[新聞] "Chinese Democracy" shows limits of …
"Chinese Democracy" shows limits of retail exclusives
Fri Dec 12, 2008 7:47pm EST
By Ed Christman
NEW YORK (Billboard) - When Wal-Mart sold 784,000 copies of AC/DC's "Black
Ice" during the album's first week in stores, many label executives believed
that more superstars would release albums exclusively through big-box
retailers.
And when Best Buy experienced disappointing sales of Guns N' Roses' "Chinese
Democracy," some of those same executives thought, well, maybe not.
"Chinese Democracy" (Interscope), the rock act's first album of all-new
material in 17 years, sold 261,000 units in its first week of availability,
according to Nielsen SoundScan. That included sales at Best Buy, exclusive
digital retailer iTunes and other stores selling import versions of the album.
While first-week sales forecasts for "Chinese Democracy" ranged from 300,000
to AC/DC's first-week tally of nearly 800,000, most major-label sales
prognosticators thought the album might sell between 400,000 and 500,000
units.
So how did one of the most hotly anticipated releases of recent years fall so
short of expectations? Some executives suggested that the initial projections
for "Chinese Democracy" were out of whack with reality, considering that
Wal-Mart has 4,200 stores selling music while Best Buy only has about 950
stores.
But many others say that Best Buy simply didn't promote "Chinese Democracy"
as much as Wal-Mart pushed "Black Ice." One major-label head of sales says he
didn't see "anywhere near the TV for Guns as I saw for AC/DC."
And while no one expected the consumer electronics chain to duplicate
Wal-Mart's store-within-a-store strategy for Guns N' Roses, about half of the
executives interviewed for this story said they had a hard time finding
"Democracy" at their local Best Buy.
That was certainly true for Best Buy's store in the Woodside neighborhood of
Queens. After this writer walked around the store twice looking for "Chinese
Democracy," as well as checking the Guns N' Roses section in the album bins,
store personnel pointed out the cardboard fixture housing the album. Although
it was located at the end of the center aisle, among other merchandising
kiosks, shoppers waiting in the checkout line could have easily missed it.
This wasn't the case at many other locations, where the album was displayed
in the front of the store.
TURNOFF FACTOR?
Other executives defended Best Buy, saying the retailer wasn't to blame for
the poor sales of "Chinese Democracy." They pointed out that while AC/DC
dutifully made the media rounds to promote its album, Guns N' Roses frontman
Axl Rose didn't do any interviews to promote his. They also note that the
years-long wait for the record, coupled with the mercurial Rose's proclivity
for not showing up for concerts, may have finally turned off fans.
Representatives for Best Buy and Interscope didn't respond to requests for
comment.
Meanwhile, other retailers that aren't in on big-box exclusives didn't
exactly mourn the album's disappointing performance. Some openly crowed about
how the album had "flopped," while others said they hope the experience gives
major labels pause before signing another such deal.
Music specialty retailers regularly denounce exclusives, saying they are yet
another factor hastening the demise of the CD business by forcing customers
away from destination music stores with deep catalogs to big-box stores with
smaller selections.
Of course, none of this affects Wal-Mart's strong track record with exclusive
CD offerings, given its self-reported first-week sales of 1 million units for
Garth Brooks' "Limited Series" boxed set in 2006; last year's 711,000
debut-week sales for the Eagles' "Long Road out of Eden"; first-week sales of
105,000 for Journey's three-disc set "Revelation"; and the extraordinary
success of AC/DC.
"Chinese Democracy" may serve to remind both labels and artists to consider
exclusives on a case-by-case basis. And whether more superstars ultimately
pursue such deals may depend on how the next one fares.
Reuters/Billboard
http://www.reuters.com/article/musicNews/idUSTRE4BC06C20081213
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