SOI in the charts

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
CosmoKramer said:
1-it was free only to iTunes customers, so there is a very large segment of the population that was not given the opportunity to obtain the album.
Click to expand...
If you wanted the album for free, you had 1 month to create a free itunes account. No need to buy anything.
They had the opportunity to obtain the album. For free. For one month.

CosmoKramer said:
2-the promos they are doing are to sell albums. Perhaps also to sell tour tickets but to sell albums.
Click to expand...
Probably this is a topic for a different thread, but I don't think they're trying to sell albums, I think they're trying to get people to listen and like the album they already have. And maybe sell a few tickets and albums in the process.

CosmoKramer said:
3-if tracking the charting of SOI blows your mind as to your point of "why would people buy something that they were given for free",
Click to expand...
Oh, no, that's not what blows my mind ("why people buy something they got for free").
What blows my mind is that people (here and in the media) are surprised or disappointed (or some even happy) that the album has not sell as good as somehow they expected. Like they keep forgetting that it was free.

CosmoKramer said:
then why did the album hit number 1 in at least 10 countries and hit the top 10 in nearly every other country it was released( see points 1 & 2)
Click to expand...
What would you say is the big surprise (for you)?
The pleasant surprise that [the album hit number 1 in at least 10 countries and sneaked into the top 10 everywhere else] or the disappointing surprise that [it barely reached the top 10 in some countries and it has low numbers]?
Because I believe that only one of those IS a surprise, and it's a great surprise, considering points 1 & 2.

CosmoKramer said:
As far as expecting it to have "massive" sales, you would be correct in that would be a bit crazy being that it was made available to a large portion of people for free, for over a month.

Additionally, it is silly to compare this album with another artist or previous U2 albums because this release was very VERY different but that doesn't mean that some amount of sales are not expected.
Click to expand...

Sure.
I just mean... as far as I can see reading this numbers under the light of "it was free!", this album was a huge success.

But reading this thread it seemed that the album flopped and it was pretty "meh"... at least that's how it comes across.

In other words, considering both the numbers and the circumstances, I would've expected for this thread to be a party, and it looks like a memorial.
 
Bad Exit said:
I beg to differ... those are incentives to buy the album IF you're already a fan.

If you're only a casual listener, you already have more songs than you really cared for about in the first place.

---

I don't like repeating myself, and it's not my intention to single out Native Son in here (my comment applies to 90% of the posts in this thread), but I needed a post as an example to explain myself better on how I feel reading this otherwise very interesting thread, this is how I keep reading all these posts:



Promo? why? why would they promote the album? it was free!


Sure, but not if everybody already have the album for free...


a single and more radio play? how about not giving away their album for free?


They already had 20M people to get the album! They already surpassed that!


But... it wasn't free...


...what? it was free.. this doesn't make sense... there's less need to rush? and buy it straight away? no, it was free... there's no need to buy it now or never, they already have it! it was free!

101.gif


Sorry, I do believe this thread IT'S REALLY INTERESTING, I love numbers, but I don't understand why somebody would expect that people would (massively) BUY something that they already was given for free. It really blows my mind.
Click to expand...


Sorry, I don't understand your post, you seem to be in agreement with the points myself and others have already made, rather than disagreeing?
 
U2 down by one position , now #5 in The Netherlands. Its 3rd week in the top 10 of

Not too shabby U2.
For a country with an audience ( that part of it that still buys records I would like to point out) general shitty taste apart form U2.
 
Native_Son said:
Sorry, I don't understand your post, you seem to be in agreement with the points myself and others have already made, rather than disagreeing?
Click to expand...

Probably you're right.

This is the point I was trying to make, I think I expressed myself better in here:

Bad Exit said:
as far as I can see reading this numbers under the light of "it was free!", this album was a huge success.

But reading this thread it seemed that the album flopped and it was pretty "meh"... or at least that's how it comes across.

In other words, considering both the numbers and the circumstances, I would've expected for this thread to be a party, and it looks like a memorial.
Click to expand...
 
womanfish said:
Hey Cosmo, can you find the sales numbers for the first couple weeks for NLOTH for France, Italy, Spain, Portugal and maybe Netherlands and compare them to SOI's performance?



It's pretty amazing that it's even in the same ballpark...
Click to expand...


So here is what I had tracked when NLOTH originally came out:

France:
Week 1-64k
Week 2-51k
Week3-24k

Japan:
Week 1-33k
Week 2-17k
Week 3-9k

Australia:
Week 1- 30k
Week 2-14k
Week 3- 8k

England:
Week 1- 157k
Week 2- 44k
week 3- 30k


I have Canada and the US also but didn't include them here. I have chart positions for almost every other country but not sales numbers by week.



Sent from my iPad using U2 Interference
 
Bad Exit said:
I beg to differ... those are incentives to buy the album IF you're already a fan.

If you're only a casual listener, you already have more songs than you really cared for about in the first place.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm genuinely impressed that there is anybody at all buying this album, let alone so many that it is charting so well, especially in Europe. How the hell has it made number one anywhere, let alone two weeks in a row in a few countries! I'm not sure I would buy the physical copy of a free album no matter what band released it. I have absolutely no intention of ever buying Songs of Innocence, if that tells you anything. I'm not a collector. I have the music in one form, so I feel no need to buy exactly the same songs again.

Your point about the bonus disc being an incentive only for existing fans is also very true. There are plenty of times where I've had bonus tracks bundled into an album purchase and never once listened to those bonuses because I just don't care to hear some acoustic, demo, live, or remixed version. If it's a brand new track I'll check it out but otherwise I don't care. Take Chvrches' album for example. I bought the deluxe edition because I could get it for the same price as the regular one and has two extra new tracks, both of which I enjoy; it also came with a couple of remixes and a couple of live performances and I have never listened to them. If I were a casual U2 fan, I would've just downloaded Lucifer's Hands and The Crystal Ballroom (if I even heard about them) and ignored the rest, because I already have the main version of Every Breaking Wave, Cedarwood Road, etc.
 
Maybe this has been mentioned, but I kind of wonder if the 'free album' unintentionally creates some apathy that could lead to poor sales.

I know at least 3 people, indeed a small sample, who have still yet to take the time to listen to the their free copy.

Makes me wonder if, on some levels, people say to themselves, "well, how good could it be, U2 gave it away, so it might just suck" and hence they don't take time to listen or purchase SOI.

At least in America, "you get what you pay for" is pretty ingrained to our psyche.
 
BWU2Buffs said:
Maybe this has been mentioned, but I kind of wonder if the 'free album' unintentionally creates some apathy that could lead to poor sales.

I know at least 3 people, indeed a small sample, who have still yet to take the time to listen to the their free copy.

Makes me wonder if, on some levels, people say to themselves, "well, how good could it be, U2 gave it away, so it might just suck" and hence they don't take time to listen or purchase SOI.

At least in America, "you get what you pay for" is pretty ingrained to our psyche.
Click to expand...

About some apathy to listen to the album, I could agree. Again, I believe that's why they're "promoting" the album, so the people takes their time to listen to it.

About the rest... I want to use that Nathan Fillion gif again...
 
I agree somewhat with the apathy statement. But also think that it is most likely far outweighed by the casual, fairweather U2 fan, who might own, JT, or ATYCLB, but nothing else. They might give it a spin where they might not ever have checked it out at all without hearing a song on the radio to get them there.


That said, I think the cool thing about U2 doing a week on Fallon, and hopefully other US promo, and hopefully releasing EBW, will be that people will get to hear something, might like it and then have the album already to listen to. If they don't have it, then look it up and at that point will be available for SALE on iTunes.

My good friend and neighbor has listened to it some, and he would have never searched out and bought the album. A friend at work checked it out cause he saw stuff on FB about it, but probably would never have known about it if it was released traditionally.
 
Interesting that the week on Fallon lines up with (I think) an Interference post predicting a 2015 tour announcement on or around November 22nd?

I could swear I read a thread predicting 11/22 announcement. Perhaps just wishful thinking.
 
So no SOI in the top 50 in the US this week. General surge in sales across the board.
Will be interesting to see if the week of Fallon and the availability of it to buy on iTunes will bring it back into the top 50 at that point.
 
#9 in the World with 59,000 sold. Down from #4 with 5 debuts ahead of it this week. Sales numbers are so low for ALL albums save for maybe country music, which might be the last demographic of fans that still use CD players.

U2 has seen the music industry's business model change so much during their career and have always been out in front of things...setting trends rather than following. I still don't get their singles strategy, though. Crystal Ballroom would be a great single imho. It should have made the proper album...theme fits (Bono imagining being in U2 with his parents dancing together in the Ballroom)...great song...would have been mixed and hit #1 on dance/club charts.

Maybe it will make the radio yet, but EBW could be a pretty big hit for them. We'll see.
 
beLIEve said:
#9 in the World with 59,000 sold. Down from #4 with 5 debuts ahead of it this week. Sales numbers are so low for ALL albums save for maybe country music, which might be the last demographic of fans that still use CD players.

U2 has seen the music industry's business model change so much during their career and have always been out in front of things...setting trends rather than following. I still don't get their singles strategy, though. Crystal Ballroom would be a great single imho. It should have made the proper album...theme fits (Bono imagining being in U2 with his parents dancing together in the Ballroom)...great song...would have been mixed and hit #1 on dance/club charts.

Maybe it will make the radio yet, but EBW could be a pretty big hit for them. We'll see.
Click to expand...

:up::up::up:
 
I have absolutely no intention of ever buying Songs of Innocence, if that tells you anything
Tells me you Scot somewhere. :wave:
 
mikeuk said:
And in week 1 sales less than 3k - so hey don't expect U2 to make Oz a tour priority. Best sales in Europe - again !!!!
Click to expand...

They will come here, but maybe not a full blown tour.
To tell you the truth though I'm surprised anyone here in Australia knows about the physical release. I've seen zero promotion, no songs on radio, just a few TV spots like 60 minutes.
 
4th week of U2 in the Dutch charts, beginning to drop slowly.

Position #12 now.
 
As I wrote earlier, even if SOI was released the traditional way, it would be dropping on the charts now without a hit song. The fan base is strong enough to get it to #1 or decent first and second week sales. After that, an album needs something to keep the public interested. That's always been the case. "The Miracle" is a fine song, but it served more of "The Fly" type of role. It was to remind people that U2 has something new, this is U2's new sound and direction, and that the album is coming (or, in this case, out immediately). EBW is equivalent to a "Mysterious Ways" (or "One" if you prefer) - the bigger song that will be the hit. Trouble is, this isn't 1991 any more and U2 aren't in their late 20's/early 30's where the music buying youth can still relate to them. So U2 need to push EBW to get audiences interested. That's the only way SOI will see some sort of decent sales.

Plus, IMO, SOI is a very solid album. Not U2's best, but one of their strongest in recent years. As a result, it should have that hit or two that keeps the album in people's memories. At present, people only know it as that "free release" that "just appeared". Why so many people protested that is beyond me (I don't care for Justin Bieber, but if his album just appeared on my iPhone, I'd give it a listen). SOI deserves more than that memory.

I hope U2's upcoming promotion does the trick.
 
doctorwho said:
"The Miracle" is a fine song, but it served more of "The Fly" type of role. It was to remind people that U2 has something new, this is U2's new sound and direction, and that the album is coming (or, in this case, out immediately). EBW is equivalent to a "Mysterious Ways" (or "One" if you prefer) - the bigger song that will be the hit.
Click to expand...

This is how I see it, too. It's the model U2 has used since AB. EBW should be the biggest hit U2 has had for some time, but the 3rd single is the big question to me.

If they go with California or Volcano or Song for Someone, they could risk losing momentum. They've got to strike again while they're hot and release Crystal Ballroom or The Troubles. These are songs that will have a bigger impact.
 
doctorwho said:
Why so many people protested that is beyond me (I don't care for Justin Bieber, but if his album just appeared on my iPhone, I'd give it a listen). SOI deserves more than that memory.
Click to expand...


I'm 100% with you on this but the reality is if you gave every one $1,000, there would still be some people that would complain ("I don't want your charity money" or " oh, now I need to pay tax on this free money").

What's more interesting is how insane the actual comments are. It was as if U2 killed puppies or bombed a school. The reactions from some (mostly younger people) are embarrassing and reflective of how people were raised(or lack thereof).

My favorite comment involved U2 "eating many dicks" because apparently one would not suffice!


Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

MrsSpringsteen
Atomic City
Replies
11
Views
1K
HeartlandGirl
HeartlandGirl
M
Songs of Surrender - chart performance
Replies
11
Views
2K
doctorwho
doctorwho
prbiker15
U2:UV Boxscore Discussion
Replies
20
Views
1K
DeVaul
DeVaul
Scorpionac
Songs that would fit better on SOI vs. SOE?
Replies
1
Views
408
Headache in a Suitcase
Headache in a Suitcase
N
I’m new here and like the recent stuff
Replies
2
Views
755
Sicy
Sicy

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom