Anybody out shopping over the past weekend will probably confirm this Billboard report. People did not spend money on music. Shrinking budgets paired with the usual holiday shopping craze made for highly targeted purchases.
People were out for deals, not for stuff to grab while waiting in line to check out. It was kind of depressing to watch shoppers at my local Wal-Mart Friday morning, shortly before 5am. People were getting antsier by the minute, wondering, if they chose to stand in the right line for the products they were hoping to score.
Dozens of bargain hunters were crowding the aisles in the electronics section waiting to fight for the flat-screen TVs, Wii consoles and laptops. Nobody (as in: not one single soul) was looking at the CD racks which were right there next to them.
The result: Music sales over the Thanksgiving weekend are down between 10 and 30 percent over last year, according to estimates. Especially the alleged topsellers of the week performed way under expectations:
Sources said that Kanye West’s “808s & Heartbreak” will sell in the range of 425,000-450,000 units, significantly down from 700,000-975,000 units previously projected. Guns N’ Roses’ “Chinese Democracy” is expected to clock in at 250,000-260,000, not the predicted 300,000-784,000 units.
[...] wonder label executives were underwhelmed by Guns N’ Roses’ first week sales figures. In the United States “Chinese Democracy” is expected to clock in at 250,000 to 260,000 copies s…, not the predicted 300,000 to 784,000 units. And in the UK The Killers’ “Day & [...]
[...] is remarkable news. While record sales here in the U.S. keep falling with no end in sight, the British market seems to defy all odds. Remember: Wholeseller EUK has been [...]