The 10 Best-Selling Christmas Albums

Everyone thinks that Christmas albums are giant moneymakers, but while massive radio airplay may bring songwriters of Christmas songs some big royalty checks, Holiday albums haven't really sold that well.

Below is an infographic from Statista based on Billboard chart information that shows the 10 best selling Christmas albums since 1991. It's surprising that Kenny G is #1, but it's even more surprising that the total album sales is only 7.3 million units. Also a surprise is that Mannheim Steamroller has such a strong presence on the list, taking up the 5, 6 and 7 positions and totaling just under 11 million.

Of course, selling a million albums today is quite a feat, but remember that most of these top sellers were around during the heyday of the CD business, when selling a million merely got you into the game.

Have a very merry Christmas, and thank you kindly for your continued support of this blog!

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Why Consumers Buy Vinyl

Last week I posted about the extras that entice buyers to purchase a CD, according to a study by the British Phonograph Industry. Another part of that same study has to do with the reasons that consumers purchase vinyl records.

What's interesting is that the study looks at 2 groups of buyers; hardcore vinyl buyers who only listen to their purchase, and buyers who listen to their music both via streaming and vinyl.

If you look at the graphic below, those that listen to both streaming and vinyl seem to appreciate vinyl far more than the vinyl-only purchasers, as most points are in the 90% range.

What's most interesting (to me at least) are the points at the bottom. Most who listen to streaming find that vinyl is a good investment, like to show their collection to their friends, and like having it around for decorative purposes.

Covers have always been important when it comes to vinyl, and given that buyers really like to show off their vinyl purchases, they're now more important than ever, so don't skimp on that artwork!

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Kickstarter Has A Very Low Failure Rate

Crowdfunding isn't for everyone, but it turns out that the chances of getting a campaign funded are higher than ever. Kickstarter commissioned a study by the prestigious Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania and found that 91% of campaigns on its platform get funded.

It turns out that the failure rate was about the same across all 15 categories on the platform, and most failures came from campaigns attempting to raise $1,000 or less. The most successful were campaigns attempting to raise between $10,000 and $50,000.

Even if a project failed, 73% of backers felt good enough about the process to want to back another project. That said, just 19% said that they would back the same creator whose project failed.

For those projects that just can't come to fruition, Kickstarter has a number of suggestions:

• Explain to backers what work has been done, how funds were used, and what stopped them from finishing

• Demonstrate that you’ve used funds appropriately and have made every reasonable effort to complete the project as promised

• If there’s money left over, offer to return any remaining funds to backers who have not received their reward, or explain how those funds will be used to complete the project in some alternate form.

Crowdfunding isn't for everyone, especially when it comes to music. As stated in previous posts, unless you already have a broad fan base, your campaign has a good chance of failing unless you use some very clever marketing. But as the Wharton study found, if you do get it off the ground, there's an excellent chance it will succeed.

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The Beatles Finally Coming To Streaming

All signs are pointing to one of the last major remaining holdouts, The Beatles, finally coming to a streaming network near you. Billboard, MBW, and Hits Daily Double all report that the Fab 4 will finally be available on either Apple Music or Spotify (or both) on Christmas Eve.

There's also some speculation that The Beatles music might be the first available only on Spotify's Premium tier. Last month CEO and founder Daniel Eck seemed to indicate that the company was softening its stance on making certain superstar artists available only on the paid tier and not on the free one.

This seems like a good strategy that may not only get more people to upgrade their accounts (which pay much higher royalties to artists, publishers and labels), but to appease the music industry as well.

The music business has long been railing against giving away music for free, although money is still generated via advertising, just at a lower rate.

The Beatles haven't been absent from streaming altogether though. They've been on Pandora for some time because of a more encompassing license for the non-interactive format.

Just as a point of reference, the band has sold 178 million albums in the US to date, according to the , and their music has been available on iTunes since 2008.

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168 Radio Stations Play Only Christmas Music

Christmas is a powerful time of the year for many people and for many reasons. So powerful in fact that 168 radio stations in the United States have converted their formats to full-time Holiday music, according to Nielsen.

That's not all. Hundreds of other stations across the country have also converted their formats to part-time Christmas music.

One of the downsides to this is the fact that there's less space than ever on already crowded playlists, to the point that superstars like Adele and Taylor Swift even get boxed out by the Xmas classics.

Speaking of which, even though most music stars try to cash in on the Christmas cheer with a Holiday release, they find it hard to break the stranglehold that songs from the 40s and 50s seem to have on radio at this time of year.

That said, I was recently on a cruise ship for a week where they didn't once play a familiar Christmas song by Bing Crosby, Burl Ives or Brenda Lee and never repeated a song the entire week, so there's lots of great Holiday music out there if only stations were willing to look.

In the meantime, take heart in the fact that on December 26th there will be 168 more radio stations back playing their regular formats, and Christmas music will be forgotten for another year.

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Michael Jackson's "Thriller" Hits The 30 Million Mark

There are some classic albums that continue to sell years, even decades, after their release. The Beatles Abbey Road, Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon, and The Eagles Hotel California come to mind, but the album that tops all of them is Michael Jackson's Thriller which has just reached the 30 million mark in the US, according the RIAA.

Released in 1982, the album helped lift the music industry from a recession, and has gone on to sell over 100 million copies world-wide.

The album also spent a record setting 37 weeks on top of the Billboard 200 album charts.

While Adele has had some impressive numbers with both her 21 (over 30 million worldwide), and 25 (5 million in the US so far) albums, it's fairly certain that we won't see an album with the sales legs of Thriller again, at least until another consumer-attractive physical format emerges.

It's a different music delivery world that we live in today, so the real numbers to watch are the number of streams and views that an album gets. You know you have a huge hit Thriller-like hit when you hit a billion, as Taylor Swift, Katy Perry and Justin Bieber (among a few others) have found out.

That said, Thriller remains a stellar work that still holds up well today. It's the work of a lifetime that captures lightening in a bottle. About the only thing that doesn't work (at least for me) is the cover, which seems disconnected from the album title.

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They Said It Would Never Happen - New Vinyl Presses To Hit The Market

One of the biggest problems with the growth of the vinyl record industry is the fact that the gear to make them is so old. There hasn't been a new record press machine made in over 30 years, and the cost of maintenance on the old machines is getting increasingly difficult and expensive.

That's about to change as NewBilt Machinery of Germany has introduced a modern up-to-date vinyl press that could relieve the entire industry of the burden of relying on worn-out machines.

United Record Pressing and Jack White's Third Man Records will get the first ones for their respective Nashville record plants. It's also reported that Third Man may also open a plant in Detroit as well, and that most other pressing plants have machines on order.

Believe it or not, there are 21 record manufactures in the United States alone, some using presses that are 50 years old, and most have lined up to purchase at least one new press. At a price of around $100,000 each for a single press system ($161,250 for a duplex system), they're not cheap, but neither is having to pay $5,000 to get a screw machined for an old press, as frequently happens.

Even if you have that kind of cash, there's still a lot more to setting up a plant, as a boiler, cooling tower, air compressor and three phase power is required as well to go along with the highly toxic chemical process needed to make the record stampers.

That said, having new presses available will allow the industry to grow and deliver in a more timely fashion, since it now can take up to four months for an order to be fulfilled.

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Facebook To Release A Live Streaming Feature

A feature that many artists, bands and labels have been asking Facebook for is live streaming, and it looks like it's coming soon.

This has been something available to big "verified" brands for a long time, but now the company is beginning to beta test a version that will be rolled out to all users in 2016.

Facebook has been under some minor pressure from Periscope and Meerkat, although their 12 million users combined pales when compared to FB's 1.5 billion. That said, the company hates to be left out of anything related to social media sharing, so look for a new icon to pop up allowing for the live streaming option soon.

Beta testers have found that you'll be able to see both the people that are currently viewing your broadcast as well as the real-time comments.

Facebook's live streaming is different from other platforms in that you'll be able to specify exactly who will be able to see it. That means that you can designate your broadcast to be seen just by your fans, followers, a group, or even a small group of friends or family.

The other thing that separates the upcoming FB feature is that it will live indefinitely in your stream, unlike the limited lifetime for both Periscope and Meerkat.

One disadvantage is that your broadcast can only be seen on Facebook, unlike other platforms where the broadcast can be shared on other networks. With 1.5 billion potential viewers, that doesn't seem like much of a limitation though.

Look out for this new feature in early 2016.

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The Extras That Entice CD Buyers

Everyone knows that if you're music doesn't connect, then nothing else matters, but a British study (which I also quoted yesterday) has found that certain extras offered with CDs really make a difference when it comes to making a sale.

As this chart below shows, there are various extras that streaming listeners take into account before purchasing a CD, including (in order of importance):

• Exclusive tracks not found anywhere else
• Making the disc a limited edition (i.e. #59 of 500)
• Cover artwork designed by the artist
• Priority booking of gig or concert tickets
• Discounted or bundled merch
• Exclusive access to online content
• Membership in a fan community

If you're not including any of these extras with your CDs, now's the time to do so, since your potential customers are expecting one or more along with their piece of round plastic.

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Streamers Buy Music Too

While nearly everyone in the music industry complains about the decrease in sales, a new study by the British Phonograph Industry (BPI) and the Entertainment Retailers Association has found that streaming may actually be at least partially responsible for whatever sales there are. Of course, this study was conducted in the UK, but it may be significant nonetheless.

The study found that streaming was a way for users to sample music and artists before actually buying. In fact 44% of the respondents that paid to stream said that their album buying habits have either increased or remained the same.

66% of the music fans surveyed also obtained their music from multiple sources, meaning streaming and CD or vinyl. The general consensus was that users streamed to discover, but actually purchased something they fell in love with.

Surprisingly, the results reflected not only older music fans but younger consumers as well, with the tastes of millennials falling in line with baby boomers in this area.

Also, about 33% of respondents would prefer a "one stop shop" where they could stream content, but also buy the CD on the platform if they wished as well.

Finally the survey found that around 40% of all albums are purchased in the final quarter of the year, with about half of these coming at Christmas. CDs and vinyl records are still prime gifts.

It just goes to show that there's still life in the CD side of the business, which may very well be around for longer than industry analysts predict.

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An Attempt To Reel In Concert Ticket Scalpers

When you buy an Adele concert ticket in the UK, you'll get a notice that "The resale of tickets will not be tolerated." Team Adele is taking a zero tolerance approach to scalping that already seems to be having an effect.

According to an article in Music Business Worldwide, about 20% of hot concert tickets end up on the secondary market, often at super inflated prices. In Adele's case, whenever a ticket is offered for resale by a buyer, the sale is immediately canceled as each ticket is individually registered to the fan that bought it.

This has resulted in less than 2% of her tickets now available for resale, and that number of dropping.

The prices appear to be as high as $1,500 over face value, but buyer beware though, as you might be buying a ball of hot air that won't get you into the concert after all.

It should be noted that in many cases the artists themselves are responsible for the high scalping prices, as they hold back a block of tickets and sell directly to the secondary markets for a quick profit. Not so with Adele. to her credit. She's already made plenty of money, and would rather her fans not have to pay more than the asking price to see her live.

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5 Kickstarter Tips From Amanda Palmer

Amanda Palmer may be the perfect example of how social media promotion is done in our Music 4.0 age. She's developed a big online bond with her fans that hasn't quite carried over to her music, but it has in other areas.

Amanda took advantage of that social notoriety to launch a highly acclaimed Kickstarter campaign a few years ago where she raised $1.1 million more than her original $100,000 goal.

So just how did she do it? Amanda gave away her secrets on crowdfunding to the Music Awards Blog. Here they are (with my comments afterward):

1) You have to have fans before you can ask them to help you. [This one seems pretty obvious, but is mysteriously overlooked by many artists.]

2) Show, don't tell: HAVE A GOOD VIDEO. [This is a lot harder than it seems. You have to sell your fans on your idea/music and not be obnoxious about it. People get paid a lot of money to do this every day, which suggests its difficulty, so make sure you put a lot of thought into it.]

3) Don't just reward the rich: keep every level rewarding. [If you look at some Kickstarter campaigns, it seems hardly worthwhile to even consider some of the lower pledge levels since you don't get all that much in return. As you get to the higher money pledges, the rewards always become a lot more interesting, but you want to reward those that can only afford the lower levels as well.]

4) Be honest: You'll be amazed at how helpful people really are when you talk straight with them. [Fans naturally want to help. The more honest and open you are, the more help they'll give you. If something feels funny or below board, they'll start to pull back.]

5) No tool is deus ex machina: ANY platform can work. [Don't get stuck on one platform since the name of the game is delivering your music to people, and giving them the chance to help you out by buying something occasionally. Without those last two things, the platform doesn't matter.]

Last but important, Palmer gives the best tip: Your music must be good, you must respect your fans, and pretty much without exception; YOU HAVE TO TOUR.

Another great tip from Amanda comes from a conversation she had with Techdirt in which she states just how she developed that fanbase in the first place:

"I've been tending this bamboo forest of fans for years and years, ever since leaving roadrunner records in 2009. Every person I talk to at a signing, every exchange I have online (sometimes dozens a day), every random music video or art gallery link sent to me by a fan that i curiously follow, every strange bed I've crashed on...all of that real human connecting has led to this moment, where I came back around, asking for direct help with a record. Asking EVERYBODY...And they help because...they KNOW me."

Every time I post something about Amanda Palmer I get a lot of negative comments and emails, as she can be a polarizing figure if you're not a fan. The thing is, she's done extremely well for someone who's music is rather niche.

Whether you like her or her music or not, at least take heed of her techniques. She's giving them away for free.

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