August 29, 2007

Chart Beat: Albums

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M.I.A.: KalaTwo weeks ago, I predicted M.I.A.’s Kala would debut at #39 on the Billboard albums chart. How did I do? Well, her sophomore effort spent most of the week in the iTunes Top Ten so it’s not surprising I was a little low: Kala landed at #18, ladies and gentlemen, with 29,000 sold the first week. Go, M.I.A.!

Of course, to put it in perspective, Disney’s High School Musical 2 stayed at #1 for a second week, selling, uh, 367,000 copies. Yeah. Moving on, Talib Kweli’s Ear Drum sold 60,000 copies, which is good for #2 this week, and Swizz Beatz’ debut album as a solo artist lands at #7. Unintentionally (?) hilarious San Diego Christian metalcore outfit As I Lay Dying hits #8 with their fourth album, An Ocean Between Us. Well, at least it’s something different.

Rilo Kiley sold out on Under the Blacklight, and that’s good for a #22 debut with 28,000, while New Pornographers stuck to their guns on Challengers and entered the charts at #34, selling 20,000 copies.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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