Doing
Your First Record Tip #17 |
| Week of 7/26/99 to 8/01/99 |
| YOU
SOLD 75 RECORDS - IT'S A HIT! |
| BY TOM GELARDI |
| There's a story about a lowly serf who did a huge service for the King.
The King had the surf brought to him and decreed, "Name what you want in my
kingdom and it's yours." After thinking about it, the surf said, "Your
majesty, I want one grain of wheat for the first square on the chess board. For the
next square, double it and for each additional square, double it again each time."
The King was very happy that the surf wanted so little, that he immediately ordered
it done. By the 16th square of of the 64 square chess board, the number of wheat
grains was over 60 thousand. By the 32nd square the King ordered the head chopped
off of the surf. The King realized that the surf had asked for many times more than
the entire wheat stash in the Kingdom and that he had been "tricked." |
|
| I tell this story because it illustrates how record sales
work. On the upcoming GifTvS release we will be
putting about 100 records to over 40 retail stores. Every store we deal with will
get two copies. Certain stores, in the targeted initial radio promotion area, will get 5
copies. When a store sells out they will get more copies. For stores that sell
5 copies, we will put another 5 into the store. After this "second order"
sells out, the store will want 10. The next order will be for 20 - 25 copies.
So these initial sales orders have a tendency to "double" each order.
It starts slow and gets big over time. |
| The quest is to sell over 5000 pieces in 6 months. It
breaks down something like this: 30 copies in 30 days; 75 copies by 60-70 days, etc.
These early sales figures seem small but are typical of the early sales of a hit
record by a new recording artist. |
| So the Statement of, "You Sold 75 Records - You Have A
Hit" is not inaccurate at all, if it's made within 60 days of release of a new band. |
| Next week we talk more about the sales scene. |
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