Live-8 Exposure Boosts Record Sales

The record industry has been whining a great deal lately because their sales are down. As one, the big labels have blamed the internet and “illegal” downloading of copyrighted material. The results of the Live-8 concert suggest there’s another dimension to this. In general, they might be guilty of poor marketing as well. Virtually without exception, bands that performed in Hyde Park for free in an attempt to get the world to pay attention to the mess that is Africa sold more records afterwards than they had before playing.

For example, the big UK record chain HMV said that Pink Floyd’s “Echoes” album had an increase in sales volume of 1,343% from the week before. Now, given that Pink Floyd hasn’t really been more than a memory for some years, its sales for the week of June 26 were very low. Nonetheless, for the week ending July 3, sales were approaching 1,000 – for a band that doesn’t really exist anymore.

The Who’s “Then & Now” sold 863% more in the week of July 3 than the week of June 26, the Eurythmic’s greatest hits album was up fivefold, and Dido’s “Life for Rent” had its sales more than quadruple. Coldplay, which is different because the act is still a working proposition, had its sales rise a seemingly meager 3%, but in absolute terms, that was the best post-Live-8 result with 2,800 more copies going out the door than the week before the gig.

Only one performer suffered a drop in sales. Pete Doherty, formerly of the Libertines, put on the worst performance of the entire show. He blundered through the words of “Children of the Revolution” the way the Bush administration blunders through foreign policy. The Mirror newspaper said his duet with Sir Elton John was “shambolic,” but put none of the blame on Sir Elton. As a result, the Libertines’ “Up the Bracket” had a sales drop of 35%.

The stories of the bootleg recordings on eBay give the industry some justification for claiming technology is part of the problem but not all of it. Could it be that letting the public listen to music for free results in higher sales if the quality is there? And if so, what does it say about the industry that can’t showcase talent as well as it used to do? Perhaps, music is a “try it before you buy it” product that needs to be sold accordingly.


© Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent.
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