J&H sales

[PetfanInCt]

Does anyone here have the inside scoop on what the sale numbers are for J&H. Approx. Are there enough sales to consider another album, besides the spainish J&H

[PetfanInCt]

Was it something I said. I think JandH is an awesome album i wanted to see if its close to Gold status...Does anyone know

[Michael]

Was it something I said. I think JandH is an awesome album i wanted to see if its close to Gold status...Does anyone know

It's not anything you said... it's just that we've been through this any number of times before. Apparently sales figures are a fairly closely-guarded industry secret; you can get 'em, but you've got to pay for 'em. And people who pay for them keep their mouths shut, so we haven't really been able to find out.

We do know the Amazon.com sales rank (it's better than any other Petra CD) and some other information that Amazon provides for it, but that's the best we've actually been able to do in the past.

[sue d.]

Yes, it seems industry leaders take sales figures as an accurate assessment of the quality of the music and the sale-ability of the group.

To some extent, it's true (as far as sale-ability). If your numbers aren't up there, you don't want to tell anyone.

If they are pretty good - that's an inside secret also, to be used in obtaining better contracts and such.

If they're Gold or Platinum status - well, then the whole world will know!

[executioner]

Sue,

In otherwords you are saying that JAH #'s are pretty good? I know Inpop had said that they were pretty satisfied with Revival #s, and I know JAH has sold more then Revival. I just talked to a few of the Christian stores a few weeks ago and they all said that JAH has moved very well. BTW most of them are not being supplied JAH Espanol. I'm not really sure whose fault that is. I found my copy at Family and they only had recieved that one.

[MJanke]

No, from what I understand J&H's numbers are not that good. I *think* it's sold better than Revival, but that's not really saying a lot, unfortunately.

It's nowhere close to being gold nor will it ever be gold, barring a miracle.

[brent]

I can see if my friend still subscribes to SoundScan.

In my neck of the woods, no Petra song graces the waves of the new/alternative/young-hip rock station, or the "family", soccer-mom/gag me radio stations. The records are at the store, but in the oldies section. Mostly I see them faced out right next to the re-issue records from the past. They need an endcap.

[executioner]

Brent,

What neck of the woods do you live in? Here in Texas they seemed to promote JAH fairly well. It was on the endshelves and also in the new music section for a time.


Janke,

I am guessing around 100,000 copies of JAH were sold. Remember the sale of a CD counts when a store purchances from the manufacturer, not when a consumer buys it from a store. That is the way the books are done for IRS sake.
I do wonder about oversea sales though. I'm not really sure if those are counted in the #'s we hear about in the states or not. I know they are buying anything they can get their hands on(JAH) in Europe. I think if Inpop market themselves correctly JAH would do great in Europe, especially since Petra is and will be touring over there the next few months.

[MJanke]

I am guessing around 100,000 copies of JAH were sold. Remember the sale of a CD counts when a store purchances from the manufacturer, not when a consumer buys it from a store. That is the way the books are done for IRS sake.

No, that's not the case.

Because stores return product. Actual sales take that into account.

J&H is nowhere near 100,000 units. Inpop would do backflips if that were the case.

I'm trying to remember... I believe its first week sales weren't even able to hit 5000. I don't remember the exact figure, which I saw once, but it was unfortunately not very big.

[executioner]

Mjanke,

I use to be an accountant for a small record co. out of Houston and now I am one for the largest media company in the southwest, so please let me explain.

Actual Album sales are recorded on a quarterly basis, and are reported to the IRS on that basis. The actual album sales are recorded when the retailer puts in an order for the particular artist, so when it is shipped to the retailer it is offically by the IRS and Record Co. a SOLD album. After that it is up to the retailer to make it's profit. Soundscan was created to only benefit retailers and Billboard. I believe it to be a holding of Billboard, but I am not positve on that. In NO WAY does a Record Co. or artist take in acount the soundscan #'s. They go strictly by the #'s that are recorded by the IRS(because it's the LAW!) That might be one reason we were having a problem over at INPOP.com message board about Inpop quoting some #'s when Revival came out. Since then Inpop has been silent about the situation. If for some reason a retailer would send back copies of a certain artist those copies can not be put back on the shelf to sell unless it is at a used CD store or flea market type setting, so even though they have been returned they are still considered a sold copy.

[spottacus]

Thanks for sharing, Executioner. I've always wondered about that.

That explains a lot - when Revival was new, this discussion came up and people began accusing Inpop of being liars and cheats because they didn't believe Inpop's sales numbers for Revival. At that time the Inpop rep on Inpop's boards announced that they would no longer answer questions about sales.