Why Did Matt Fail In U.s. Market

[evilcartman1972]

I love Matt's music, with or without his original band. Everyone that I have listen to his music goes out and buys his albums, but for some reason he never caught on in the U.S. I think It's because of poor marketing by his label. I discovered him on much music on directv, before they changed to fuse. I heard he was going to release beautiful midnight in the U.S. I saw hello time bomb only once on mtv2 after midnight. ONCE. Anyways, that's my thought. Piss poor marketing, what does anyone else think.

[ToadMan]

The American market is just an interesting money race. Artists are made by their label. To that ends I would agree that poor marketing by the label is likely partially to blame. Also to blame is the fact that MGB doesn't fit in with the predefined music genres.

[Ravenous megin-sane]

i think it's because matt good doesnt have half-naked women dancing in his videos.

 

...oh wait, he does!

[RicardoObviouso]

marketing makes the man.

 

 

 

 

 

in this case, the man didn't have marketing. think about it. they destroyed the flow of BM to include a few hit songs from underdogs to do what? yeah. sell more records. they basically gave him one shot. it didn't do so well so they said 'fuck it'. plus it probably didn't help when the sheep man bashed matt in Rolling Stone... everyone listens to a guy who's a spitting image of a modern day jesus.

[uglyredhonda]

Breaking the US also requires a much bigger effort than Atlantic or the band put into it. Our Lady Peace toured the entire country several times before anybody knew who they were. As far as I know, MGB only played a handful of cities in the US, and I don't know how hard Atlantic pushed "Hello Time Bomb" to radio. I can't say for sure, but it seemed like the band lost interest in pushing through the US. Of course, Atlantic may have lost interest first.

 

And Matt conceded that he wasn't particularly interested in "playing the game". Labels like their artists to be outspoken, but only after they become popular. (It helps keep their name in the media.)

 

Anyway, further effort in the US probably would have delayed AoB, which I'm sure the band were ready to release.

 

/all speculation

[Russell]

He's Canadian. As hard as he may have or could have tried, his nationality holds most Canadian performers back. His being an outspoken Canadian didn't/doesn't help either. Americans don't like outspoken Canadians.

[Guest Prosis]

I think it's because the record companies knew they couldn't make Matt do what they pleased

[uglyredhonda]

He's Canadian.

Edited January 17, 2006 by uglyredhonda

[Guest Prosis]

uglyredhonda: Yes I agree

[marik]

what is this diss in Rolling Stone by the Sheep man? you mean chad K?

[no yu begin wher i end]

what is this diss in Rolling Stone by the Sheep man? you mean chad K?

One and the same, although if I was an American reader, I'd think to myself, "damn, if Kroeger hates him, he must be good." I'm not really a Nickelback fan ;) .

[yodajoe]

I heard him on Smallville and had to hear more right away. So thanks to Smallville! I wish it was easier to get his stuff here.

[Jarrod]

i think smallville played bif naked once...or was that buffy? i know for sure that bif was on buffy..

 

but i find that smallville tends to play canadian content..hmm...maybe because it's filmed in cloverdale?! hahahaha!

[given2flym]

I somehow turned my best friend into a Matt Good fan. I had heard a few songs on MuchMusic and got Beautiful Midnight (US) when it came out. Loved it. Couldn't find anything else in the states. Then like 2 years ago I happened upon a copy of Avalanche in a chain store in Florida. Loved it. Then my buddy found a used copy of AOB at a retail store. Then I ordered everything else online.

 

But he was into rap and R&B, now he's obsessed with Matthew Good. How the hell did that happen?

[rsn]

That's a great story given2flym...

[mikeymackinon]

To add a bit more info, Matt was releasing the US edition when him and That dirty bitch (Chad Kroeger) from Nickelback were at one another

Edited January 18, 2006 by mikeymackinon

[little miss sunshine]

Yeah, are you talking about Columbine?

[uglyredhonda]

To add a bit more info, Matt was releasing the US edition when him and That dirty bitch (Chad Kroeger) from Nickelback were at one another’s throats. Nickelback was doing well in the US so that did not help. Nickelback back fans boycotted Matthew Good Band. Isn’t Chad Kroeger dead… No wait that’s his music! Go play a fuckin’ banjo. Even though there is no such ting as bad publicity. Also the Columbine tragedy was going on at the time and Matthew Good's music, A Boy And His Machine Gun or A Boy And His ------- --- (as listed on the back of the US edition) was miss understood. The song as recognized as a bad influence about guns and possible written about the Columbine tragedy, the US community the also boycotted Matthew Good Band. Matt later left a bit of detail about this issue on his site stating the song was written years before the Combine tragedy. Matt apologized by adding Columbine security clips in Alert Status Red making a tribute to the Columbine community. That’s what the US gets for running the gun, they need to through off there blues and use there reds and whites. Matthew Good later went off and began to make the bash USA music. Also Universal Music never gives enough money for him to produce his work.

A) Nickelback had had one (very) minor single in the US when BM was released there ("Leader of Men"). "How You Remind Me" didn't hit US airwaves until that fall. So claiming that Nickelback was popular in the US at the time is pretty much false.

 

B) Columbine happened a full two years before BM was released in the US. It was probably a factor in Atlantic's decision to censor the song titles, but to say that the Columbine tragedy was still going on at the time is untrue.

 

C) Matt didn't add the Columbine clips to the ASR video. Kyle Davison did. Matt didn't even know about it until he received complaints about the usage.

 

D) Where do you get this stuff? NOBODY in the US boycotted MGB. By and large, nobody heard about MGB in the US. There were no complaints or backlash about the song - Atlantic made that decision on their own.

 

E) Atlantic Records has NOTHING to do with Universal Music. Atlantic was a division of Time/Warner. Universal in the US declined to sign the band, so they went with Atlantic.

[ecnarf]

The fact that BM was released with one of those retarded parental advisory labels didn't help much.

 

Nor did "Born to ----".

 

I mean, really, what the hell do you assume when you read something like that? Because it sure as hell isn't "Born to Knit" or "Born to Pet Kitties." We all know what people assume when they see those four blocked out letters.

[mrs jesus]

The fact that BM was released with one of those retarded parental advisory labels didn't help much.

 

Nor did "Born to ----".

 

I mean, really, what the hell do you assume when you read something like that? Because it sure as hell isn't "Born to Knit" or "Born to Pet Kitties." We all know what people assume when they see those four blocked out letters.

parental advisory stickers don't keep records from selling.

 

uglyredhonda, you're fucking awesome.

thank you for saying everything i would have said and more.

[ecnarf]

I didn't say it was the sole reason the record didn't sell, but you have to admit it's pretty retarded.

[mrs jesus]

I didn't say it was the sole reason the record didn't sell, but you have to admit it's pretty retarded.

i think it's retarded that the titles are censored on it, but

stickers don't bring down sales, nor do they make the album harder to acquire, so who cares?

[jmwilson529]

"Americans don't like outspoken Canadians."

that's a pretty bold statement... i don't want to get into a USA vs. Cananda type deal here... cause personally, I'd move to Canada now if there wasn't a large expense to go along with it and all my family is here.. but I really don't think that that particular statement has much to do with it.. itis more a matter of the fact that Matt is "different"... not due to the fact that he is an outspoken Canadian.. more that he is outspoken PERIOD.. there are only certain people who are outspoken on certain topics that can get away with it in this stupid place......

[babyskintattoo]

I doesn't matter how good canadian music can be. The American money machine only takes on catchy hum along easy rock shit like "how you remind me" and "one week". not to say Canadians havnt made it in the states but I mean look at Moist/David Usher.. they are big in Cananda and Thailand.... then you got the Tea Party who are also huge in Australia....The Canadian music scene simply isnt producing enough beyonces for the americans and they just are not ready for our jelly yet.

Edited January 24, 2006 by babyskintattoo

[bishopx]

I love Matt's Music. I'm down here in Massachusetts, and that's where I first saw MGB, on Muchmusic. Then after a few months, they pulled much and replaced it with religious programming. Then they gave us this Fuse crap, which totally sucks!!! I agree with Evilcartman, it's all in the marketing push. I also think it may be his politics...or more to the point, his willingness to excercise his right to free speech. OLP and Nickelback, while I like both bands to some degree, pander to their audiences, enough to be passed off to the average short attention spanned audience, here in the states. After all we're the country that brought you Britney, Backstreet, Jessica, and DowNSync.

 

Do I think their may be some truth to a Canadian Bias...Well Rush(One of my all time favorite bands)Have not been inducted into the Rock N Roll Hall of fame...After 36 years??? They practically gave birth to a lot of big name bands over the years...It does beg the question of Bias.