Sales figures on CD's--here----get the Blues--fo' sho'-----

[Jimo]

Here is some figures on Blues CD sales according to the new issue of "Guitar One":
The TOP THREE Blues CD's (From Billboard) :
1. B.B.King=Ultimate Collection= 5,003 copies (yep!)
2. George Thorogood= Greatest hits= 3,366 units
3.Sonny Landreth= Grant Street= 1,332 copies

sad sad
Oh The Number One album in the country?=50 cent=The Massacre=328,684 copies

Of the top 200 Albums in the country ,The only one that could be considered the Blues , was Los Lonely Boys self titled debut at 14,564 copies

Well, this pretty much speaks for itself. Play what ever the heck you want to play cause we ain't EVER gonna get rich! :D :( 8) :? :evil: :evil: cheers?---JIMO

[David Barnett]

Are those numbers sales totals, or just sales during some specified time period?

[tiktok]

I think if you're a hot blues player, you'll make far more money selling CDs at gigs then you will in the stores.

[teledude66]

Originally Posted by David Barnett

Are those numbers sales totals, or just sales during some specified time period?

yeah cause i figure Los Lonely Boys probably sold 14 thou in Texas alone ...lol

[Oskar]

Unless we talk about Clapton, and then some don't consider him "blues".
Those figures are not surprising to me. Take a look at bluegrass, jazz, chamber music, world music, opera, polka. I'm sure B.B. King's sales would outpace classical violinist Michael Rabin's about to be released CD, but no one would ever in their right mind expect him to outpace U2.
No surprise that 50-Cent sells that many, plus I don't think a whole lot of blues artists set out to get rich. It just don't work that way.
And I don't think heavy promotion has much to do with it. If B.B. King, or Sunny King Ade had as much corporate push as 50-Cent, I still think sales would be poor. It's all a matter of what the masses drift to. They have never drifted to the blues (or jazz or classical, etc.), and more than likely never will.

[TheGoodTexan]

Originally Posted by David Barnett

Are those numbers sales totals, or just sales during some specified time period?

Part of my job is to examine Sound Scan numbers on a weekly basis (the new numbers come out every Wednesday morning).

Those figures have to have been for one week (several weeks ago). Here are last week's figrues for the Top 10. (April 11 - April 17). This is not YTD or LTD...just last week's numbers.

403755 - CAREY*MARIAH|EMANCIPATION OF M
151559 - MUDVAYNE|LOST & FOUND
139561 - 50 CENT|MASSACRE
74852 - GARBAGE|BLEED LIKE ME
63456 - EVANS*FAITH|FIRST LADY
61427 - NOW 18|NOW 18
57839 - BECK|GUERO
57121 - GREEN DAY|AMERICAN IDIOT
56614 - STEFANI*GWEN|LOVE.ANGEL.MUSIC.
54811 - KILLERS|HOT FUSS

The Los Lonely Boys album scaned 8744 units last week, which placed it at #102. It's been on the charts for over 60 weeks.

The 3 Blues albums in question did not show up in the top 200, which should not surprise anyone.

[Jimo]

Hey--That good to know!---I thought those numbers seemed horribly low. This was in the "editorial" part of June, 2005 "Guitar One" magazine. They didn't really say that it was for just one particular week, but that sounds a lot more like it. You could sell more than that at your own concerts if you were touring, I would imagine. Thanks for the clarification!----I feel a little better now--------cheers!--JIMO :D

[TheGoodTexan]

Originally Posted by Jimo

Hey--That good to know!---I thought those numbers seemed horribly low. This was in the "editorial" part of June, 2005 "Guitar One" magazine. They didn't really say that it was for just one particular week, but that sounds a lot more like it. You could sell more than that at your own concerts if you were touring, I would imagine. Thanks for the clarification!----I feel a little better now--------cheers!--JIMO :D

The other thing is this. Blues albums are often sold at speciality shops too. You know, those out of the way "mom & pop" record shops, that always seem to stock the entire catalog of that obscure artist that you're in love with...and Best Buy and the other big boxes won't even stock the lastest release from the guy.

Most of those shops do not report to Sound Scan. Therefore, those numbers are not included. If the store where you purchase your music does not actually scan the UPC barcode on the back of the CD with a little red laser, it's almost 100% sure that they are not reporting that sale. Which is fine...it's not a law or anything.

Do those sales amount to much? Probably not. But there are more sales than reported.

[Bob Rogers]

Does soundscan include the figures for electronic downloads? (iTunes, etc.) Is there any info available for bricks and mortar vs. online (e.g. Amazon)?

As far as sales at concerts, I would imagine that while there are recoverable costs the label would work to make sure the sales were logged in officially. (Since they control production, it should be possible for them to keep track.)

[TheGoodTexan]

Originally Posted by Bob Rogers

Does soundscan include the figures for electronic downloads? (iTunes, etc.) Is there any info available for bricks and mortar vs. online (e.g. Amazon)?

The simple answer is no, but it is a little more complicated than that. Although I do receive the electronic download reports, those number do not effect (affect?) me directly, so I never look at them (someone else in our company processes that).

Originally Posted by Bob Rogers

As far as sales at concerts, I would imagine that while there are recoverable costs the label would work to make sure the sales were logged in officially. (Since they control production, it should be possible for them to keep track.)

Yes. A smart record label, and a smart artist manager, would be certifying and turning in numbers from concert sales. Those numbers would be included in the week's report in which they were turned in. Since this process involves more human counting, there are a few more hoops to jump through, to insure fidelity.

[Poppatwang]

included a CD w/ticket purchase & used those numbers
toward his sales totals. Instant chart success.

[TheGoodTexan]

Originally Posted by Poppatwang

included a CD w/ticket purchase & used those numbers
toward his sales totals. Instant chart success.

Yeah....that was (a hem)..."thinking outside the box" to say the least.

He was the first person to ever do that (try to have the sales count as scans, on such a large scale), and although they did count those numbers, they are addressing that issue, as to whether or not that will be allowed in the future.

There are restrictions on price. For instance - someone selling their CD for, say $1.00 US....that would not count. I'm not 100% sure how the price is determined, because it can fluxuate, depending on promotions and coupons and such.

So, with the Prince incedent, the question was, how much of the price paid was for the concert, and how much was for the CD?

And Prince can't just say,

1. "Free concert, $20 CD."
.....or vise versa...
2. "Free CD, $20 concert."

Each of those decisions has implications. To say the first one, has tax and revenue implications. To say the second one, your CD sales will not be counted as scans. So they must have found a happy medium. BTW...I have no idea what the actual price was for that deal.