Troubling CD sales figures- Page 4

[Greekmusicalfan]

Posted: 6/19/05 at 12:01pm

Thank you Actr ! :)

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 6/19/05 at 12:35pm

For the starving students, I understand why using the library copies is necessary... assuming that when you are in the money you will actually buy your own copies - at least of the scores you like. :)

Libraries actually buy their copies. (No, they do not get free promo copies as many people assume. Since the record companies send out free copies to radio stationas and theatre reviewers you would think that they would send them to librarie as well but perhaps they view libraries as a threat to sales.)

My CD collection is on shelves, all in their jewel cases with the booklets and J-cards intact. However in talking with other collectors many are now eliminating the jewel boxes and storing the CD's in paper or plastic envelope sleeves.Now I could do that, but I like the ability to scan the spines on the shelves and easily read what the CD's are. (I keep them alphabetical...from THE ACT to ZORBA!) How do you all store them?

For I-POD users..what happens if your I-POD gets lost or stolen, or should quit? Do you lose your entire library?

And what Out-of-Print cast albums are people most interested in finding?

[Avigdor]

Posted: 6/19/05 at 4:14pm

Honestly, i think it is because sometimes they come out to many at once..and many fans/theatre buffs are not able to purchase as they are dont have the funds..these are an investment and you really have to pick and chose. this sight probably is not a representation of the theatre/musical theatre person. also, sometimes outside this thread..stores are a pain in carrrying them and you have to order through website so accessibility becomes an issue. i mean please..18 dollars for a cd is expensive no offense. i personally have spent 15years collecting and have about 400 so..i have an investment.

[Plum]

Posted: 6/19/05 at 4:25pm

The aforementioned Judi Dench A Little Night Music is one of my "holy grail" recordings. It shows up used on Amazon.co.uk and EBay once in a while, but it's ridiculously expensive.

[Greekmusicalfan]

Posted: 6/19/05 at 6:13pm

Plum, I happen to have that recording ! Why is it so expensive, is it discontinued, or was it limited edition ? And how expensive are you talking about ?
Updated On: 6/19/05 at 06:13 PM

[Dirty Rotten Scoundrel]

Posted: 6/19/05 at 6:25pm

i have bought DRS, which i listen to constantly.

will be buying light in the piazza.
i want to sample music from altar boyz, im going to play all the previews on amazon, if its on there.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 6/19/05 at 7:19pm

PLUM & GREEK ...

The Judi Dench ALNM was released by TRING - a small label that has since gone out of business.

PLUM - don't pay top $ for it. I suspect that as soon as some other company picks up the rights we will see it reissued. Meanwhile maybe someone here can burn a copy for you. It is very good (though not quite so perfect as the orig B'way cast) and it does offer the complete score, restores "My Husband the Pig" and combines the show and movie versions of "Glamorous Life."

[Plum]

Posted: 6/19/05 at 7:23pm

Greekmusicalfan- Right now, for example, it's on sale on Amazon.co.uk for 99 pounds, and there's an EBay auction that's at 41 pounds and will no doubt go higher. Since a pound is worth about twice as much as a dollar...yeah, that's expensive. No worries; there's no way I'm going to buy it at that price.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 6/19/05 at 8:01pm

I am just the opposite - I enjoy shows more going in knowing the score. This allows me to focus on the visual aspects of staging and performances. Still many scores I heard the first time in the theatre because the recordings had not been released: MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG, DREAMGIRLS, INTO THE WOODS, GRAND HOTEL, SECRET GARDEN, KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN, TITANTIC, STEEL PIER, THE LIFE among others.

I also encourage others to listen to the scores a few times first, especially for more complex scores. I think PIAZZA is one show where knowing the music going in would be an asset.

[Greekmusicalfan]

Posted: 6/19/05 at 8:11pm

Wow, I had no idea ! I haven't listened to it in years ! It sure is nice, to learn that you have a valuable CD in your collection, that you had no clue it was a collective :)

[jasonf]

Posted: 6/19/05 at 8:24pm

Frontrowcenter --
I have many of those CDs you've listed, and many of the rest of them are ones that I've seen and not bought because I didn't know anything about them. I tend to be much more hesitant about buying older shows that I don't know about than more modern ones. I tend to like modern ones more, be they well known or not, which isn't to say there isn't a place on my shelf (or Ipod) for some Gilbert and Sullivan, Show Boat, and Oklahoma. For example, today I saw in B&N Dames at Sea, Ballroom, and Goldilocks - all shows I don't have, but not knowing much about them, wasn't really willing to buy them.

As for the question about iPods -- the information is double stored on the iPod AND your hard drive on your computer. If one goes down, you still have the other. If both go down, well then, to paraphrase our favorite Baker (well, unless you're into Meadowlarks) "Maybe you just weren't meant to have iPod"

[Plum]

Posted: 6/19/05 at 8:27pm

No, you can store your music on your iPod but not your hard drive. People opt for that if their computer doesn't have a lot of space, but I really wouldn't recommend it.

Anyway...I just got a very late paycheck from my college in the mail. It's enough for a good 6-8 CDs if I get them used.

*trundles off to Amazon*
Updated On: 6/19/05 at 08:27 PM

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 6/19/05 at 8:34pm

GREEK - I know what you mean.

My first trip to NYC in 1977 I went into Colony Record store. I was happy to see price tags of $50 - $250 on copies of Lps I already owned...but oh the agony when it was something I didn't have and really wanted. Most of the titles I wanted I eventually got (and never paid anywhere near $50 for one) but then ended up getting them all again when the CD reissues came out.

I am glad I bought WHOOP UP when it came out on CD but wish now I had bought a few extras for later re-sale. I lucked out when a local record store got about a dozen copies of HIGH SPIRITS and FLAHOOLEY and were selling them off for $5.99 each. I bought them all and a few years later resold on E-bay auctions ending with anywhere from $25-$45 each! (I like auctione because no one is forced to bid any higher than they want to go.)

Anyone tracking prices for o/p show albums is in for a rollar coaster ride: FLAHOOLEY is a great example. The original LP (1951) went out of print quickly and by the early 1970s collector shops were charging upwards of $200 a copy. Then in 1977 Capitol reissued it. The value fell (since the new pressing was much better and they used the exact smae cover front and back.) Then the reissue went out-of-print and the value started inching up although there wre more copies floating around. Then Angel issued it on CD for $9.98 and the value of the Lp's dropped. But Angel's CD went out of print and within a few years it was selling for $35-40 a copy. Now DRG has re-released it on CD. I suggest anyone who doesn't have FLAHOOLEY get it now because this will probably be the last chance to get it. (And, if you don't know FLAHOLEY you are in for a treat!)

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 6/24/05 at 3:02pm

With the revival cast of SWEET CHARITY making its way to stores over the next few weeks (already for sale at Footlight and at the theatre) it will be interesting to see how many copies it sells compared to the 1966 original Broadway cast which is out on CD at about half the price and with a better cast.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 1/25/06 at 8:31pm

Billboard now is listing the top 15 best-selling cast albums.
For the week ending Jan 20, 2006:

1. WICKED
2. JERSEY BOYS
3. MAMMA MIA!
4. RENT - HIGHLIGHTS
5. THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA: HIGHLIGHTS
6. SPAMALOT
7. RENT
8. THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
9. AVENUE Q
10. HAIRSPRAY
11. LES MISERABLES: HIGHLIGHTS (BROADWAY)
12. ANNIE
13. THE LION KING
14. WEST SIDE STORY
15. DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS

To put this perspective, WEST SIDE STORY and DIRTY ROTTEN each sold around 400 copies last week.

[BSoBW3]

Posted: 1/25/06 at 8:34pm

I wonder how TCP and Sweeney will do...

[wexy]

Posted: 1/25/06 at 8:36pm

I'm still trying to figure out how Altar Boyz plagarized me .
About six months before the show opened, I wrote a story whose first line was "Jesus called me on my cell phone."

Unless these are as demented as me I found that really weird.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 1/25/06 at 8:40pm

Now you see why more cast albums are not made

It might help if they did not rip you off if you want to buy it in the theater. What better place to sell it while it is fresh in the audiences mind?

[bryan]

Posted: 1/25/06 at 8:46pm

i think if record compaines and people who put shows on see that sales are in the middle maybe they will do more like good vibrations and lennon and in my life. and i have over 700 cd's and i still am collceting more and they need to do more cast cd's like the shows i said in the bengin of this mesaage.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 1/25/06 at 8:48pm

What about this thread do you not get ?

If they only sell 10,000 copies of DRS which is a hit why make one of Lennon which was a flop ?

Updated On: 1/25/06 at 08:48 PM

[wexy]

Posted: 1/25/06 at 8:54pm

Very good point Mr. Roxy, the CD in theatre should be less than in the theatre. The only time that I bought a CD at a show was for the "Play Without Words" because it was reasonably priced.

[tourboi]

Posted: 1/25/06 at 9:25pm

FIVE HUNDRED for Altar Boyz?! In total or in a week? I find that hard to believe if its indeed in total.

More than 500 have been sold at the theatre alone, let alone CD's from stores (no idea). Where did you get your information?

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 1/25/06 at 10:09pm

No, tourboi, that's in a week. But thinking that NYSNC sold 1.2 Million CDs in one week, that's pretty crazy. I understand why record companies don't record the CDs, but I think that lowering the price of a cd at the theater - say $10-$15 then they'd sell many more because that's a good price.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 1/25/06 at 10:36pm

tourboi, I think you are seeing the original message from months ago when the CD was first released.

Bryan - the simple painful fact is that if a show like IN MY LIFE got reciorded it would not sell over 1,000 copies and it needs to sell 200,0000 to break even. So if you want to produce it, go ahead but youu better win a lottery because that is the only way it will pay off.buy

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 1/25/06 at 10:41pm

they only need 200,000 to break even? That's not too bad. I think the thing with Cast Recordings is they have a lot of "shelf life" because high schools / community theaters and whatnot are constantly doing shows and ppl see those and like it so they pick up a copy of the CD or whatnot. They're not like normal CDs because ppl don't see profits quickly, but like the owner of Sh-K-Boom said, they pay themselves off in the long run.