So it looks like Prince including the Musicology CD as part of the ticket price of his concerts was an absolute stroke of genius that has ended up getting the industry into a spiteful tiz and getting the rules changed (for everyone except Prince - ha ha ha).

The best thing of all is that good sales and chart figures in turn generate more sales because the album has high visibility in the racks at the stores so casual buyers go "oh that looks like Prince, wonder what that's like" - this is working because apparently concert "sales" account for only 30% so far (though I expect that percentage will increase by end of tour).

SO I HAVE A QUESTION
The next time an artist (including Prince) decides to bundle a CD with the concert ticket, fans have to have the option of not having it (ie two ticket prices).

How many people would buy the ticket that includes the CD?

Obviously things to consider include:
- is the CD available in the shops
- if already in shops is it different to version in shops
- price of CD addition to concert ticket (expect billboard will have rules on minimum pricing also)


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FOR INFO=
according to poetbear68 -
MUSICOLOGY WEEKLY SCANS

Week One – 191,000
Week Two – 173,000
Week Three – 150,000
Week Four – 76,637
Week Five – 42,000
Week Six - 71,000
Week Seven – 93,000
Week Eight – 75,363
Week Nine – 81,261
Week Ten – 92,000
Week Eleven – 55,739
Week Twelve– 25,000
Week Thirteen – 74,000

Total – 1,200,000 registered copies

Depends on the artist for me...

With Prince it makes sense b/c I tend to like 95% of what I hear from him. So I'd only buy the cd for artists I can count on for liking their stuff: Meshell & TTD are the only other sure bets. D'Angelo, Maxwell, Sade, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Nikka Costa, Macy Gray, Cassandra Wilson are all good bets for me, but unfortunately I don't see a lot of people live anyway...

So the answer is yes, if I'm bothering to see them live I'll most likely purchase the album @ the show.




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[This message was edited Thu Jul 22 3:08:18 2004 by CalhounSq]

jaypotton said:

I think a lot less people would buy the album by choice bundled with the concert ticket. For one thing, you have to carry it around all night, which is a pain!

But I think Prince could easily continue just including the album price in the ticket. People are usually desperate to see Prince, a few extra quid won't matter, and I think Prince likes his music getting out there. These wouldn't be included in chart figures, but then is Prince really that interesed in the charts? Okay, I'm sure he's pleased with the success of the album, but for the past few years he couldn't care less about the charts.

Did he really mean to exploit a hole in the rules for chart album inclusion, or was it just an added unexpected benefit? I'm sure now, he'll go, 'oh yeah, we knew all along' but I tend to think he was going to give albums away whatever with this tour.

I think its safe to say that the whole current bundling idea will be blocked, and replaced with a two ticket option, one with an album.

If it isn't , I bet band/artist contracts will begin to include minimum tour requirements. with the label having a much bigger cut and say in the tour. i.e., "you will tour a minimum of 50 shows per album release".

So in essence, Prince, who is against CONtracts, will be helping to forcing younger and less established artists to tie themselve in even more to the label, as they are now an essential marketing tool, much more affective than expensive advertising campaigns.

As far as Princes next move is concerned. He needs to side step and stay ahead. One version for the stores, and ltd edition for the shows. A living tour programme if you will. The album, with a couple of extra tracks, in a booklet. Fans will buy both, and the casual fan is likely to pick up at least one.

As long as he ensures the essence of the album remains the same and that they count as one album in sales, he'll be laughing all the way to the bank.