Mar
17
We’ve Missed You, Kelly
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Kelly Clarkson is back, and industry experts are projecting a #1 album on the Billboard charts thanks to high Soundscan and digital single numbers. Her fourth album, titled “All I Ever Wanted,” is expected to top out at as many as 200,000 units. There is one caveat, however:
Billboard estimates the seven merchants who report to Nielsen SoundScan’s Building chart — Trans World Entertainment, Best Buy, iTunes, Starbucks, Borders, Target and Anderson Merchandisers — comprise about 60% of all U.S. album sales. The March 11 Building chart reflected unweighted sales through the close of business on Tuesday, March 10.
She’s up against U2, and recently displaced Taylor Swift. I don’t know which of them to make fun of more.
Mar
16
LMSYP Event: Record Store Day! April 18th, 2009
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Title: Record Store Day
Location: Record Stores Everywhere!
Link out: Click here
Description: Record Store Day features a flurry of support and activity from artists, record labels and retailers wishing to participate in the annual event in salutation of the independent music store. This year Record Store Day is set to feature a number of exciting new products made especially for the event from such well-known artists as Radiohead, Wilco, Tom Waits and Lucinda Williams and the Flight of the Conchords, just to name a few.
Date: 2009-04-18
Mar
16
The National Association of Recording Merchandisers will honor Bob Higgins, CEO of Trans World Entertainment. The award will be given at the association’s annual convention, held June 7 - 10 in San Diego, CA. (Please note San Diego as your favorite packaging blogger’s home town.)
“I am delighted to honor Bob with our Presidential Award, as he is a visionary entrepreneur who has truly made a positive impact on music retailing,” NARM president Jim Donio said in a statement. “Under his leadership, Trans World has evolved and embraced multimedia convergence, progressively blending the realms of brick-and-mortar and digital experiences for consumers.”
Mar
16
The Dieline’s Ted Mininni explains the importance of packaging in standing out to consumers.
Stand in the aisle of any major supermarket or mass retailer in America and notice in numerous product categories, many brands are indistinguishable from each other. If your brand looks like the rest of the product brands in the category, an overhaul is in order.
Mininni cites Pringles as an example of a retail product that generates market leader awareness and recognition based on packaging alone.
The same applies to the music inudstry. Digipaks, vinyl, and other opportunities are there to stand out. Don’t get lost in the crowd.
Mar
16
There are tough times right now as Red Eye Distribution announced the layoff of four employees. The purpose of the move is to combine Red Eye’s strategic marketing department with their traditional marketing unit, hypebot reports from a letter by Red Eye general manager Steve Dixon. The combined team will be responsible for physical and digital distribution, online marketing, direct to consumer marketing, licensing and export marketing.
Mar
16
Due in part to fewer stores open, FYE’s sales dropped by 24% to $344.7 million in Q4 2008. Same store sales over that same time period dropped only 14%. The rest of the drop was likely a result of 159 fewer stores open.
Trans World and FYE are looking at other markets to make up for the drop in retail sales.
Mar
10
This one goes out to the legions of Hannah Montana, Jonas Brothers, and High School Musical fans reading Let Me See Your Package. Univeral has reached an agreement with Disney to distribute their products in Australia beginning April 1st.
UMG To Distribute Disney Down Under
Mar
6
Prince, Target Stores Team Up For Exclusive Deal And Weird Spelling
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Prince and Target, a match made in heaven
Prince and Target Stores announced a deal to allow the retail chain exclusive rights to sell Prince’s new three disc set. The collection includes studio albums “LOtUSFLOW3R” and “MPLSoUND”, and features a third disc “Elixer” from Prince’s newest protege Bria Valente.
All 3 sell together for $11.98, a price point likely attractive to Target as a way to lure customers into the store to buy lots of crap they don’t need. Target is also co-promoting a line of Prince themed clothing, so keep an eye out.
Mar
5
Taylor Swift Actually Gains Traction, 18% Sales Increase
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Her album, “Fearless”, has Sound Scanned 73,000 copies in the US, topping Billboard charts for the 11th straight week. According to Billboard, no album has topped the charts as long since Santana’s “Supernatural” in 1999 to 2000.
The bad news is the Jonas Brothers’ “3D Concert Experience” shows up 3rd on the list selling 50,000 copies.
