>I think Cyclones statements below should be taken as relating to the eastern
>states. With perth Ben Stinga is on the job at Complex records and we get
>stuff at the same time the rest of the world does. Its all imports of
>course...
>Josh
Ummmmm, that's exactly my point: R&B/hip-hop records come into Australia
almost instantaneously on *import* but not necessarily as *local pressings*.
This has changed somewhat as labels like BMG Australia and Universal
Australia have appointed more open-minded execs who are up on urban music
and understand those markets.
Why is there still a delay from time to time?
A lot of US urban music labels are very US-centric and are not yet thinking
in terms of international marketing. A US single is chosen and video made
which is unsuitable for abroad - eg Biggie's Dead Wrong was chosen as the
first single from the current album (Born Again) when Notorious BIG (with
the Duran Duran sample) would be more likely to break in Australia and the
UK.
This prioritising by the US label can also cause delays here and there and a
lack of co-ordination with releases.
I know a former Universal Australia rep who used to lament the lack of
vision of Def Jam in relation to international markets.
True, sometimes the US labels delay releases so that that the media can be
coordinated or so that there is a US success story to pitch to international
territories.
But it's only the real R&B core who care about the latter. Universal has
tried and tried to break Mary J Blige to Australia for years but beyond the
kids in the 'hood she is still virtually unknown and underground, whereas
Macy Gray has broken in Australia and is not yet a gold artist in the US.
The difference is that Macy appeals to mainstream Australia but you don't
hear her tracks bumpin' in the R&B clubs because she has that rock and blues
thing goin' on.
More and more often we get urban releases at the same time as the US.
Changes to the tax ('parallel importing') means that some Australian labels
release material at the same time so as to not lose sales to import.
In some cases Australia has got product before Europe and even the US - like
Ma$e's recent album. Ma$e has actually done much better here than the US of
late - I am talking relatively, of course.
The important thing to note is that if urban records come in as imports,
those sales do not count as Australian sales but are added on to the US
sales, so there is no accurate data for Australian labels to assess the
urban market's growth.
There are some within the Australian R&B scene who believe that there is a
conspiratorial reason for this - there are forces at work in the industry
who do not want urban music to break in Australia.
Trust me, I know the Australian R&B/hip-hop market really well.
