Continuing their capitalism vs. censorship lesson, the Dixie Chicks are quickly finding out that industry-bloated record sales numbers don’t really reflect consumer interest.

From Reuters:

Initial ticket sales for the Dixie Chicks’ upcoming tour are far below expectations and several dates will likely be canceled or postoned.

Ticket counts for the 20-plus arena shows that went on sale last weekend were averaging 5,000-6,000 per show in major markets and less in secondaries, according to sources contacted by Billboard. Venue capacities on the tour generally top 15,000.
…
Despite those numbers, early ticket sales are clearly not meeting projections. The plug was pulled on public on-sales for shows in Indianapolis (August 23), Oklahoma City (September 26), Memphis (September 27) and Houston (September 30) because of tepid pre-sales in a national promotion with Target stores.

Maybe they should change the title of their new album from “Not Ready to Make Nice” to “Not Ready to Make Money”.

1. The Dixie Chicks need to read Laura Ingrams books “Shut Up And Sing”

   I don’t go to concerts to be lectured, we get enough of that allready in the MSM. I go for entertainment, and if the artists/group does not deliver, then I will go elsewhere.

   Comment by Pamela — 8:52 pm
   

2. “industry bloated sales”?

   Your faced with quite the dillema. Their album is now #1 for two weeks in a row. Two weeks! So to prop up your theory you have come up with some excuse for the fantastic album sales. And your excuse? “Industry bloated sales”.

   There’s so many problems with this I don’t where to begin. Mostly it betrays a profound ignorance of how the music business works. Why? Because no such thing exists.

   I challenge you now to give your readers concrete evidence complete with citations on what “industry bloated sales” is.

   Seriously now. No pet theories or hunches. You throw around the phrase so casually as if it’s common knowledge.

   First: Please cite examples of “industry bloated sales” backed up by evidence that such a practice exists in the music industry. Who does it? How is done? Is it legal? Are all #1 album a product of such practice?

   Second: Please cite examples that such a practice was used for the Dixie Chicks.

   Comment by City of Canals — 9:55 pm
   

3. Trolls again??

   Comment by Judith — 10:17 pm
   

4. City of Canals,

   I have seen prices on their album at up to 57% below list price, placing the price of it on par with bargain bin CD’s. Quite frankly they are, for all intents and purposes, giving this CD away.

   Let us not forget the huge media publicity campaign the week the CD was released. I have never seen such a push for a CD before-a solid week of free publicity on GMA, repetative use of a song in an episode of a TV series including an ad at the end for their CD, etc. Quite frankly I can not remember such a media blitz for any recording before.

   All of this is indicative to me that the sales of this CD are “artificial”-by that I mean that the initial sales of it were to people who would not have bought it if it were promoted and sold like any other new release. We will see what the total sales figures are for it a year from now-my guess is that they will not be all that spectacular.

   It also explains to me why I am not surprised by the poor ticket sales and cancellations for their tour. You see, the majority of those who bought this CD in its first couple weeks of relase either did so as a “political statement” or because they bought into the media hype-in other words people who are not country music fans. And these people are either not that politically motivated or enraptured with the music of the Dixie Chicks to pay $50 and waste an evening going to actually see them. This fact is much more indicative of their popularity then hyped CD sales.

   Comment by Nahanni — 12:38 am
   

5. Nahanni, you make some good points. But what your ultimately describing is the effect of publicity and marketing on product sales. Needless to say, this is nothing new. It’s what publicity campaigns are designed to do: sell.

   And if almost every top-selling movie, book and CD sold can be explained away publicity driven (and it can) than the reason negates itself.

   To further reinforce your point, I do think that there were some curiosity sales and even some politicialy driven sales but certainly not enough to place the album at #1 for two weeks in a row. To reinforce that: For the last two weeks, the Dixie Chicks have sold more albums than any other recording artist in the United States. In my book, thats a success.

   But this is moot since this is not the point out host is making. In this post and in other posts he’s suggested something else: “industry driven sales” & “institutional buyers”. My complaint is this: No such think exists. For the life of me I don’t know what “industry driven sales”. I don’t know who these “institional buyers” are.

   It’s news to me that the industry can manipulate sales so that a album can be #1 for two weeks in a row. I’ve challenged our host to prove his assertions. The challange still stands.

   Comment by City of Canals — 11:14 am
   

6. City of Canals, if you could please site what rating system you’ve used to cite 2 weeks at #1, it may help. Different sources use different methods to rate sales (i.e number of units shipped to distributors vs. number of units sold at cash registers and digital downloads). Some ratings even go by the number of caller requests for a particular song, so understanding your source may in fact help identify the methodology used to rate the Dixies as a #1 album for two weeks. don’t forget, there are also #1’s based on musical catagories (styles) too. I hope this helps.

   Comment by Jim U — 3:12 pm
   

7. Jim, I’ve used the only metric for album sales that counts in the music business: the Billboard 200 (links below). It’s based on Neilsen SoundScan data. Meaning, it’s about 90% based on retail sales at the register. It’s a sales chart and not a radio chart. They have separate radio charts.

   Also, in regards to your “styles” query. There is a Top Country Albums chart. The Dixies are also #1 for the second week in a row in that chart.

   http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002649081

   http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/about_us/bbmethodology.jsp

   Comment by City of Canals — 5:09 pm
   

8. City, you see, by following my suggestion you’ve cleared up some of the confusion. Well done. I’m not so sure that the Billboard 200 is the only metric that “counts”, but ok.

   The Dixie’s article you’ve linked only makes their #1 look even more unimpressive with ,”a slow week for new album releases…a slip of 48% in sales …”, and,”Disney’s “High School Musical” holds tight at No. 2 in its 21st week on the chart,” yikes.

   The Dixies can do and say what they want, but they shouldn’t get bewildered when people don’t agree with them and take action. The President has certainly had to learn this lesson.

   Comment by Jim U — 12:42 pm
   

9. Yes, I had to make the discussion political. That’s what we’re here for right? :^)

   Comment by Jim U — 12:43 pm
   

10. Well, were getting into the weeds here but what the heck.

    First, there’s nothing “unimpressive” about having your album spend two consecutive weeks at #1. Thats a success. Pure and Simple. Slow week or not.

    Also the phrase you cited actually works against your point because you didn’t cite the context.

    “”a slow week for new album releases…a slip of 48% in sales …””

    Here is what the article says regarding the 48% drop:

    “Out of the 13 albums that have taken No. 1 on the big chart so far this year, only four had a second week sales decline of less than 50%”

    Now, I’m fully prepared to concede that I’m reading this wrong. But this is how I’m reading it: Most albums that debut at #1 have a second week sales drop of more that 50%. Therefore the Dixie Chicks album actually defied the expectation and declined less in the second week than most albums that debut at #1 do. In other words, it did good!

    Glad to see you coming around though. In about two weeks time their album should be rated Platinum. And let me tell you this: There isn’t a music act on this earth that would’nt like the failure of a platinum sales album.

    TakeCare.

    Comment by City of Canals — 5:25 pm
    

11. City of Canals,

    Their album has not sold 1 million copies yet. Not THAT fantastic of a seller despite the hoopla, media blitz and it being #1 on Billboard. That is a very lackluster performance all things considered. The album is a dud.

    To me a spectacular selling album is one which sells in excess of a million copies the day it is released. But that is just me, someone who worked in the music industry for 7 years.

    As to their tour I have noted that they are “restructuring” their tour dates and moving their performances in about half of the cities to smaller venues. To me that indicates that they thought that seeing as she said she was “sowwy” for her statements that all would be forgiven and the fans would come flocking back. They miscaluclated to their great expense-they are learning the harsh lesson that one should not piss off your fan base by saying stupid things about them, their musical tastes and their beliefs. They are going to learn that the product they are selling is not something that people need to survive, so any money spent on it is elective and people have plenty of choices in where to make their elective spending.

    As you know they have to pay a booking fee for a venue before announcing it as a tour stop. They are losing money on the cancellations of the larger venues. I do also note that the only stops that are selling well enough to avoid moving them are in “blue” states not known large populations of country music fans like Massachusetts.

    My analysis of the situations stands, hun. Despite the humongous amounts of lipstick you and others are trying to put on this pig. They have pissed off their fan base so badly it is to the point of no return and their “new” fans are really not the kind that will stick with them because the only reason they are purchasing their product is political, not because they truly love it. My prediction is within 5 years they will be playing Starbucks.

    Comment by Nahanni — 4:54 am
    

12. Nahinni, I was going to let this go but, well, I just couldn’t. You wrote:

    “To me a spectacular selling album is one which sells in excess of a million copies the day it is released.”

    LOL. A million copies? On the day of release? That’s quite a threshold for success! Perhaps you meant the first week of release. If that was your intention then it’s still quite a high threshold since there’s only about a dozen albums that have achieved that and it’s almost exclusivly mass-marketed teen pop/rap stuff.

    But never-the-less I’ll take you for your word. Please cite the albums that have sold one million records on the day of release. I’m assuming you’ll be able to name at least a dozen or so.

    There was more problems with your post but we’ll just keep it simple.

    TakeCare

    Comment by City of Canals — 4:39 pm
    

13. Ahhh, poor wittle baby gurls…..just saw on the evening news that their wittle Houston concert’s been canceled cuz nobody wants to see those wittle chick-a-dees! WAY TO GO HOUSTON!!

    You can bet your sweet a$$ I won’t be seeing them in Austin either! Time will tell if that concert is a go but since they are from around here maybe they can get enough family to attend!

    Comment by nita rene — 8:22 pm
    

14. […] Yeah, they’ve validated that a group can see their fan base all but disappear with concerts cancelled for lack of interest and still gain industry recognition for purely political purposes. In the words of American Idol’s Randy Jackson, “Welcome to Hollywood, baby!” “I think people are using their freedom of speech tonight with all of these awards,” Maines said. […]

    Pingback by Texas Rainmaker » The Grammys Are a Joke — 8:27 am
    

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