Everyone is getting their panties in a bunch over 20,000 "uncounted" copies of the album. However, when it was first announced that he was going "exclusive" with Target, I thought he might've made a mistake. After seeing the final first week sales of Lotusflow3r, I definitely believe that.

Lemme 'splain...

the Eagles' "Long Road Out Of Eden" (a Wal*Mart exclusive) sold 711k the first week of release (and is also the reason Billboard is now counting retailer "exclusive" releases).

AC/DC's "Black Ice" (another Wal*Mart exclusive) sold 1.5+ million during its first week.

I'm not implying anything to do with the quality of music, though there are some that might. There might also be some fams who will use the "recession" as a reason for the difference in sales, but I think the $77 Lotusflow3r.com fee shows that that wasn't an issue either. I believe that in-store promotion might've been an issue too. Since AC/DC and the Eagles both had entire AREAS of the store devoted to them. And NOT just the current release, but previous releases with signage and everything - not merely an endcap with a hanging mobile and a floormat.

Though, I will admit that Target has been playing the hell outta the commercial (well, not on Youtube, that is...), but I think Wal*Mart might've been the better retailer.

Thoughts?

Rogue588 said:

hmmmm first?

I agree about Wal-Mart because they simply have more stores.

Target has one store in my area and it's 15 minutes away .Wal-Mart is about 5 minutes away.

Target was chosen because the HQ is in Minneapolis.

Really?

You take time out of your day to quote my entire OP and all you can think of to contribute to the conversation is "hmmmm first?"?

muleFunk said:

I don't think that was the reason it was chosen. I'm sure Prince chose to work with them because of the deal he got. I'm sure if Target had offered him a bad deal, he would have gone to WalMart.

As far as the other artists selling more cds with Walmart, it is because Walmart has a lot more locations. They are the world's largest retailer. Walmart caters to the heartland of America. Can you see a small-town Garth Brooks-type, George Strait-loving guy rushing to buy the latest Prince album? No.

Rogue588 said:

I think it has more to do with the material.

When AC/DC and the Eagles were in their prime, I think music industry catered to a broader demographic. The Eagles and ACDC appealed to not just teenagers and young adults, but also twenty and thirty somethings.

Now new pop, Rn'B and Urban acts cater almost exclusively to teens.

Sure they are the most sought out demographic, but that demographic is the most fickle and most likely to download the music illegally and quickly outgrow the acts they support.

I think sales across the board are down for this very reason. That they have put all their eggs in the teen market.
I find it hard to believe that 20 somethings-up, don't have trouble swallowing the kiddie music regularly programmed on top 40 pop or urban.

Older acts like the Eagles AC/DC, Radiohead and U2 have proven that you don't have to travel the teen road, that older people still buy music, that they have the buying power to outspend any teenager if there is a product that interests them.

I think the general public may think Prince is still traveling the 90's road trying to out-do Milli Vanilli and MC Hammer.

Lotus is a good record,if he wants it to keep selling he will need to continue to promote it and hopefully it finds its market.
[Edited 4/9/09 11:57am]

prince could have had that album stacked up on the shelves of every single
big box retailer in the country and he still wouldn't have sold 700,000 or
even more unlikely 1.5 million.

look at the total sales figures for any album since Diamonds & Pearls (not
including hits or hits packages). they hardly break that number after they
have been in stores for a decade.

the time of prince being a mega super seller are long gone and even back
in those days he didn't even sell that much if you look back on it. he's
a great musician who is rightly trumped as a genius etc etc etc. and he
sold a lot of albums/singles but if you look at each individual product,
except for purple rain, most of them are moderate to simply good sellers.

i haven't seen his sales totals in a while. sometimes posts with lists
pop up on the org. but has any single one of his albums gone 1 mil + in
the last 10-15 years?

IstenSzek said:

Exactly right.
And now watch the album fall off the charts within a few weeks

IstenSzek said:

and there it is...

But isn't that the way he's chosen to be, he's not interested in charts and stuff, if he wanted to he could've really pushed every album he's released and maybe had some hits but i think he's happy being popular with his hardcore and not converting any new fans, i think we want him to be bigger than he wants to be only because we think so much of him, i remember here in the uk around 91 he was everywhere, every single got played every album got in the top 3 and stayed there for a while, Radio 1 had a Prince album launch day for Come, out of all the albums in the early 90's they chose the least commercial, around 93 when he did the Act II Wembley dates he was live on radio 1 daytime doing a special concert in the BBC concert hall, i think the name change did affect it, people mocked him for doing it, Gold was succesful singles and album and tour, 16 dates at wembley arena promoting an album that wasn't released and sold them all out. but then i think he'd had enough of the massive tours and he's not done 1 since. He's happy doing album's his own way because he's been there done that. We're clearly not happy with him doing that but at least we still have him releasing stuff frequently.

Black Ice was AC/DC first album in over 8 year.

Long Road out of Eden was the first studio album from the Eagles since 1979.

The large timespan between their last albums and their huge fanbase has to be a factor to the sucess of their wal*matr exclusives.

tc012009 said:

And the reason Guns 'N Roses' "Chinese Democracy" failed would be...?

muleFunk said:

All of that is conjecture.

Rogue588 said:

Because it ain't Guns N Roses. It's Axl being a bitch, per usual. No one cared anymore. It was all urban legend, and the final truth was such a huge let down. I bet sales of Appetite or the Illusion albums skyrocketed after Democracy, simply because it sucked so much. haha

And the nature of those bands, ACDC clearly new this would be the last album/tour so have pulled out all stops to make the best album they could and tour the arse off it, Eagles on the other hand have been back together for 10 years touring every couple so had reminded people they were still about and they also played the enorma domes every where, i saw them before Eden... came out at the Birmingham NIA and the arena is huge and was packed , good gig although they just stood there and played very well, not much to look at, nothing compared to 21 Nights at the O2.

ernestsewell said:

Although it is better than the last Velvet Revolver, i actually quite like Chinese Democracy, it just ain't GNR.

bigd74 said:

I agree, in that it's an Axl Rose solo album.

I liked both Velvet Revolver albums, and I'm not a hard rock kind of guy. But there was something really great about Libertad, and a bit more grown up than Contraband.

ernestsewell said:

The same could be said about Prince's new releases. Hardcore fans are the only people interested in new music from Prince.

The Eagles and AC/DC do not drop albums every year or every other year like Prince does. If this was billed as Prince first album in over a decade it probably could have drove sales more but that's not the case.

Plus, they appeal to the blue collar white america more than Prince does.

I think the album cover actually may have hurt. He may have been better off with just a black cover with Prince and Lotusflow3r in white letters on it. The goofy photoshop shit looks kind of tacky and gay.
[Edited 4/9/09 12:57pm]

Rogue588 said:

Chinese Democracy sold 537,000 copied which isn't bad considering it was leaked five months before its release. Also Axl did very little to promote the album.

It's actually a shame that it didn't do better as there are some good tracks on the album (although its a pale shadow of Appetite for Destruction).

Prince simply isn't as popular as most folks on here think he is (or wish he was)

AC/DC? you know what you're gonna get, no ballads, no funk, no jazz, just hard rock.

Prince likes to spread himself all over musical genres, nothing wrong with that at all! but it's always been a drawback when it comes to him selling massively outside his hardcore fanbase.

IstenSzek said:

Musicology went double platinum here in the States.

Rogue588 said:

From what I heard, Axl didn't want to promote the CD. That certainly hurt sales. At least Prince did Leno for 3 days a couple of weeks ago.

purplecam said:

Yeah, he cheated the system to do that. c'mon!

I feel Prince selcted to do something with a home-based company ..Target. In doing what he did, he and Target realized that people rarely go to a store for a single item. This was a way to get people into the store and spend their $$s. What a Marketing Home Run. This move might have helped save a job or 2. I think its cool he used a company from Minneapolis and, maybe, just maybe, it will quiet some of those individuals who want to say Prince has forgotten /foresaken Minneapolis for sunny California.

Marrk said:

Man please, if Billboard allowed it to go, then it was legit,whether you or anyone in here agrees with it or not. Even if the concert CD weren't counted, it would have gone platinum anyway. It was a hit album, period.

purplecam said:

Sure they allowed it, and good for Prince for being so clever, but they closed that loophole pretty sharpish. I neither agree nor disagree, fact remains, you're exagerrating it's success when the conversation was talking about real physical sales, not freebies handed out at gigs.

Marrk said:

And like I said, even without the freebies, it was a hit anyway. Prince got away with murder and I say RIGHT ON! to Prince for doing it.

Rogue588 said:

Well for me there isn't a Walmart close to where I live. There are several Targets. I live in DC, which is fairly metropolitan. All the Walmarts in this area are way, way, out in the burbs.

Ifsixwuz9 said:

Walmart doesn't concentrate on the inner city/urban areas. They focus on the suburbs and small towns. I live in Dallas and we don't have that many Wal Marts in the city of Dallas, but there are a ton on the outskirts of town.