His album wasn’t bad to be fair. I hope it was the kind of songs he wanted to put out though as I would hate some radical sound change for upcoming music!

As someone else mentioned, I think it’s clear that he’d rather be putting out rock/pop-rock music, even live he adds guitar solos to pretty much all of his songs! :lol:

Sam posted an update on his Instagram. He is grateful to his Parlophone team and indeed was upset they were "dropped in a music industry reshuffle” after his UK tour. He had worked with them from day one and it was sudden for all of them.

 

He had the opportunity to reevaluate his future at that label and he decided it wasn’t the right fit for him and he doesn’t want another major label. He’s still passionate about music and is optimistic and excited for the future. He is so endearing bless him.

Odd that somebody who helped to restore British interest in Eurovision and is basically a household name can be dropped (or rather the successful team that helped him can be) after a No.1 album that has - while not exactly been a mammoth success - had four weeks in the top ten - basically unheard of these days if you're not a superstar name/big streaming force - and outsold many other No.1 albums on major labels from the past year. What exactly were they expecting commercially?

 

I hope he can have some independent success as he's one of the best talents in the UK right now. His rockier stuff is great though so I'd be happy to hear more of it, the guitar solo massively lifted Space Man at Eurovision, whereas the follow up to that - the poppier Somebody - was a bit limp for me as he's more suited to rockier pop and bigger, more theatrical vocals.

Edited September 3, 20231 yr by gooddelta

His album has only gone Silver. I suspect Parlophone are quite disappointed with the commercial results of his campaign. They must have expected him to blow up internationally as well.

 

Yes, however, he’s made money in lots of other ways. The co-presidents of Parlophone talked to Music Week about Sam in February 2023 and said they were very happy with his success so far. However, they were both victims of a “music industry reshuffle” the following month.

The trouble is record companies - some more than others, it has to be said - are still expecting the same return on investments with an album like it's still 2003. It's not.

 

I think the current BPI Award system doesn't help matters. When was the last time anyone outside of the quadrant of Ed Sheeran, Adele, Lewis Capaldi, Taylor Swift etc released an album that sold over 300k? The benchmarks for silver, gold and platinum need to be adjusted.

 

Compared to the singles chart and how quickly they moved to incorporate streaming, how much effort has been put into the sanctity of a full body of work such as an album which has just dwindled and dwindled, to the point where you can get a number one album on as little as 10k sometimes?

 

Sam's built up enough of a profile and fanbase and goodwill to see him through to a good career, regardless of what route he takes to get his music out there going forward, whether that's self releasing or with another label.

 

But like Olly Murs did his most recent album with EMI last year, that went to number one true, but it didn't have anywhere near the impact of previous albums he did, and now he's gonna be looking for another deal now that's ended.

 

If the music industry is serious about rejuvenating the album and making it make sense to all generations, including the streaming market, then they need to show it.

The trouble is record companies - some more than others, it has to be said - are still expecting the same return on investments with an album like it's still 2003. It's not.

 

I think the current BPI Award system doesn't help matters. When was the last time anyone outside of the quadrant of Ed Sheeran, Adele, Lewis Capaldi, Taylor Swift etc released an album that sold over 300k? The benchmarks for silver, gold and platinum need to be adjusted.

 

Exactly - last year you barely needed to sell 200k to go in the year-to-date top ten; the top 45 sold 100k, everything below under; number 100 sold 68k and so on. That's not even keeping in mind that there's a lot of old albums and compilations in there, so who knows how it would look if you only looked at "current" albums? Silver for an album realistically isn't bad in this day and age.

Sam wanted to be a musician for years but he accepted it wasn’t going to happen. He said when his TikTok videos went viral he had many record labels throwing offers at him but he refused to sign with one that had previously ignored or slammed the door in his face out of principle.

 

I think Sam’s team had a long-term plan that was less reliant on streaming hits. Eurovision made him so famous that the additional marketing and expectation increased more and more. The public expected him to churn out top 5 hits every month and some called him a failure when he didn’t. It’s often overlooked how well he turned his online fanbase into real people who attend his concerts and bought his album, etc. He headlined a concert at Swansea’s Singleton Park only a few week after Tom Grennan.

 

I honestly think it’s better for him in the long run. He knows himself and he isn’t a starry-eyed kid who would do anything to be rich and famous. He wanted to make music and tour and I can’t imagine he expected to be in a situation where his original team left and pressure of crippling sales targets hanging over his head. He knows a ton of older musicians and songwriters who can enlighten him about the ups and downs of it. He has a profile, he’s likeable and is technically an influencer which got him brand campaigns (not teeth whitening) so he’s got things going for him.

Edited September 4, 20231 yr by _Clo_

Mountain is such a great song, it's my fave from him and listen to it alot, realky deserved to have been a far bigger hit for him.