"Farmer's Daughter" two week sales approach 100,000 units

Wow, who would have guessed that in two weeks that Crystal Bowersox's new album would have sold nearly 100K units without a radio single to support it? That is pretty good. After first week sales of 58,000 and second week sales of over 37,000 she should break 100K by the end of the year. And her real radio and video promotion does not begin in earnest until January which can only help matters out. She only had a 35% drop in sales which is pretty good, but she was helped by selling during the holiday sales weeks. She will also be appearing on Access Hollywood tonight after having a special appearance at the Village Idiot in Toledo on Monday night. Let's hope for even more success for Crystal in 2011!

"Farmer's Daughter" debuts for Crystal Bowersox with 58,000 first week sales

If you factor in that Crystal Bowersox does not currently have any radio airplay of her songs at all and performs with a difficult to pinpoint musical style, the 58,000 first week sales for Crystal's "Farmer's Daughter" is pretty impressive for her. She did pick a good week to release it right before Christmas, but she did end up outselling Lee's first week numbers by almost 50%. I think her second and third week sales will be more telling as well as how the album sells once her song starts getting radio play in January 2011. Another good sign for her is the number of views her video is receiving on YouTube with over 140,000 views in six days. She also has a new main website now, but unfortunately there are no user discussion forums on it anymore. If you want to join in the conversation, the best blogs or forums are at MJ's Big Blog, Bowersoxfans.com or even the American Idol Forums.  Crystal is also back on TV tonight (or is it technically tomorrow morning?) on Chelsea Handler's show. Due to the wonders of YouTube we can all enjoy it now without having to stay up late to watch it!

"Farmer's Daughter" video on VH1 and CMT.com and 2011 Country release

It sounds like from recent tweets from her publicist, that Crystal Bowersox's debut single "Farmer's Daughter" (from her album with the same name) will be released to country and AAA radio stations in January 2011. A lot of fans had commented that she should go the country route, and it looks like it will happen. One proof of this is the release of her music video to CMT.com. You actually cannot search for her and find her on the site, but if you know the exact URL you can find her. It is similarly on VH1.com where you can find it if you know the URL but otherwise you could never find it unless you use the current American Idol link on the homepage (with Crystal's photo). Crystal will also be back on broadcast TV this week. After being on ExtraTV this weekend, she will be on Chelsea Handler's show this Wednesday, Dec 22.

By late tomorrow afternoon we should also find out the total first week sales tally for her album. HitsDailyDouble and Billboard are both predicting about 50,000 copies, but I wonder if that takes into accounts the sold out status at Amazon briefly and also order problems on crystalbowersox.com (her Sony Online site.) If those numbers were expecting to include those sales the tally may come in lower than expected, but if that is a sign of unexpected high demand, the numbers might come in higher. We will have to wait until tomorrow to know for sure.

Other new items for Crystal include a radio interview about Christmas songs at The Takeaway, and also a video interview where she flares her nostrils. You cannot say she takes herself too seriously!

More on Crystal Bowersox's "Farmer's Daughter" music video and the "F-bomb"

When the Crystal Bowersox "Farmer's Daughter" music video first appeared on VEVO.com early yesterday, I noticed the version of the song they used was the "explicit" version which simply meant it had the "F-bomb" in it. Frankly, I think the song and video are so moving that word is really not needed, but I guess Crystal likes it since it adds more impact to that line of the song. I personally prefer the "I'm so sick and tired" version she has been performing on TV lately (Leno, Regis and Kelly, Ellen.) I noticed the music video has now popped up on MTV.com and that version is the "clean" version from the CD which will obviously be the version that also plays on VH1. The VEVO video version on YouTube by CrystalBowersoxVevo is the one everyone is linking to (including the country music site, todayscountrymusicvideos.com) and that is the original "explicit" version most popular with the most hits. In about 24 hours it has had over 10,000 views. In fact if you check the single song tracks from Crystal being purchased on iTunes, the explicit version of "Farmer's Daughter" is far and away her most popular download. The clean version is way down at #12 right now with "For What It's Worth" still being #2, and "Speak Now" being #3 and her first single "Up the Mountain" is now #4. I guess there could be a lot of people who purchased the hard copy CD who wanted the full impact of the "explicit" version and were willing to pay $1.29 to hear her sing that one extra word! Personally, I still am amazed "For What It's Worth" is #2. I think she sings that song well, but I consider a number of the other songs on the album better songs than that one ("Speak Now", "Mine All Mine", "Holy Toledo", "Mason".)

Another topic this brings up about her album is the "explicit" labeling of the album. The only difference between the "explicit" and "clean" versions of the album is the one F-word ("f*ing sick and tired") in the title track. Personally, I am curious why she didn't just get rid of it and always just use the "I'm so sick and tired" line she has been performing live lately. The current clean version is just blanked out vocally until she sings "sick and tired", and I think the "I'm so sick and tired" version works a  lot better. I wonder if the "explicit" label actually helps sales, by showing she is "edgier" or more "aggressive". She also uses the "s-word" a couple times on the album, once in "Ridin With the Radio" and repeatedly in the chorus in "Kiss Ya". After her interesting lyrical "change up" during her duet with Alanis Morrisette in the season finale, I don't see why she didn't just clean up all her songs to be more "radio ready". I will give my suggestions here. In "Ridin With the Radio", she could have sung "the hits that they play now" which flows just the same and flows a lot better than "the crap that they play now" or "the mess that they play now". The chorus in "Kiss Ya" is a bit tougher. How about "I don't care a bit who's around" or "I don't even care who's around". I am not sure what having those "bad" words in her songs matters, but I know it matters quite a bit to some people, especially older folks who have a thing against bad language.

Full "Farmer's Daughter" video online

On a day when I thought the only new Crystal Bowersox video online would be her performance from Ellen, it appears that I was wrong. After FOX Toledo (WUPW) leaked a small preview of the "Farmer's Daughter" music video Tuesday evening, VEVO has posted the full video online and now, of course, it is also on YouTube. After her publicist, Gina Orr, had tweeted the video was not going onto rotation on VH1 until Jan 3, it seems odd that it would suddenly appear on VEVO. Is it a coincidence that this is happening a day after Hits Daily Double predicted Crystal's first day sales would beat Lee's and Amazon ran out of stock of the physical CD (as well as many retail stores in the Toledo area?) I am not sure if this is a predestined marketing tactic or if everyone in the industry could have underestimated her sales that much. I wonder if now that Jive realizes she actually does have a fan base they are going to try to do a holiday push to drum up more revenue. In any case the video is pretty powerful and reminds me of "Concrete Angel" by Martina McBride, but with a happier ending.

But she was on Ellen too, but after the music video, the live version almost seems anticlimactic. A great performance as usual, but the music video really shows her personality even more. I wonder if all those free copies of the album to Ellen's audience counted as album sales.

Oh well, my "American Idol" blog here has pretty much turned into a Crystal Bowersox blog. Oh well, I guess I cannot help jumping on the Mamasox bandwagon too...

"Farmer's Daughter" by Crystal Bowersox : CD Released, video coming!

So the big day has passed and Crystal Bowersox's debut album Farmer's Daughter was released. I had pre-ordered a digital copy on iTunes so I downloaded it to listen to the full album including the free extra track, "Finally Got It Right" which sounds great. In fact, if it were me I would have included that track on the original 12 and left off "Hold On". I just checked iTunes and "Finally Got It Right" is no longer available so I am feeling extra special. One interesting fact I noticed on iTunes is that if you currently sort the tracks on the album by popularity, the #2 most popular song after the title track, "Farmer's Daughter", is "For What It's Worth". I suppose that is the only cover on the album, and it was a pretty popular song decades ago, but it has 6 bars in popularity, whereas #3 "Speak Now" has 3 bars, and #4 "Mine All Mine" has 2 bars along with #5 "Hold On". I was also a little disappointed that the included digital booklet did not include any lyrics, although it did have some interesting photos. I will have to wait for the physical CD I am receiving for Christmas (pre-ordered from Amazon where it is still selling for only $6.99.) The album has been consistently in the top 10 in album sales at Amazon since this past weekend, so I hope the sales from the album will be good. I am guessing overall first week sales will be on the same order of magnitude as Lee's initial number (39,000) but could go +/- 10,000 either way. HitsDailyDouble.com is currently predicting 45-50K for her. I guess we will have to wait until next week to find out for sure. I did my part by helping to sell two copies!

I enjoyed watching the video clips from WUPW in Toledo which gives the album a nice personal and local perspective. They had stories on her Monday evening, Tuesday at 6:30 and again Tuesday evening at 10. One neat thing in the 10pm clip is a small preview of the music video for "Farmer's Daughter". After viewing the clip from cambio connect it makes me quite curious about the final video. Her publicist, Gina Orr, tweets that the video will go to VH1 on Jan 3.

Crystal Bowersox Everywhere: Leno on Friday, Regis & Kelly today, CD release tomorrow

With her new album, Farmer's Daughter, releasing tomorrow, Crystal Bowersox seems to be showing up everywhere. She performed on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Friday, will be with Regis & Kelly today, and then the album comes out tomorrow (with an appearance on Ellen on Thursday, and Chelsea Lately next week). Her full album is still streaming on AOL Music, and I must say the more I listen to it, the more I like it. I have been following most of the critics reviews, and they are surprisingly mixed. Although they are all impressed with Crystal's vocal abilities, many are not so impressed with her songwriting, song selection and the production on the album. In reality, I will have to admit that she does sound a lot better live than on the album stream, as in her Leno performance which she delivered quite powerfully. Nonetheless, her album is selling quite well on Amazon where you can purchase it at a great price of $6.99 (with free shipping for any total purchase of $25 or more.) So you could buy four copies for $27.96 to give out as gifts. Likewise, Best Buy is selling it for $7.99 with free shipping (plus a free month of Napster). I find it humorous that Best Buy automatically mentions that you can get 6, 12 or 18 month financing. I sure hope nobody really needs financing on an $8 CD! It also sounds like her music video was just finished up and should be available very soon. Cambio Connect has some footage from her making the video.

Full Stream of "Farmer's Daughter" available and YouTube clips

This has been a busy weekend for Crystal Bowersox fans. Not only did she perform in the Block 37 mall in Chicago on Friday, but she then performed at a holiday concert with the Doobie Brothers in San Diego on Saturday, and at the same time snippets of all her tracks on her new album appeared first on the French version of Amazon.com (and now all of Crystal's previews finally appear on the US site too). Finally today the full album stream was made available at music.aol.com. Due to the wonders of YouTube, all of these events are being chronicled online including a nice compilation of the 12 album tracks placed in a single video for easier listening to all the tracks. Here is an incredible rendition of "Bobby McGee" from her San Diego concert too. What would be do without YouTube?

Here is a YouTube link I created that shows all Crystal Bowersox YouTube videos uploaded in the past 24 hours. I find it very handy to see what her latest uploads have been. Here is a similar YouTube link to find all of Lee's most recent videos.

I just finished listening to the full stream of Crystal's album and I am quite impressed. After hearing how Lee's sound had changed from his indie releases to "Live It Up" and then the initial samplings of "Hold On" I was worried what hers would sound like, but she stayed true to herself and released a very fitting debut.

Crystal's Upcoming Promotional Appearances and Lee's Two-Week Tally

With less than two weeks until Crystal Bowersox's debut album, "Farmer's Daughter", set to release she is finally doing some promotion for the album besides live performances. She will be on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno next Friday Dec 10 (almost exactly one month after Lee performed there) and then on Monday Dec 13 with Regis and Kelly and then on Ellen's show on the 16th. She is also featured on some weird VEVO.com Christmas video and also has her own little Christmas related video there. She is also opening for the Doobie Brothers this Saturday in San Diego and then again in San Francisco on Tuesday Dec 7. And she is doing all this promotion without officially releasing her single for download and with almost no radio support. I sure hope her marketing people know what they are doing.

I do worry about her sales after seeing how little promotional support RCA is giving Lee Dewyze on his debut album, "Live It Up". After his first week sales came in at a weak 39,000 (#19 on the sales charts), his second week fell to 15,000 ( #93) which was an expected drop, but still only puts his total sales at around 55,000 after two weeks. I had originally expected Lee to have higher initial album sales than Crystal, but with these numbers I sure hope I am wrong! Lee was also on the Tonight Show and Regis and Kelly last month, and he was also on the Today Show and had a few other live performances. One difference I have noticed is that all of Lee's performances since the tour ended tend to be him as the only billed artist, but many of Crystal's performances are at festivals or opening for other artists (Michael Franti, Melissa Etheridge, KT Tunstall, Sara Bareilles, Doobie Brothers). Hopefully being at concerts with bigger name artists might give her more exposure and help her album sales.