Revelation Sales

[Jeremey]

Got my publishing statement this week. Should I share details on sales figures?

[Rhiannon]

Um, duh.

[bluejeangirl76]

You were saying something in another thread about god helping us all?

Oh please do share. The reactions (either way) are gonna be priceless.

[Jeremey]

Well, listen. I don't want certain people to get pissed if this isn't really public information, even if it is...But keeping that in mind, I'm going to share strictly some round numbers...

Third Quarter:

WM Sales (Sales directly to WM, Inc, NOT consumers): A wee bit over 200,000...This means a little under 700,000 units were SHIPPED to Wal Mart. I don't know how many were sold to people.

Sales on tour: A wee bit under 10,000

All digital sales including ZVUE: A wee bit under 30,000

What does this mean RE platinum status? I don't know. I think people actually have to BUY the 500,000 CDs in order to reach platinum status. I don't think you can ship a million records these days to hit platinum status, knowing you're going to get 300,000 returned. I think it is based on scanned sales.

[Tito]

You're full of shit!!! Just kidding.

[amaron]

What does this mean RE platinum status? I don't know. I think people actually have to BUY the 500,000 CDs in order to reach platinum status. I don't think you can ship a million records these days to hit platinum status, knowing you're going to get 300,000 returned. I think it is based on scanned sales.

Nope, it's shipments.

http://blogs.usatoday.com/listenup/2006 ... ber_g.html

Quick primer that you can skip if you're already well-versed in this whole RIAA vs. SoundScan thing: RIAA awards are based on shipments to retailers, not actual sales. Therefore, numerical discrepancies can occur (or, to paraphrase the car ads, actual mileage may vary) -- the point of interest is how wide are the discrepancies between shipments and sales. Gold level is 500,000 albums shipped, platinum is 1 million, multiplatinum kicks in every additional million. Multiple-disc albums generally (there may be exceptions) get to count the extra discs in the figures (i.e., double albums count each shipment as two). Certifications are requested by the record labels, who also supply the shipping stats. There is no requirement for certifications to mirror actual sales, but it sure makes the whole ritual seem a lot more credible.

This is how TBF went platinum in such a short time.

[Enigma869]

Sales on tour: A wee bit under 10,000

With all the dates this band plays, the best they could do was moving 10,000 units on an entire tour? That seems like a paltry number to me. Then again, maybe most fans just don't buy their cd's at a concert (where they're probably charging some ridiculous price).


John from Boston

[Jeremey]

What does this mean RE platinum status? I don't know. I think people actually have to BUY the 500,000 CDs in order to reach platinum status. I don't think you can ship a million records these days to hit platinum status, knowing you're going to get 300,000 returned. I think it is based on scanned sales.

Nope, it's shipments.

http://blogs.usatoday.com/listenup/2006 ... ber_g.html

Quick primer that you can skip if you're already well-versed in this whole RIAA vs. SoundScan thing: RIAA awards are based on shipments to retailers, not actual sales. Therefore, numerical discrepancies can occur (or, to paraphrase the car ads, actual mileage may vary) -- the point of interest is how wide are the discrepancies between shipments and sales. Gold level is 500,000 albums shipped, platinum is 1 million, multiplatinum kicks in every additional million. Multiple-disc albums generally (there may be exceptions) get to count the extra discs in the figures (i.e., double albums count each shipment as two). Certifications are requested by the record labels, who also supply the shipping stats. There is no requirement for certifications to mirror actual sales, but it sure makes the whole ritual seem a lot more credible.

This is how TBF went platinum in such a short time.

Cool, so Nomota has to request an audit for platinum status then. It certainly qualifies. Someone told me a few weeks ago that they felt like holiday sales would get them pushed through the 500,000 SOLD marker, so maybe they are waiting for that...Who knows!

[DracIsBack]

Nope, it's shipments.

http://blogs.usatoday.com/listenup/2006 ... ber_g.html

The RIAA did change this from the 1970s. It's still shipments vs. scanned (because not all outlets are tracked by Soundscan) but I think there's now a delay. There used to be a joke about albums shipping gold on release and then being returned platinum.

Now there's a delay between when they can apply for the award because - in theory - some of the unmoved units would have been returned to the manufacturer.

More here, coutesy of the RIAA

The Process

The certification process begins with an independent sales audit of each title by Gelfand, Rennert & Feldman, a highly respected accounting firm that has been auditing title sales for the RIAA® for more than 20 years.

The audit calculates what product has been shipped for sale, net after returns, versus product used for promotional purposes, for the life of the release. When certifying audio and music video releases, the independent auditor is careful to survey the entire music marketplace. An artist's Gold® or Platinum® award represents sales through retail, record clubs, rackjobbers, and all other ancillary markets that legitimately distribute music. Once a title’s sales has been audited and verified as having reached requisite levels, a formal certification report is issued and sent to the title's record company.

We are often asked why we don’t just use sales figures from SoundScan. SoundScan measures over-the-counter sales at music retail locations, while the RIAA®'s certification levels are based on unit shipments (minus returns) from manufacturers to a wide range of accounts, including non-retail record clubs, mail order houses, specialty stores, units shipped for Internet fulfillment or direct marketing sales, such as TV-advertised albums. The other difference is that SoundScan's archive is only a few years old, while the RIAA® has tracked artists' sales levels for more than 40 years.

The RIAA® certification program is open to member and non-member companies. RIAA® certification entitles the authorized record company to purchase official RIAA® award plaques bearing the trademarked RIAA® hologram seal from licensed plaque manufacturers.

All certification audits are conducted for a fee. If multiple sales levels are simultaneously certified, only one audit certification fee is charged. Companies requesting their initial certification audit must incur any travel expenses by the RIAA®'s independent auditor. The charge for certifications is $350 for RIAA® member companies. Non-members are charged $450 per certification, which must be pre-paid. Companies will be charged the full audit certification fee for any requests that do not meet the Gold® and Platinum® Program requirements. A 30-day time limit is set for pending certifications. If a full audit cannot be completed within this time, a charge of $100 will be rendered to member companies and $200 to non-member companies.

Requests for audio and music video certification may be made to the RIAA®. Companies must submit one copy of the audio or music video product upon certification request. All versions of the title's catalog must be represented.

The following information must also be made available:

Record Company
Label
Artist
Title
Configuration (single, shortform, album or music video)
Level (Gold®, Platinum® and/or Multi-Platinum™)
Selection or Catalog Number
Release Date

Please send certification requests by phone, fax or mail to:

RIAA® Gold® and Platinum® Certification

1025 F ST N.W., 10th Floor
Washington, DC 20004
(202) 775-0101 phone
(202) 775-7253 fax

[Don]

Sony has lived for years touting sales numbers that are actually shipped numbers on most of their consumer products.

[Memorex]

Sales on tour: A wee bit under 10,000

With all the dates this band plays, the best they could do was moving 10,000 units on an entire tour? That seems like a paltry number to me. Then again, maybe most fans just don't buy their cd's at a concert (where they're probably charging some ridiculous price).


John from Boston

I would imagine several thousand are sold at the venue off the books.

[DracIsBack]

Sony has lived for years touting sales numbers that are actually shipped numbers on most of their consumer products.

Many companies do, though public company regulations have put limits on it. Usually, that approach fails as product cycles change over because the RMAs of the old product counter-act the shipment numbers for the new product.

[Saint John]

I see AATY is hanging on to the #10 spot on the Billboard Hot AC Tracks.

http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/charts/c ... ary+Tracks

[ttango1]

added enough to your christmas fund for your darling kid.

Your contribution to the album is one of my favorite songs

[brywool]

So the obvious question here is:

Jeremey, can please have 50,000 dollars, just cuz it would be nice of you?

[Tito]

Sales on tour: A wee bit under 10,000

With all the dates this band plays, the best they could do was moving 10,000 units on an entire tour? That seems like a paltry number to me. Then again, maybe most fans just don't buy their cd's at a concert (where they're probably charging some ridiculous price).


John from Boston

I would imagine several thousand are sold at the venue off the books.

Smart move. Hey, gas was more expensive than probably budgeted for. They had to make up some lost revenue. Also, fuck Uncle Sam.

[RocknRoll]

Jeremey - Have you received any info on international sales yet?