It's not often the Wall Street Journel covers independent music, so when it does Coolfer takes notice. Yesterday the WSJ had an article titled "London's Calling But U.S. Fans Aren't Picking Up." (No hyperlink, Coolfer subscribes to the paper edition.) Even though the British government has been taking steps to help its artists break in the United States, sales are only a fraction of their potential -- if potential is measured by UK success and incessant hype that comes from the bands' homeland.

The focal point of the Ethan Smith's article is the Arctic Monkeys, whose debut album sold 10% in the States what it sold in its first week of release at home. (To further put that into perspective, the U.S. has a population nearly five times that of the U.K.)

Why the difficulty winning over us Yanks? Smith has some thoughts.

"Arctic Monkeys faces a problem that has dogged a string of promosing rock bands in recent years--especially those from England. One after another, British acts awash in homeland success like Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs and the Darkness have hit American shores riding a global wave of hype, thanks largely to the Internet. But in most cases, the rabid critical enthusiasm in the States is followed by indifference from radio programmers, modest sales and a slow fade from view--in time to make way for the next Next Big Thing from across the pond."

The modest success to date of the Arctic Monkeys in America says two things to Coolfer. One, labels need to strike while the iron is hot. Buzz, especially when gained through the Internet, is often fleeting. The longer the wait for an official release, the lower sales will be. (Conversely, rushing an album's release presents its own set of problems, so the trick is to find and/or manipulate that sweet spot where public excitement overlaps with label readiness.) Smith points to this problem and says some fans may have downloaded the tracks while waiting for the domestic release. Coolfer believes it's more an issue of withering attention spans -- the band's songs were downloaded in the UK before the album was released, so the downloading argument doesn't hold water.

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