11.07.07Sorry this is a day late. We had some issues with a few titles on our chart
that needed some work yesterday. The only issue that did not work out to my wishes was the way Billboard/Soundscan chose to deal with the WALMART EAGLES release.
For some reason that I can't remotely fathom, the rules got changed for this release. Billboard decided that now it is OK for one retailer's exclusive to get on the charts. Somebody needed to see that number ONE I guess. No egos that I know of in that camp.
So, when I got the CIMS chart yesterday morning, I quickly scanned it looking for where the WALMART EAGLES had landed. Yeah, I know it is a Walmart exclusive but we practice guerrilla retail. Between Best Buy, Walmart, Target, Amazon and Sam's club, we can't decide who to award as the "Distributor of the Year." With their retail prices generally much lower than our direct from distributor prices, it is always a pleasure to buy all of the hits on deep discount.
So naturally, many of our guys picked up the WALMART EAGLES new release at Walmart to resell back in their stores. We heard stories for the past few weeks about customers asking indie stores for the WALMART EAGLES. When informed that they would need to go to Walmart to pick up the title, the customers responded "Dude, we don't go in that damn place" or something similar. So, supply and demand dictates that we make it available for our customers.
So, back to scanning down the chart for the WALMART EAGLES. No WALMART EAGLESE. Impossible. How could this be? I saw it over the weekend on several charts from stores. I know we sold some WALMART EAGLES. I called my man at Soundscan and he told me that they were obviously resales and they zeroed them out so that the number reported would be more accurate. They don't want to count them twice. I get his argument but now my chart is not really reflective of what actually happened in our stores this week.
What follows the Looney Tunes update is our Top 20 new release chart from Tuesday (provided by Streetpulse) and our Top 200 (provided by Soundscan). Since Soundscan deleted our WALMART EAGLES number, Streetpulse let me know what data they had on us and this title. The WALMART EAGLES come in at #22 on our chart.
Oh, hey, so who is making sure this 700K plus in sales is for real? In this day and age is it possible for any retailer, even Walmart, to scan those kinds of numbers? Maybe so, but I am just sayin......
****************************
Who is that guy at Number One on our charts? I put out the appeal to everyone. All my guys came back saying they have never heard of it. It was not in any database. Finally from the Raliegh/Durham area I get this email:
Ric here, from Schoolkids....Prime is a local artist...Who's on the streets, talking about his record in our stores. He's on WQOK.....Step Shows at local colleges during homecomings and just playing shows. It's a great ep (5 songs) and I must say, he's in our stores everyday telling us of his escapades.
Check Prime out at: Prime @ MySpace.
****************************
Looney Tunes is on track to reopen on December 1st. That has to be a record reconstruction for permit heavy Long Island. KJ reports that the community really got behind the rebuilding and things have gone smoothly.
Looney Tunes new store is totally designed around his stage for instore performances. Looney Tunes is looking for bands to play each day for the first week of December. If you have anyone that you want to look damn good, let KJ or me know.
And, the Looney Tunes eBay auction goes up this Sunday night. We will send a link out to it once it launches. Thanks for all of the great contributions.
CIMS Top 20 Debuts 11/06/07
1 JAY-Z AMERICAN GANGSTER
2 SIGUR ROS HVARF/HEIM
3 BROWN,CHRIS EXCLUSIVE
4 PARSONS/FLYING BURRITO BROS. VOL. 1-GRAM PARSONS ARCHIVE
5 GRIZZLY BEAR FRIEND EP
6 CASSIDY B.A.R.S. THE BARRY ADRIAN REES
7 ANGELS & AIRWAVES I-EMPIRE
8 DEMON HUNTER STORM THE GATES OF HELL
9 VAUGHAN,STEVIE RAY SOLOS SESSIONS & ENCORES
10 BYRNE,DAVID KNEE PLAYS
11 NONPOINT VENGEANCE
12 THANK YOU GOODNIGHT LIVE TRACK THANK YOU GOODNIGHT
13 MONSTER MAGNET 4-WAY DIABLO
14 OPERATION IVY OPERATION IVY
15 MORRISON,VAN STILL ON T OP-GREATEST HITS
16 AMERICAN GANGSTER SOUNDTRACK
17 AGNOSTIC FRONT WARRIORS
18 MOBY GRAPE 69
19 DUST GALAXY DUST GALAXY
20 SEBASTIAN/GRISMAN SATISFIED
CIMS Top 20 Debut chart by StreetPulse, Inc. All Rights Reserved
