Pink has joined `The Broken Embargo Club` in Australia alongside the ranks for AC/DC, Metallica and Kings of Leon as stores continue to ignore official release dates and put the sale first.
Pink’s ‘Funhouse’ sold 7120 units last Friday after stores put it on sale early ahead of the weekend release date, making it the 4th biggest seller of the week.In tough economic times, music stores are no longer prepared to wait until an official release date so that a label can score a trophy chart position. They are giving the customer what they want, the music A.S.A.P.
The sales for the chart in Australia are surveyed from Saturday to Friday. Therefore Saturday is the official release date for new releases, so that labels can maximize the debut story spin. However, to get new releases into stores, labels have to deliver stock on the Friday (or earlier).
When embargoed, stores are not meant to put the stock onto shelves until the release date, but they no longer care.
On one day sales, Pink’s ‘Funhouse’ was the forth biggest selling album of the week behind AC/DC ‘Black Ice’, King of Leon ‘Only By The Night’ and Various ‘So Fresh - The Hits of Spring 2008’.
Metallica’s ‘Death Magnetic’ and Kings of Leon’s ‘Only By The Night’ were listed on the official chart based on early sales. Last week, AC/DC ‘Black Ice’ and this week Pink ‘Funhouse’ were removed from the official chart despite being bona-fide best sellers.
When it comes to spin, announcing a number 3 or number 4 debut doesn’t have the same impact as putting out a press release to say you debuted at number one. As they say in the industry “never let the truth get in the way of a good story”.
