Think about it, now we know for certain that the sales of concert tickets are included in the sales ranking and chart position, add up the total tickets sold in the US. You will find that is a hefty amount of records, including the first week sales of 160,000, with this alone, you have around 600,000! Now bear in mind that actual sales tend to dip by 35-40% next week we should see a further 100,000 sold at retail, a further 60,000 the week after and throughout the course of the album promotion say 40,000 until the end of the US tour! This adds up to over 1million in the US! With great promotion set to continue this figure looks fairly low actually, since u have to remember most fans and some other casual concert goers will repurchase the album even although they own and have contributed to the sales already!

If this idea works in Europe and Asia, well he could reach 7-10million!

FunkyBrotha said:

Optimistic much?

If he comes to Europe, he better drop the 'free' album deal included in the ticket price. I've downloaded it from the NPGMC and bought it at retail. I don't need another.

I think this is a US only deal. The speed he works, he'll probably have something new to tempt us with by then anyway.

Hopefuly.
[This message was edited Sun Apr 25 11:27:25 2004 by Marrk]

I don't think even Prince is stupid enough to hand out the album at the European shows. If he hits here in say...October - he'd be handing out a product that was 6 months old.
I think it was just a US thing.

---

even still, with some mj style promo over here in Europe, this album could be his 2nd biggest seller easy!

i think this whole 'give-away' tactic is devaluing the album.

so he could do a million... great. what if justin Timberlake hooks up a deal where McDonalds say 'get the JT Big Mac and you get a free album'. They re-compensate JT for the difference in cost of an album compared to the Big Mac (therefore the cost to the consumer is hidden in the cost of the Big Mac - like Prince and the concert tix).

Now some JT fans go and get this burger to get the CD. But some are just your avarage Joe, who like to the look of the tasty burger and doesn't care for the CD.

This isn't too far from Prince. This whole tour has been promoted as The Hits / Purple Rain 24th Anniversay. Don't for one second kid yourself that it's been promoted by Musicology.

Some of these concert goers are up for a bit of prince, the hits, 'hey maybe he'll do kiss... cool' - they don't care for the new CD.

does that mean that the JT album becoming the biggest selling record of all time (due to the give-away) is a good thing..? is Musicology becoming one of princes most sucsessful albums ever a good thing..?

personally i don't think so.
[This message was edited Sun Apr 25 11:44:08 2004 by NME]
[This message was edited Sun Apr 25 11:44:53 2004 by NME]

exactly purpleknight, its obviously part of a bigger plan, to simply fade away again after this would b so stupid

FunkyBrotha said:

if 'the plan' was to release a live album of every tour he did, then i would be shitting myself with excitement.

but we all know it isn't.

"he doesn't like to look back". so it'll be some more experimental shit back on npg records that he knows off the back of a million selling album, (musicology), may just get over 10,000 sales / downloads....

next record will b a mixture of princely weirdness, but still fairly commercial

Why the fuck would anyone wanna buy the album twice?

EvilWhiteMale said:

hell knows. i really don't understand why anyone bought the album after getting at the gig. it wasn't going to be any better in pretty packaging..

if you like the album, then you got the album. i see no reason either..

NME said:

I guess that's just what fams do.

FunkyBrotha said:

MJ style promo?
Like floating a 50 foot statue of yourself down the River Thames, like MJ did, you mean?

---

NME said:

Ah nowadays pop is all about marketing, so what if Prince pulls it off this way, i dont care.
At least Prince is a cool entertainer, a great musician and not some kind of Justin or
Britney poser who doesn't know too much about music.

C'mon give the man a break, we all know he's not 25 anymore and the 8ties are over.
They ended about 15 years ago remember.

PaisleyPark said:

i agree. BUT - if prince buys into the marketing over substance, then he's as bad as Britney. IMO

EvilWhiteMale said:

I am in no way, shape or form a 'fam,' but I did get purchase musicology retail even though I already got the 'promo' at the simulcast.

Why?
-I like the majority of the album so far.

-I like having the original packaging. Even with the annoying design of the box, the book, IMO, is worth having.

-the retail copy has the musicology video on it. Call me a completist, but I wanted to have that...

For me, purchasing the CD retail says less about me being a 'fam' and more about me being a neurotic, compulsive, completist music collector- and, I can say there are much worse things to be in life.. My checkbook might not like it, but oh well!

NME said:

i downloaded the album from NPGMC and burned it to cd and then went out and bought it again on release day like many other people here did

NME said:

Or Nena!

Mazerati said:

I downloaded it too, but I think it'll end up in the recycle bin pretty soon.

EvilWhiteMale said:

why?

PaisleyPark said:

Cuz it's a waste of hard drive space. I don't like holding onto music I think is garbage.

EvilWhiteMale said:

You said that three weeks ago! Still got it though

I reckon there's something on there even for you EWM.

i deal with the heads of promotion at sony, and they honestly feel this will be one of princes biggest selling albums of all time... i wont even tell you what they think it will sell cause you wont believe me... but they have a lot of plans for it... and even expect some grammy nominations...

some of the things they said sounded pretty out there but i guess we will see what happens, so far everything they predicted is coming true...

Marrk said:

I tried to give it a chance, but it's so piss poor. I actually did like Cinnamon Girl and A Million Days, but I'm losing it for them too. They sound corny now.

manonearth said:

Wow, I want to see what Sony has on it's plate.

NME said:

That's kinda the point. I'm sure that a majority of the audience at these arena shows are more interested in hearing the hits than in getting the new cd.

The "giveaway" gives Prince the opportunity to introduce those fans to what he is doing now and to perhaps keep thier interests for future projects. If they don't care the new cd, then fine, maybe they give it away to someone who will like it. Either way, I didn't hear anyone at the concert complaining that they got a cd with their ticket.

p.s. It's the 20th PR anniversary, not 24th


.
[This message was edited Mon Apr 26 11:16:04 2004 by Universaluv]