What would it take for this album to be successful?

[awhellzno]

The situation Axl finds himself in reminds me a great deal of the situation with the current Superman movie franchise.  After almost two decades of numerous directors, scripts, and false starts, in 2006 Warner Bros. finally made released a Superman movie.  The movie got critical and fan praise and made over $391 million worldwide, while the budget was reportedly $200 Million.  Most thought of this as a success and it was, but a few of the W.B. executives felt it didn't make enough (they were expecting around 500 mil.) and a sequel to the movie is possible but not guaranteed.  So basically what I'm getting to is how much money does Chinese Democracy have to make for it to be considered by all(Axl and the record company) a success?  Is the record company expecting 10 Mill.+ in sales?  And what does Axl mean when he says "if the reaction is good,"  the rest of the material will be released?  Whos reaction?

[GnRforlife]

i don't think axl would care as much about album sales as the record company but sure he still want's it to do good i think it will be good when it sells around 2-4million

[RickRoses]

i don't think axl would care as much about album sales as the record company but sure he still want's it to do good i think it will be good when it sells around 2-4million

that isnt very good...
although with the amount of cd sales dropping by the minute thanks to downloading motherfuckers like myself
i think [just coz of the hype] it will sells 8 million

[GnRforlife]

that isnt very good...
although with the amount of cd sales dropping by the minute thanks to downloading motherfuckers like myself
i think [just coz of the hype] it will sells 8 million

i want to believe that number and i did cause the hype is unreal but i think most ''kids'' will download it instead of buy it....sad but true

[CaffeineDependency]

well to be successful, first the album has to be realeased...

 

[Faridbak]

well to be successful, first the album has to be realeased...

 

and somegood pr wouldnt hurt either

[Scott_Rose]

it
A) needs to be released
B) needs to be good, modern, it has to be relevant, good quality, and shit like that
C) some promotion
D) and extensive touring much like the UYI tour

[mtk93]

It also should be a three- or four-disc album. I say this because album sales are tallied by the amount of discs sold. So a three-album disc that sells one million copies, would count for three million in sales. That won't look to shabby then. So the more the merrier, for everybody involved, especially us fans.
Ultimately, though, time will be the ultimate judge of an album. People won't look at sales if, ten years from now, everybody cites it as a masterpiece. Bob Dylan albums have never sold very well, but he's got a ton of classics, because the people that buy them remember and cite them as thus. That's why Appetite is a classic, not because it's sold millions of copies (but that always helps in spreading the word of a good album).
Just my two cents.

[RickRoses]

i want to believe that number and i did cause the hype is unreal but i think most ''kids'' will download it instead of buy it....sad but true

nahh, ill still buy it

[CaffeineDependency]

Most of us will probably buy it, but the general public probably will dl it.

[axlroethlisberger7]

a release date followed by a release

[DemolitionRock77]

IF they announce a release date and stick to it....
IF they do interviews, guest appearances on shows, appear on magazine covers, etc (not just Axl but the entire band)...
IF the general public doesn't ask "who the hell are these guys" when they hear the names of Finck, BBF, Stinson, Ferrer, etc...
IF they advertise the shit out of it...
IF they do a lot of touring everywhere....
IF the album receives great reviews where the critics actually focus on the music and not the "no Slash, waited too long" crap...

It may be successful.

But that is not guaranteed. Libertad received good reviews (significantly better than Contraband), did all of the above, and it is not selling well. If you look at the top singles chart, 95% of it is hip hop. Music tastes in terms of music that sells well are oriented towards hip-hop, and I am not sure that even Chinese Democracy can significantly change that. It would be really awesome if it did though.

[gnrdaily]

for this album to be succesfull its needs to sell millions upon millions of albums,each and every song needs to be A class material.it needs to make over 13 million dollars that was spent on it and it needs to be talk of the town for months afterwards.axl has no1 to blame for this but himself.as steven tyler once said i dont envy the positon axl has put himself in.its make or brake time.this will either finish axl career or put him to a even bigger level.in mercks letter after he got the sack he said that chinease democracy is one of the best albums ever.thats the only thing that keeps me intrested anymore,any1 that has heard this mythical album has said it is out of this world and its magical.this year hopefully.

[Lucky]

I guess for a "brand" such as GNR, they'd have to sell as much or more than latest RHCP, U2 or Metallica  albums.