Commercializing Death
by Adam M. Anklewicz

Elliott Smith, John Lennon, Kurt Cobain, Elvis Presley, George Harrison, Johnny Cash, and most of The Ramones...  A personal world changes with the death of a beloved musician and songwriter.  It also becomes a time to make money.  We’re guilty of it too.  Writing an article about Elliott Smith to be published almost a year to the day of his death.  It will probably help us earn more readers and at the same time it is a subject that we love. Great timing to release From A Basement On The Hill, Smith’s final album.

The entire world changed when John Lennon was shot dead.  Single after single was released from his final album Double Fantasy.  Lennon split the album with his wife Yoko Ono, and nearly all of Lennon’s tracks were released as singles, charting shortly after his death, as were portions of his back catalogue.  Death is good for business.

George Harrison’s Brainwashed album and Dark Horse Years box set.  He was a sad but expected loss.  Harrison’s wife and son took great care to piece together a final album as Harrison would have liked himself.  Amazingly they were able to do this and as a result, Brainwashed is a great album.  It was made available in many variations, the album, the single (“Any Road”), and deluxe set with a bonus DVD, stickers, a guitar pick, poster and more.  Well, I think you can guess which one most fans bought.  How many times do you think they watched the bonus DVD? Once? Twice? They paid more because they had to have it.

Nirvana’s In Utero was not selling as well as Geffen was hoping.  Sending the band to MTV to perform live was a tactic to help boost sales and Nirvana recorded a great show. Kurt Cobain’s death hit fans hard.  To help cushion the blow, Geffen released MTV Unplugged In New York City, which topped the Billboard charts.

Almost all musicians who die will have their unfinished work released.  It will never be how they saw the piece because they weren’t there to finish it.  The business of death is an odd one, with the music having been taken over by business interests.  The world will forever capitalize on any death tragic enough to hold onto the memory.

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