Troubling CD sales figures — Page 2

"CAPN HOOK - why were you so unhappy with the DRS cd? I found it more enjoyable than many of the recent Broadway blockbusters. The bonus track of "Nothing is too wonderful..." was worth the price."

The bonus track of "Nothing is too wonderful" sung by Sherie Renee Scott is the ONLY track worth listening to twice. The rest of the score was a huge disappointment. NOT the best of the season. I find myself listening to Spelling Bee, Spamalot, and Little Women often. I haven't purchased Piazza yet - I am out of money.

You know - I think it would be wise for these record companies to raise the prices if the cast recordings to $20. It would turn in more profit. It's not gonna hurt it. Those who planned on purchasing the CD would do it anyway - it's only a few dollars more; and those who would burn it would burn the CD anyway. Samd number of CDs sold, more money made.

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What a fascinating discussion. As someone who has made his living selling music the last 20 years, it's very enlightening to hear people make comments bragging about "Stealing" music, and even more interesting to hear someone say they thing CDs should cost MORE.

Personally, I am always fascinated with how people will pay up to $100 for a couple of hours experience in a theatre and then object to paying $20 to own those performances forever. I never hear people say "I'm not going to shell out $70 to see Spelling Bee yet-- I've only heard ONE SONG from it!"

And I know I'll be lambasted, but if you didn't find a show to love this season, maybe you just don't like show tunes. There semed to be something for everyone this season!!

If you really want to keep Cast Recordings being made, it isn't about buying a CD, its about the UNIONS realizing that it isn't the 50s anymore. Showtunes aren't the pop standards that they were decades ago, and producers can not afford to keep paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to make them.

So I urge you to contact Local 802, AFTRA, and AEA and let them know your concerns!!!

The problem with the unions has been a longstanding one. Who negatiated the rule that the cast members get a week's salary for each day in the studio? Not only that for every 3 hours the musicians are in studio, only 15 minutes can be used on t he final CD!! Now isn't that a stupid rule? If the musicians record the entire "Slaughter on 10th Avenue" ballet in one take (the piece runs 17 minutes) they would have to be paid for 2 3-hour sessions!!

Obviously all of this needs to be addressed and natur'lly the unions are not anxious to discuss it.

It wasn't always this way. In the early days artists were given the same royalty for each record as pop artists receive. Joan Roberts says she STILL gets royalties for the sales of OKLAHOMA! (and she only appears on 4 of the 16 tracks.)

As for copying CD's I can appreciate students on a budget not being able to buy every cast album out there. When I was a student I used to borrow (and make tape copies) of cast albums from the public library collection but always with a view towards eventually owning the recording. The only copied Cd's I have are items that are out of print and not available for purchase (Ie. the Judi Dench ALNM) but as soon as I find one for sale I will want the original with liner notes and all.

Right now between Lps, 78 RPM album sets, and Cd's I have over 3,500 cast recordings. And very quickly running out of room!

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Updated On: 3/31/13 at 03:34 PM

In the world we live in, a ticket to a show cost $75-100 and a CD costs $15-20.

For a CD, I have no problem paying $20. For a ticket, I have no problem paying $100. However - I won't be able to see more than one show per year, nor purchase more than 3-4 CDs.

It's the world we live in.

Honestly - I don't see a change. No one will do anything drastic or experiment to try to make things better.

A plane ticket to NYC still costs $200. A hotel room still costs $100-200 a night. A hamburger in the City still costs $20. No money left for Broadway.

Nothing will get better until prices EVERYWHERE goes down.

A temporary fix would be theatre packages. Hotel, plane ticket, and Broadway tickets. But does Broadway.com or other agencies offer DISCOUNTED packages?? Hardly - if at all.

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Joe... it actually is a rule of 802. They also have a limited pressing agreement that smaller shows can use, BUT they can't call it an original cast recording. And that agreement is 7.5 mins for every hour. So if you record you show live and the band works for 2 hours and played 75 mins worth of music, they still get paid for 10.

On to the cast it is a full weeks pay per day, but after 8 hours (i believe) there is overtime which gets VERY expensive.

Joe... it actually is a rule of 802. They also have a limited pressing agreement that smaller shows can use, BUT they can't call it an original cast recording. And that agreement is 7.5 mins for every hour.

That's interesting. Not trying to thread-jack here, but I'm curious if anyone knows the rationale behind that?

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Recently bought:

Aida
Little Women
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
Thoroughly Modern Millie
Avenue Q
Forbidden Broadway: SVU



I'm planning on going and getting Light in The Piazza soon. I was expecting more out of DRS, but the tunes are still stuck in my head, ne'ertheless.

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This is indeed an interesting thread that I am coming to late. Here are a few thoughts.

While cast albums are unlikely to be profitable purely based on sales, there are other avenues for them to show their worth. Someone has already mentioned that they can help promote a show. This is especially important as touring becomes the only way for many shows to turn a profit.

They can also generate royalties by being played on internet (and satellite?) radio. While composers get a royalty whenever their works are played, performers/record companies do not get royalties from over the air radio. As new broadcast methods arise, performance royalties can become a significant form of income. I was at a panel discussion where a record executive from a label that specializes in African and Carribean music said he was barely aware of internet radio until the royalty checks started coming in every month. Then he became very aware.

Below is a link to an excellent article on the making of cast albums. There are some interesting comments about how the union rules really stifle the ability of producers to make albums. Surprisingly, many of the complaints are not about money.
Article on Cast Albums

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I'm just waiting until I see the showsnext month!

So excited!

"If you buy from iTunes would that be considered when counting total units sold? I assume it would, but I don't know for sure."

It's probably converted some way. If the cast recording is available on iTunes, I'll buy it (the whole album usually) from there, because I hate buying CDs when all I'm going to do is put them on my computer and iPod.

Honestly, the vast majority of cast recordings aren't widely available on download networks. There are a few shows that are easy to find, but those are only the huge mainstream hits. Even if you just want one song from the CD, it's much easier to buy it somewhere (anywhere, hell, eBay) than try and download it.

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Its hard for to believe that just NOW cast albums arent doing well when...

barnes and noebl has began to expand thier musical theater slections in LA/OC/San Diego.

spamalot and wicked are in the top 100 albums on itunes YET AGAIN this week. Wicked has been on the charts since it first came out, and spamalot is the #2 staff reccomendation this week. Piazza is also prominatley displayed on its website, and I bet its sales will be great next week.

iTunes just recently explanded its musical theater selection becuase of the popularity of musicals purchased on iTunes.

I honestly think that everyone burns stuff once or twice. I have a lot fo friends who are disadvantaged theater students and I'm not going to be like "you cant pay you cant play". Especially when Barnes and Nobel is the ONYL place that sells most cast albums, and there all around 20-25 bucks. Ragtime is 40, Miss Saigon is 45, Les Mes full album is 50.

I wish we had some kind of historical backing with this, becuase somethign tells me that this week was either week (which is odd becuase of the tony awards) or this is the adverage sales for musicals. This isnt a new problem. Wasnt the last Cast Recording to be #1 was Phantom of the Opera's London Cast Album? It at least went platinum. I'm betting Wicked is also beyond platinum. Look at the CD's that were talking about. Spamalot is doing well. But Little Women? It didnt exactly do well in the community. And Light in the Piazza is genius but is just too complicated for some people. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels hasnt picked up a lot fo stream yet, but explect it to maybe start doing well as the show runs. Altar Boys is off-broadway and is really not heard of too much, so obviously its not gonna do great. They dont carry it here in LA, I think, at least I've never seen it.

WAIT!!!!!!

top internet album sales this week, straight from billboard.com!!!

#10- Spelling Bee
#12- Light in the Piazza
#14- Spamalot

top 200 albums
56- phantom of the opera
wicked, spelling bee, spamalot, and light in the piazza are all on there and represented, though in the 100's.

I have about 75 cast albums, and didnt buy maybe 2 or 3- 1 becuase its ragtime and 40+, and the others becuase there really rare and one of my teachers had them and let me borrow them, so I put them on my internet jukebox

I recently bought
spelling bee
light in the piazza
spamalot
little women (1 song only on itunes)(waiting until I have enuff money)
gypsy revival
big river
tommy
seussical

Just to choose a random album- Ragtime for $40? You can get it on Amazon for $23. You larger argument, however, holds true. I hardly ever buy albums anymore because I spend almost all my extra money on actual show tickets. I usually get CDs from friends and family. There isn't enough money for everything.

Updated On: 6/17/05 at 11:02 PM