All Time Low Shocks Everyone....Not Me

All Time Low's new album Nothing Personal debuted on the Billboard Top 200 charts and claimed the #4 spot. The Top 3 spots went to the new Maxwell album, Hannah Montana and the Now 31 album (who really buys those?). This surprised most people but not me or Alternative Press who gave them Band Of The Year honors in their February '09 issue (see picture to the left). ATL has a #4 album on Billboard because of their work ethic, their organic fan base, viral marketing, being real and the X Factor.

ATL is special. There are only a handful of bands that come around every few years that have that "specialness" or as I like to call it, the X Factor. But this didn't happen because they sold almost 63,000 copies of their new album last week. This X Factor has been around since I've known them in 2006 and longer. Most industry people didn't see it yet. But their fans and management did.

What is that X Factor? You really can't explain it. It's just that "something" that makes a band special. A good indication to see if a band has the X Factor is from their fans. You can see it in their eyes. You can hear every word being sung in the crowd. You can see the dreams of meeting the band dancing in their heads. Their fans are almost like zombies. Yes, most bands have a few fans like that. But a band with the X Factor has ALL their fans in the state.

But don't get me wrong. They aren't just riding the X Factor to success. ATL has busted their asses over the last 6 years to get a Top 5 album on Billboard. I was with the band on Warped '06 and Warped '07. These guys have the work ethic. They have the love for their fans. They put their time in and continue to. I remember when Jack Barakat (guitarist) would walk the line before doors on Warped '07 to promote their showtime every morning. Jack would come find ME to do it with him. I didn't have to motivate him to do it. He wouldn't make his crew do it. He wouldn't ask me to do it. He wanted to do it.

Does anyone remember the brilliant Twitter game they played amongst themselves, high-profile music celebs (Pete Wentz and Mark Hoppus), other bands and countless fans a few months ago? That lit Twitter on fire and everyone became familiar with the "nothing personal" (name of their new album) statement. That was viral internet marketing at its best.

ATL has built an amazing organic fanbase with the evidence of these album sales:

Nothing Personal (2009) - 62,922 copies sold first week (73,158 singles sold)
So Wrong, It's Right (2007) - 192,653 copies sold
Put Up Or Shut Up EP (2006) - 126,081 copies sold

How many of you even realized they sold that many copies of their past albums/EPs? Again, that's a sign of an organic base being built. Quietly, fans buy, buy and buy.

Yes, you might think I'm biased. But you have to realize that I do know a lot of bands because of touring and connections. But, to me, that's actually an advantage. I get to see if the bands are real behind-the-scenes. Most fake bands don't survive long-term (fans figure it out). It catches up to them. ATL are the most genuine, down-to-earth guys you could know. They are the jokesters backstage as they are onstage. You won't find many people saying anything negative about this band. And on that note....

All Time Low will be the Kings of Pop-Punk. Nothing Personal.