Ric Ocasek’s Death & Cars Music
There is an inevitability in the music business. If the frontman of a huge band dies, sales and streams skyrocket.
From Variety:
“For fans of the Cars, relistening to the band’s music was just what they needed in the hours and days following news of band leader Ric Ocasek’s death.
The Cars was the artist with the second-highest overall album sales in the two days following Ocasek’s death, according to BuzzAngle Music, with the Sept. 15-16 long-dormant band coming in behind only the Lumineers, who’d just released a new album the same weekend.
The group had the most song sales during that same period, with 25,000 paid downloads, coming in ahead of Post Malone, Lizzo, Taylor Swift and another recent decedent, Eddie Money. Song sales for the Cars’ catalog rose 14,695% in the 48 hours following his death.
Ironically, the most downloaded song was one that Ocasek didn’t sing: “Drive.” But mourners may have been driven by the fact that the tune is the most overtly sorrowful song in their catalog of otherwise mostly upbeat hits.”
14,695%? That’s astounding but also expected and deserved.
You can read the whole thing at Variety.
