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Thread started 06/26/19 3:49am

feeluupp

Originals Sales

Here are the first week U.S. sales estimate according to Hits Daily Double:

http://hitsdailydouble.co...;id=316951

*Prince (Rhino/Warner) SPS: 18-21k, SALES: 17-20k

It is projected to land at #16 with 18 -21k Sales plus streaming, Pure sales 17- 20k.

You can see just from the streaming to sales ratio that this album has not been streamed a lot.

Piano & A Microphone debuted at #11 with 34k sales, I'm surprised that Originals is projected to sell a lot less...

[Edited 6/26/19 3:51am]

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Reply #1 posted 06/26/19 3:53am

feeluupp

What does this mean for any future releases with the estate, it seems like Piano & A Microphone that was literally gone from the charts in 3 weeks and didn't even clear 50,000 in the U.S. will outsell Originals.

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Reply #2 posted 06/26/19 4:04am

antonb

Trying to make every release into an event ain't working. Set up a website and start emptying the vault. Directly to the hardcore fans. Rehearsals.shows, the lot!
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Reply #3 posted 06/26/19 4:55am

PURPLEIZED3121

Thanks for this thread. Will be interetsing to see how global sales fare. In all honesty IMHO with streaming now a 'thing' I think 100k of global physical sales is more than respectable for nuche records such as these.

All adds to the voulme of catalogue, long term sellers.

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Reply #4 posted 06/26/19 5:00am

EmmaMcG

Maybe the fact that it debuted on Tidal had a small impact on sales. I can't be the only one who just downloaded it illegally once the Tidal stream went live. Now, I did actually buy it on CD afterwards but I would assume that most people who downloaded it wouldn't bother buying something they already have. Nor would they bother to listen to it on Spotify or whatever if they've already been listening to it for 2 solid weeks up to that point.

Then there's also the fact that it hasn't been advertised all that well. Nobody I've talked to about it were even aware it existed. It seems like only hardcore Prince fans are paying attention to any new releases now and the amount of hardcore fans seem to be dwindling with every release. I agree with antonb, perhaps it's time for The Estate to set up some sort of Prince Vault store and just put everything on it.
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Reply #5 posted 06/26/19 5:11am

FrankieCoco1

EmmaMcG said:



Then there's also the fact that it hasn't been advertised all that well.


I think a lot of people would argue that this is the best promoted Prince release for years, e.g. the amount of coverage in the press (see all the links Bart and a few others have highlighted) and various associate artist interviews. There’s even been some attempt at social media.

However, I haven’t even seen it yet in any UK supermarkets, where most product is bought these days.
There may or may not be something coming!
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Reply #6 posted 06/26/19 5:17am

FrankieCoco1

By the way Mods - should this thread be in the main Originals thread?
There may or may not be something coming!
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Reply #7 posted 06/26/19 5:22am

feeluupp

FrankieCoco1 said:

By the way Mods - should this thread be in the main Originals thread?

This thread is talking specifically about sales and the chart positions, not a discussion about the album.

[Edited 6/26/19 5:26am]

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Reply #8 posted 06/26/19 5:28am

TheEnglishGent

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antonb said:

Trying to make every release into an event ain't working. Set up a website and start emptying the vault. Directly to the hardcore fans. Rehearsals.shows, the lot!

Yep, they need to start selling as much as they can as soon as they can to those of us who are still alive and care enough to buy it. Prince has never been a huge seller, outside of his most popular albums, especially towards the latter end of his career.

RIP sad
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Reply #9 posted 06/26/19 5:41am

jaawwnn

feeluupp said:

What does this mean for any future releases with the estate, it seems like Piano & A Microphone that was literally gone from the charts in 3 weeks and didn't even clear 50,000 in the U.S. will outsell Originals.

There's no reason for this, or any other, posthumous album to sell well amongst anyone except the hardcore Prince fans. Maybe the estate will finally cop on and stop trying to have a hit with tracks that are 30+ years old and sound like it too.

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Reply #10 posted 06/26/19 6:09am

EmmaMcG

FrankieCoco1 said:

EmmaMcG said:



Then there's also the fact that it hasn't been advertised all that well.


I think a lot of people would argue that this is the best promoted Prince release for years, e.g. the amount of coverage in the press (see all the links Bart and a few others have highlighted) and various associate artist interviews. There’s even been some attempt at social media.

However, I haven’t even seen it yet in any UK supermarkets, where most product is bought these days.


The links provided by Bart and others are from reviews and articles in music magazines or on music websites. There's been nothing in the way of single releases with accompanying music videos to actually promote the album to an audience who don't already know about it. And no, I don't count that awfully compiled rehearsal footage with Manic Monday playing in the background as a video.

The Michael Jackson estate made some major fuck ups with his posthumous material but at least they had actual music videos and promotion for songs like Love Never Felt So Good and Hollywood Tonight. And those videos have millions and millions of views on YouTube. With a bit more ambition, the Prince estate could have put together a better promotional package for Manic Monday and potentially had a minor hit on their hands.
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Reply #11 posted 06/26/19 6:53am

Genesia

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I bought that shit three times (so far). So I have more than done my part.

We don’t mourn artists because we knew them. We mourn them because they helped us know ourselves.
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Reply #12 posted 06/26/19 7:05am

RODSERLING

Like I said from the start,
1) Tidal streaming two weeks in advance hurt the sales
2) The delayed deluxe edition didn't maximize sales
3) Poor packaging makes no sense to buy a physical release.
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Reply #13 posted 06/26/19 7:17am

RODSERLING

Not even in the UK top 100 :
https://www.officialchart...ums-chart/
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Reply #14 posted 06/26/19 7:24am

RODSERLING

Let s say the next release next year is 1999 deluxe.
.
To avoid such a flop, they absolutely have to :
.
- including a live from this era remasterized in HD
- to make a one hour documentary for tv didcuting the making of the album, the outtakes, it's cultural and historical impact, etc.
- recertify the album 5*Platinum if necessary
- make a one hour take of the live to broadcast it on international tv.
- Use the unreleased Xtralovable music video shot by Prince in 2011, with the original 1982 outtake to make a music video on YouTube

- remasterized the music video on YouTube.
[Edited 6/26/19 7:25am]
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Reply #15 posted 06/26/19 7:31am

antonb

No we just need someone to make a blockbuster movie about him. Our last hope for genuine sales
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Reply #16 posted 06/26/19 7:44am

RODSERLING

antonb said:

No we just need someone to make a blockbuster movie about him. Our last hope for genuine sales


The movie Purple Rain is already about him
Strangely, Rocketman made signicantly less impact both on the box office and on overall sales than Bohemian Rhapsody.
.
.
And I don't think it s possible to impersonate Prince (his dance moves, etc. It would be ridiculous to even try)
.
And I don't think his life is much interesting from an entertaining point of view.
.
And note that both Elton John's and Queen outsold Prince two times in term of record sales, so the possible audience is not that high.
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Reply #17 posted 06/26/19 8:00am

antonb

So were fucked
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Reply #18 posted 06/26/19 8:07am

jaawwnn

RODSERLING said:

Let s say the next release next year is 1999 deluxe. . To avoid such a flop, they absolutely have to : . - including a live from this era remasterized in HD - to make a one hour documentary for tv didcuting the making of the album, the outtakes, it's cultural and historical impact, etc. - recertify the album 5*Platinum if necessary - make a one hour take of the live to broadcast it on international tv. - Use the unreleased Xtralovable music video shot by Prince in 2011, with the original 1982 outtake to make a music video on YouTube - remasterized the music video on YouTube. [Edited 6/26/19 7:25am]

Maybe, but more likely not. Prince already has too much released music for the average listener to care about hearing unreleased stuff. A super deluxe edition would do about as well as the Super Deluxe Editions of Roxy Music or Rolling Stones albums - fine, but not blowing up the charts and not selling by the bucketload.

It seems to be only Prince fans who have the deluded belief that if they don't sell 100 thousand+ copies then it'll all be over. The Marc Bolan estate have been churning out barrel scraping tapes of Bolan idling on his guitar into a tape recorder for decades for a tiny dedicated fanbase with no sign of stopping.


[Edited 6/26/19 8:08am]

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Reply #19 posted 06/26/19 8:14am

TheFman

they shot in their own feet. Even i as harcore fan didnt care about these releases one bit. If they just throw at us what they find first instead of releasing some coherent new old album with at least 70% unheard materials.

Or there's nothing more interesting to find in the vault of course. After this time you'd figure they already got their stuff together if they approached it a bit intelligently.

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Reply #20 posted 06/26/19 8:16am

TwiliteKid

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The thing you guys need to realize is that these sorts of projects have a different set of goals and benchmarks then your typical "new album" release.

I'm the PM at an agency that works with labels/artists on their album launches (in fact one of my current projects is also in the Hits Daily Double Top 20), and I can tell you from first-hand experience that Rhino (the catalogue division that is actually handling Prince at this point) is just fine with these results.

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Reply #21 posted 06/26/19 8:20am

scratchtasia

Originals debuts at #46 on the Billboard Top Album Sales chart dated June 29. This chart tallies physical sales (only CDs at this point, of course) and digital sales, but not streaming.

Its chart placement would probably be somewhat higher if the vinyl had come out on the same date. I'm also not sure of exactly the sales period it covers, because Madonna and the Boss debuted on the same chart week, but their release dates were June 14 and Prince's was June 21. I don't know why they would debut on the same week's chart. I guess Prince's numbers could just be from digital sales on Tidal.

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Reply #22 posted 06/26/19 8:25am

scratchtasia

Following up my own post, I now see that Originals debuts at #9 on the Billboard Digital Albums chart dated June 29. I'm not sure if this chart includes streaming. But that's all got to be from Tidal.

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Reply #23 posted 06/26/19 9:01am

feeluupp

RODSERLING said:

Not even in the UK top 100 : https://www.officialchart...ums-chart/

Wow so this is the lowest selling posthumous release so far...

4ever and Piano & A Microphone outsold Originals...

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Reply #24 posted 06/26/19 9:04am

feeluupp

At this point it might not even pass 50,000 world wide which isn't just a flop it means it might not even break even for the distribution cost.

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Reply #25 posted 06/26/19 9:06am

Bishop31

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Other than Purple Rain and the Batman album, Prince has never been a top seller as far as album sales. So, this shouldn't come as a surprise to us Prince fans. Most non-hardcore fans have no awareness of Prince outside of his 1999/Purple Rain era. So, an album titled "The Originals" sparks zero interest from the general public. I don't know what the goals are from the Estate, when it comes to album releases. But, we need to be realistic with our expectations with these chart positions.

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Reply #26 posted 06/26/19 9:11am

feeluupp

Bishop31 said:

Other than Purple Rain and the Batman album, Prince has never been a top seller as far as album sales. So, this shouldn't come as a surprise to us Prince fans. Most non-hardcore fans have no awareness of Prince outside of his 1999/Purple Rain era. So, an album titled "The Originals" sparks zero interest from the general public. I don't know what the goals are from the Estate, when it comes to album releases. But, we need to be realistic with our expectations with these chart positions.

He has never been a "TOP" seller, yes he hasn't had Madonna or MJ numbers except for Purple Rain, but he had been a consistant seller from 1983 - 1993 all his albums sold in the millions and in the span he sold almost over 50 million albums world wide, which is a great commercial success.

Nobody did expect Originals to sell well, but tbh I did not excpect Originals to sell this low, way low than Piano & A Microphone.

I really think the estate should be releasing box set deluxe editions of his most popular albums first and a bonus cd that includes vault tracks from that era, but just coming up with these obscure releases doesn't benefit the fans nor the commercial potential.

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Reply #27 posted 06/26/19 9:18am

TwiliteKid

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feeluupp said:

At this point it might not even pass 50,000 world wide which isn't just a flop it means it might not even break even for the distribution cost.

Again, you're looking at this through the wrong lens. The label's and sales projections/expecations are much lower than you think they are.

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Reply #28 posted 06/26/19 9:20am

TwiliteKid

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scratchtasia said:

Originals debuts at #46 on the Billboard Top Album Sales chart dated June 29. This chart tallies physical sales (only CDs at this point, of course) and digital sales, but not streaming.

Its chart placement would probably be somewhat higher if the vinyl had come out on the same date. I'm also not sure of exactly the sales period it covers, because Madonna and the Boss debuted on the same chart week, but their release dates were June 14 and Prince's was June 21. I don't know why they would debut on the same week's chart. I guess Prince's numbers could just be from digital sales on Tidal.

The album was released early on iTunes (and possibly elsewhere), so pre-orders and any sales that occured prior to the Thursday night cutoff were shifted to the previous week.

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Reply #29 posted 06/26/19 9:21am

feeluupp

TwiliteKid said:

feeluupp said:

At this point it might not even pass 50,000 world wide which isn't just a flop it means it might not even break even for the distribution cost.

Again, you're looking at this through the wrong lens. The label's and sales projections/expecations are much lower than you think they are.

I don't know what label would project lower than 50,000 sales world wide... lol

What about the cost for the deluxe edition, multiple vinyl colors, etc...

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