THEIR tales of Rotherham and “tracky bottoms tucked in socks” are breaking British sales records. Now the Arctic Monkeys are heading for global domination after becoming chart sensations in Japan.
The South Yorkshire rock group is about to record the fastest-selling British debut album with Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not heading towards 300,000 sales in a week. Despite being signed to Domino, a London independent record company, the group is becoming a worldwide phenomenon. They dominate the European Digital Download chart this week, and the album is the bestselling international release in Japan.
The Asian audience responded to the teenagers’ vigour, according to Mirelle Davis, the international head of Domino. She said: “The Japanese like young, fresh artists. They are seen as the new Oasis, and Oasis are the biggest international act in Japan. It is already a fashion statement to be an Arctic Monkeys fan.”
The four-piece band shuns industry demands, such as performing on Top of the Pops, but the groundwork for an international marketing campaign was laid through smart management. The band performed two small “buzz” shows in Japan last November, which sold out in minutes, and their videos became a regular feature on Asian market music channels.
Ms Davis said: “We have three manufacturing plants working flat out. We shipped 65,000 copies [of the album] for the first week in Japan, but it isn’t enough. Mainland Europe also ordered 80,000 and UK stores need more supplies.”
Advertisement
In the United States, where the album will be released next month, the industry magazine Billboard has hailed the group as the “faces to watch in 2006”. They will tour North America in March, including a showcase slot at the South by Southwest music convention in Austin, Texas, which attracts influential radio programmers and industry executives.
The band’s songs will also boost EMI’s profits after the company’s publishing wing won a bidding war to sign the group. Guy Moot, the managing director of EMI Music Publishing, said the frontman and lyricist Alex Turner “has a unique turn of phrase and a way of detailing real life which people instinctively relate to”.
Domino will release the album in Australia and New Zealand. The company discovered Franz Ferdinand and used the profits from their success to attract the Arctic Monkeys.
TOP-SELLING ALBUMS OVERSEAS
Advertisement
1 Coldplay X&Y (EMI) 6.2 million
2 Robbie Williams Intensive Care (EMI) 3.8 million
3= Enya Amarantine (Warner) and
Il Divo Il Divo (SonyBMG) 3.5 million
Advertisement
5 Gorillaz Demon Days (EMI) 3.3 million
6 James Blunt Back to Bedlam (Warners) 3.0 million
7 The Rolling Stones A Bigger Bang (EMI) 2.4 million
8 Il Divo Ancora (SonyBMG) 2.0 million
9 Paul McCartney Chaos and Creation . . . (EMI) 1.3 million
Advertisement
10= Oasis Don’t Believe the Truth (SonyBMG) 1.2 million and
Franz Ferdinand You Could Have It . . . (Domino) 1.2 million
Sales outside UK by British-signed acts. Source: Music Week