The Final Stats Are In For Record Store Day, And Sales Were Up 131%
Record Store Day (April 17) releases swarm the Tastemakers Albums, Vinyl Albums and Hot Singles Sales charts as the annual independent music retailer celebration brings a bevy of unique, limited-edition and vinyl titles to the lists.
In the U.S., indie retailers sold 30 percent of all physical albums and singles in the week ending April 21 (749,000 out of 2.5 million), according to Nielsen Music. Vinyl LP sales were unsurprisingly robust during the latest tracking week as the vast majority of Record Store Day releases are produced on the format — with 521,000 vinyl albums sold during the tracking week (up 131 percent). That’s the largest week for the format since the frame ending Dec. 24, 2015 (753,000), and the biggest week for vinyl LPs outside of the Christmas season since Nielsen started tracking sales in 1991.
Some further statistics about Record Store Day and vinyl sales in the week ending April 21:
— 13 percent of all albums sold were on vinyl (521,000 of 4.1 million).
— Indie stores sold 74 percent of all vinyl albums for the week.
— Indie stores sold 640,000 albums – a gain of 131 percent compared to the previous week (278,000).
— Indie stores sold 383,000 vinyl albums – a gain of 320 percent compared to the previous week (91,000).
— Indie stores sold 108,000 physical singles – a gain of 2,600 percent compared to the previous week (4,000).
— Indie stores sold 100,000 12” vinyl singles – a gain of 4,900 percent compared to the previous week (2,000).
— Record Store Day limited edition albums and singles combined to sell nearly 300,000 copies, according to Nielsen Music.
Via Billboard
After ‘Purple Rain’ Came Out, Prince Wrote This Amazing Note To A Young Fan
According to Letters of Note, a young fan named Annalisa Masters wrote a letter to Prince in 1984, and this is the reply she received.
Here are the words he wrote:
May he rest in peace and listen to as much grass as he wants to.
Watch Prince Play A Full Set From 1982
It would be two years later that Prince would reach superstar status with the release of Purple Rain, but this black-and-white taped live performance from 1982 at New Jersey’s Capitol Theatre shows just how good he was – he’s effortlessly captivating, and with a sense of just how much better he’d get.
https://youtu.be/6ISW7zEy4WQ?list=PLhnmhDNF1JJhBoxCdBE1Wys2Jev9RtLnU
Hear A Robot Made Out Of Lego Play Of Monsters And Men’s “Little Talks”
FastyTheFastCat is hopefully not the real name of a person, but he did for sure build a LEGO Mindstorms robot which can fret and strum an acoustic guitar. Hear it play a cover of Of Monsters and Men’s Little Talks, then check out how it all works.
I, for one, welcome our new robotic, guitar-playing overlords.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoNipcvUWi49uL-4qyr79WQ
Turn your boring old hand into a CUTENESS OF A PUG DOG
Your mediocre old hand really isn’t that lovable, so why not turn it into an adorable, wrinkly pug? That’s the magic of this set of five-finger puppets, one 2” flat-faced pug head and four 1-1/2” paws. While making your hand less practical for things like typing, cake decorating and sign language, it gives you a constant canine companion. Practice making a loud snorting noise and complete the illusion. Don’t blame us if your hand starts to take long naps, beg for pizza and snore while it sleeps; these puppets are just that realistic.
The Handipug, which includes four paws and one adorable head, is currently available to purchase from the Archie McPhee shop.
The Greatest Mashup Of Movie Coach Motivational Speeches Of All Time For The Champ In YOU!
You can come back to the 30-movie mashup of “Movie Coach Super Speech” of the iconic motivational speeches of all time whenever you’re getting ready for a big test, a final game, or just another stressful day at the office. It’ll be here for you. Because you’re awesome. There’s NOBODY else we want out there tackling whatever you’re gonna face. Those guys have NOTHING on you, big man or woman, because YOU’VE! GOT! THIS!
Now get out there and show them what you’re made of!
Bono on Christian Musicians And The Psalms
This short film documents the friendship between Bono of U2 and Eugene Peterson, author of contemporary-language Bible translation The Message, revolving around their common interest in the Psalms. Based on interviews conducted by Fuller Seminary faculty member David Taylor and produced in association with Fourth Line Films, the film highlights in particular a conversation on the Psalms that took place between Bono, Peterson, and Taylor at Peterson’s Montana home.
Live Nation Announces 2nd Annual National Concert Day On May 3, 2016
To kick off another summer of incredible live music tours, Live Nation will mount its second annual National Concert Day Show sponsored by Citi and Pringles on May 3, 2016. The live concert event will take place at Live Nation’s Irving Plaza and feature performances by Dierks Bentley, Wiz Khalifa, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts and Cheap Trick along with special appearances by some of this summer’s hottest touring artists including Nick Jonas, AWOLNATION, Goo Goo Dolls, Corey Taylor & Shawn “Clown” Crahan of Slipknot, Simon Kirke of Bad Company, Rome from Sublime with Rome, Jared Watson & Dustin Bushnell of Dirty Heads, Andrew McMahon In The Wilderness and Chris Carrabba of Dashboard Confessional. Hoda Kotb of The TODAY Show will also return as host of this year’s event. Following the event, AWOLNATION will perform live at Irving Plaza for an exclusive after show presented by Citi. Fans can also catch the full concert when it is streamed live on Yahoo. For more information, visit www.livenation.com/concertday16.
To mark the beginning of the summer concert season, Live Nation also announced a special $20 summer concert ticket offer. Starting May 13 and running through May 20, Live Nation will launch the Kickoff to Summer Sale, a special $20 ticket offer to nearly a thousand summer concerts. Stay tuned to LiveNation.com and Live Nation’s Facebook and Twitter pages for the latest updates on the offer.
National Concert Day 2016 is brought to fans by Citi and Pringles. Citi is the preferred credit card of Live Nation, offering Citi debit and credit cardmembers access to presale and preferred tickets for select tours throughout the summer via Citi’s Private Pass Program, the bank’s entertainment access program. Last year alone, Citi worked with more than 1,400 artists ranging from preferred tickets and early access to concert tickets, to curated special events and VIP experiences. For more information, or to purchase presale tickets to the after show on May 3, Citi Presents AWOLNATION, visit www.citiprivatepass.com.
Pringles is helping fans celebrate summer with music and memories, kicking off at Live Nation’s National Concert Day. For those looking to make the most out of summer, head to LiveNation.com/Pringles for the Pringles Summer Jam offer – score four tickets, for the price of three! Share all of your summer fun and check out the memories from other fans across the country by following #PringlesSummerJam.
From experiencing live music under the stars at an outdoor amphitheater to rocking out at an arena or taking a road trip to a music festival, this summer 2016 will bring millions of music fans together to see their favorite artists. From Country, Indie & Alternative Music, Classic Rock, Rock, Metal, Hip-Hop, Electronic Music, Comedy and Pop – there is something for everyone. For tickets and more information, visit www.livenation.com.
Philip Kives, founder of K-Tel, dead at 87
The man who brought you the Miracle Brush, the Veg-o-matic and millions of albums containing 25 Country Hits or Hooked on Classics died Wednesday.
Philip Kives was 87.
Born on a Jewish colony farm near Oungre, Sask., Feb. 12, 1929, Kives came to Winnipeg in 1962 to create the company that bore the first letter of his last name, K-Tel.
Kives produced a live, five-minute TV commercial — the first infomercial, he claimed — to sell a Teflon non-stick frying pan, and sales took off afterwards. From then on he always wrote and directed all the TV commercials.
But wait, there’s more.
Kives said his greatest success was selling 28 million Miracle Brushes in the late 1960s, while Hooked on Classics, with more than 10 million copies sold, was his top-selling album.
In Kives’s own words on the K-Tel International website, he started his “first entrepreneurial venture at the age of eight.
“I set up my own trapline. Not only did I sell my own furs, but I bought furs from all the other kids in school and resold them at fur auctions. I made just enough money to buy my few clothes for the year.”
“I saw an ad in the paper about selling cookware door to door. You learn quickly how to sell. You always ask a positive question so customers can only answer one way. Yes. You say, “You would like your wife to have this, wouldn’t you?” And he’ll say yes.
“I used to buy products from Seymour Popeil. That’s Ron Popeil’s father, of Ronco. Ron is a good salesman, but his dad made everything. He said to me, ‘Philip, you’re getting too big. I’m not selling you anything anymore.’ So I went off on my own.
“In the winter of 1966, we released the first record, 25 Country Hits. I didn’t look upon it as a long-term deal. I looked upon it as a one-time product. But after 25 Polka Greats, which sold around a million-and-a-half copies in the United States alone, I thought maybe we were on to something. Record companies in those days didn’t know what compilation albums were. They had vast catalogues of music they didn’t know what to do with.
“We grew into a big company, and it was very difficult for me to control it. We went bankrupt. We went into oil and gas and real estate. Then the bottom fell out of real estate in the United States.”