Over The Counter: By Any Name, Diddy Is No. 1; Second-week Slopes

Diddy bows at No. 1 on The Billboard 200, his second chart-topper as a lead artist. If you add various-artists set "P. Diddy and Bad Boy Records Present . . . We Invented the Remix" to his credits, his haul of No. 1 albums now equals the number of stage names he has employed in his career.

His first album as Puff Daddy, "No Way Out," spent four weeks at No. 1 in 1997. His next two each peaked at No. 2 in 1999 and 2001 before "Remix" bowed at No. 1 in 2002. The "Bad Boys II" soundtrack, which he executive-produced, spent four weeks at the top of the page in 2003.

Diddy's new "Press Play" begins with 170,000, which means that each of his albums since "No Way Out" has sold less than the one before.

That said, as many leading artists are hitting smaller numbers than they did in prior years, this sum is not out of whack with Diddy's third album, which started at 186,000 in 2001.



LIMITED THINKING: "Advance planning in the music business means you know where you're having lunch next week," a colleague quipped during one of my first weeks at Billboard.

That observation amused me for years, but as I survey the impact of short-term thinking on the industry's health, the punch line has lost much of its humor.

Imitating success to excess created a fixation on opening-week sales. The cost of such focus: a short attention span that makes it difficult to engender true artist development.

Combine that myopic goal with an unbalanced release schedule that places too much emphasis on the last four months of the year while paying too little attention to the first eight, and you paint an ugly picture.

The quest for a fast start might be one of the factors that make it difficult to cultivate the kind of blockbuster release that can captivate attention for weeks at a time. And, the fervor has undermined the traditional music stores that stock developing artists and catalog, a point brought home dramatically by the painful sight of Tower Records' liquidation.

During most of Nielsen SoundScan's 15-year history, it has not been unusual to see albums that start with six-figure sums slide by 50%-60% in the second week. But in the last two years, slides in excess of 60% have become disturbingly common.

Recent chart-topper Beyoncé stormed The Billboard 200 with a half-million-plus opener for "B'Day," then declined by 72% in the second week, while Janet Jackson's "20 Y.O." dropped by 74% after starting near 300,000. They are among eight albums since the start of 2005 to tumble by more than 70% the week after bowing in the top 10.

In the early to mid-'90s, when record labels were still getting familiar with SoundScan data, music executives looked at Hollywood with envy, citing the awareness studios build for new films.

Sale-pricing new albums was old hat, so value-added editions for high-traffic combo chains and mass merchants became the means to pump opening-week sales.

During the week this issue's charts were compiled, 13 different albums—most new releases—came with extras at particular accounts. The menu of goodies ran the gambit from extra tracks or access to bonus downloads to T-shirts or DVDs. At least nine such value-adds were available during the prior chart week.

Put that many special editions in play and you dilute the meaning of the word "special." Moreover, these value-added versions are almost always offered at the same chains that employ lowball pricing, a cocktail that lures even the most loyal consumer away from the traditional music store. After all, why should a fan buy his favorite band's album at his favorite music shop when another store in town sells that same album with bonus tracks for a significantly cheaper price?

Labels met the goal of maximizing first-week sales. Thus, The Billboard 200 has seen more No. 1s in 2006—33 and counting—than in any other year. But with so much attention paid to the opening frame, gravity sets in quickly, making it difficult for albums to remain in the top 10 for more than a couple of weeks.

Certainly other factors are at play, but the emphasis on opening-week bargain prices and value-added editions helps set the tone.

So, where are you having lunch next week?