Hold My Hand not doing well :(

[andreita2994]

Well right now he is not 84 , he is 50 and not counting oprah interview. In only one week the song rises up 34 spots, maybe next week it'll go to top 20 or even top 5

[looking4truth]

IF this is true (Sorry, I have to question everything in the media.Thanks Mike  :lol:), then I think it's because Sony is not giving enough money to promoting it (giving money to radio stations to play it). I mean come on, this song doesn't get play but Kesha gets played ALL THE DAMN TIME? That's laughable to me and shows what kind of industry the music business is.  Perhaps, with the release of the video, the airplay will go up.

[nick_93]

IF this is true (Sorry, I have to question everything in the media.Thanks Mike  :lol:), then I think it's because Sony is not giving enough money to promoting it (giving money to radio stations to play it). I mean come on, this song doesn't get play but Kesha gets played ALL THE DAMN TIME? That's laughable to me and shows what kind of industry the music business is.  Perhaps, with the release of the video, the airplay will go up.

You're absolutely right. Like here in Australia, Sony always screws over our artists. They did it to a guy named Shannon Noll who camed 2nd in the first series of Australian Idol. They made him release a greatest hits album after 3 albums and barely promoted his music. After years of crap Shannon finally got up and left and now he's about to release new music with Universal. They do it to plenty of their artists, if they don't like what they see and feel obliged to help them then they won't give any promotion etc. It seems to be a common theme with Sony artists and MJ's Hold My Hand is much the same Down Under. I think it got as high as like number 22 on iTunes the other week but thanks to absolutely no publicity it is now about to bottom out of the top 100 if it hasn't already

[Tink.I.Am]

Hold my hand does have air play here in sweden... but it keeps going in and out of the charts....  
breaking news .. well I havent heard that on the radio at all.... but maybe thats  because its not the first single....

I woudl think Hold my hand will start  climbing on the charts soon... If not... "much too soon" sure will..  

[tonydub]

There could be a few factors at work here.

#1. Sony is relying more on the name/ brand of Michael Jackson to sell.  They might have the theory that "It's Michael Jackson, it'll sell.  Minimal promotion required."
Fact is though, that promotion IS needed.  Yeah, there has been a lot of internet promotion, but I have yet to see any television commercials or any other campaigns.  Now, keep in mind I don't watch much TV, but still I figured I would have seen something.  I know it's been talked about on news shows and talk shows etc. but that's about it.  Heavy Metal bands that sell around 20,000 units per release get commercials all over the place.  So an artist that's sold hundreds of millions of albums in his career can't get a few spots?  Doesn't make sense.
Maybe it's just my market though.  I do live in the middle of Kentucky, probably not a huge MJ audience around here.  So maybe in the bigger cities they are seeing a little more?

#2. Sex, anger, and violence sells.  This is a great song, but it's a very positive song with a great message.  The kids today (14-21y/o) are buying the most music of any demographic.  The violent, womanizing and drug endorsing hip-hop songs are killing all the charts. As for Rock music, it's heavy metal and emo that dominates. Then in the pop world the youngest stars with the most sex appeal, or cute appeal (in the case of Bieber, who is basically a teen sex symbol) are on top.  Which brings me to point #3...


#3. The Pop (Top 40) world is ruled by the youngins.
It is my opinion that "Hold My Hand" should be marketed as "Adult Contemporary R&B". Sure, there are plenty of new, young MJ fans out there.  But a good percentage of them are more than 30 years old and older.  And if you're looking to gain some new fans with the Michael album, it's not going to be a lot of kids.  The younger people are into the younger stars, sure a few of them will be open to the idea of buying the new MJ album.  Most of them will choose Lady GaGa or Ke$ha instead, sadly.  Michael Jackson is something their parents like, not many kids choose that path.  It happens, but rarely.
So I say, target the older audience that still buys CDs.  They are still out there, but their music purchases are few and far between.  Remember, I'm talking general public here.  Not necessarily you, or anyone you know.
Get the song into rotation on the adult contemporary stations and the KISS/MiX stations.  Forget about the Top40 stations, put it on there but remember that it will probably take a backseat to the newer pop stars.

As for iTunes sales.  That's an interesting system.  iTunes and other services like it give the artist (in this case Michael's estate and family) more money per sale than if you buy a physical album in a store.  If you buy in a store or online and have it shipped to you, the record company gets a bigger cut.  So, I'd say Sony is going to promote the release of the album more than a single song.  And they'll probably add some incentive to buying the album in store the day of release.
I haven't checked are any stores offering promo items (posters, key chains, t-shirts or stickers etc.) with the pre-order of the album? That's usually a ploy by a record company to sell more CD units to rip off more money from the artists.