The total for Prince's first Columbia outing will be enhanced by new-fangled venue sales, as the purchase of every ticket on his current tour includes the cost of his new album, which is distributed at his shows. Since there is a value ascribed to those CDs, Nielsen SoundScan will count those copies in its tallies.

To remain consistent with other pre-street sales windows—including direct-to-consumer sales or albums that are sold in Christian outlets before they move to mainstream accounts—The Billboard 200 will only count CDs from shows that happened on or after the street date for Prince's "Musicology."

The cycle for venue sales is Thursday through Wednesday because of the extra steps required to verify that data, so the only show from the tracking week that will count toward Prince's opening week will be the April 21 show at Colonial Center in Columbia, S.C. Capacity for that venue is 17,500, so that is the maximum contribution that concert-distributed CDs will yield in the first week. Got it?

© 2004 VNU eMedia Inc. All rights reserved.


http://www.billboard.com/...1000495560

I can't believe someone will steal my post!

You can have it.

http://www.prince.org/msg/7/91021

cryndove said:

bwa hahaha i posted the info be4 both of u!
[This message was edited Sat Apr 24 14:02:51 2004 by getwild007]

cryndove said:

great minds think alike.....

getwild007 said:

Yes, but that was my post @ NPGMC you referred to in your post.

cryndove said:

yeah, but... I mean... ah crap. ok u win. but dammit, i still posted it here 1st!

I never had some much fun posting a news item.

me neither. now HAVE AT U!!!

hmm - this guarantees that Prince will stay near the top of the charts for months. It should also ensure he does more "sales" in week 2. What does the upcoming tour schedule look like?

It is a bit of a fake. How do we know the people who went to the shows even wanted the cd? Sure, they took it home, but that doesn't mean they liked it.

Prince is just making himself look good. Kind of corporate propaganda

2freaky4church1 said:

So then he's doing what the rest of the music biz does?

manci said:

Besides do you think somebody's really going to enter the doors and say "Hey, I don't want that shit!" when the cd is handed to them.

if this is true then from a fans perspective its a shame the album hasnt been out already or to conincide with the tour (though the way things have built up have been perfectly done so i guess really its all good) cos how many cds has he given away alreay? 300,000? thats nearly gold right there. looks like 700,000 will be given away after this though, so musicology is going to go at least platinum (if first week sales are 150k plus). how cool!

2freaky4church1 said:

What difference does that make?? You've never purchased a Top 10 album that you didn't like after you bought it????

Ok, this sounds great and I agree...The Cd is being included in the cost of the ticket anyways....so this means the following shows should be included into the count:

21.04.2004: Columbia/SC, The Colonial Center, $75,
22.04.2004: Knoxville/TN, Thompson-Boling Arena, $65
23.04.2004: Raleigh/NC, RBC (Royal Bank Of Canada) Center, $75
25.04.2004: Ft. Lauderdale - Sunrise/FL, Office Depot Center, $76.50

Plus the Cd retail sales...BESTBUY has an awesome deal for $9.99 and Trust...ppl have taken advantage of that, whether they have a copy from the show or not!

Its always great to have pictures, crisp quality of the musicology video and words to your favorite jams on the new disc!

So I predict PRINCE will enter the TOP 200 Charts@ #2!!!


www.newpowerdetroit.com
Michigan's Monthly PRINCE/NPGMC Party
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read the first post again - only the april 21st date will be included in this weeks total - the rest will be part of next week's total because the reporting week is different - seems odd to me, though - they can report the soundscan numbers independent of the concert revenues.

alandail said:

So why don't all the one's going back to Reno count?? They're sales.

that's explained in the first post too.

EverlastingNow said:

I find this bizarre, much as I would like Prince to do well in the charts. The cost of the album may well be included in the ticket price - but there's no choice involved in it. It's not like you have a choice to buy a concert ticket WITHOUT the album and save a few quid. Everyone attending a concert would not necessarily have bought an album - for instance if I drag a non-prince fan along they wouldn't necessarily have gone bought that album afterwards, but of course they're going to keep the album if someone's shoved it in their pocket on the way into the venue! I normally only buy one album, but this way, if I go to multiple concerts, it's like I've bought multiple albums?!

This is going to give an artificially inflated view of how well the album is selling, and it just seems a bit of a cheat to me - it would be like if a Sony executive bought a crate load of albums and just kept them in his basement or something...

That's business.

PurpleKnight said:

Well, that's no good news about the REAL sales P is gonna make with this album
The people who went to the concert are gonna buy the retail edition too to have the booklet, the credit and stuff...

WHO WOULD BUY A CD TWICE IN THE SAME MONTH???

Business???
so isn't it true Prince doesn't care about the business???

Next Step??? Sign with a mayor record company?

business is busiMess...

2freaky4church1 said:

it is fake...but thats how the "music industry" works. Its a control thing. You bring money into their pockets and remain the darlin' then you'll stay at number #1!

metalorange said:[quote]EverlastingNow said:[quote]



How many people are dragged to a Prince concert???? i think it's fair to count the cd's as sales sure us hardcore fans bought the cd despite having the promo already but how many didnt because they got the cd at the concert,,,i even think Prince gets screwed on the charts because the cd's before April 21st dont count

metalorange said:

No choice?? It's not they attended a Prince show and got Britney for free, THAT would be no choice.

EverlastingNow said:

Okay, well what if when you bought tickets for a Prince show, the price of a Time album or one of his proteges or buddies was included in the price and you got one of their albums given out. That album would appear to get 'massive' sales too even if people attending a Prince concert weren't interested in that act. It's the same matter of principle.

[i]Billboard will count CD's given at concerts The total for Prince's first Columbia outing will be enhanced by new-fangled venue sales, as the purchase of every ticket on his current tour includes the cost of his new album, which is distributed at his shows. Since there is a value ascribed to those CDs, Nielsen SoundScan will count those copies in its tallies. [/b]

Good Lord I can hear it now... he gave the CD's away and still couldn't dent the charts.

Well ATTA BOY!! why else would he give them away

if you guys go to ebay, you'll see how many people didn't want the cd and may not even think about the fact that they "paid" for the cd. Many people see it as a "gift with purchase" sort of thing.


I have 2 promo copies and I bought the cd this week. I will see prince one more time and I wonder if I can say..."Do I get a discount of I don't want the cd".....doubt it....but Prince is an innovative genius. The industry is watching this...believe me.

Prince tricked us!!