definitely makes a strong case in point

I disagree that staying off streaming services means having a gold album.  Cause does not equal effect.

They did have a killer video for the first song (which WAS available on Spotify) and a lot of great promotion.

I just think the jury is out on all of this.  Few people I know use Spotify, so I think you are placing way too much emphasis on it.

Most people who use Spotify wouldn't purcahse the album through iTunes. If they use the free version, they're probably into free music (i.e torrents).If they pay for Spotify, I don't think they would want to spend even more money when they pay a monthly fee. If you paid for Spotify would you feel bad "stealing" The Black Keys album?

I use Spotify to listen to music before it comes out to decide whether I want to purchase the whole album on iTunes. But I often do to make it easier to port around on devices. I know a lot of other people my age (20s) who do this too. Also, I wouldn't underestimate the # of Spotify users, but maybe that's just me extrapolating too much from my limited group of friends.

To note, I bought "El Camino" after not finding it on Spotify :-/ But only because I trusted the band would likely put out a good album. I like it, but think they've done better.

Bryan, 

This is speculation at this point.  There's not enough data out there showing the purchasing habits of Spotify users (keep in mind also that there are different levels of Spotify users - not everyone streams the same amount).

The thing is, that these figures are inconclusive on how Spotify would have affected album sales and/or total album revenue (including streams).

There is no control for us to compare these figures to. 

Nothing has changed re: marketing from the old days.

1. Release to Radio/Retail (iTunes) and work at least to strong singles for 6 months

2.then send it off to the Columbia Record House - the record clubs (SPOTIFY) for the fade

Even though I do agree that Spotify is not the way to go, I have my reservations about whether or not this is significant, because El Camino has been quite unanimously hailed as one of the best albums of 2011. And I think it matters A LOT when it comes to sales.

I agree that this album is simply selling well because it's an excellent album. Also, the Black Keys have done a great job promoting it (late night TV appearances, etc). Finally, it came out during the peak of the holiday shopping season. I know I purchased a couple of copies as gifts (plus one for myself, a MOG subsciber and iTunes avoider - the sound quality sucks).

I am an avid Spotify user & haven't heard the album because it's not on Spotify.

I'm happy for the Black Keys but i'm not sure what this proves.

Some people will go gold / some won't.

Believe me, I WANT to agree with the notion that the album is selling because it's not on Spotify. But I pose this question.

Do you really think the 12.5 million subscribers on Spotify saw that they couldn't get the Coldplay album on Spotify so they rushed to itunes to get it instead? It seems to me that the mindset of MOST of the Spotify members, being that 10 million of those members are listening using the free option, weren't going to buy the album just because it's not on Spotify. Especially when the majority of those listeners are between 15-35, and the KNOW how to rapidshare or torrent something they want for free. I'm simply not convinced.

There's a lot of people who want to pay and will go to iTunes. 

200,000+ iTunes is not bad.

And a lot of those people are on Spotify.

sorry, i meant the Black Keys, although Coldplay still applies . .  

I'm still not convinced. 

200K+ is great for itunes sales, but how can we be sure that the majority of those sales, or even the minority of those sales are directly related to the absence of the album on Spotify?

The closest evidence I've seen of Spotify cannibalising sales is the situation with ST Holdings. But that was countered by Kudos Distribution claiming to have an opposite experience with Spotify. Which I still don't understand, because they would've had to have waaaaaaaaay more streams to pull in the kind of money he was implying his company was getting from Spotify. 

Something doesn't add up.

I'd be interested to know how many unique spins the single got on spotify...

I don't really have any grand scheme as to how that would explain if the windowing made a difference or not, I just like seeing data. 

Small semantics point, but the album is nearly certainly Gold already.  RIAA certification is based on albums shipped, not sold.  If the album has sold 470,000 units, there is a logical presumption that there are at least 30,000 physical copies already on the streets ready for sale in the forthcoming week.  That would easily put it at over 500,000 meaning it's already a Gold record.

Jay, hello.  I'm wondering can you answer how they [RIAA] handles returns on the matter of these certification calculations?

How many years have they been at this?-It is not an instant success and it has taken time for them to really see the traction

They should be congratulated

JM

A few questions and answers:

Q: How many US users does Spotify have?

A: 2+ million

Q: How many people have internet access in the US?

A: 272 million

Q: How many use internet for music?

A: No data available, but about 50% maybe? 136 million

Q: So can a streaming ban affecting 1.5 % of music lovers have caused a surge in sales?

A: Not very likely if you ask me.

Some balanced reader comments here...

it will get harder and harder to argue this...

While yes, one could present the arguement this way, others can say that the decision to make Spotify users wait is irrelevant.

The Black Keys were poised to make Gold status with this album regardless - given the build up, the strong single, and the fact that the release was timed to capitalize on fourth quarter sales.

I agree with the previous comment that said that most Spotify users don't purchase music anyway (they use torrents) - so any revenue Spotify users bring in is additional funds and only augments existing digital revenues.

The fact that it is a wonderful album might also have something to do with it.

The music industry is on itslast straws. Their approach has been wronng since the late 80's/ a real deal sessioning pro musican in rock n roll.  The approach should be to find band memebers who individual have the touch and talent on par with pAge, Hendrix, Zappa, etc.    TBK are just not musicans with raw drop-jaw talent. GAin, the ndustry at its low point (label sare sinking) are pushing alternative badly arranged, mediocre rock in the form of trend rock.   TBK do not add any spin to garage rock that has been done much better before.   I like my rock bands to be super human like Zep, Rush, YEs.   Canned Heat, Seeds, 10 years after, James Gang, and of course ZZ Top all real msucians, whereas TBK are basement tapers. SO many better players have been passed by. The youth has been corrupted by such mediocre music for so many years, and hears a fuzz and declares TBK as the MEssiah. US  real rock afficianados are still waiting for you young guns to redifine or reinvetn rock (cause its all been done before, it can oly be reinvented). Every TBK song could be optimized, but suffers from uneven arrangement, and poor riffs. Every song goes down hill cause they really do not have the touch and dont really "have it" like Derek Trucks, Trety, Hanes-even in its simplicity the black originatirs are all you need to refer too. Zep at least added something when they plaigarized, These bands troday are posseurs, and poisturin gbecause they lack the raw talent. If only the labels took the right apporach, the one that saw all this amazing music 60's-80's

The only way to provide some genuine answers is to do some real market research on Spotify user behaviour, which to my knowledge, has not happened yet.