“Sales of David Bowie’s last album – released two days before his death from cancer – soared on Monday along with downloads of his greatest hits, testimony to the powerful appeal of a pioneer in pop culture and the music business,” Piya Sinha-Roy, Guy Faulconbridge and Marie-Louise Gumuchian report for Reuters. “Bowie, who produced hits such as ‘Ziggy Stardust’ during a career featuring daringly androgynous displays of sexuality and glittering costumes, died at age 69 on Sunday.”
“He was the first recording artist to sell bonds, known as ‘Bowie Bonds,’ against his intellectual property and backed by future earnings of his music,” Sinha-Roy, Faulconbridge and Gumuchian report. “The bonds, which are now paid off, were bought by Prudential Insurance in 1997 for $55 million, and let Bowie retain ownership of his work rather than selling the copyright.”
“The critically praised ‘Blackstar’ was the top-selling album on Apple’s iTunes U.S. and UK platforms on Monday morning. Bowie’s longtime producer, Tony Visconti, called the album the singer’s ‘parting gift,’ Sinha-Roy, Faulconbridge and Gumuchian report. “The 2002 ‘Best of Bowie’ compilation album was the second most popular on the U.S. site, outpacing Adele’s blockbuster album ’25.’ Bowie’s 1972 album ‘The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars’ was in fourth place on the U.S. iTunes platform, according to the site.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: R.I.P., Bowie.
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If you can find it, Showtime’s “David Bowie – Five Years” is a terrific documentary that covers David Bowie’s life across several of his creative eras. Well worth a watch. It’ll make you miss Bowie even more. The highlights for me we’re seeing interviews with Brian Eno and Robert Fripp discussing their collaborations with Bowie.
Many of us lived during a very fertile period in modern music and Bowie was there along with others to lead the way. David Bowie will always be thought of with the greatest of affection and thanks.
A hands down desert island pick for me: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Epic.
Saw Bowie live a few times in his Ziggy days. The guy was simply ‘electric’.
RIP
I was a pretty big fan of ‘Screwy’ Bowie (as my dad called him) from 74-84 and still listen to his old stuff on occasion.
I even had this poster in junior high as one of my select few allowed.
Sunday evening I was looking through Tidal and saw Blackstar. For some unreal reason decided to listen, noticing a slight Radiohead feel to it.
At 1:55 am after that, I got a text from a musician buddy that Bowie was dead. That was a surreal moment to say the least.
His boost to SRV was another great contribution.
Maybe the unedited ‘China Girl’ will start getting more airplay.
The universe is 13.5 billion years old, we’re very lucky to share some of those years with David Bowie