iTunes Chart-Toppers (a/o February 21st):
Coldplay has already pulled impressive, first-week album sales stats. But now, it looks like a monstrously large percentage of those sales were in the form of digital albums, particularly in the US. We just received a complete first-week breakdown on Coldplay's Mylo Xyloto, and it shows that out of 447,411 total albums sold, more than 300,000 were digital. Or, more precisely, 302,183, or 67.5% of total, according to first-week album sales tallied by Nielsen Soundscan.
That complements a British digital total of more than 83,000, a more modest 40 percent chunk. And separately, Billboard has just estimated that worldwide digital album sales have pushed north of half-a-million, over just the initial week.
Of course, Spotify - or the lack thereof - is a major part of this story. But another driver may also be an older demographic, one more wed to the album format. As CDs continue to ebb from the landscape, one theory is that older buyers are simply migrating towards the digital equivalent of what they're already comfortable with.
Comments Closed
V Thursday, November 03, 2011
CDs are still better. They are usually cheaper...
BTW...PDF booklets for digital albums should be madotory
Visitor Sunday, November 06, 2011
CDs aren't cheaper actually. They average around $13 where as iTunes and Amazon are either $9.99 or 11.99.
HansH Friday, November 04, 2011
Paul,
"Of course, Spotify - or the lack thereof - is a major part of this story"
No way!! This only exists in your head. Think again!
If everyone in the US was using Spotify you may have a point here. But Spotify only has about 2 million US users. No way that this relative small group can generate this shift in sales.
rjb Friday, November 04, 2011
I think the point is that it's *not* on Spotify.
HansH Friday, November 04, 2011
I know what the point is. DMN is suggesting that Coldplay sells way more because the album is not on Spotify. I doubt that very much.
LLoza Friday, November 04, 2011
@HansH
"DMN is suggesting that Coldplay sells way more because the album is not on Spotify."
Just curious where this opinion is? I think that's a potential takeaway, yes. But not sure if that's the point here?
Erik P Friday, November 04, 2011
Coldplay chose not to stream their new album on ANY streaming site. Not just Spotify...
nope Friday, November 04, 2011
The Spotify thing is still a scarlet herring, as has already been pointed out. The laziest journalism I've seen for months.
Who is dribbling this data out, anyway? Could it possibly be an affiliate of the same PR company that has managed to keep C---P--- in the upper reaches and front pages of every website from newspapers to MSN to NME to well, *here* by drip-feeding stories over the past three or four weeks?
Also bear in mind C---P---'s target audience fit more squarely in the bracket of "knows how to use iTunes, but not BitTorrent" than any other band I can think of ;-)
Either way, it's called a "successful album launch". Remember them? When a half-decent product meets a half-decent campaign?
Jesus, if even C---P---'s success with such a straightforward campaign and record is considered radical and "crazy", this industry is deeper in the hole than ever before. We've forgotten what a win looks like...
MisterSoftee Friday, November 04, 2011
I think this SPotify thing is huge. Thing about it: the biggest thing since slice bread just got X'd from the mktng plan and it won't be the first time. And It's not just Spotify, but Rhapsody and Rdio and whoever else. Those are the low rent guys from now on to the super star.
Gurus Everywhere Friday, November 04, 2011
Shows how tied the music industry "gurus"* bloggers are to the IT industry advertising budgets.
*"gurus" as in "we are full of shit and have never ever met a working composer in person".
Christian Monday, November 07, 2011
I think this is big news for established, well known artists, but emerging artists still need streaming channels to promote and expose their music to a larger audience they wouldn't otherwise have access to. So, if we're talking about how big dogs like CP can leverage their new project for income, what they decided to do truly means something. But all it does is show that the gap between the haves and have nots is still suspect. Though I don't know where we will land, for now, I think we're required to embrace both the old and the new as we see the best emerging music business models come into their own.
Nate Friday, November 04, 2011
I would be curious to know what percentage of the label's marketing spend went to the digital players? I did not see a huge marketing presence in the Target circular, the Best Buy circular and any other physical retailer for that matter. If the spend was/is concentrated in the digital space, of course you're going to see a sales migration towards that space.
@jacobtell Friday, November 04, 2011
Jacob Tell
It's not a trend any longer
Adam Friday, November 04, 2011
How do you prove a negative?
Everyone says staying off Spotify increases sales but can you prove that they would have had lower sales had they stayed on?
James Friday, November 04, 2011
As you say, it obviously can't be proven definitively. But likewise we all know that if sales had been poor, plenty of people would have used this to beat Coldplay and the Spotify doubters with ("Look at how people turn to piracy without Spotify!" "Conclusive proof that Spotify is now an essential discovery/marketing tool!") - all of which would have been equally unprovable, of course.
Getty JP Sunday, November 06, 2011
Stupid labels and artists that complain about Spotify and streaming stores not paying enough money, your anger is directed at the wrong place.
http://www.brandingmagazine.com/2011/11/05/apple-bonus-time-400-million-for-exec-board/
Why doesn't Apple cut the labels / artists in on the device sales? Microsoft did with Zune.
Instead of bitching over pennies per stream, why not get some of the bonus pool $ they pay their execs? Instead of supporting servcies like Spotify, MOG and Rdio which will be the future, you're holding on to a liferaft with a hole in it.
unknown Sunday, November 06, 2011
As a producer of EDM, what this is telling me is that the US consumer is becoming more comfortable with Digital Music Purchase. I have all ways sold a tone of Techno oversea's through Itunes (who I am signed directly to with my label and do not use a middle man for distribution.), Djdownload, Beatport etc.
But with in the last year, the US territory on Itunes is picking up speed and I am selling far more this year than ever, as a label on Itunes. (Been with Itunes since 2003).
Cold Play is showing, that the up and coming Generation is far more comfortable with digital Music as well as the current generation.
ITunes is and will be the dominate player. With PING and SHAZZAM (sp), the Digtial Movement grows stronger.
So, My hats off to the Conusmers for purchasing Digital EP and Hats off to COLD PLAY as they are a talented band and I had fun remixing their "CLOCKS" track years ago!.
Sofya Monday, November 07, 2011
As a Spotify user, I was a little upset Coldplay didn't jump on board..Then I saw this chart...
http://g00dl00ks.wordpress.com/2011/11/07/more-depressing-news-about-spotify-how-much-music-artists-make-online/
-Sofie
http://g00dl00ks.wordpress.com
@SofieGladysheva
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