Shakira’s "Hips Don’t Lie: set a record selling 266,500
downloads in its first week according to Nielsen SoundScan breaking the previous record of 175,000 copies of D4L’s "Laffy Taffy."
According to the New York Times the single was part of an effort to breathe new life into Shakira’s current Epic album which was initially released in November without this single on it. When sales appeared to be dragging, Epic set the re-release with "Hips" added. But before the street date, the new single and video were promoted on Yahoo Music and released exclusively via Verizon Wireless. The company also sponsored a contest editing a best of the fan made videos which was viewed more than 1 million times on Yahoo! in its first week.Resurrecting a fading release is no small accomplishment and Epic president Charlie Walk deserves credit for masterminding the plan. But in the end, is it just another empty fabrication that sells a few extra CD’s but does nothing to build a lasting career or win true fans. And many wonder if Shakira’s is a career that deserves this much effort.
"The more the mainstream beats its chest, saying it’s where it’s at, the greater the number of disaffected, looking elsewhere, for something that’s more than empty calories," according to music industry commentator Bob Lefsetz. "Oh, the major labels will survive to purvey crap like ‘Hips Don’t Lie’, but shit like this will be the sideshow. As bands the majors pooh-poohed, steered by twentysomethings like Geffen and Azoff in their heyday, build careers on the Net and road and generate cash the supposed big players of today can only ENVY!"
Let’s all hope that Bob rather than Charlie is the one right in the end.
