Start Looking for ECLIPS3 Anytime After May 14th

[JRNYMAN]

WalMart's exclusivity of the US sales and distribution of Eclipse allows them to subtly "break the rules" with regard to the album's official release date. Since they are "the label" so to speak, there's no risk of being sued or challenged should the individual stores start selling the album prior to May 24th.

I was a graveyard manager for WalMart for a little over 2 years and know the detailed scoop on how everything that arrives at a WalMart store is treated and processed. As everyone knows, the graveyard shift is responsible for stocking the stores, building and replenishing displays and processing all of the corporate-mandated merchandise/promotions sent to the individual stores via special display vessels called "shippers". Shippers are free-standing, disposable, cardboard displays which arrive at the stores already stocked with the inventory being promoted by that "shipper" The shippers are brightly colored and more often than not, are painted with graphics and artwork relative to the product being promoted. These shippers usually arrive at the stores within a 2-week window of when an actual promotion is scheduled to run. WalMart has over 4,200 stores in the US alone and to ensure that every store receives a time-dated display/promotion in time, they send out the shippers 2 weeks prior to the run date. Nearly every store carries the same products and merchandise with the exception of some regional/culturally-specific merchandise but EVERY store receives and is required to display/promote/sell the products which they receive from corporate. And while each store does indeed adhere to that rule, the decision of when and where in the store to display the shippers is left entirely up to each store's manager. I've worked for managers on both ends of the spectrum in relation to how much time the shippers spend in the backroom once the arrive at the store. Most of the managers like a tight and tidy backroom and have a standing rule that ALL merchandise received is to be worked/processed the night it arrives (with the only exception being items which are restricted by the mfr. from being displayed until a specific date and those are a completely different type of shipper and are the property of the individual manufacturers) and those managers who don't give a shit about shippers and leave them and everything related to them to their underlings, in which case, it's anybody's guess when that display will actually hit the floor and luckily that type of manager is a rarity. The shippers filled with the new album will soon be at every WalMart store in the US and since there is no penalty for early processing/display, there will most definitely be stores selling Eclipse within 24-48 hours after the shipper arrives at the store. I got Revelation a week prior to its official release date! The is common with every WalMart exclusive.

The reason I took the time to get so specific and long-winded with this post is to convey to everyone that this is a common and regular practice by this company and, as I mentioned at the beginning of my post, since there is no laws or contractual issues preventing them from selling the album early, they do and they will do exactly that.

Now, there are certain WM Exclusives which are handled by the company that stocks/replenishes all of the periodicals and dated merchandise throughout the store but Eclipse doesn't fall into that category so like I stated early on in this dissertation, start looking for ECLIPS3 to be displayed/on sale right around the 14th of this month.

I'm positive I'll have my copy in-hand way before the 24th and will post a pic of me holding it as soon as I discover it in one of the local stores.

[KingdomOfMan]

That's all well and good, but is of no benefit to us in the U.K.

[JRNYMAN]

That's all well and good, but is of no benefit to us in the U.K.

No, it sure isn't. Sorry mate.

[Pelata]

I'm in my Walmart every Thursday buying groceries...and I hit the CD section every time and walk out with something. Plus there are 2 more Walmart's within a 10 minute drive from where I work in either direction, so if it's there early I'm grabbing it.

[Escape Artist]

Good to know! Thank you!

[Archetype]

Wouldn't this hurt first-week sales?

[Don]

Wouldn't this hurt first-week sales?

Probably, as the pre-orders would still be counted towards the official release week.

[Saint John]

Wouldn't this hurt first-week sales?

Probably, as the pre-orders would still be counted towards the official release week.

Didn't you mean "probably not"?

[Don]

Wouldn't this hurt first-week sales?

Probably, as the pre-orders would still be counted towards the official release week.

Didn't you mean "probably not"?

If in store purchases occur the week before the pre-orders go out, that splits the sales. The cash register sales have to count from that moment of purchase. If it's an official early release where all the stores and and internet orders are sanctioned to go on sale, then no, it doesn't hurt anything. I'm basing what I initially said on the premise from the original post that individual stores would do an early release, not an entire distribution from all the stores. We are talking about this impacting the first week chart rankings here, aren't we, not overall sales?

[Archetype]

I am concerned about Eclipse's ranking in the billboard top 200 for first week sales

[Don]

I am concerned about Eclipse's ranking in the billboard top 200 for first week sales

I'd say #2 or #3 regardless.

Conceding that Lady Gaga will probably come in at #1, Journey's only real competition SHOULD be Brad Paisley. But, then again, stranger things have happened.

[Saint John]

Wouldn't this hurt first-week sales?

Probably, as the pre-orders would still be counted towards the official release week.

Didn't you mean "probably not"?

If in store purchases occur the week before the pre-orders go out, that splits the sales. The cash register sales have to count from that moment of purchase. If it's an official early release where all the stores and and internet orders are sanctioned to go on sale, then no, it doesn't hurt anything. I'm basing what I initially said on the premise from the original post that individual stores would do an early release, not an entire distribution from all the stores. We are talking about this impacting the first week chart rankings here, aren't we, not overall sales?

Gotcha. I just can't see them counting an album that hasn't even been officially released yet. My GUESS is that these early sales will still count toward the originally planned week since Walmart reports the sales on their own. Don't you think they would just wait and report ALL sales that have occurred when they report first week sales?

[Don]

I completely forgot about NKOTBSB, the New Kids On The Block/BackStreet Boys convergence album comes out that same day. No idea what is going to happen with that.

The fan voted tracklist on this release.

NKOTBSB – The Album
1. “Step By Step” – New Kids On The Block
2. “I Want It That Way” – Backstreet Boys
3. “You Got It (The Right Stuff)” – New Kids On The Block
4. “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” – Backstreet Boys
5. “Please Don’t Go Girl” – New Kids On The Block
6. “As Long As You Love Me” – Backstreet Boys
7. “Hangin’ Tough” – New Kids On The Block
8. “Larger Than Life” – Backstreet Boys
9. “I’ll Be Loving You (Forever)” – New Kids On The Block
10. “Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)” – Backstreet Boys
11. “All In My Head” – NKOTBSB
12. “Don’t Turn Out The Lights (D.T.O.T.L.)” – NKOTBSB
13. NKOTBSB Mash Up

[Don]

Wouldn't this hurt first-week sales?

Probably, as the pre-orders would still be counted towards the official release week.

Didn't you mean "probably not"?

If in store purchases occur the week before the pre-orders go out, that splits the sales. The cash register sales have to count from that moment of purchase. If it's an official early release where all the stores and and internet orders are sanctioned to go on sale, then no, it doesn't hurt anything. I'm basing what I initially said on the premise from the original post that individual stores would do an early release, not an entire distribution from all the stores. We are talking about this impacting the first week chart rankings here, aren't we, not overall sales?

Gotcha. I just can't see them counting an album that hasn't even been officially released yet. My GUESS is that these early sales will still count toward the originally planned week since Walmart reports the sales on their own. Don't you think they would just wait and report ALL sales that have occurred when they report first week sales?

Sure, as long as they aren't audited. Honestly, the way Journey has been so anal about this release, I don't think it's going to get released like that. I'm sure any type of early release has been explicitly prohibited by the band. If it was getting torrented, maybe but that's not the case.
Remember the issues when the Manila DVD was released? I don't think they're going to fuck with the release date.

[ebake02]

I am concerned about Eclipse's ranking in the billboard top 200 for first week sales

I'd say #2 or #3 regardless.

Conceding that Lady Gaga will probably come in at #1, Journey's only real competition SHOULD be Brad Paisley. But, then again, stranger things have happened.

I've noticed that good old fashioned rock is making a bit of a come back lately so you never know, they may kick lady gaga's ass.

[steveo777]

I am concerned about Eclipse's ranking in the billboard top 200 for first week sales

I'd say #2 or #3 regardless.

Conceding that Lady Gaga will probably come in at #1, Journey's only real competition SHOULD be Brad Paisley. But, then again, stranger things have happened.

I've noticed that good old fashioned rock is making a bit of a come back lately so you never know, they may kick lady gaga's ass.

I remember that year Steely Dan blew the young ones away.

[Archetype]

The Gaga release could help Journey. Lots of people who watch Glee are also Lady Gaga fans. They'll walk in, see a Journey CD in a shipper for a reasonable price, and likely pick it up along with the Lady Gaga CD. Now what happens after they put it in a CD player is another story, but the sale will have been made

[Don]

The Gaga release could help Journey. Lots of people who watch Glee are also Lady Gaga fans. They'll walk in, see a Journey CD in a shipper for a reasonable price, and likely pick it up along with the Lady Gaga CD. Now what happens after they put it in a CD player is another story, but the sale will have been made

I'm going to bet that a lot of Gaga's sales will be internet purchases. Also, People flipping over Eclipse won't find DSB, Faithfully or AWYWI on the back but those songs will be available, over in the other rack for a cheaper price.

Oh, and Target is offering a Deluxe package of Gaga's album also.

[RocknRoll]

I just wonder about how big WalMart's support is going to be for this album. I know they were trying to sell pre-sale concert tickets. I also heard earlier there might be a Journey Kiosk!! (Whatever that means?) I'll believe it when I see it, since it's obviously WalMart!!

[Jana]

I am concerned about Eclipse's ranking in the billboard top 200 for first week sales

I'd say #2 or #3 regardless.

Conceding that Lady Gaga will probably come in at #1, Journey's only real competition SHOULD be Brad Paisley. But, then again, stranger things have happened.

I've noticed that good old fashioned rock is making a bit of a come back lately so you never know, they may kick lady gaga's ass.

Nobody is going to get near Lady Gaga. One of her official videos has 370 million hits. She hasn't even peaked yet. This album will be massive in sales.

[steveo777]

I am concerned about Eclipse's ranking in the billboard top 200 for first week sales

I'd say #2 or #3 regardless.

Conceding that Lady Gaga will probably come in at #1, Journey's only real competition SHOULD be Brad Paisley. But, then again, stranger things have happened.

I've noticed that good old fashioned rock is making a bit of a come back lately so you never know, they may kick lady gaga's ass.

Nobody is going to get near Lady Gaga. One of her official videos has 370 million hits. She hasn't even peaked yet. This album will be massive in sales.

I don't get it. Frankly, I haven't figured out what she is or what her appeal is. She ain't no Madonna. Either I'm old
or our culture has degraded in musical taste.

[Jana]

I am concerned about Eclipse's ranking in the billboard top 200 for first week sales

I'd say #2 or #3 regardless.

Conceding that Lady Gaga will probably come in at #1, Journey's only real competition SHOULD be Brad Paisley. But, then again, stranger things have happened.

I've noticed that good old fashioned rock is making a bit of a come back lately so you never know, they may kick lady gaga's ass.

Nobody is going to get near Lady Gaga. One of her official videos has 370 million hits. She hasn't even peaked yet. This album will be massive in sales.

I don't get it. Frankly, I haven't figured out what she is or what her appeal is. She ain't no Madonna. Either I'm old
or our culture has degraded in musical taste.

Well, she's not for me naturally, but she has, definitely, a knack for writing catchy pop songs with hooks that are a little different from normal pop, and her Lady Gaga persona is exciting to the youth. She put out really fun but different videos in the Fame era that stood out from the pop sexpots. But I guess you will get to see what her appeal is because her Monster Ball concert (that she's been touring for three years) is coming to HBO pretty soon.

She's trying too hard now and becoming way too pretentious as time goes on, trying to continually shock or seem provocative musically. It's just dance music. Everything she does recently has to be a statement and/or shocking in video, and she's kind of missing the mark; whereas, Madonna really put out a mixture of music on her albums and parceled out her statement and/or shock videos or songs and in between were a lot of sweet songs/videos like Cherish, Live to Tell, etc. Madonna's shocking videos and/or songs were really in the minority in the scope of her music catalogue and thus had impact. Many videos were just very artistic and beautiful. Gaga needs to learn that. Plus, let's face it, it's all been done. You can't shock in pop anymore.

We'll see if she's evolving once this album comes out or if this new album is going to be her peak and she can't sustain it after it. Her first two singles don't match her Fame era music, to me.

[Rip Rokken]

Thanks for the info, JRNYMAN. I've been meaning to call Wal Mart HQ this year too, and talk to them about coming up with a good plan to ensure it's out there ON TIME on release day. I've gotten so used to showing up and not being able to find product in any of the stores on release day. They end up being stuck in the back waiting for a 3rd party company to come and put out the next Tuesday (at least they use 3rd party here, called Heritage I believe). At least I know what to tell staff to look for, because it was nearly impossible to get staff to find them in the right places. Maybe we'll get luckier this year. And yes, post that pic when you get it!

[Don]

Word on the street is that Lady Gaga's Born This Way has already surpassed Britney's Femme Fatale debut sales of 270,000 just in pre-orders alone.

[Jana]

Thanks for the info, JRNYMAN. I've been meaning to call Wal Mart HQ this year too, and talk to them about coming up with a good plan to ensure it's out there ON TIME on release day. I've gotten so used to showing up and not being able to find product in any of the stores on release day. They end up being stuck in the back waiting for a 3rd party company to come and put out the next Tuesday (at least they use 3rd party here, called Heritage I believe). At least I know what to tell staff to look for, because it was nearly impossible to get staff to find them in the right places. Maybe we'll get luckier this year. And yes, post that pic when you get it!

Please do. I had problems the last time.

[Jana]

Word on the street is that Lady Gaga's Born This Way has already surpassed Britney's Femme Fatale debut sales of 270,000 just in pre-orders alone.

Wow. I wonder if she will beat Taylor Swift's last album, which sold around a million the first week. Taylor had cross-over appeal, though, her huge country music market and her teenager/young adult pop audience.

[Andrew]

Wouldn't this hurt first-week sales?

pre-orders would still be counted towards the official release week.

Correct.

[JRNYMAN]

Thanks for the info, JRNYMAN. I've been meaning to call Wal Mart HQ this year too, and talk to them about coming up with a good plan to ensure it's out there ON TIME on release day. I've gotten so used to showing up and not being able to find product in any of the stores on release day. They end up being stuck in the back waiting for a 3rd party company to come and put out the next Tuesday (at least they use 3rd party here, called Heritage I believe). At least I know what to tell staff to look for, because it was nearly impossible to get staff to find them in the right places. Maybe we'll get luckier this year. And yes, post that pic when you get it!

Anytime Rip, you know that. And really...? You're still defaulting to 'JRNYMAN'? Mmmmkay.... then I guess I'll have to go back to the days when you demanded I address you as Sir Mr. Rokken, your Holiness but I thought we were waaaaaaaaaay past that.... whatever.

Annnnnnnyywaaaay.....

Yeah, their handling of Revelation (or any of the exclusives, really) was absolutely deplorable, the worst of which is the damage that's done to the artists themselves via their inability and their unwillingness to properly handle the distribution of these exclusive releases. The snafu and debacle that occurred with Revelation's release, initial availability chain-wide, their blatant "Who gives a fuck?!" attitude regarding replenishment of stock..... it was made crystal clear that, as they have shown time after time after time, the only thing WalMart is concerned with is their bottom line and how to maximize their investment with as little direct involvement with the product as possible.
Revelation was the epitome of WM's treatment of these exclusive releases they have gotten in bed with. You had situations like mine where I got the album 9 days prior to the "official" release date. And it wasn't like there was any hype or special placement of the "shipper" or the significance of Revelation et al.... nope, It was just one of about 6 other "shippers" lined up side-by-each as you walked in the main entrance (not the grocery or the garden entrances). It was treated as any other "shipper" that came in its own little disposable display stand.
Then, once the volume of the product in the shipper decreases to the point that it's no longer possible to make it look fuller than it actually is by evening out and arranging the individual units in the display, the overnight person who handles the sale and featured items will take the remaining units out of the shipper, fill the home where the item will actually live in the store (the actual place on the shelf in the CD's section of the electronics dept.) then place the overstock in a big bin in the back where it will be co-mingled with all the other music cd's which arrived at the store the same way. And THAT scenario is what the artist can expect if their shipper is merchandised the way corporate has outlined it to be. There were too many cases to possible cite where, for whatever reason, the placement of Revelation on the sales floor was left to Anderson Merchandisers, (the company Rip referred to but by a different, although still incorrect name.... ) which is the company that handles the in-store stocking of all periodicals and other time-sensitive items found at the check-outs (People, US Weekly, Soap Opera Digest, etc.) as well as the replenishment and initial stocking of certain special releases of a few DVD's, and in some rare instances, CD's. The unfortunate part of this situation is the misunderstanding and mishandling of merchandise that occurs because Anderson Merchandisers is also responsible for the replenishment of stock of the DVD's and CD's at the store AFTER those DVD's and CD's have ALREADY been released and CURRENTLY have a permenant home on a rack/shelf at the WM store. This is where the mismanagement and confusion directly relates to and genuinely hurts the artist caught up in this fucking nightmare! There were/are many, many stores in which the department managers have decided to leave all things related to DVD's and CD's for Anderson to deal with since, "that's really what they do anyway...." Meanwhile, Anderson just comes into the store each Tuesday, goes to their little area in the backroom where the "Anderson Merchandise" is piled up, and works through as much of the merchandise waiting to be worked as they can in their 2-4 hour window at THAT particular store before they have to leave to service the other store(s) that crew is responsible for before day's end. And let me make this next point abundantly clear...... Their first and most important task above ALL ELSE is the magazines and the other time sensitive periodicals ij the store. Those magazines are the only objective that exists until the new issues replace the old issues throughout the store. After that's completed, the Anderson employees can tend to the mountain of other shit they are responsible for which NEVER is completed or even caught up due to the lack of individuals they employ, the amount of work Anderson throws at the people who do end up working for them for longer than a week or two, and the genuine, "I don't give a fuck about your CD you're looking for" that exists among these people. In some cases, people looking for Revelation were able to persuade a WM employee or an Anderson drone (once I explained how to talk to them and who to talk to) to go and dig through the "Anderson" bin and try to locate the item. Sadly, there were as many if not more who came away empty handed simply because they couldn't find anyone who was willing to help them find the item they wanted. I even explained in one post how to get the electronics dept. employee to grab one of the little computer guns they all walk around with to punch in the item's stocking number to find out if there are even any in the physical store location and in EVERY single case the item was reported to be in stock and available for sale! There were some WM employees who flat out told some of the people wanting Revelation, "That's not my job and even if it was, there's no way I'm digging through that mess to find one CD for you." I swear to God I'm not making that up - and it didn't happen just once or twice. That attitude and same phrasing was reported by many from all over the country.

That's how WalMart handles the "exclusives" they seem so proud to be involved with. And that's how they treat everything that happens to find a place on the shelf among the millions of other products in their stores. They have absolutely no intimacy or relationship with any one single product because their only concern is how much money an item can generate while it's hot and what is going to take its place on the shelf the second it stops performing. I'm not exaggerating or creating a metaphor with that statement kids. It's absolutely true! WalMart has a 45 day policy built-in to the computers which monitor the sales performance of each and every product in the store. As soon as a product has not registered a single sale in the store for 45 consecutive days, a report is generated and delivered electronically to that department's supervisor instructing them to remove the item from the shelf, assign a clearance price to the remaining stock and prepare the shelf space for the next item which will be occupying that shelf space. That's the absolute God's-honest truth folks.

I could go on and on and on about the actual going's-on at the evil empire and just how evil and dirty the company is but I'm certain no one comes here to read complete novels when browsing the threads. Sorry for the length of this post but I felt it needed to be said so that everyone reading could get a better perspective of what happens with a WM exclusive release of an album.

[JRNYMAN]

Wouldn't this hurt first-week sales?

pre-orders would still be counted towards the official release week.

Correct.

Ditto what Andrew said. I'll add that all of the units sold in -store prior to the official release date were tracked and the actual date sold registered internally and appeared on reports as the official release date and not the actual, calendar date of the sale.

[JourneyHard]

Remember, Journey is doing this alone. Lady Gaga is on every radio station all the time, on every entertainment TV show, on in every retail store's overhead music, and in every magazine. Journey is none of these places with their new music. So if Eclipse is number one, I would be shocked. I would fall out of my chair!