Anyone know how Fundamental is doing in Europe?

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steviekwala · #1 Post by **steviekwala** » Tue 25 Jul 2006, 9:02 pm

I know it isn't doing terribly well in the UK but I always imagine the European market to be much more open to the PSB's than the UK. Anyone have any figures? Thanks - it'd make me feel much better if I thought they were getting the appreciation they deserve somewhere

BTW, Hi - I'm new

S-sense · #2 Post by **S-sense** » Tue 25 Jul 2006, 10:01 pm

Its sad sad such a good album is not selling as good as it deserves...

dont have any numbers for europe.

Home and Dry · #3 Post by **Home and Dry** » Wed 26 Jul 2006, 4:03 pm

Its doing better than Nighlife and Release here in Sweden but its a very small market compered to Germany and UK .. to name a few...

psb-freak · #4 Post by **psb-freak** » Wed 26 Jul 2006, 4:06 pm

It´s doing here best since Very. But not on top40 anymore.

MD · #5 Post by MD » Wed 26 Jul 2006, 6:47 pm

Don't have anything recent. But the last worldwide # was 150.000. At the time that number incorperated 30.000 copies in the UK. UK sales have now hit 50.000 copies.The US release has added around 10.000 copies. So as of a week or two ago it had a total worldwide sales # of 180.000 copies sold.

This is a very very good start, about two times as many copies sold, at the same point, as the last two studio albums. EMI is looking for 1.000.000( minimal) copies sold over the life of the record. That is over the next 2 or 3 years. If it continues to sell as well it will very likely sell more than 1.000.000.

If your interested, the total worldwide sales for the last two studio albums was;

Release 950.000 copies

Nightlife 1.300.000 copies

Dreamcatcher2003 · #6 Post by **Dreamcatcher2003** » Wed 26 Jul 2006, 6:56 pm

I never thought Release did so well

pierre · #7 Post by **pierre** » Wed 26 Jul 2006, 7:27 pm

MD wrote: This is a very very good start,

I'm a bit surprised by those numbers. I thought that Pet Shop Boys tended to sell massively in the first few weeks after release thanks to their loyal fanbase but that sales were diminishing rapidly after that.

Still, if your numbers are right. The sales in the first few weeks for Release were abysmal (less than 100,000) but the album still managed to sell almost 1,000,000. I'm curious to know where you get your numbers from. If they are correct, it means the commercial appeal of the PSB is in much better health than I thought.

BlueSwan · #8 Post by **BlueSwan** » Wed 26 Jul 2006, 7:32 pm

MD wrote:If your interested, the total worldwide sales for the last two studio albums was;

Release 950.000 copies

Nightlife 1.300.000 copies

What's your source on this. Those numbers look very inflated to me.

MD · #9 Post by MD » Thu 27 Jul 2006, 1:22 am

Hi everyone,

I will answer all your questions below. But first I need to correct my numbers data. Sorry for this but I posted them from memory when I should have taken the time to have a re-look to be sure that my recollection was correct

I will also expand them with sales figures for the other studio albums that I have sales info for.

Sales:

Release 800.000 or 950.000( read below)
Nightlife 1.200.000
Bilingual 1.500.000
Very 4.000.000

[b]Dreamcatcher2003 [/b]said

"I never thought Release did so well"

While it was thier least selling disk it still made PSB, and thier label of course, a nice profit

[b]BlueSwan said[/b]
"What's your source on this. Those numbers look very inflated to me."

With regard to Realese two sources; 800.000 according to Wikipedia and 950.000 acording to Neil in an interview.All others Wikipedia

[b]pierre said[/b]
" I'm a bit surprised by those numbers. I thought that Pet Shop Boys tended to sell massively in the first few weeks after release thanks to their loyal fanbase but that sales were diminishing rapidly after that. "

All established acts come out of the gate with a surge of sales generated by the hard-core fanbase. Hard-core refers to fans like you ( I assume/hope) and me who keep intouch with a band/singer/artists progress and will know the realese date of a new single/album months in advance.

However, we make up a relatively small portion of any given acts larger fanbase. Many more fans will only know about the new single/album when they hear it on the radio. Others, like me, who don't listen to the radio a great deal will become aware when they see an interview in the papers or on TV. Many will only know when they notice the new release on the shelves at the local CD store or find out that the band is playing a gig at the local club/venue. As a result a CD can drop out of the charts after a few weeks or months but still sell a few thousand or hundred copies a week worldwide. It doesn't sound like much but over time it adds up.

Lots of people, and this is very true of fan forum members, get too cought up on the latest chart position. In the long run many albums that reach #1 can end up selling fewer copies than those that only peaked at a lower position. Forget the chart number! Remember how many [b]copies are sold [/b]each week.

" Still, if your numbers are right. The sales in the first few weeks for Release were abysmal (less than 100,000) but the album still managed to sell almost 1,000,000. I'm curious to know where you get your numbers from. If they are correct, it means the commercial appeal of the PSB is in much better health than I thought."

Release had a hard time for two reasons. First, it was a change of style and this is always a turnoff for some people who are fans of long standing. After all they want more of the music they love not some new direction that they may or may not like.

Second, it did not get good press. Lots of reviews were bad or only OK. Word of mouth was not good. I really think that to much was made of the so-called "change in direction". I liked it from the first listen. It does have its bad spots. " The Night I Fell in Love" , god that song sucks. But overall i think it is a very good PSBs CD.

Of all PSBs CDs my least fav is Bilingual, its the only one I ever threw in the garbage!!! Please don't hurt me!!!!!!

I got it again when the remasters came out and it has grown on me!

glennjridge · #10 Post by **glennjridge** » Thu 27 Jul 2006, 3:44 am

my personal opinion is that they are still enough of a consistent CD mover to not have to worry about losing record contracts.

I mean I bet alot of labels have alot more misses with new bands that dont even sell 10,000 so they are happy to have a band that cant at least move in the hundreds of thousands each time.

MD · #11 Post by MD » Thu 27 Jul 2006, 5:00 am

[quote="glennjridge"]my personal opinion is that they are still enough of a consistent CD mover to not have to worry about losing record contracts.

I mean I bet alot of labels have alot more misses with new bands that dont even sell 10,000 so they are happy to have a band that cant at least move in the hundreds of thousands each time.[/quote]

This is very much the case with the Boys. Excluding Release they have been a surething for at least 1 million copies. Fundamental could sell 200.000 less copies than Release and still make good money.We will have to wait and see but it looks like Fun will, at the least, outsell Release.

Can't say for sure, no soundscan til 91, but my guess is that Very was most likely the boys best selling album. A bit of suprise given most people think the band was at its most popular during the 80s.

Shopper · #12 Post by **Shopper** » Thu 27 Jul 2006, 6:28 am

I always assumed they sold a million atleast of each album, and that sorta kept them going infact (the fanbase)

Dreamcatcher2003 · Thu 27 Jul 2006, 8:47 am

Is there any sales figure for PopArt? I guess it did well in Europe but mostly flopped in US and other parts of the world.

Flaffer · #14 Post by **Flaffer** » Thu 27 Jul 2006, 8:52 am

MD wrote:
glennjridge wrote: Fundamental could sell 200.000 less copies than Release and still make good money.We will have to wait and see but it looks like Fun will, at the least, outsell Release.

Can't say for sure, no soundscan til 91, but my guess is that Very was most likely the boys best selling album. A bit of suprise given most people think the band was at its most popular during the 80s.

unless Fundamental sells significantly more than Release PSB themselves will make far less money/profit, if breaking even . Trevor Horn and orchestras don't come cheap and Release was self produced with little outside'help'. Introspective was their best selling album worldwide and Very would be hard pushed to match it IMHO. I remember Neil saying that Release had sold around 750000 and this was a significant period after its release, an extra 200,000 copies being sold seems very unlikely. It would be interesting to read a definate list of sales figures

Dreamcatcher2003 · Thu 27 Jul 2006, 10:09 am

Flaffer wrote:
unless Fundamental sells significantly more than Release PSB themselves will make far less money/profit, if breaking even . Trevor Horn and orchestras don't come cheap and Release was self produced with little outside'help'.

Ah it is probably the reason why they went so bold to pay Trevor Horn and the orchestration thanks to the profit they made from Release because except for Marr, they probably spent nothing on the album...oh plus the cost of those four different covers