First Week Sales

[Marc Nathan]

As per "Soundscan"

Total Units Sold: 966

However, that number is a little high, as it breaks down as follows:

Chain Stores: 385

Independent Stores: 402

Non-Traditional: 179

In Soundscan, Independent stores are "weighted" and can credit one sale as as many as 10 or as few as 2. This is because Soundscan compensates for not having all Independent stores signed up. So, the 385 sold in Chain stores, and the 179 sold on-line are weighted 1 to 1, and that's 534, and then the 402 is probably closer to 150, so really the set sold somewhere in the neighborhood of 650-700 units in week one.

Additionally, people who didn't buy the entire album, but chose to buy single tunes at iTunes, did so as follows:

ARTIST TITLE SALES

RASPBERRIES GO ALL THE WAY 34

RASPBERRIES I'M A ROCKER 5

RASPBERRIES ECSTACY 6

RASPBERRIES I DON'T KNOW WHAT I WANT 7

RASPBERRIES HARD TO GET OVER A HEART BREAK 2

RASPBERRIES OVERNIGHT SENSATION [HIT RECORD] 11

RASPBERRIES DON'T WANT TO SAY GOODBYE 5

RASPBERRIES PARTY'S OVER 5

RASPBERRIES I CAN REMEMBER 11

RASPBERRIES NEEDLES AND PINS 12

RASPBERRIES LAST DANCE 6

RASPBERRIES LET'S PRETEND 15

RASPBERRIES IF YOU CHANGE YOUR MIND 8

RASPBERRIES COME AROUND AND SEE ME 7

RASPBERRIES MAKIN' IT EASY 5

RASPBERRIES NOBODY KNOWS 7

RASPBERRIES SHOULD I WAIT 8

RASPBERRIES TONIGHT 16

RASPBERRIES PLAY ON 4

RASPBERRIES I CAN'T EXPLAIN 11

RASPBERRIES I WANNA BE WITH YOU 17

[marvin]

Great info Marc. Is this accessible somewhere, or do you receive it because you're in the 'business'?

Marv

[Poor4Life]

It's tough to imagine how many more album sales there would be if individual tracks weren't available as opposed to having to purchase the complete album. Is there a way to gauge if the same person, say bought "Go All The Way" and one or two other tracks, or are they strictly individual tracks purchased?

Do they count these as "songle" sales then? I'm confused, the industry certainly had changed!

Jeff

[hollies65]

Amazon is not included in this? The the big retail stores online departments?

[hollies65]

I just read up...only includes items that have been scanned at a register...Not the deluxe editions at raspberriesonine.com nor Amazon nor places like Best Buy.com.

[hollies65]

WEll...I may be wrong according to Marc...but it did say that ONLY barcodes at a register are counted. I have no idea.

[marvin]

Just my guess here, but I don't believe that copies sold through any website (Raspberries, Amazon, etc.) would register with Soundscan. Only copies sold through retailers (i.e. barcoded) would register as 'units sold.' So, Rykodisc and those at Raspberries Central are probably the best resources for actual 'units sold.'

Marv

[Marc Nathan]

no... AMAZON absolutely does count (as Non-Traditional) as does BEST BUY.com (most probably as Chain, but POSSIBLY as Non-Traditional... I will double check that in the morning.)

Now, I spent 125 dollars, and HAVE NOT RECEIVED mine, so I'm pissed... Only because I hate knowing that 1000 people are already enjoying something I paid a lot of money for.

[Al K]

I understand your anger and frustration, Marc, but what they're enjoying is NOTHING compared to what you'll be receiving.

It is very interesting that I randomly decided to check out EC.com now, because just before I logged on I just printed your label and packaged your order - it will hit the USPS tomorrow.

Al

[Raspyrock]

Delay mine a tad so I will have a chance to return from WAB 1st!!!!

Think LE will/should go out before SE anyway.

[Poor4Life]

Don't forget mine Al !!! lol

Jeff

[Al K]

My opinion is that the "weighting" factor for Indie stores is out of sync for this release. Ryko and I have been reviewing the retail and wholesale orders, and with the exception of Transworld (FYE, Coconuts, Wherehouse, Sam Goodys, etc.) the HUGE majority of orders are from Indie stores and one stops.

[mellie]

Just curious (Al?) - any idea how many copies have actually left Rykodisc warehouse up to and through the first seven days? Do they even release that info?

[Don_Krider]

Marc,

I'm wondering how Soundscan reports on an album like Raspberries "Live On Sunset Strip," which has two different bar codes for the standard edition which is 014431087820 --- http://rykodistribution.net/artist_title.php?artist_id=13102&media_id=20747 --- and for the deluxe edition which is 014431087929 --- http://rykodistribution.net/artist_title.php?artist_id13102&media_id=20746 .

Are the Soundscan sales figures you reported combined from the two different bar codes for the different versions of the product, or can the sales be broken down to show sales for each edition? Are copies sold via Raspberries official website counted, too? Also, what time period are the sales you reported from? Are the sales reported daily, where one could track a growth sales pattern, or only weekly?

Thanks for posting the figures. I hope you don't mind the questions (I tried to answer them for myself, but the VNU and Nielsen (the folks behind Soundscan sites) reps aren't real helpful. Nor is the Artist Toolbox site at http://www.artisttoolbox.com/free/soundscan.html .

Don Krider

[Don_Krider]

Just curious (Al?) - any idea how many copies have actually left Rykodisc warehouse up to and through the first seven days? Do they even release that info?

That is a terrific question. I'm wondering if the sales data by region is available, too, to see where the group's sales strength is?

Don Krider

[Betsey]

Hey Al, I am right here in Ohio!!! If I slip you a few extra bucks, could you get mine out soon?

[JohnO]

Just wondering how many of us will be at WAB, secretly worrying about whether our neighbors might be stealing our Ltd Edition packages placed by USPS behind our screen doors.....

[raspberrywine]

Thats why it would be interesting to know how many Ryko has shipped of all 3 packages. Because then you get a better idea of absolute numbers as opposed to saying the Amazon sales dont count, sales to bald guys dont count, sales to german shepherds over the age of 4 dont count etc.

[Marc Nathan]

Can O' Worms opened

I merged the three titles listed.

Barcode ending in 10879 did 86 last week, 820 this week. The first 86 are what are called street date violations. Probably sold the day before. 85 of them were at Independent stores with 4 getting credited in Philly, and 81 in New York City. The example of weighting is pretty obvious here. 81 is 9x9, so there's a reasonable chance that a store weighted 9 to 1 sold 9 copies. (I have a hard time believing a store weighted 3 to 1 sold 27 copies, because what indie store in NY would have 27 copies prior to street date?)

Barcode ending in 08786 sold 57 pieces, all "Non-Traditional" and ALL digital -- so most probably iTunes, or something dot com. This listing is "RASPBERRIES LIVE ON SUNSET STRIP" where the other two are just listed as "LIVE ON SUNSET STRIP."

The third listing has a barcode ending 08796 and the 4 copies sold were all "digital" - so that's almost definitely iTunes, though there is a different barcode from the other digital release.

All these titles probably SHOULD be merged, but they are separate packages, so...

And that's the way it is...

[marvin]

Thanks for the number crunching Marc, but do we know if in fact copies were sold to "bald guys" and to "german shepherds over the age of 4"?

Marv

[Leff'tHome]

[Don_Krider]

Can O' Worms opened

I merged the three titles listed.

Barcode ending in 10879 did 86 last week, 820 this week. The first 86 are what are called street date violations. Probably sold the day before. 85 of them were at Independent stores with 4 getting credited in Philly, and 81 in New York City. The example of weighting is pretty obvious here. 81 is 9x9, so there's a reasonable chance that a store weighted 9 to 1 sold 9 copies. (I have a hard time believing a store weighted 3 to 1 sold 27 copies, because what indie store in NY would have 27 copies prior to street date?)

Barcode ending in 08786 sold 57 pieces, all "Non-Traditional" and ALL digital -- so most probably iTunes, or something dot com. This listing is "RASPBERRIES LIVE ON SUNSET STRIP" where the other two are just listed as "LIVE ON SUNSET STRIP."

The third listing has a barcode ending 08796 and the 4 copies sold were all "digital" - so that's almost definitely iTunes, though there is a different barcode from the other digital release.

All these titles probably SHOULD be merged, but they are separate packages, so...

And that's the way it is...

Thanks for answering my questions, Marc. With all the different bar codes, this will be a fascinating album to watch. The info is much appreciated.

If you stumble across the sales records of the Raspberries albums and singles at Capitol, that would be interesting to read, too. I don't know if that's easy to punch up, but I've never seen the complete figures in print before.

Thanks again.

Don Krider

http://www.epinions.com/content_393207123588

http://ericcarmen.blogspot.com/2007/08/not-one-hit-wonder.html

[Early Wynn]

I'd like to know how many Ryko shipped, because I haven't seen it at any retail outlet around here. Best Buy, Borders, Barnes & Noble, etc... don't have it.

[MJ]

Amazon today has it at #349 with it being #1 in the Music Rock Power Pop Category and #6 in Music Rock Live Albums category!!! Keep on going guys!

[Don_Krider]

Still #2 among all "live" albums at CDUniverse.Com at http://www.cduniverse.com/search/xx/music/category2/3869/a/Live+Performances.htm (just behind The Doors new "live" album, and ahead 2007 "live" releases from Johnny Cash, Pearl Jam, The Jefferson Airplane, Johnny Rivers, John Coltrane and The Allman Brothers Band).

Don Krider