Dave's Top Eight

1. Jerry Reed...Revisited by Darrell Toney (reviewed 6/07) (5 Stars)
2. Sounds Like Sunday by Janet Paschal (reviewed 5/07) (5 Stars)
3. True To The Call by Kingdom Heirs (reviewed 3/07) (4 1/2 Stars)
4. Revival by Gold City (reviewed 10/06) (4 1/2 Stars)
5. Get Away Jordan by Ernie Haase & Signature Sound (reviewed 2/07) (4 1/2 Stars)
6. Breakin' Chains by Three Bridges (reviewed 5/07) (4 1/2 Stars)
7. Big Sky by The Isaacs (reviewed 4/07)
8. Skywriting by Mercy's Well (reviewed 7/07)

Click title to purchase at CBD.com...click artist name to read Dave's Review. A CD will automatically fall out of the Top Eight after twelve months if no CD surpasses it before then.

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March 15, 2007

Retail vs. Table Sales

Daniel Mount raises an issue we discussed at the blogger summit: table sales vs. retail.

I suspect some other genres face the same problem, though off the top of my head, I can't think of another genre where artists routinely turn out two or more recordings per year.

I suppose one jaded answer might be that other genres don't have a built-in guilt complex among the fans driving them to "encourage" well meaning groups that don't have the skill to sing their way out of a wet paper bag. This takes away money that might otherwise be spent on a really good group, leveling the playing field and encouraging anyone and everyone to participate. This notion also extends to what radio is willing to play on the air.

In other genres lacking this "we must support our brothers" mentality, people will buy and play your music only if they like it. The question comes down to whether more harm is done than good by false praise. I submit that it is.

It's a vicious cycle. One point I tried to raise at the meeting is that until a group reaches a "critical mass" of popularity...meaning their recordings regularly recoup expanses and they see significant benefits from sales at retail...they aren't going to see the value of retail.

Who can blame them? If an artist makes an average profit of less than $1 per unit on say, 12000 units per title sold at retail, and $10 per unit on 3000 units per title sold at their table, the question is a no brainer. Often, that average profit on retail is zero, because the CD never recouped production expenses. What the artist fails to see, and what recording labels ought to emphasize to their artists, is that more retail sales should open more doors for concerts and higher flats. You aren't going to get many large scale concert promoters interested in you if you aren't moving product at retail.

FYI, we have very few large scale concert promoters in SG. We have a few who think they're big, but when you compare them to CCM concert promoters like Premier Productions and others, the scale is much different.

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posted by David Bruce Murray @ 11:05:00 AM


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