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- bradleyland, on 10/12/2007, -2/+59Kudos to Al for hitting the top ten, but even MORE kudos to him for realizing something that has eluded music industry execs thus far. A quote:
"For his part, Yankovic tends to credit the Internet. "The ("Nerdy") video has gotten a lot of attention, and the proliferation of places like YouTube (has) been a big help," he says."
So, what he's saying is, having his *copyrighted* material distributed all over YouTube has actually *increased* the sales of his album. Hrm. Maybe he's on to something. - jsg7, on 10/12/2007, -1/+21http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWs1FF-BS7c
I have to admit I haven't paid too much attention to Weird Al over the last few years (decades, really), but he's still damned funny. Good to see he's still so popular. - jcdickerson, on 10/12/2007, -2/+19100% right the net has helped promote the album, the same way that Stephen Colbert clips have helped his show's ratings and impact. Free samples sell products!
- NSMike, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17And WHY is he not top 10 material? His songs and parodies are more creative than any original. Try fitting all of that nerdy stuff into a rap song, make it rhyme, sound good, and funny to boot. He's better than 90% of artists on the chart.
- ckohler, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13The song that totally convinced me that Al is a lyrical genious was "Bob" from his last album, "Poodle Hat". At first I simply thought, 'yeah, that's a funny impersonation of Bob Dylan's style' until I relized the song was made up entirely of palindromes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nej4xJe4Tdg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_%28song%29 - csGeekGirl, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10lol, "white and nerdy" is every geeky girl's dream...def want to play with his hardware...
- cm32438, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Another similar quote from the article:
[Weird Al] Yankovic says. "As much as people are griping about the Internet taking sales away from artists, it's been a huge promotional tool for me."
It pretty much says the same thing as the one you posted, but I like this one too. The old people in charge of things, like the Recording Industry, should wise up and embrace us! - titlesaysitall, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10http://digg.com/music/Weird_Al_White_nerdy_and_here_to_stay Hay aaaz stop duping! It's not that hard to use the search function.
- Ovitz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6He wasn't outspoken against online sales, he just stated that he made more money from CD sales. He also pointed out that that makes no sence.
"Tim Sloane of Ijamsville, MD asks: Al, which of these purchasing methods should I use in order to make sure the most profit gets to you: Buying one of your albums on CD, or buying one of your albums on iTunes?
I am extremely grateful for your support, no matter which format you choose to legally obtain my music in, so you should do whatever makes the most sense for you personally. But since you ASKEDÖ I actually do get significantly more money from CD sales, as opposed to downloads. This is the one thing about my renegotiated record contract that never made much sense to me. It costs the label NOTHING for somebody to download an album (no manufacturing costs, shipping, or really any overhead of any kind) and yet the artist (me) winds up making less from it. Go figure. "
From weirdal.com - argblat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Maybe I'm just way less in touch with mainstream media than I was back in the day, but is this album / single really buzzing louder than when 'Amish Paradise' came out and was on mtv and the radio constantly?
- relaxiknwarchie, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Happy B-day!!!
I have been a huge fan of His Weirdness since he started... Way to go!
the album rocks too.... the polka song kills me... "take you to the candy shop..." - kingp, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I'm glad Al finally hit the top 10. He's really a great musician and is very underrated in my opinion. Anyone wanting to download his two free tracks can get them here:
http://music-store.ind-music.com/store.php?action=store_items&search=Weird%20Al%20Yankovic
I'm also negotiating with Sony BMG (Al's parent label) to distribute this album digitally through our store with NO DRM attached. It would be a sweet deal. - ahhell, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Amish Paradise was f'ing brilliant.
I think that song/video is my all time favourite Weird Al song. - PYREX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5best quality Audio & Video of the vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xEzGIuY7kw - wthnow, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Weird Als Real Myspace page.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=90827837 - dengar69, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Another One Rides the Bus.
- totorototoro, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6bradleyland,
that is interesting-Yankovic was quite outspoken at how digital music was a raw deal for artists-and he'd rather you get his CD than go online thru iTunes or the like; so maybe he thinks digital/online is ok for marketing, but not sales? - seventen, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3You should check out Virus Alert on the new album as well. Any IT or computer geek would get a real kick out of it. The whole damn album is great, who am I kidding.
Add him to your MySpace. - ewy99, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3After reading the CNN article on Weird Al(which was a nice happy piece of news), I scroll down to the bottom of the page and glanced at the other news links:
"Tot probably did not see mom die"
Which just killed my happy, feel good moment! Thanks a lot, CNN! - irregardless, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5The thing about Weird Al is that he's only as good as the material he's parodying. I've largely lost track of him since "Running With Scissors" partially because my interest in any kind of mainstream (read:commercialized) music has tanked in response to its increasing *****. When the source is crap, not even Al's genius can make it palatable.
But congrats to him for keeping the fires going. - azzkicar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Right now many artists get screwed over online sales, due to the way recording companies draft the contracts. But that's RIAA's fault, not the artist. That's why many artists want you to buy CDs rather than online.
I haven't bought CDs in a long time, but I will buy his. Go Weird Al! - LooterMcBeer, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I like how he takes the time to acknowledge the Internet is the reason for his top 10 and proving that the RIAA is full of *****
- NoLeafClover, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I thought the same thing. I remember when Amish Paradise was EVERYWHERE. Plus Coolio wasn't too happy about it and that got quite a bit of coverage. Maybe less people were buying the album, or, and maybe someone can find the billboard charts, there were bigger albums out there, meaning less people bought his album and purchased something else. It seem these days artists can crack the top ten (or even number 1) without selling quite as many albums.
Then again, the days of brittney and backstreet boys selling 1million in a week seem to be gone...i dont know what im saying anymore. Go Al. - crilen007, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Ok this is about Weird Al, why would it matter if it was CNN or Reuters?
- vezquex, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Go ahead, mod me down...
DUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEDUPEv
Thanks. - mesoed, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Al released a free download of one of his songs prior to the album being released. Then used the channels of viral marketing to promote it. Certainly goes to show you the power of social networking and new media.
- jmdajr, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Thats great. Weird Al always made me laugh. We all need some laughter.
UHF is one of the funniest movies ever! - MonkeyMonk, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Megakudos to Al. All I can say is 'about time'. And Happy Birthday!
...starts singing Al's 'Birthday' song.
.....It's time to celebrate your birthday,
.......it happens every year,
.....We eat a lot of broccoli,
........and drink a lot of beer!
C'mon Boys and Girls, Sing Along, OK? - heavyness, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2been of fan of Al since his first album and always listened to Dr. Demento waiting to hear some new Weird Al. seen in concert a couple times and he is a great stage performer! puts on a great show.
thanks Al, glad you made it to the top 10! congrats! - crilen007, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2It's nice that there is proof, and someone in the industry that actually believes this. Now all we have to do is stuff this up RIAA's ass and hopefully they will catch a drift.
Although, with all the dollars getting stuffed up there already, I don't know if they would notice a little factoid from millions of others. - whasupjohn, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3I disagree.
There's a bunch of crap I'd call not worthy of top ten either. Al has paid his dues. Its not that the overall level has sunk to a low where Al could finally measure up, I firmly believe Al has gotten better with his latest efforts. Congrats and Happy B-Day to him. - kingfelix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"me too."
i think this is just a sign of exactly what's wrong with the recording business. al has been putting out unbelievable music for years and years, since i was a baby, and the only reason people are picking this album up is on the strength of the single. which is a bad reason to buy an album, all told. i've bought lots of albums in my life, and man it sucks to realize that you just bought one and that you hate it. to be painfully honest, this album is kind of crap compared to his better work. i'm glad that he's getting recognition or money or whatever he wants/needs from this, though. white and nerdy is up their with his best work, and that drive-thru song was funny the first time i heard it. but the rest of the album is pretty bad...! - vezquex, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Palindromes are amazing. I never got how people could construct entire sentences of them.
- Teazo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Links, links, links, I LOVE POLKA!
- michaelfoley, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Considering I had to use 5 "associates" and trek through most of the Times Square Virgin megastore to find the album, (it was on the bottom shelf in the comedy section, which isn't itself even marked, it's just filler at the end of the last row of jazz) ON THE DAY IT WAS RELEASED. Why didn't it even have a single copy on the new releases display at the entrance? Why didn't most of the staff even know where to look for it? No respect I tell you, no respect at all. I got my children hooked on Al. BTW the Dual disk won't play in the Factory CD player in my Grand Caravan, I have to try burning my own backup copy and see if it likes that better.
- cthellis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Kick.
Ass!
Not only is Weird Al an under-appreciated icon, but he--with this album--does something few other recording artists do... Deliver VALUE for your entertainment dollar! Dual-sided disks (CD/DVD) with videos, higher-quality audio presentation, inside looks at the album production...? (He did it to lesser extent with his last two albums as well, as both had CD-ROM content included.)
You want to stop the electronic piracy of your album? Make it WORTH OWNING! - jstem1994, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0I hit dig down instead of up...sorry.
UHF is definitely one of the funniest movies ever! - Supernova36, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1AND his music is probably shared online more than anyone elses...
- shriya, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0hahahahahaha love this guy
- timmertc, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2I've been a fan of Al right from the start. I remember hearing "My Balogna" on the Doctor Demento radio show (best radio show ever!) way back when.
Here's a bio of Weird Al:
http://music.yahoo.com/ar-269394-bio--Weird-Al-Yankovic
The bio says that he's no relation to Frank Yankovic, but I had heard somewhere that Frank was Al's dad. Anyway, Frank Yankovic used to be on the Lawrence Welk show (though that was a little before my time). It's great to hear Al's finally getting some real recognition after all this time. - cthellis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0For YEARS, that was the song my mom would play for my brother and I on our birthday. It was the only real, lasting "tradition" we had. ;-) And we all knew how to sing it.
(Yes, I'm white.) - tinkertoy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Absolutely agree. Remember when record companies included song lyrics, stickers, photo sheets and the like in vinyl albums? If the record companies were serious about stemming the retreat of CD sales they better start putting more thought into the packaging and adding a little extra something that you can't get with a download of itunes. $15-19 for a plain old CD is a crime.
- b00sh0x, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0ahahah nice...
- tombomb, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Congrats to "Weird Al" for finally breaking into the top 10!
- randydid, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Hmmm his birthday is today and the iPOD turns five. Coincidence?
Congrats and happy B-day Al! - Murdats, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1same I love the polka song, dam wierd al interupting my study, too interesting to ignore and too good to skip
- gitrplaya4u, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0its because hes doing all these rap songs
- LogicBomB, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2I used to love weird al as a kid. His white and nerdy song was definately funny.
I don't believe he is even half-way-good to being considered top-10. Although I hate most top-10 things anyway. Music these days is completely devoid of talent and polish. I want musicians, not angsty/angry/emo groups who just pound on the drums/guitar and call it a song. I guess that's what the teens like these days though.
Give me my Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin and Doors any day. - zelah, on 10/12/2007, -9/+2racist
- lazlonger, on 10/12/2007, -9/+2Awesome for Al. Great that we have him still.
REUTER'S SUCKS. CNN sucks. Worse than linking to your blog.Take the two minutes and find a real news source that isn't part of what is taking our country apart dollar by dollar.
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