Album Sales predictions-What do you think?

[Seshmeister]

Record sales are entirely fucking irrelevant these days.

They make 100 million a fucking tour by squeezing every last cent out of us. In the olden days the concert ticket made them break even, the t-shirts made some money and the albums made the big money.

Now it's the $200 gig tickets.

I'll be honest when I pay $200 for a ticket for a gig I have no conscience or worries whatsoever about stealing the album from a bit torrent. The music itself has become a promotional vehicle for the concert ticket. It's like a commercial.

[Nitro Express]

Seeing a concert still is probably cheaper than buying a decent whore.

[Seshmeister]

Define decent you old charmer, you 21st century man you.

Maybe they charge you extra...

[shaggydoo]

I voted "1-2 million", but don't crucify me for that, I hope I'm wrong and they sell over 5 million!

I'm buying two, so I hope that gets the ball rolling in my parts of the world.

[Heater]

So are a lot of people going to buy more than one copy just to boost the sales numbers? And let's not forget all the illegal downloads or burning one for a friend. Is somebody going to extrapolate that figure and add it in? "Well, they sold 200,000 the first week but if they all made a copy and then THEY all made a copy.... That means a trillion sold!! Woot-woot!" seems to be an awful lot of worrying about something that "doesn't matter". Back in the day (pre 1985) I don't remember anybody giving a flying fuck where a VH record sat on the charts or who they outsold, the fans weren't of that mindset, they just enjoyed the music when it came out.

[Matt White]

So are a lot of people going to buy more than one copy just to boost the sales numbers? And let's not forget all the illegal downloads or burning one for a friend. Is somebody going to extrapolate that figure and add it in? "Well, they sold 200,000 the first week but if they all made a copy and then THEY all made a copy.... That means a trillion sold!! Woot-woot!" seems to be an awful lot of worrying about something that "doesn't matter". Back in the day (pre 1985) I don't remember anybody giving a flying fuck where a VH record sat on the charts or who they outsold, the fans weren't of that mindset, they just enjoyed the music when it came out.

BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!



There there little fella....it'll be all right!!!! Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. ......

[chefcraig]

So are a lot of people going to buy more than one copy just to boost the sales numbers? And let's not forget all the illegal downloads or burning one for a friend. Is somebody going to extrapolate that figure and add it in? "Well, they sold 200,000 the first week but if they all made a copy and then THEY all made a copy.... That means a trillion sold!! Woot-woot!" seems to be an awful lot of worrying about something that "doesn't matter". Back in the day (pre 1985) I don't remember anybody giving a flying fuck where a VH record sat on the charts or who they outsold, the fans weren't of that mindset, they just enjoyed the music when it came out.

Not quite certain how you can read a handful of posts at a message board, then come to the conclusion that people are going to purchase multiple copies of an album with the sole intent of boosting it's sales so the numbers look good on a chart somewhere. Even if that was true, it's hardly a brand new occurrence, as the concept of "ballot-stuffing" has been around for a few centuries now.

But I do agree that if it were to take place, it would me a meaningless gesture, pretty much like people voting multiple times for an online poll in order to get their favorite guitarist, artist or song to come out on top. Just like American Idol, where people have the opportunity to cast a vote for their favorite singer in the competition. At one point, people were re-voting so much it crashed the show's accounting system, throwing doubt on the voting process in it's entirety. (No, we will not explore the system of balloting here in Florida, as it's a far more vile and sinister ball of wax.)

With the way this album is being marketed however, some folks simply have no alternative than to purchase variations of it. If you want the t shirt and DVD from Walmart, you are required to purchase two different copies, because of the packaging. I intend to do so, but to tell ya the truth, if someone walks up to me in the parking lot and asks, they are welcome to my non-DVD copy of the album. Twenty bucks for a t shirt these days (sadly) isn't such a bad deal.

Since it's my cash, and my choice, I could give a shit if my purchases boost Van Halen's sales or not. It's called capitalism, and the ROTH ARMY fraternity supports it. But you can't hold a whole fraternity responsible for the behavior of a few, sick twisted individuals. For if you do, then shouldn't we blame the whole fraternity system? And if the whole fraternity system is guilty, then isn't this an indictment of our educational institutions in general? I put it to you, Heater - isn't this an indictment of our entire American society? Well, you can do whatever you want to us, but we're not going to sit here and listen to you badmouth the United States of America. Gentlemen!

[SNIPER]

The fact is their label is a monster and the promotion will be as good as it gets with the team they have. They will push the fuck out of this thing! They have the "dream team" of the promo industry working for them. This is gonna be crazy huge. I think we will see over 2 million at least with no problem.. But I would not be shocked if it hit the 3 to 4 range. Again, if the team does the job like they always do and the album is good (and it will be) they are in very good hands!! I think we can expect to see a huge VH year ahead of us. Maybe the biggest ever.

[Nitro Express]

The fact is their label is a monster and the promotion will be as good as it gets with the team they have. They will push the fuck out of this thing! They have the "dream team" of the promo industry working for them. This is gonna be crazy huge. I think we will see over 2 million at least with no problem.. But I would not be shocked if it hit the 3 to 4 range. Again, if the team does the job like they always do and the album is good (and it will be) they are in very good hands!! I think we can expect to see a huge VH year ahead of us. Maybe the biggest ever.

I agree and we can continue the celebration by throwing our politicians and Sammy Hagar into the depths of hell and party onward! Maybe the true meaning of the Mayan calender is 2012 is the year Sammy Hagar ends for good.

[SNIPER]

I agree and we can continue the celebration by throwing our politicians and Sammy Hagar into the depths of hell and party onward! Maybe the true meaning of the Mayan calender is 2012 is the year Sammy Hagar ends for good.

LOL!!!!! I may be stoned but this is fucking cracking me up for some stony reason.

[sonrisa salvaje]

I don't know about you guys but my plans are to buy the deluxe edition to keep at home in "the collection", buy the regular edition solely for the car and then i will likely buy the edition at Walmart which included the t-shirt just to get the shirt in advance of a tour date and will likely give that copy to a friend. That makes 3 editions for me. What would have been really cool would be to fully autograph advanced copies and hook up with Tower Records or some other outfit (Fye maybe?) and pre-sell those. Can you say platinum prior to release? However, i don't see Ed and Al sitting around signing cd covers for a week in order to do that.

[FORD]

The vinyl edition of A Different Kind of Truth is only available at the moment via Live Nation:

http://www.store.livenation.com/Product.aspx?cp=13281_20623_54521&pc=XM03COMBO

somebody posted about this on another thread that I can't find now (it wasn't in Main), but I googled it up again ... only available to customers who have a US-registered credit card (I tried ordering, but my credit card is linked to my UK address, naturally - that's where I live!).

Coming soon to eBay at very inflated prices, no doubt, unless they release the vinyl everywhere, which I hope they will do eventually.

Ironic that Universal wouldn't release the album on vinyl in the UK. I thought they were big supporters of that whole "record store day" thing. Or at least they were when they issued the Rolling Stones "Plundered My Soul" as a vinyl 45" in advance of the Exile remaster.

[Heater]

Chefcraig, nicely done. I honestly laughed when I read your post. You always manage to take the high road. Uncle!

[SunisinuS]

Not quite certain how you can read a handful of posts at a message board, then come to the conclusion that people are going to purchase multiple copies of an album with the sole intent of boosting it's sales so the numbers look good on a chart somewhere. Even if that was true, it's hardly a brand new occurrence, as the concept of "ballot-stuffing" has been around for a few centuries now.

But I do agree that if it were to take place, it would me a meaningless gesture, pretty much like people voting multiple times for an online poll in order to get their favorite guitarist, artist or song to come out on top. Just like American Idol, where people have the opportunity to cast a vote for their favorite singer in the competition. At one point, people were re-voting so much it crashed the show's accounting system, throwing doubt on the voting process in it's entirety. (No, we will not explore the system of balloting here in Florida, as it's a far more vile and sinister ball of wax.)

With the way this album is being marketed however, some folks simply have no alternative than to purchase variations of it. If you want the t shirt and DVD from Walmart, you are required to purchase two different copies, because of the packaging. I intend to do so, but to tell ya the truth, if someone walks up to me in the parking lot and asks, they are welcome to my non-DVD copy of the album. Twenty bucks for a t shirt these days (sadly) isn't such a bad deal.

Since it's my cash, and my choice, I could give a shit if my purchases boost Van Halen's sales or not. It's called capitalism, and the ROTH ARMY fraternity supports it. But you can't hold a whole fraternity responsible for the behavior of a few, sick twisted individuals. For if you do, then shouldn't we blame the whole fraternity system? And if the whole fraternity system is guilty, then isn't this an indictment of our educational institutions in general? I put it to you, Heater - isn't this an indictment of our entire American society? Well, you can do whatever you want to us, but we're not going to sit here and listen to you badmouth the United States of America. Gentlemen!

Lol Comedy Craig!

[BITEYOASS]

I'm buying a second copy of the album in order to get more pussy from the Mrs.