Metal -- Does It Sell?

Certainly on the U.S. front, heavy metal has not been a true mainstream force in quite some time. Obviously recent trends like rap-metal and nu-metal are the exception (which include such bands as Linkin Park, Avenged Sevenfold, Disturbed, Godsmack, Papa Roach, KoRn, etc).

But when you get into more vague term of "heavy metal", there is no mainstream presence or coverage in the U.S outside of a select few "modern" bands. And no, I'm not crying that metal is dead, it's still here in America (if not all over radio)... if you know where to look for it, but I know that metal still thrives internationally and sells.

So I have a few questions...How well are metal acts selling worldwide? What bands (and styles) are huge in Brazil, Japan, England, Germany, etc.? Are these acts selling millions? Are there any current bands that are big time players elsewhere that have had little impact within the U.S.?

I'm also curious as how foreign acts like Scorpions, Judas Priest, Def Leppard, and Iron Maiden fare in other countries. They still have modest success here, but if I'm not mistaken, it's their tours that perform better than any new albums or singles in the U.S. Are they still major names and top sellers and get radio play elsewhere?

Metal has never stopped selling in the rest of the world. Especially Japan. That is why so many American and European artists toured and released albums in the 90's in Japan exclusively. Personally, I have aleays been quite envious of the Japanese hardcore support and loyalty.

i like it best underground anyway. although i'm sure the bands don't.

Something's gotta be driving the market because there are so many bands that keep putting out product. I wonder if the metal market in this country isn't still pretty large, but pehaps internet driven (in terms of both sales and word of mouth advertising on sites like this one) and therefore under the radar of pop culture conciousness somewhat. Myself, I never have any trouble finding domestic vendors on the net with large supplies of most of the recent bands we talk about here. Very rarely do I have to go overseas to find what I'm looking for.
It would be really interesting to see the sales figures for various countries though.

Another aspect of this...since most metal seems to sell in northern Europe & Japan, how much longer can we count on English being the lingua franca of metal by default? Right now that ethic seems to be either a relic of rock's past, or a biproduct of English being the international financial language. I'd have to say considering our financial input, we English speakers may but unrealistically spoiled at this point.

p.s.- a horrible thought. I just heard that the Canadian Loonie is now worth more than a US Dollar. Does that mean that market forces are gonna drive the average metal chorus to be something like "Put on yer' tuke an go high sticking, eh" eventually?

is the canadian dollar really worth more than a US dollar!

not good i would say

Quote :

how much longer can we count on English being the lingua franca of metal by default

I think about this constantly as I'm always happy and feel blessed that the vast majority of great bands sing in English. I don't think this will change, however.

Reasons? The most affluent nations where there are Metal lovers who have disposible $$$$ for CDs either speak English as a 1st, 2nd, or 3rd language. It's still the great common denominator. There are so many different languages in Europe alone and then moving to Asia, South America and Central America there's literally dozens to hundreds of languages. Still most of these people speak or understand English on some level. For a lot of them it's a way to learn or sharpen their English as well.

Because of places like Amazon and Virgin Megastore, metal is easy to get in America so on that front I don't have any complaints (except the new Allen-Lande CD which is only availiable as an import). The thing I am envious of is, in Europe and Japan there are stores that sell metal merchandise, many from bands whom you can't get shirts from in the States unless you pay out the wazoo for shipping from a European website (i.e. Nordic Mission and Metal Merchant).

TheGooch wrote:

is the canadian dollar really worth more than a US dollar!

not good i would say

MUAHAHAH! But not good for the wood industrie...

Heck yes it sells.....to me

One thing that metal has going for it is the strong loyality of it's fans. Sure a lot of acts in the U.S. don't sell the biggest numbers but they do have a base that will always buy every release. Something the latest one hit fad doesn't have. I also believe that metal gets under-counted due to the different avenues that the product gets distributed. I still get catalogs directly from a lot of metal labels - doubt those mail orders reach soundscan.

The other big problem with sales, I believe, is the mainstream music press in the U.S.. They not only don't cover it, but by all appearances they actively hate it. How hard would it be for Entertainment Weekly or Rolling Stone to print up a metal review once in a while. My guess is that in the places metal sells the best it is treated by the music press as at least equal to other genres of music.

That said, I do like it being off the mainstream radar. Big sales in a genre only seems to dillute the music. Now if there was only a way for artists to still make great money for releasing great material.

SAHB Healer wrote:

Something's gotta be driving the market because there are so many bands that keep putting out product. I wonder if the metal market in this country isn't still pretty large, but pehaps internet driven (in terms of both sales and word of mouth advertising on sites like this one) and therefore under the radar of pop culture conciousness somewhat.

We are the silent majority !

It sell in Spain, Holland and Hungary(those are the 3 countries i know most about) but only to die hard metal people. People that download only have nothing to do with our movement and if they would buy then the sells would be a lot better, but i dont have respect for people like them and they get a big F OFF from me.

In spain you can often get cheap metal cds from the supermarket like in 2006 when i got four megadeth albums. four acdc albums and foru saxon albums for five euros each.

in spain though i have never seen a music shope ever and i been all over the country

TheGooch wrote:

In spain you can often get cheap metal cds from the supermarket like in 2006 when i got four megadeth albums. four acdc albums and foru saxon albums for five euros each.

in spain though i have never seen a music shope ever and i been all over the country

Ohh, you talk about CARREFOUR no??? they sell sometimes cheap cds like the ones you bought. In spain you have the FNAC shops(sells dvd´s, books and cd´s), the TIPO shops(sell t-shirts, dvd´s and cd´s), MEDIA MARKET(they sell tv´s, videos,...but also cd´s and dvd´s) and then you have more record shops but no chains shops just little second hand or new record shops.

krokus wrote:

TheGooch wrote:

In spain you can often get cheap metal cds from the supermarket like in 2006 when i got four megadeth albums. four acdc albums and foru saxon albums for five euros each.

in spain though i have never seen a music shope ever and i been all over the country

Ohh, you talk about CARREFOUR no??? they sell sometimes cheap cds like the ones you bought. In spain you have the FNAC shops(sells dvd´s, books and cd´s), the TIPO shops(sell t-shirts, dvd´s and cd´s), MEDIA MARKET(they sell tv´s, videos,...but also cd´s and dvd´s) and then you have more record shops but no chains shops just little second hand or new record shops.

yeah i was talking about carrefour (what an awesome supermarket that was for my cd collection)

still i have been around loads and loads of spanish towns and citis and all i ver see is shoe shops, shops and crappy pubs

Quote :

fag shops

Thank God for context! Context is King!!

TheGooch wrote:

krokus wrote:

TheGooch wrote:

In spain you can often get cheap metal cds from the supermarket like in 2006 when i got four megadeth albums. four acdc albums and foru saxon albums for five euros each.

in spain though i have never seen a music shope ever and i been all over the country

Ohh, you talk about CARREFOUR no??? they sell sometimes cheap cds like the ones you bought. In spain you have the FNAC shops(sells dvd´s, books and cd´s), the TIPO shops(sell t-shirts, dvd´s and cd´s), MEDIA MARKET(they sell tv´s, videos,...but also cd´s and dvd´s) and then you have more record shops but no chains shops just little second hand or new record shops.

yeah i was talking about carrefour (what an awesome supermarket that was for my cd collection)

still i have been around loads and loads of spanish towns and citis and all i ver see is shoe shops, fag shops and crappy pubs

You have a TIPO shop in most big cities. Yes, CARREFOUR have sometimes some cheap hard rock and metal cds. You can not find rare stuff but its nice to look around and maybe find some cd´s you already have on vinyls for exemple. CARREFOUR is a french companie.
Take careeeeeee.

krokus wrote:

TheGooch wrote:

krokus wrote:

TheGooch wrote:

In spain you can often get cheap metal cds from the supermarket like in 2006 when i got four megadeth albums. four acdc albums and foru saxon albums for five euros each.

in spain though i have never seen a music shope ever and i been all over the country

Ohh, you talk about CARREFOUR no??? they sell sometimes cheap cds like the ones you bought. In spain you have the FNAC shops(sells dvd´s, books and cd´s), the TIPO shops(sell t-shirts, dvd´s and cd´s), MEDIA MARKET(they sell tv´s, videos,...but also cd´s and dvd´s) and then you have more record shops but no chains shops just little second hand or new record shops.

yeah i was talking about carrefour (what an awesome supermarket that was for my cd collection)

still i have been around loads and loads of spanish towns and citis and all i ver see is shoe shops, fag shops and crappy pubs

You have a TIPO shop in most big cities. Yes, CARREFOUR have sometimes some cheap hard rock and metal cds. You can not find rare stuff but its nice to look around and maybe find some cd´s you already have on vinyls for exemple. CARREFOUR is a french companie.
Take careeeeeee.

i must have missed them in Bilbao, Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, Malaga, Marbella, Torrejieva, Alicante - the list goes on

Music doesn't sell as good as it used to, period. Thanks to illegal downloading, and thias goes for all genres, music sales are way down. I like to think that thisd doesn't hurt the metal community as much as the mainstream, but it does.

Not just ILLEGAL dl-ing, but LEGAL dl-ing. Instead of buying a whole cd at say 10 bucks, you buy 1 song for 1 buck. I would think that equals a 90% loss in revenue in alot of cases. But, itunes and the like are completely foreign (kinda like Kmorg) to me, so what do I know?

TheGooch wrote:

krokus wrote:

TheGooch wrote:

krokus wrote:

TheGooch wrote:

In spain you can often get cheap metal cds from the supermarket like in 2006 when i got four megadeth albums. four acdc albums and foru saxon albums for five euros each.

in spain though i have never seen a music shope ever and i been all over the country

Ohh, you talk about CARREFOUR no??? they sell sometimes cheap cds like the ones you bought. In spain you have the FNAC shops(sells dvd´s, books and cd´s), the TIPO shops(sell t-shirts, dvd´s and cd´s), MEDIA MARKET(they sell tv´s, videos,...but also cd´s and dvd´s) and then you have more record shops but no chains shops just little second hand or new record shops.

yeah i was talking about carrefour (what an awesome supermarket that was for my cd collection)

still i have been around loads and loads of spanish towns and citis and all i ver see is shoe shops, fag shops and crappy pubs

You have a TIPO shop in most big cities. Yes, CARREFOUR have sometimes some cheap hard rock and metal cds. You can not find rare stuff but its nice to look around and maybe find some cd´s you already have on vinyls for exemple. CARREFOUR is a french companie.
Take careeeeeee.

i must have missed them in Bilbao, Barcelona, Madrid, Valencia, Malaga, Marbella, Torrejieva, Alicante - the list goes on

Yes, you realy missed them because i know about record shops in BARCELONA(4 or 5 at CALLE TALLERES for exemple), VALENCIA(2 in the center, also one TIPO), ALICANTE(tonight i am going to that city) and their you have a FNAC, TIPO, MEDIA MARKET and two second hand record shops. No record shops in TORREVIEJA or MARBELLA but also in MALAGA you have a TIPO shop. You have been travaling a lot brother

SAXON1500 wrote:

Not just ILLEGAL dl-ing, but LEGAL dl-ing. Instead of buying a whole cd at say 10 bucks, you buy 1 song for 1 buck. I would think that equals a 90% loss in revenue in alot of cases. But, itunes and the like are completely foreign (kinda like Kmorg) to me, so what do I know?

True, but some of this is also benefitting the bands. At least the smaller ones. They no longer need the big companies to get their music out.

well, if it doesn't sell, then there are more cd's at the goodwills and pawnshops. but around here, in HB, there are a couple cd stores that i frequent with metal sections, so im sure it sells.

metals biggestest in europe and japan generally speaking