Album Leak and its effect on sales?

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STING2

Rock n' Roll Doggie FOB
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So, now that "Bomb" is available on the internet and spreading, how do you think this will effect sales? Realize, the internet is much more widespread than it was 4 years ago plus more people have broadband/cable connections which allow for much faster downloads.

Obviously, the question is really about the first week sales as the album would have eventually been put on the internet upon release unless there was some type of encryption to prevent that.
 
It depends on whether or not they're going to bring forward the release date of the album or release the album on iTunes (as Bono has indicated before). And whether or not it is a good album many people like so much that they also want to buy a real copy of it.

:shrug:

Marty (hasn't decided whether or not to download it)
 
Hmm....
It's a tough question.
I would say that it will effect the album sales in a positive way. More people will know about how good the album is, and it will be more discussed.
 
well, if they release it on iTunes, then you're gonna see a real drop in sales on the Billboard charts. Which would really suck. I hope they just ride it out. Hope everyone here that is downloading actually buys it. (i'm not downloading it - love breaking open that package and listening to the whole thing at CD quality, while looking through the booklet)
 
I still pre-ordered the album and the ipod and I am going to get the box set with the ipod. I have all the albums on tape and CD so even this one is only temporary until I get the real one.

A true U2 fan should own all their albums.
 
womanfish said:
well, if they release it on iTunes, then you're gonna see a real drop in sales on the Billboard charts. Which would really suck. I hope they just ride it out. Hope everyone here that is downloading actually buys it. (i'm not downloading it - love breaking open that package and listening to the whole thing at CD quality, while looking through the booklet)

IIRC, full album downloads on iTunes count on the Billboard/SoundScan chart.
 
I'm not convinced U2 didn't allow this to leak. Think about it. Who's downloading it? Us—the hardcore fans who are clearly going to buy the CD anyway. That's it, really. And what results? An extremely biased and positive buzz about the album that it can ride until the day it's released.
 
LPU2 said:
I'm not convinced U2 didn't allow this to leak. Think about it. Who's downloading it? Us—the hardcore fans who are clearly going to buy the CD anyway. That's it, really. And what results? An extremely biased and positive buzz about the album that it can ride until the day it's released.

Many more than the hardcore fans will get it -- it's all over the P2P networks already.
 
I will definately buy the cd no matter what. I am a longtime, true fan and have to own a real copy :up:
 
Remember when considering the impact on U2 sales that all other artists have their albums leak as well. They will be just as impacted by those leaks as U2 will be by this one. I foresee no negative impact whatsoever.

Those who'd download without buying or those who'd prefer to 'try before they buy' would do so anyway regardless of whether it leaked before the release date or if it was only put online after it appears in shops.

(It's also worth noting no encryption, no matter how good, could stop the songs being placed online. It's very easy to record an encrypted CD with a microphone.)
 
It won't effect sales. Every album ends up on download these days, and U2 just had their playing field leveled, that's all. If anything, U2 has a more honest fanbase than your average rap star.
 
I went to Amazon yesterday to check out the U2 Show book and noticed the HTDAAB collectors edition was out of stock. Ok what does that mean? I pre-ordered mine on the 2nd and it's still in my account to be shipped. Today I noticed it's says it's not available and to keep checking back to the site for updates. Do they only get a certain amount promised from the record company or what? I'm just wondering if sales are so good that they've sold out and won't be offering any more of the collectors edition, or if there is something else changing.
 
Popmartijn said:


IIRC, full album downloads on iTunes count on the Billboard/SoundScan chart.

True, but my bet is that 95% of the people that would download the album will have already downloaded Vertigo. Which would mean the downloads would not be of a full album.
 
womanfish said:
True, but my bet is that 95% of the people that would download the album will have already downloaded Vertigo. Which would mean the downloads would not be of a full album.

From what I understood, a full album download is only counted for the SoundScan/Billboard chart when you select the 'buy full album' option, in which case you also buy it for a special price. If you download each track individually, then that won't be counted for the album charts, not even if you download all the tracks.
 
honestly i think that a big band like U2 can't be damaged by this leaking...think about it: even if 2 millions people download it from now till the release date it's just 1/10 of U2's potential buyers and beetween these 2 millions you should count:
1) U2's hardcore fans that will get the cd anyway
2) hardcore downloader (that never buy a single album...and that can't affect sales)
3) casual listeners that dowloaded it to see if it's worth the price (and after listening to it i bet they'll get the original ;) )
4) a percentage of casual listeners that won't buy the album as they got it via internet...and these are the only that will actually affect sales...so in the worst case 1 million potential buyers out of 20 millions: nothing to worry about

if we consider that 2 millions people downloading it is the worst possible case the picture is complete: nothing to worry about :)


P.S.
it's true that broad band is much more spreaded now than 4 yrs ago..but today there's no easy stupid-proof-tool as Napster and getting the album passes through Bittorrent or Emule: a lot of people simply don't know how to use them or how to find the things they're looking for with those programs.

in other terms piracy is a bad thing and i don't support it in anyway but face the reality: Doom3 sold millions of copies even if it was downloadable from day 1..simply a lot of people don't know how to use "properly" BT or emule and even if they know they usually prefer having the original thing (for example i actually bought the original even if i knew how to get it illegally and i don't think i'm the only good guy on the net ;) )
 
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tkramer said:
It won't effect sales. Every album ends up on download these days, and U2 just had their playing field leveled, that's all. If anything, U2 has a more honest fanbase than your average rap star.

This is absolutely true. (especially for heavily anticipated releases. "surprise" success albums will lose out to piracy as soon as they start to get recognition).

I would actually say this is less of a worry for U2, as their fans are most likely older, in aggregate, than Eminem's fans, for example. Which probably means they have more disposable income to drop on album, instead of skimping and downloading illegally.
 
xovonob now! said:

I would actually say this is less of a worry for U2, as their fans are most likely older, in aggregate, than Eminem's fans, for example. Which probably means they have more disposable income to drop on album, instead of skimping and downloading illegally.


I think so too. There were, what, 2 other big CDs coming out that week that were leaked by that same release group, Eminem and Destiny's Child? I know several people who are really big fans of Eminem but have never purchased any of his albums, probably never will, and think I am strange for purchasing music at all. :slant:

I think the leak may very well have a positive effect on sales. I've heard great comments about it from people who downloaded it that aren't really big fans, but loved it so much that they may buy the CD when it comes out. :)
 
I'm not worried at all. If I thought the leak would have a negative impact on U2, I wouldn't have taken part in it.

Let's use Vertigo as an example. You could download it within seconds from pretty much any P2P application or torrent site. However, it's been the #1 selling song on the iTunes Music Store for over a month and a half. It's much more difficult to download a full album, especially with the flood of decoy files, so this leak will have even less of a negative impact on album sales than Vertigo being readily available for piracy has.

I honestly believe that the leak is going to have a positive impact on sales. First and foremost, the people that downloaded the leak and aren't going to buy the album (i.e. they're pirating it), most likely wouldn't have purchased it anyway. The album would have hit these illegal outlets no matter what, they just got a slight jump start. Having said that, there are many more positive results of a leak. It has built a tremendous amount of hype, to say the least. It's hard to find a forum on the 'net (not just U2 forums) that doesn't have a thread speaking positively about it. Because of the incredibly positive response, more people are going to be inclined to purchase multiple copies/versions of the album during its first week of sale. There is certainly a higher level of confidence in people about the quality of the album, and that's going to result in increased sales from (and especially on) day 1. Personally, I'll be buying a number of copies of the various versions for friends and family.

Finally, keep in mind that ATYCLB leaked _earlier_ than HTDAAB. Needless to say, that sold just fine :)
 
gorman said:
I'm not worried at all. If I thought the leak would have a negative impact on U2, I wouldn't have taken part in it.

Let's use Vertigo as an example. You could download it within seconds from pretty much any P2P application or torrent site. However, it's been the #1 selling song on the iTunes Music Store for over a month and a half. It's much more difficult to download a full album, especially with the flood of decoy files, so this leak will have even less of a negative impact on album sales than Vertigo being readily available for piracy has.

I honestly believe that the leak is going to have a positive impact on sales. First and foremost, the people that downloaded the leak and aren't going to buy the album (i.e. they're pirating it), most likely wouldn't have purchased it anyway. The album would have hit these illegal outlets no matter what, they just got a slight jump start. Having said that, there are many more positive results of a leak. It has built a tremendous amount of hype, to say the least. It's hard to find a forum on the 'net (not just U2 forums) that doesn't have a thread speaking positively about it. Because of the incredibly positive response, more people are going to be inclined to purchase multiple copies/versions of the album during its first week of sale. There is certainly a higher level of confidence in people about the quality of the album, and that's going to result in increased sales from (and especially on) day 1. Personally, I'll be buying a number of copies of the various versions for friends and family.

Finally, keep in mind that ATYCLB leaked _earlier_ than HTDAAB. Needless to say, that sold just fine :)

I agree with everything said here, but that doesn't necessarily mean we're going to be correct lol.
Although I thought ATYCLB wasn't leaked until a week before the album came out?

WHYWHY.
 
WHYWHY said:


I agree with everything said here, but that doesn't necessarily mean we're going to be correct lol.
Although I thought ATYCLB wasn't leaked until a week before the album came out?

WHYWHY.

ATYCLB was leaked 3 weeks before its official release
 
Dima said:


ATYCLB was leaked 3 weeks before its official release

Ah well there you go. Wonder how much of an impact that had on the album sales... at least in the first week or two.

Oh and one other thing I might point out just for the record. I didn't download the album or use my opportunity to listen to it on the radio... I want to wait until i put that cd in the cd player before I listen to it.... just the anticipation and all :p.

WHYWHY.
 
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