After 42 installments of compilation albums Virgin Records is halting CD production of their “Now That’s What I Call Music” tittles. Founder of Virgin Records Richard Branson was quoted about the Now! cancellation as saying “People just aren’t calling this crap music anymore.” Branson understands that he is leaving hundreds of the worlds Now! fans with slightly less options for obtaining their favorite popular hits, but cites a lack of his interest in the Now! franchise as a key factor to the tittles cancellation. “I’m trying to fly people to freakin’ space,” Branson exclaimed while riding a Segway around his luxurious New York City penthouse. “I really can’t devote any resources to continuing this CD production at this time.”
The resource
Branson was alluding to was Virgin Records’ Now! department, which consists
solely of Timothy Brown, the head of CD Creations. Brown has been working
tirelessly in his mother’s basement since the first Now! CD was released in
1998. “Yes it’s really stressful at times, but at the end of the day it’s a
really rewarding process,” stated Brown. He further went on to explain the
process of making a Now! CD hit, which starts by spending about 10 minutes
every other week researching the nations most popular songs on the radio. After
collecting his data Brown then begins his “artistic process” of song ordering
for the upcoming Now! Cd. “The order of songs is a huge factor to whether or
not the CD really connects with the listener,” Brown exclaimed. ‘Unless you’re
one of the heartless bastards that uses the shuffle button on your CD
player...people still use CD players right?”
The highly
successful Now! franchise is not marked without controversy though. The CD
Creation team consisted of dual creators until the 2000 release of Now 4! when
it contained the current head of Now! creation, Timothy Brown, and Larry
Johnson the current head of CD Creations for Kidz Bop.
“Before ‘Kidz
Bop’ Johnson and Brown were a dynamic force in the song selection industry and
had a rock-solid friendship,” a source close to the two producers said. The
source also clarified that a “very heated argument” over the inclusion of
Eiffel 65’s “Blue (Da Ba Dee)” sparked the duos separation. When asked about the issue Johnson stated
“The song was horrible. They just made up words and said ‘blue’ a bunch of
times. Would you pay for a CD that had a voice like Steven Hawking singing on
it? No.”
When asked about
the Eiffel 65 controversy Brown did not wish to comment about Johnson, but
Brown was quick to point out that Now! 4 was one of the most popular tittles of
the franchise. “That was one of the most gratifying CDs of someone else’s songs
I have ever put together,” asserted Brown.
After the
departure Jonson really took some shots at the Now! franchise that upset may
in the song selection industry. Johnson was quoted as saying that “any idiot
with LimeWire and a CD burner” could do what Now! turned into a lucrative music
enterprise. When asked how Kidz Bop was
any different than Now! Johnson replied, “Kidz Bop is not just selecting a
popular song and reselling it like Now!. It’s selecting a popular song, then
having a chorus of subpar vocally talented kids sing the lyrics, then reselling it.”
No matter
Johnson’s views of Now! records that fact remains that the surprising relevant
CD production will ultimately be discontinued. This point leaves many like 64
year-old Annette Scott wondering what she will get as stocking stuffers for her
7 and 8 year-old grandchildren. “Walmart always had Now! CDs in their clearance
bins and they were a no brainer for 99¢,” said a
dejected Scott. However, Scott did note that the CDs would usually be forgotten
at her house and that she would normally turn them into “fancy hanging sun reflectors”
on her back porch come summer.
At
the end many questions still remain about the Now! records cancellation; what
will happen to Timothy Brown, how will record companies poach more money from
out-of-touch music buyers, what other infomercials will be shown late night on
various TV networks, and have people really been buying this crap, are some
examples. These questions are just a few that will be answered in time, but for
now the one lone fact remains that the Now! era will soon cease to exist.
Leaving hundreds with one less option to obtain 5 songs they like, 5 songs they
think are ok, and 5 songs they generally skip over.
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