Prince from another Planet to hit the charts next week!

Hi,

First of all please don’t shoot me I’m only the messenger! I had no clue how precise Sony’s Chart predictions were, when I started this topic, since it was beyond my knowledge. Maybe it would have been wiser, to keep this inside information by myself. So, I contacted my Brother at Sony Germany(and he’s not the delivery boy but some of the “Suits”) again, to get some more precise informations. This is what he told me: Chart predictions are based on pre-orders at Sony compared with other similar Artists and their sold copies. He told me that there is a big difference between pre-orders, shipped units and actually sold copies. Not every sold copy counts regarding the Charts, especially when sold by Channel Island based Online Shops like Play.com, Base.com or Hong Kong based WOWHD.com etc. Initial pressings for the UK and Germany were only 5000 copies each. The reason he gave for this rather low numbers are as follows: 1. Sony has become very carefully with initial pressings for archival releases like PFAP, after some negative experiences with other Artists recently. 2. Sony has become very, very carefully when it comes to new Elvis mainstream releases, after the disastrous “I’m an Elvis Fan” campaign this summer, where Sony has had no return on investment till today. By the way, Sony really thought they would do us Fans a favour with this kind of release. 3. Elvis is a steady seller in long terms, so they were surprised by the great demand that PFAP caused. It’s not a limited Edition but there is limited availability in the High Street Shops all over Europe and especially in Northern America, but it should be available in every major City worldwide. Music retail business these days is mainly online business, may it be digital downloads or physical sales. More than 50% of all recordings sold today are sold via Online Store like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Tower Records, HMV, CD Universe etc. That’s why there’s no problem to get a copy of PFAP online. These online retailers were served first! PFAP is still in print and Sony expects it to be a steady seller and a return on their investment by the end of the year. I asked him, if Sony is not disappointed with the actual Chart positions so far. They are with the UK results, cause they believed, it would do a lot better and to be sold out by the street date. I asked why there was or is nearly no promotion for this release nowhere to be seen. I was told that there is no budget left for this kind of release and they had put all the money to promote an Elvis release into the flopped summer campaign. Further I asked him why they released the Legacy Edition of the original Madison Square Garden Album at the same time. It was done to satisfy the more conservative fan base, who simply don’t like any remixes at all. Furthermore the Elvis Legacy Editions are steady sellers, even if they have no Chart Potential. Maybe this makes it a bit clearer. If you’re should be disappointed that Sony has no trust in a Superstar like Elvis or don’t believe in his selling power anymore, don’t blame me, blame them.

Hi,

2. Sony has become very, very carefully when it comes to new Elvis mainstream releases, after the disastrous “I’m an Elvis Fan” campaign this summer, where Sony has had no return on investment till today. By the way, Sony really thought they would do us Fans a favour with this kind of release..

This is most interesting? Who at Sony decides this sort of thing? I only ask because on this board there were mostly negative responses to this product. I have no real idea but perhaps some smarter people here may have a better idea as to how to promote Elvis releases.

The I Am An Elvis Fan release was a mess before even the final track listing was drawn up, with the Australian variation a little more sensible.

The interesting thing is that Prince did not sell as well in the UK as it was expected to. What is interesting is that American members are moaning that the release wasn't in Walmart etc. And yet in Britain it was available in HMV stores, for the same price as online, and still didn't sell as well as expected.

The other interesting thing here is that, according to this information, Sony aren't going to make a dime from the release until the end of the year. Going by the sales figures for other albums around the chart placings of this item, we have an estimated sales figure of around 7500 between USA and UK. As that doesn't include some sellers (according to the above), we know that this is a low-end estimate. So, let's say it's selling around 10,000. Even at £14 a throw, Sony are still not in profit yet - suggesting that this release cost them somewhere between £100,000 and £200,000 ($150,000 to $300,000) to produce - and no doubt much of that money went into the restorartion of the video footage.

Hi,

First of all please don’t shoot me I’m only the messenger! I had no clue how precise Sony’s Chart predictions were, when I started this topic, since it was beyond my knowledge. Maybe it would have been wiser, to keep this inside information by myself. So, I contacted my Brother at Sony Germany(and he’s not the delivery boy but some of the “Suits”) again, to get some more precise informations. This is what he told me: Chart predictions are based on pre-orders at Sony compared with other similar Artists and their sold copies. He told me that there is a big difference between pre-orders, shipped units and actually sold copies. Not every sold copy counts regarding the Charts, especially when sold by Channel Island based Online Shops like Play.com, Base.com or Hong Kong based WOWHD.com etc. Initial pressings for the UK and Germany were only 5000 copies each. The reason he gave for this rather low numbers are as follows: 1. Sony has become very carefully with initial pressings for archival releases like PFAP, after some negative experiences with other Artists recently. 2. Sony has become very, very carefully when it comes to new Elvis mainstream releases, after the disastrous “I’m an Elvis Fan” campaign this summer, where Sony has had no return on investment till today. By the way, Sony really thought they would do us Fans a favour with this kind of release. 3. Elvis is a steady seller in long terms, so they were surprised by the great demand that PFAP caused. It’s not a limited Edition but there is limited availability in the High Street Shops all over Europe and especially in Northern America, but it should be available in every major City worldwide. Music retail business these days is mainly online business, may it be digital downloads or physical sales. More than 50% of all recordings sold today are sold via Online Store like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Tower Records, HMV, CD Universe etc. That’s why there’s no problem to get a copy of PFAP online. These online retailers were served first! PFAP is still in print and Sony expects it to be a steady seller and a return on their investment by the end of the year. I asked him, if Sony is not disappointed with the actual Chart positions so far. They are with the UK results, cause they believed, it would do a lot better and to be sold out by the street date. I asked why there was or is nearly no promotion for this release nowhere to be seen. I was told that there is no budget left for this kind of release and they had put all the money to promote an Elvis release into the flopped summer campaign. Further I asked him why they released the Legacy Edition of the original Madison Square Garden Album at the same time. It was done to satisfy the more conservative fan base, who simply don’t like any remixes at all. Furthermore the Elvis Legacy Editions are steady sellers, even if they have no Chart Potential. Maybe this makes it a bit clearer. If you’re should be disappointed that Sony has no trust in a Superstar like Elvis or don’t believe in his selling power anymore, don’t blame me, blame them.

Thanks for the heads up and some of these things make sense.
Sony does underestimate the fanbase though by thinking we would be happy with a rease such as "I am an Elvis fan"
Feels a little bit like a quality product now suffers a lack of promotion and distribution because of that strategy failure.

I won't be surprised however if total sales numbers for PFAP will be impressive in the long run, with better distribution ahead of us.

PFAP debut at #187!!!on the billboard 200

classic christmas album #152 on the billboard 200

Hi,

First of all please don’t shoot me I’m only the messenger! I had no clue how precise Sony’s Chart predictions were, when I started this topic, since it was beyond my knowledge. Maybe it would have been wiser, to keep this inside information by myself. So, I contacted my Brother at Sony Germany(and he’s not the delivery boy but some of the “Suits”) again, to get some more precise informations. This is what he told me: Chart predictions are based on pre-orders at Sony compared with other similar Artists and their sold copies. He told me that there is a big difference between pre-orders, shipped units and actually sold copies. Not every sold copy counts regarding the Charts, especially when sold by Channel Island based Online Shops like Play.com, Base.com or Hong Kong based WOWHD.com etc. Initial pressings for the UK and Germany were only 5000 copies each. The reason he gave for this rather low numbers are as follows: 1. Sony has become very carefully with initial pressings for archival releases like PFAP, after some negative experiences with other Artists recently. 2. Sony has become very, very carefully when it comes to new Elvis mainstream releases, after the disastrous “I’m an Elvis Fan” campaign this summer, where Sony has had no return on investment till today. By the way, Sony really thought they would do us Fans a favour with this kind of release. 3. Elvis is a steady seller in long terms, so they were surprised by the great demand that PFAP caused. It’s not a limited Edition but there is limited availability in the High Street Shops all over Europe and especially in Northern America, but it should be available in every major City worldwide. Music retail business these days is mainly online business, may it be digital downloads or physical sales. More than 50% of all recordings sold today are sold via Online Store like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Tower Records, HMV, CD Universe etc. That’s why there’s no problem to get a copy of PFAP online. These online retailers were served first! PFAP is still in print and Sony expects it to be a steady seller and a return on their investment by the end of the year. I asked him, if Sony is not disappointed with the actual Chart positions so far. They are with the UK results, cause they believed, it would do a lot better and to be sold out by the street date. I asked why there was or is nearly no promotion for this release nowhere to be seen. I was told that there is no budget left for this kind of release and they had put all the money to promote an Elvis release into the flopped summer campaign. Further I asked him why they released the Legacy Edition of the original Madison Square Garden Album at the same time. It was done to satisfy the more conservative fan base, who simply don’t like any remixes at all. Furthermore the Elvis Legacy Editions are steady sellers, even if they have no Chart Potential. Maybe this makes it a bit clearer. If you’re should be disappointed that Sony has no trust in a Superstar like Elvis or don’t believe in his selling power anymore, don’t blame me, blame them.

Interesting story and makes perfectly sense. It was inevitable for the I Am An Elvis Fan release to flop. It is quite weird that Sony considers Elvis a solid seller but that they obviously do not have a clue who is buying these releases and what they appreciate.

"Prince From Another Planet" was released in The Netherlands on 9th. November and upon the day of release I saw 2 and 5 copies respectively in two shops in Rotterdam. I bought one and today went back and saw that the others were sold. They had no new stock, which is appalling as everybody was buying their presents for our Sinter Klaas feast on 6th December. On that day everyone gives everyone a present.
What a shame that there is no new stock. If it is because Sony underestimated the sales potential, this is too stupid for words, considering the money and the work they put in this project. Of course, you can buy it online, but seeing how busy it was everywhere, many still like to buy in the shops and wouldn't it have been nice if someone had the opportunity to buy "Planet" for an Elvis fan they know.

"Prince From Another Planet" was released in The Netherlands on 9th. November and upon the day of release I saw 2 and 5 copies respectively in two shops in Rotterdam. I bought one and today went back and saw that the others were sold. They had no new stock, which is appalling as everybody was buying their presents for our Sinter Klaas feast on 6th December. On that day everyone gives everyone a present.
What a shame that there is no new stock. If it is because Sony underestimated the sales potential, this is too stupid for words, considering the money and the work they put in this project. Of course, you can buy it online, but seeing how busy it was everywhere, many still like to buy in the shops and wouldn't it have been nice if someone had the opportunity to buy "Planet" for an Elvis fan they know.

Couldn't agree more.
On line sales in general has a share of appr 10-15% of total sales, depending on product category.
That means Sony is missing the majority of sales potential as only more fanatic fans (us) will look for this on line.
The next couple of weeks is "Black Friday" everyday and Elvis is hard to find.

Forecasting failure.

"Prince From Another Planet" was released in The Netherlands on 9th. November and upon the day of release I saw 2 and 5 copies respectively in two shops in Rotterdam. I bought one and today went back and saw that the others were sold. They had no new stock, which is appalling as everybody was buying their presents for our Sinter Klaas feast on 6th December. On that day everyone gives everyone a present.
What a shame that there is no new stock. If it is because Sony underestimated the sales potential, this is too stupid for words, considering the money and the work they put in this project. Of course, you can buy it online, but seeing how busy it was everywhere, many still like to buy in the shops and wouldn't it have been nice if someone had the opportunity to buy "Planet" for an Elvis fan they know.

Couldn't agree more.
On line sales in general has a share of appr 10-15% of total sales, depending on product category.
That means Sony is missing the majority of sales potential as only more fanatic fans (us) will look for this on line.
The next couple of weeks is "Black Friday" everyday and Elvis is hard to find.

Forecasting failure.

They had many copies of the new "The Classic Christmas Album", but also a Public Domain Christmas compilation with bonus songs like "Jailhouse Rock". So, let's hope, buyers will go for the Sony release, though I must say they don't deserve it after the "Prince" bad marketing.

Hi,

looks very promising that Prince from another Planet will be in the Charts next week! It looks as it will be in the Top 40 in the U.S. and U.K and even in the Top 100 in Germany!

Because of the huge amount of pre-orders, Sony couldn´t produce enough units for the original planed release date, that´s why it was changed so often. It has nothing to do with the release date of The Beatles Vinyl Box, as they will be released on the same day!

By the way, I´m very impressed with this great Set (listen to it for the 3rd time )! A real winner and the best mainstream release since "Young Man With The Big Beat". If your insecure if you should buy it, because of the widely disscused sound issues, forget about it, thanks to Vic Anesini´s mastering the soundquality is excellent!!!!!!!

So ... Where is our apology ???

Top 40 my ass ...

The interesting thing is that Prince did not sell as well in the UK as it was expected to. What is interesting is that American members are moaning that the release wasn't in Walmart etc. And yet in Britain it was available in HMV stores, for the same price as online, and still didn't sell as well as expected.

I've been in 3 different HMV stores this week hoping to buy a copy of PFAP, and none of them had any, but all had copies of the legacy edition at £11. One was up in the north east, 2 in the north west.

My review:

1. The 2012 remixes are superior to the 1972 and 1997 originals. The 72 evening show mix had Elvis' vocals too low. the 97 Ferrante mix of the afternoon show was anemic
2. A little too much reverb and compression was used on the 2012 remixes to simulate a cavernous performance venue -- this approach reduces the dynamic range and "blurs' the sound
3. Very nice booklet (although a few careless errors -- the notes say "time was needed by the operator to change tape cartridges during the performance." It should be noted it was a Super 8 film cartridge -- not a "tape" cartridge.)
4. Discs are hard to extract -- and removal can damage/rip the packaging over time
5. Press conference footage is edited and truncated from only one source. Legacy should have obtained footage from other news crews to reassemble the entire news conference
6. The quality of Presley's singing indicates he took the MSG very seriously. I don't hear any audible evidence that he was impaired by substances. We find a very committed Presley on these MSG recordings. He's not quite as great as he was during 68-70, but he is really more committed here than some performances from 1971. For example, during Boston 71, Presley was throwing away a lot of the performances and seemed ambivalent.
7. Drums sound poorly recorded during the afternoon show compared to the evening show. Perhaps they changed how they mic'd the drums for the better recorded evening show.

Overall, a nice effort, but there's certainly room for improvement (primarily: less reverb, less compression, complete press conference, better proofing of liner notes and better packaging not prone to damaging the discs or cardboard.) I'd give it 4 out of 5 stars.

The interesting thing is that Prince did not sell as well in the UK as it was expected to. What is interesting is that American members are moaning that the release wasn't in Walmart etc. And yet in Britain it was available in HMV stores, for the same price as online, and still didn't sell as well as expected.

I've been in 3 different HMV stores this week hoping to buy a copy of PFAP, and none of them had any, but all had copies of the legacy edition at £11. One was up in the north east, 2 in the north west.

This is because HMV only stocked 2 copies!!!! Small wonder, as I was saying last week, but fell on deaf ears. My local HMV (the one in Croydon) is one of the largest HMV stores in South London. I had one copy, and a guy I met in there two days later got the other (but only because he was about to buy the MSG Legacy Edition by mistake, until I put him right.) There are considerably more than just two Elvis fans who live in Croydon, btw Pathetic.

To be expected I guess - PFAP has dropped out of the U.K Top 100 album chart this week.

Who cares what position it reaches....it was only ever likely to appeal to a relatively small number of die-hard fans in any case (imo) and from the stories we hear about distribution and stock levels on this and other threads, it would appear that retailers agree.

The Legacy version is the one aimed at the general public....who might well end up less than impressed with the incomplete press conference and grainy concert material, not to mention the unimaginative 'blank screen' presentation of the DVD from the box set.

On the current i-tunes album chart, Elvis has the following two entries:

684 - Elvis - As Recorded At Madison Square Garden (Legacy)

778 - Christmas Peace.

Brian

Well, cut my legs and cut me shorty!! There's just no stopping "It's Christmas time" (LOL). It is inside the hitsdailydouble top 50, shining brightly (LOL), right now at position 42, with 54 percent or so counted in. Apparently, it will be its highest position ever, with #60 being the highest, as achieved two weeks ago. it is now at #65, I think.

http://www.hitsdailydouble.com/sales/salescht.cgi

Last edited by Jaime1234 on Mon Nov 26, 2012 10:28 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Well, cut my legs and cut me shorty!! There's just no stopping "It's Christmas time" (LOL). It is inside the hitsdailydouble top 50, shining brightly (LOL), right now at position 41, with 54 percent counted in. Apparently, it will be its highest position ever, with #60 being the highest, as achieved two weeks ago. it is now at #65, I think.

I only found out recently that this CD has the same track listing as the Camden Christmas album. I would suggest that is why it does so well each year, as one amazon reviewer writes: "these songs in this order are an essential part of Christmas". This gives another reason why Hits of the 70s, another sentimental release, would have made a rather good mainstream effort.

I've been in 3 different HMV stores this week hoping to buy a copy of PFAP, and none of them had any, but all had copies of the legacy edition at £11. One was up in the north east, 2 in the north west.

Don't waste another day. Order through Amazon if need be. It is quick and easy. You'll have this baby within a couple of days for about 29 bucks.

Tell 'em Rob sent ya and you may get it cheaper than that.

no doubt much of that money went into the restorartion of the video footage.

You mean to say the original footage was even worse?

no doubt much of that money went into the restorartion of the video footage.

You mean to say the original footage was even worse?

You're right. For all the pre-release hype - and as welcome as it certainly was - the quality of the 8mm film was/is distinctly average.

On the other hand, the Jonas Mekas MSG footage [apparently shot on 16mm] appears to be in another league altogether.

One can but hope that something special is done with it eventually.

Jonas Mekas - Time lapse film short (MSG, June 9, 1972)

no doubt much of that money went into the restorartion of the video footage.

You mean to say the original footage was even worse?

The quality of this footage for 8mm, hand-held in a concert is truly remarkable - and certainly looks better in my opinion than the 16mm footage linked to by allsellers.

no doubt much of that money went into the restorartion of the video footage.

You mean to say the original footage was even worse?

The quality of this footage for 8mm, hand-held in a concert is truly remarkable - and certainly looks better in my opinion than the 16mm footage linked to by allsellers.

"Truly remarkable" is pushing it a tad, even for an 8mm shot under less than ideal circumstances.

For comparison, check out the screenshots below - all taken from the noted opening night Mekas footage of June 9.
(With thanks to forum member omnipresence for "The 16mm Series" project stills > viewtopic.php?f=1&t=49917#p707604)

He's In At 187 On The Billboard Album Chart.That's What The Album Has Debuted At.