Gnarls Barkley, Raconteurs question chart relevancy

In a week when two major pop acts are challenging the relevancy of first-week sales numbers, rapper Rick Ross topped the U.S. album chart with his latest, "Trilla." The album enters at No. 1 after selling 198,000 copies.

Yet changes are ahead for the weekly sales tally.

On Monday, the Raconteurs , which features the White Stripes' Jack White, announced that its latest, "Consolers of the Lonely," will be released March 25, writing in a statement that the group does not want the album "defined by its first week's sales." "Consolers of the Lonely" had been pegged for late April release.

Then genre-hopping pop act Gnarls Barkley rushed its latest, "The Odd Couple," to digital retailers on Tuesday, two weeks early, and has been shipping the album to physical stores throughout the week. Manager Jeff Antebi of Waxploitation said the concept of promoting an album for a big first-week sales number was no longer relevant.

"It's a big deal in the context of the old guard -- where you land on the Billboard Top 200," Antebi said. "To a lot of people, that's the goal. . . . I think it's an outdated, completely impractical, strategic mind-set. It is just as outdated as releasing a single three months early."

After the industry has seen straight-to-Web releases from Nine Inch Nails and Radiohead, Antebi said record companies will soon be releasing albums,  then promoting them after the fact, adjusting the marketing plan based on what is or isn't working. As an example, Antebi said the top-downloaded Gnarls Barkley song on iTunes was "Going On," and not the singles "Run (I'm a Natural Disaster)" or "Who's Gonna Save My Soul."

"You should service press and service radio after you have serviced retail," Antebi said.

"Odd Couple" will show up on next week's chart, and Antebi said the success of the album would be better evaluated in a year, not a week.

As for the rest of this week's tally, the 27th volume of the "Now! That's What I Call Music" compilation series enters at No. 2 with 169,000 copies, and Snoop Dogg's "Ego Trippin' " lands at No. 3 with 137,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Rapper Fat Joe debuts at No. 6 with "Elephant in the Room" (46,000 copies), and Miley Cyrus is back in the Top 10, at No. 10, with her live album, "Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: The Best Of Both Worlds Concert" (34,000 copies).

Photo: Gharls Barkley in Los Angeles, 2006. Stephen Osman / Los Angeles Times

Raconteurs: Coming to stores in one week

Grammy-nominated act the Raconteurs are forgoing the traditional four-month lead time for a new album and will release its sophomore set, "Consolers Of The Lonely," in one week. The album will be available in a variety of formats and at a number retailers, including digital outlets, mom-and-pop shops and "corporate superstores," according to a statement from the act's publicity firm, Presshere.

Additionally, the Raconteurs, featuring Jack White of the White Stripes, singer/songwriter Brendan Benson and members of the Greenhornes, will not include any bonus tracks tied to a specific format or retailer. The latter has been an unfortunate trend in the music biz of late, sending fans on a virtual scavenger hunt to track down all the random tracks assigned to various retailers.

The move follows such straight-to-the-Web releases by Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails, but neither offered as quick of a turnaround to traditional retailers as the Raconteurs are promising. Record labels have traditionally asked for three or four month lead time to get in album into stores, plotting radio singles, interviews and retail campaigns. The band's statement notes that "some places couldn’t move this fast," and will not have the album available on March 25, although such stores are not singled out.

Wrote the band in a statement, "The Raconteurs are forgoing the usual months of lead time for press and radio set up, as well as forgoing the all important 'first week sales.'  We wanted to explore the idea of releasing an album everywhere at once and then marketing and promoting it thereafter.  The Raconteurs would rather this release not be defined by it’s first weeks sales, pre-release promotion, or by someone defining it for you before you get to hear it."

Insta-reaction: It's about time that a major record label, in this case Warner Bros., and a successful act not only did away with old industry standards, but roped in traditional outlets (record stores) as well. With music inevitable leaking to the Internet, the concept of a multi-month set-up for a new album is quickly becoming irrelevant, if it isn't already. While the Raconteurs are doing away with the concept of releasing an advance single designed to build hype, such a move meant more when radio was king, and it isn't anymore. Like Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails, the Raconteurs are turning their album release into a news story, and creating excitement about an album, rather than having each single dissected as it makes its way online.

Photo courtesy Lori Shepler / Los Angeles Times