The Official " The Origin of Love " Charts & Sales around the World Thread

[Christine]

I think we finally have the correct sales figures for France. Unfortunately it is to be found in an article about flops this year. They consider TOOL as a flop taking into account Mika's huge popularity with LICM

 

http://www.chartsinfrance.net/actualite/news-83597.html?p=6

 

So it's 71.000 copies sold; he got Platinum because 100.000 have been shipped but not all sold.

 

Also, most people commenting on this article are saying that Mika lacked promo this time.

 

That doesn't seem legitimate to me to issue a platinum certification based on 70% sales. At least not at this stage when there is no hit song and tour to propel sales at a rapid pace. I would imagine it's going to take longer to sell that final 30% than it did the first 30%.

 

Do you think that there wasn't enough promotion in France? Seems to be the go-to reason for everyone to blame poor sales on but I think it's a bit of a stretch in the case of France. I notice this person saying if more money was spent perhaps Mika's sales would have been doubled but how much more money can you spend to justify an additional 71,000 record sales? I remember being aghast in 1986 when my label spent $100,000 on a campaign for Bryan Adams just in Canada (whose album was also a flop compared to its predecessor). Do you know how much $100,000 was in 1986? It was 10 times my annual salary!! If you are only going to sell 70,000 copies you are going to lose money with that kind of investment.

 

I think if TOOL was released 18 months ago on the heels of EMD we wouldn't be having this discussion.

 

Anyway it's a real shame. I like this album a lot.

[camille*]

That doesn't seem legitimate to me to issue a platinum certification based on 70% sales. At least not at this stage when there is no hit song and tour to propel sales at a rapid pace. I would imagine it's going to take longer to sell that final 30% than it did the first 30%.

 

Do you think that there wasn't enough promotion in France? Seems to be the go-to reason for everyone to blame poor sales on but I think it's a bit of a stretch in the case of France. I notice this person saying if more money was spent perhaps Mika's sales would have been doubled but how much more money can you spend to justify an additional 71,000 record sales? I remember being aghast in 1986 when my label spent $100,000 on a campaign for Bryan Adams just in Canada (whose album was also a flop compared to its predecessor). Do you know how much $100,000 was in 1986? It was 10 times my annual salary!! If you are only going to sell 70,000 copies you are going to lose money with that kind of investment.

 

I think if TOOL was released 18 months ago on the heels of EMD we wouldn't be having this discussion.

 

Anyway it's a real shame. I like this album a lot.

 

I didn't think it was possible to be awarded Platinum when the actual sales are 70.000 copies. So I thought he sold more, but the comments on there proved me wrong.

 

I've learnt a lot reading the comments to this article. Not everything might be true, but it seems to be coming from people who are aware of what is happening in the music industry.

 

Regarding promo, I think that from the point of view of a Mika fan, especially a non-French one, Mika has spent a lot of time promoting the album in France. But if I try to have a view from 'outside', we haven't seen that much of him. If you weren't on the right channel/station at the right time, it was very easy to miss news about his new album. I don't really think he lacked promo. I'm more on the side of those saying (either here on MFC or below this particular article) that the chosen singles were not the best ones to promote TOOL. It seems obvious to a lot of people that Stardust was the right choice. I think LYWID could be successful too. Someone on that site mentioned Karen too. But as you say, the best single was EMD but we don't even get the feeling that it's part of TOOL.

 

Someone on there is saying that the record company makes money as long as 50.000 copies are sold. If it's true then I think they are not too unhappy about the sales. Also, earlier I wrote about TOOL being a flop but if I read more carefully they are rather putting it in the disappointment category.

 

One last thing; a few users on that site are implying that Mika refused to do more promo in France (because he's too full of himself :rolls_eyes: ) so it's his fault if TOOL doesn't sell well...

[Christine]

Regarding promo, I think that from the point of view of a Mika fan, especially a non-French one, Mika has spent a lot of time promoting the album in France. But if I try to have a view from 'outside', we haven't seen that much of him. If you weren't on the right channel/station at the right time, it was very easy to miss news about his new album. I don't really think he lacked promo.

 

Right but that is always the case isn't it? He was on Taratata in 2007 and he was on Taratata in 2012. Whether the public was watching these shows or not is not down to the effort expended by Mika or his promoters. I don't see how it's possible that there was more promotion for LICM because he was too busy doing other things. He was in the US every couple of months and promoting non stop in the UK.

 

I'm more on the side of those saying (either here on MFC or below this particular article) that the chosen singles were not the best ones to promote TOOL. It seems obvious to a lot of people that Stardust was the right choice. I think LYWID could be successful too. Someone on that site mentioned Karen too. But as you say, the best single was EMD but we don't even get the feeling that it's part of TOOL.

 

I guess there are always going to be many factors at play just as there were many factors at play in the success of LICM.

 

Someone on there is saying that the record company makes money as long as 50.000 copies are sold.

 

I guess that is true within a certain budget but what if you double your promotional budget as this person suggests? If you run ads during the Olympics for example you're probably going to sell some records but at what cost?

 

People always want to point fingers but the bottom line is these record companies are businesses not charities. You can't continually bet the salary of 10 of your employees on a losing horse or eventually you're not going to be able to pay their wages (among other things).

 

My issue with the record companies is that they are blaming everything on illegal downloads and not examining their own A&R policies. Adele's phenomenal success should be a wake up call to everyone that people (especially people who are not 14 year old girls) are willing to buy something that they like. And maybe if they would develop and promote quality adult music they could appeal to record buyers instead of hackers and children who change their favourite artist as often as they change their underwear.

[Sephira]

That doesn't seem legitimate to me to issue a platinum certification based on 70% sales. At least not at this stage when there is no hit song and tour to propel sales at a rapid pace. I would imagine it's going to take longer to sell that final 30% than it did the first 30%.

 

Do you think that there wasn't enough promotion in France? Seems to be the go-to reason for everyone to blame poor sales on but I think it's a bit of a stretch in the case of France. I notice this person saying if more money was spent perhaps Mika's sales would have been doubled but how much more money can you spend to justify an additional 71,000 record sales? I remember being aghast in 1986 when my label spent $100,000 on a campaign for Bryan Adams just in Canada (whose album was also a flop compared to its predecessor). Do you know how much $100,000 was in 1986? It was 10 times my annual salary!! If you are only going to sell 70,000 copies you are going to lose money with that kind of investment.

 

I think if TOOL was released 18 months ago on the heels of EMD we wouldn't be having this discussion.

 

Anyway it's a real shame. I like this album a lot.

 

I remember that when I arrived at the station in September 2009, the station was covered with posters of the album cover TBWKTM, Mika was on the cover of lots of news papers and magazins, we saw Mika on really important tv shows and the 8:00 pm news. For TOOL,"Celebrate" even looped on the radio had no success, there were some small posters of the album in the subway lanes, no news papers and magazines covers, the Paris Match interview was never published, all press articles spoke of Mika's coming out and not of his album, he made few tv show and the majority of them are the least watched. There was no promotion for the tour, which has been criticized as "Mika made ​​the Parc des Princes now he is reduced to the Casino de Paris". No reviews in Le Parisien of the two concert at the Casino de Paris.

It doesn't feel good for the future because Mika is gone for too long, he hasn't benefited from the success of "Elle me dit" in France and in the world to release his album, he remade his album and it was an unfortunate mistake.

[suzie]

If the album promo was not even enough in France, I really wonder what else could have been expected. It is the lead single that promotes the album best, if it is a flop a second single is to be released right afterwards.

I am pretty much convinced that any prior research in the relevant target group would have shown what a bad choice Celebrate was ( and by that I don't suggest Mika writing songs seed on market research, btw..)...The question is if the record company knows who they are targeting.

Anyway, shame, it is a great album.

@Camille do you have the sales for the first two albums, just to compare?

Edited January 6, 2013 by suzie

[camille*]

If the album promo was not even enough in France, I really wonder what else could have been expected. It is the lead single that promotes the album best, if it is a flop a second single is to be released right afterwards.

I am pretty much convinced that any prior research in the relevant target group would have shown what a bad choice Celebrate was ( and by that I don't suggest Mika writing songs seed on market research, btw..)...The question is if the record company knows who they are targeting.

Anyway, shame, it is a great album.

@Camille do you have the sales for the first two albums, just to compare?

 

LICM sold 1.200.000 copies and TBWKTM 350.000. But it's always been seen as exceptional in these times of crisis, so maybe 71.000 in 4 months isn't that bad

 

I agree with Sephira about the tour not being promoted AT ALL, but it was sold out This is good news If he promotes a potential next tour better, he will be able to sell out large venues.

[Sephira]

LICM sold 1.200.000 copies and TBWKTM 350.000. But it's always been seen as exceptional in these times of crisis, so maybe 71.000 in 4 months isn't that bad

 

I agree with Sephira about the tour not being promoted AT ALL, but it was sold out This is good news If he promotes a potential next tour better, he will be able to sell out large venues.

 

The crisis of the record industry was started several years ago and doesn't prevent artists to sell hundreds of thousands or millions of albums worldwide, but they have a big machine promotion behind them.

[maggie112]

Whas the whole tour sold out?

In Italy it hasn't been promoted at all, I didn't use to check the Mika Fb page or site, so I didn't know about the gig until a Fb contact of mine wrote about it on his wall xD (I wasn't an hardcore fan yet)

[suzie]

Promoting a tour is with the promoters, not necessarily or only with the record company. Isn't the relatively low profile tour promo due to the venues being too small this time? It was most likely easier to sell out a tour of small venues with no promotional effort rather than risking an investment to promote an arena tour.

 

@Camille thank you for the figures. Just out of interest, it would actually good to compare the same for Lady Gaga just to see the level of the likely decline

Edited January 6, 2013 by suzie

[camille*]

Whas the whole tour sold out?

In Italy it hasn't been promoted at all, I didn't use to check the Mika Fb page or site, so I didn't know about the gig until a Fb contact of mine wrote about it on his wall xD (I wasn't an hardcore fan yet)

 

Sorry I was talking about France, I'm not sure about Italy even if we know he has a solid fanbase there. Maybe the other Italian fans will be able to tell you if it was sold out. Good for you that you heard about the gig in time!

 

Promoting a tour is with the promoters, not necessarily or only with the record company. Isn't the relatively low profile tour promo due to the venues being too small this time? It was most likely easier to sell out a tour of small venues with no promotional effort rather than risking an investment to promote an arena tour.

 

@Camille thank you for the figures. Just out of interest, it would actually good to compare the same for Lady Gaga just to see the level of the likely decline

 

You mean in France? If so here they are

 

The Fame 620.000

Born This Way 190.000 (Yes Mika is a bigger seller than Lady Gaga)

 

Now I'm not sure about the rest, I also find remix albums and stuff. I don't know much about Gaga's work but I don't think I should count them in these sales.

[Christine]

LICM sold 1.200.000 copies and TBWKTM 350.000. But it's always been seen as exceptional in these times of crisis, so maybe 71.000 in 4 months isn't that bad

 

I don't think those are bad numbers for one country either and he's obviously selling better in France than many big name artists are. But since he's put all his eggs in France's basket it's not really a good sign for worldwide album sales.

 

Sephira I get what you are saying about the promotion in 2009 but aren't most of these things out of their control? They can't buy magazine covers for Mika. People were more obsessed with his sexuality in 2007 than they are now IMO.

[suzie]

The Fame 620.000

Born This Way 190.000 (Yes Mums is a bigger seller than Lady Gaga)

.

Thank you. That is really interesting because if I put these in chronological order, I get

2007 LICM. 1,200,000

2008 The Fame 620,000

2009 TBWKTM. 350,000

2011 Born this Way 120,000

2012 TOOL 71,000

a rapidly declining trend, although I doubt it is only the crisis.

[Kaito]

Thank you. That is really interesting because if I put these in chronological order, I get

2007 LICM. 1,200,000

2008 The Fame 620,000

2009 TBWKTM. 350,000

2011 Born this Way 120,000

2012 TOOL 71,000

a rapidly declining trend, although I doubt it is only the crisis.

 

I know Lady Gaga hasn't been able to sell out her last tour (mostly arenas) :'>

[Christine]

I don't think Lady Gaga's numbers are indicative of any trend other than the trend for artists to make crap music.

 

Adele is selling her 2 year old album by the millions and the woman hasn't even left her house in a year.

[Kaito]

I don't think Lady Gaga's numbers are indicative of any trend other than the trend for artists to make crap music.

 

Adele is selling her 2 year old album by the millions and the woman hasn't even left her house in a year.

 

But you can also hear Adele's songs in MANY movies/Tv shows/ads I knew half of her songs before buying the CD but I didn't know she was the one singing them

[Christine]

But you can also hear Adele's songs in MANY movies/Tv shows/ads I knew half of her songs before buying the CD but I didn't know she was the one singing them

 

That album was selling like gangbusters right out of the gate and his been selling non stop ever since. I don't know what's going on in Belgium but Adele has been a household name in the US for years, just like Lady Gaga. If they are using her songs on TV I'm guessing the shows are trying to capitalize on her extraordinary popularity and not the other way around. Last year at this time she appeared on an extremely high profile 45 year old news show in the US (60 Minutes) that is more often interviewing heads of state than pop singers. Again she didn't even leave her house. Anderson Cooper flew to England to interview her in her mansion.

 

Everyone is so desperate for real music that Adele is sucking up more attention and awards and record sales than most of these other artists put together. I think her only competition at the moment is Taylor Swift but considering their album releases are 2 years apart it's not much of a comparison yet.

[Marilyn Mastin]

I don't think those are bad numbers for one country either and he's obviously selling better in France than many big name artists are. But since he's put all his eggs in France's basket it's not really a good sign for worldwide album sales.

 

Sephira I get what you are saying about the promotion in 2009 but aren't most of these things out of their control? They can't buy magazine covers for Mika. People were more obsessed with his sexuality in 2007 than they are now IMO.

Mika did get more attention in 2007, but from what I remember of it, it was mostly about whether he is... Whether he isn't... Probably he is...

Even then the music didn't really get a look in. If they wern't obsessed with his sexuality they were saying he made their ears bleed, he was annoying and going on about FM all the time. They never said that Mika was a genius and even though he won best breakthrough artist at the Brits, he was robbed of the Best Male award, which went to Mark Ronson, even theough he's not a singer and certainly not a songwriter. Even Beth Ditto, who had expected to present the award to Mika, was totally gobsmacked. But the powers that be have always got away with treating Mika like c**p! So really, it's not so different now.

[Lilasko]

Adele is selling her 2 year old album by the millions and the woman hasn't even left her house in a year.

 

That's because her songs get airplay.

[Christine]

That's because her songs get airplay.

 

Lots of people get airplay but they are not selling 25 million+ albums.

[Kaito]

That album was selling like gangbusters right out of the gate and his been selling non stop ever since. I don't know what's going on in Belgium but Adele has been a household name in the US for years, just like Lady Gaga. If they are using her songs on TV I'm guessing the shows are trying to capitalize on her extraordinary popularity and not the other way around. Last year at this time she appeared on an extremely high profile 45 year old news show in the US (60 Minutes) that is more often interviewing heads of state than pop singers. Again she didn't even leave her house. Anderson Cooper flew to England to interview her in her mansion.

 

Everyone is so desperate for real music that Adele is sucking up more attention and awards and record sales than most of these other artists put together. I think her only competition at the moment is Taylor Swift but considering their album releases are 2 years apart it's not much of a comparison yet.

 

I had never heard of Adele before "21"

For a few months, I listened over & over again to "Rolling in the Deep" and then, I realized she also sung a few other songs I liked. I usually don't discover music thanks to the radio but thanks to gigs reviews, friends, festivals & youtube

[Lilasko]

Lots of people get airplay but they are not selling 25 million+ albums.

 

Yes, but she's getting more airplay than anyone else and for a longer time and with more songs, and then her songs appeal to wider audience.

I hear her songs on the radio all the time, I mean all the time. I've started to change station every time I hear one of her songs because I can't stand them anymore, and I'm not a person who listen to radio that much maybe 1-2 times a week.

[Christine]

I had never heard of Adele before "21"

For a few months, I listened over & over again to "Rolling in the Deep" and then, I realized she also sung a few other songs I liked. I usually don't discover music thanks to the radio but thanks to gigs reviews, friends, festivals & youtube

 

How could you not have heard of her when she and Mika were dating and were expecting twins?

 

http://www.mikafanclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=16358

 

[Christine]

Yes, but she's getting more airplay than anyone else and for a longer time and with more songs, and then her songs appeal to wider audience.

I hear her songs on the radio all the time, I mean all the time. I've started to change station every time I hear one of her songs because I can't stand them anymore, and I'm not a person who listen to radio that much maybe 1-2 times a week.

 

That was my point. People want to buy her music, not Lady Gaga's. That's why Lady Gaga's sales are dropping. It's not because people have never heard of her, it's not because her songs never get on the radio and it's not because there is a recession.

[Lilasko]

That was my point. People want to buy her music, not Lady Gaga's. That's why Lady Gaga's sales are dropping. It's not because people have never heard of her, it's not because her songs never get on the radio and it's not because there is a recession.

 

True, but if Adele wouldn't have get airplay no one would have bought her cd's in the first place. And I agree with Lady Gaga there is a recession, people are actually starting to forget her since she isn't the hot topic any more and her songs isn't played on the radio, but the same will happen to Adele eventually if she can't get a new big hit single, so far neither 'Skyfall' nor 'Rumour Has It' have got the same succes as her other songs, at least not here.

[Marilyn Mastin]

That was my point. People want to buy her music, not Lady Gaga's. That's why Lady Gaga's sales are dropping. It's not because people have never heard of her, it's not because her songs never get on the radio and it's not because there is a recession.

This is why I've come to the conclusion that Mika needs to stop being a popstar and become a composer like Andrew Lloyd Webber.

While he's at the mercy of DJs and radio stations he's never going to get the airplay. I like Adele well enough, but I deffinately prefer Lady Gaga to her. Gaga's songs are more Like Mika's songs in the sense that they are more interesting and tell more of a story. The tunes are good too. Always catchy even if they are slow ones. But if LG can't get her tunes on the radio, what hope is there for Mika anymore?

So its time for a rethink Mika.