Re: The Official New Album Thread - Discussion Only - ALL DISCUSSION HERE PLEASE
I just don't get the maths here. Why wouldn't it count???
If the shop orders let's say 1000 units, and one fan buys all the units, the shop made good business by selling those units. So it will be obliged to re-order from its supplier (SONY) another shipment of 1000 or more units if the shop wants to go on with making good business.
The provider counts how many shipments they delivered (sold) to the retailers (shops).
So, if you buy one or two albums or a thousand, the results are always the same --the albums are SOLD. So what has that to do with the number of people buying them??????
There is no maths to get because the numbers are made up.
Yes, additional sales, no matter how they are gained will be counted by the record company and will be reflected in their figures. Record companies often talk about shipments rather than actual sales anyway, or 'units' because those figures look better in the press releases.
Many people are rightly sceptical about any figures the record company or artist themselves publish because of the usual misrepresentation that accompanies them.
Certainly in the UK, the official charts company has measures in place to prevent chart corruption caused by bulk buying. This results in a credible chart, hopefully providing a general overview of what the population is buying. Affecting the charts by bulk buying has happened in the past, when record companies have arranged for additional sales in order to boost their artist's profile. Appearing successful by having higher chart positions can actually result in more people buying your product and create bigger longer term profit, though this is not guaranteed. One example I vaguely remember from years ago was when Victoria Beckham's record label bought multiple copies of her single.
Discounting sales due to bulk buying is a an attempt to prevent chart corruption. If many albums are discounted by the charts company due to bulk buying, that can reduce the chart position of the album, particularly where there is close competition between artists. In an extreme scenario, Artist A could sell way more copies of an album than Artist B, but because of chart rules (sales discounted because of bulk buying), Artist B could have the No.1 album in that country, not Artist A. See what I mean?
My simple point is this. Don't buy multiple albums at the same time because they will be discounted from chart statistics and therefore won't count...
My example is extreme because the chances of a mass fan-supported bulk buying campaign is unlikely.
I just didn't want people to buy multiple copies of an album in a misguided effort to help MJ's chart position when in actual fact their sales may not be counted.
even if you don't believe what I am saying, while you're in town, buy copies of the album from different shops, or from the same shop at different times. Order from different online companies. It's not much of an inconvenience is it?
I believe you can get away with ordering 3 copies of a single song in one day from itunes and it'll still count toward the chart, but I'm not 100% sure about that rule, or how it applies to album sales. Does anybody else have any knowledge on this?
Here is an extract from the OCC chart rules:
"1.0 Genuine Sales
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[FONT=Arial,Arial]___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
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1.1
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[FONT=Arial,Arial]All sales information used to compile the Chart must be recorded as a result of a genuine purchase by a genuine consumer. [/FONT][/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial,Arial]No record company, distributor, retailer, Artist or other party should act or encourage others to act in any way designed to distort, or which has the effect of distorting the Chart by achieving a higher or lower Chart position for a record than it would otherwise achieve. [/FONT][/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial,Arial]Actions which will be considered a breach of these rules include: [/FONT][/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial,Arial]a) promoting the sale of any album by supplying a dealer with records by another artist free of charge or upon terms more favourable than would be the case but for that promotion;
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[FONT=Arial,Arial]b) purchasing albums or causing albums to be purchased other than as a genuine consumer purchase;
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[FONT=Arial,Arial]c) multiple purchases of albums on behalf of other persons,
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[FONT=Arial,Arial]d) interference with the operation of sales recording machines or other equipment or computer software used to compile the Charts or collect or collate its information or in any other way being a party to the submission of false or inaccurate data to the Chart compiler;
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[FONT=Arial,Arial]e) offering money or other benefits to a dealer contingent upon an album entering any of the Charts or attaining a minimum chart position;
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[FONT=Arial,Arial]f) procuring the sale of an album in conjunction with a non-related or excessive gift, ie which gives the consumer a product, voucher or benefit or anything else which is either unrelated to the album concerned or of a value in excess of the value of the record without that gift (value means normal retail price), where it is not an album and merchandise package as outlined in section 8.0.
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[FONT=Arial,Arial]g) any other activity intended unfairly to influence Chart positions.
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[FONT=Arial,Arial]Where the Official Charts Company has reason to believe that an album is the subject of any of the above types of activity, it will, at its discretion, either remove identifiable irregular sales transactions from the data used to compile the Chart, or exclude the record from the Chart with immediate effect. [/FONT][/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial,Arial]The Official Charts Company‟s nominated chart compiler will ensure the accuracy and completeness of any sales information provided to it by a retail outlet in the sample to the extent it is possible to do so using Good Industry Practice. Where the nominated chart compiler has reason to believe that the inclusion of sales from a retail outlet or a number of retail outlets maybe inaccurate, misleading or incomplete and run contrary to the guidelines expected by a skilled and experienced market research firm, then the store(s) in question will be excluded from the sample to avoid potential distortion. [/FONT][/FONT]
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[FONT=Arial,Arial]If an album is excluded from the Chart, the Official Charts Company will inform the record company, distributor, ERA and the BPI in writing on the first working day after the exclusion takes effect. If unusual or irregular sales transactions cause the Official Charts Company to remove data from the Chart sample, the Official Charts Company will inform the Secretariat of the BPI and/or ERA, as appropriate, on the first working day after the data is removed. [/FONT][/FONT]
"
I am not going to post on this subject any more unless there is something useful to add because I'm not an expert and I feel that what was a simple point has turned into something more complicated than it really is.
