Re: Highs and Lows of Cure record sales - Important to you or not Not being much of a figures person, I couldn't tell you what each album has grossed..
But I'd say they (sales) are less important now than they were fifteen or so years ago.. Saying that though, it's never really what the band has been about.. The group are more or less putting out records for their own enjoyment now, knowing that the fans will buy it..
As sad as I am to use a word like 'pigeonhole'.. it is quite hard to know where to market the group in this day and age, they are worlds apart from the band that use to rehearse/record/tour something at least every eighteen months and that is due to the understandable fact the being in the group is no longer the pivotal, centeral thing in their lives..
I don't really think any album after Wish got promoted/marketed as heavily as anything that went before.. Going back to my last statement, somtimes it's hard to know what to do with a band that now has a four year break between albums. Not to say they don't do anything in between that.. But four years in the music industry is an awfully long time, many musical eras come and go in that time.. :p
Sure you get an ad in most music magazines saying that an album by The Cure will be coming out soon, but you don't see them all scrambling to get an interview with the group while they're in the process of recording..
I'm sure those who know the goings on since signing with Geffen/Interscope (who they are no longer with anyway) will know that the marketing/promoting/distributing of Cure albums/DVD's etc has gotten worse..
As an example, the most recent release, the Disintegration remaster, was pushed back for its release at LEAST four times if not more and I don't think I saw as much as a half page blurb in any paper/magazine about its impending release.. Now I know as well as anybody else that when it comes to release dates for Cure albums they can be quite sketchy as RSX sometimes gets a bit carried away, but the following is ridiculous..
Us Aussies were to be among the first countries to get the remaster, it was due out on May 28, which got pushed back to June 18 and finally graced our shores on June 28, but this time it was a distributor error.. No use calling the record stores, none of them had even an inkling as to what was going on.. It was a phonecall to UMA (Universal Music Australia) that confirmed that our shipment of the remasters, as well as many other releases, were in fact lost somewhere in Germany.. It gets better, a week after the original release date (May 28) I find out a correspondant of mine from New Zealand confirmed that they got THEIR shipment!!
How does THAT work?? Another call to UMA tells me that Australia were just "unlucky"..
I don't even know if RSX got wind of any of this, probably not, but if it was the likes of any other major music artist, I dare say heads would have rolled for the delay and somebody who is the middleman between group and distributor would have done all in their power to prevent their company from losing any money.. Not to mention some insight/explanation/apology to the fans for the delay..
So you see.. Record sales and The Cure is quite a tricky subject as overall, they've never really quite 'fit'.. Basically, long story short.. I'm not really fussed that they aren't pulling big numbers in album sales.. I'm just thankful they're still making albums that are enjoyable, to me anyway.. :p
Saying that.. they could surprise us all and put out something really spectacular and once again be up there with the likes of U2.. They can be that unpredictable at times.. That's what I like most about them!
The Cure, in my opinion, is still a very important band, they have obviously set the benchmark for many recent and upcoming musical acts.. Long after they are gone, I believe their legacy will live on..
| 
frostedwheats
fattyowls
Cure user
Post Reply
