round” (and to some extent, “Follow Your Arrow”) helped her gain an edge over other female artists such as Ashley Monroe, I agree that the political message has hurt her somewhat in the long run. I remember a discussion on KRTY when “Follow Your Arrow” was released last fall, where one of the DJ’s mentioned something similar to this:
“I’m not sure Kacey made a good decision by releasing this song. Here in the Bay Area, “Follow Your Arrow” will be popular. However, listeners and radio stations in places like Birmingham may be turned off by it.”
A pretty frank discussion by DJ’s who virtually never enter the cultural or political fray.
Fortunately for Kacey, though, the remainder of the songs on “Same Trailer Different Park” are completely apolitical. Releasing them one by one could slowly help cultural conservatives warm up to her.
August 4, 2014 @ 11:19 pm
Eric, it’s hard for an artist to get a second chance to make a first impression. If she wants major success in her career in the future, I think she will need to find other channels besides country radio.
August 5, 2014 @ 6:33 am
for some people it hurts their music careers,
for others, it helps.
Seems to depend on who the audience is, and what you say.
Being political, taking a stand, boosted Johnny Cash didn’t it?
August 5, 2014 @ 12:54 pm
Johnny Cash turned political well after he had attained peak popularity in country music.
August 2, 2014 @ 6:56 am
Considering all the hype/press she’s gotten, I don’t find it that impressive that it took 16 months for her cd to go gold. Still not drinking that cool aid.
August 2, 2014 @ 2:30 pm
I think Gold, and especially Platinum distinctions are a big accomplishment for any artist, especially one that is not receiving significant radio play like Kacey, and in this sales environment. People just aren’t purchasing albums anymore. Where the #1 album on any given week would almost immediately go gold in the past, now there’s albums winning the week with 70,000 copies sold. It’s a new day in music, and these distinctions arguably mean more now than they ever have. Whether you’re drinking the Kool-Aid when it comes to her music or not, that’s another discussion.
August 2, 2014 @ 10:45 am
I hate to say it, but “Oh Tonight” is still my favorite song that Kacey Musgraves has been affiliated with. I know why people like her solo material, and I like most of it, too, but I’m much more interested in the material she releases in a few years, as she gets older. Right now, she comes off as more sass than backbone, more wit than wisdom, and while catchy lines are great, I don’t get the vibe that her views are as refined as they’re presented, which they aren’t, because she’s what, 25 years old? For a 23-25 year old artist, her music is remarkably impressive, but I don’t think it’s as good as people seem to think it is. The potential in her is remarkable, though. I feel like she could be that happy medium between Taylor Swift and Sarah Jarosz, but I need to see the real wisdom of Jarosz catch up with the wit and sass of Swift, first.
By god she’s hot, though. 😛
August 2, 2014 @ 2:20 pm
Same Trailer,Different Park is a solid record with whip-smart lyricism. Calling Musgraves “overhyped” is hyperbole and just sorta makes one look silly…you can’t overhype a record of that quality….I am pleased that I purchased it, no Kool-Aid necessary…
y’all keep drinkin’ the Hater-Aid,ya hear?
August 2, 2014 @ 2:23 pm
I just wanted to chip in and say congratulations and well done to Kacey Musgraves. The bottom line to me is that a young, quality country singer/songwriter has gone gold despite the fact that all but one of her singles were remarkably underplayed by mainstream radio. I would imagine that going gold or platinum is a big deal for any artist these days, regardless of publicity.
For comparison’s sake, the other albums that were certified gold on the same day as Same Trailer, Different Park were Eric Chuch’s The Outsiders, Miranda Lambert’s Platinum, and George Strait’s Love Is Everything, all albums by established heavy-hitters in the country industry. All have enjoyed much more mainstream radio play than Musgraves. (George Strait is almost an exception, but his first single charted higher than any of Musgraves’, and obviously he has received decades of radio hits, and so forth.)
Source:
http://www.musicrow.com/2014/08/riaa-july-2014-gold-platinum-and-multi-platinum-certs/
August 5, 2014 @ 3:17 pm
I’ve been trying to decide who’s comment to reply on, yours Applejack or Trigger’s a few comments down. This is not to criticize Kacey Musgraves but will probably be taken that way. This is to question to value of album sales figures.
Of all the country albums you mention that were certified gold at the end of July, Same Trailer Different Park is the only one that I can find selling (download) for $1.99 and it has been for quite some time. The earliest I can recall it being $1.99 is February. All the rest mentioned are at least $9.99 (today anyway and I don’t recall seeing them for less).
Is this part of her label support? I don’t know who makes these decisions. It would certainly give a boost to her commercial credibility to have a gold album.
August 5, 2014 @ 3:43 pm
Linna,
I’m noticing now that the album is on sale, but I think that is a recent occurrence, likely to mark the album going gold. What I can tell you is that many of the charts, and specifically Billboard, do NOT count album or single sales when the price drops below a certain threshold. This was a point of controversy a few years back when artists started debuting albums for low prices like $1.99. Taylor Swift, and some other artists did this, and it resulted in rules changes to make sure anomalies like this did not fudge the intent of industry metrics. Whether the RIAA has these same rules in place, I’m not sure, but I can imagine there is something along those lines.
August 5, 2014 @ 4:16 pm
If I remember correctly I think Billboard changed their rules so that any album sold below a certain price ($2.99 or $3.99 I think) within the first few weeks of release will not have those purchases count in the totals used for charting but they will be counted for the RIAA certs. But after the first few weeks these are allowed to count and we saw Blake Shelton’s ‘Based On A True Story’ sale priced a couple of weeks ago and it raced back to #1 on the country album chart and the top ten on the big chart for a week.
This was put into effect because of the deep,deep discounting of ‘Born This Way’ by Lady Gaga which sold over a million copies it’s first week of which about 500,000 were for 99 cents.
August 2, 2014 @ 4:15 pm
I’ve just viewed the CROSSROADS CMT concert with Kacey and Katy Perry . I have always been a Katy Perry fan- I think she and her writing stable have a gift for hooks lyrically and musically and I’ve always liked their approach to radio-friendly production and arrangement . Katy obviously is more than comfortable in front of an audience -whether hiding behind wigs and costumes and a wall of sound …or , as shown in the CROSSROADS concert , strumming an acoustic and singing a duet with nothing between her and her audience but her sincerity . The one thing I was not aware of was how good a vocalist she was when things were stripped down to musical basics . Knocked me out , actually .
Kacey Musgraves , on the other hand , seems to come across as a bit of a deer in the headlights when it comes to being on stage – A bit uncomfortable…a bit awkward-looking in trying to get into the rhythms and arguably a bit out of her element when it comes to delivering those big K.P. pop anthems . I think her forte is the writing of those amazing lyrics and her gift for SIMPLE but totally effective melody and hooks which allow her to make her point in a more understated manner than K.P. -a manner closer to who she seems to be as a person . And beautifully so , in my opinion .
As unlikely a pairing as these two artists would seem to be , however , the honesty , sincerity and conviction in their music was a palpable common denominator in concert . Katy toned down her theatrics in order to keep the focus on those terrific songs and not upstage Kacey , I think .
Certainly KP has been at the performance game a little longer than Kacey and that experience shows , understandably . But I’m not sure Kacey is shooting for THAT kind of a presence on stage . I think she’s a writer FIRST ..and happens to be able to deliver her stuff with a quiet passion that is refreshing and sweet , relate-able and honest .
August 3, 2014 @ 1:32 pm
Albert, exactly the impressions I got from the Crossroads concert. While I think she is primarily a writer, she’s clearly able to command big stages. Congrats to her, well deserved. And, to me, if she’s “political,” well I guess I don’t understand what that word means anymore (and if I think about it, I guess I don’t!).
Also, I booked Sturgill three years ago; what he’s doing now, to me, isn’t that different from what he did at my show (which was a great performance). Throw is a couple cosmic turtles or whatever, I see the same artist. Unfortunately, I don’t see him altering the course or saving country music, except as a wonderful individual artist. I believe Kacey’s chances of setting the course back to where it should be is more likely; what comes next will be telling for both artists. Thanks.