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Beatles on iTunes: All Things Must Pass


21 Dec

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It’s been over a month since the Beatles made their iTunes debut and I thought I would take another look at the iTunes album sales rankings. It seems the novelty has worn off and things on iTunes have reverted back to their pre-Beatles status. Unlike ‘Day Two”, when there were 17 Beatles’ albums in the iTunes Top 50, there are now no Beatles’ albums.

However, 4 Beatles Albums remain in the Top 100:

    64. Abbey Road

    77. Boxed Set

    82. White Album

    84. The Beatles 1967-

This makes much more sense in the scheme of things. It is interesting to see which albums have remained relatively strong. Abbey Road isn’t surprising and neither is the Boxed Set given it’s potential appeal as a Christmas gift. I would be surprised if the Boxed Set was still at #77 after the New Year. I freely admit that seeing Susan Boyle’s at #63, just ahead of Abbey Road, rankles a bit. Not that I begrudge Susan Boyle but….. sigh.

Beatles on iTunes: Day Two


17 Nov

Posted in Marketing Madness, Random Thoughts | No Comments »

Tracking sales; it’s an old habit of mine. So I couldn’t resist an update on Beatles album sales. It is interesting to see how sales are shaking out among iTunes customers. It has been suggested in an article in today’s New York Times that most die-hard Beatles fans have already ripped their CDs onto iPods. So this pattern of popularity is ostensibly among less enthusiastic fans.

This may be true of the top 3; Abbey Road, the White Album, and Sgt. Pepper. But I have a feeling that purchasers of the Boxed set at $149 may be cash-strapped die hard fans who bought a few of the 2009 digital releases on CD but couldn’t manage the almost $300 price tag for the boxed set “hard copy”.

12:30 PM/ Day 2

    7. Abbey Road
    8. White Album
    9. Sgt. Pepper
    11. Boxed Set
    12. The Beatles 1967-
    14. The Beatles 1962-
    17. Rubber Soul
    19. Revolver
    21. Magical Mystery Tour
    22. Let It Be
    25. Hard Day’s Night
    27. Please Please Me
    29. Help
    31. With the Beatles
    33. Past Masters
    35. Beatles for Sale
    47. Yellow Submarine

Beatles on iTunes


16 Nov

Posted in Marketing Madness, Random Thoughts | No Comments »

I’m not sure what it is. I have no reason to get sentimental about the announcement that the Beatles catalog was finally on iTunes. I didn’t have any reason to get teary when Apple announced ‘Facetime’ on the iPhone 4 either, but I did. At the time of the announcement of Facetime, I was overwhelmed by the realization that something fundamental had changed in my world. I’m careful to sat “my world”, although I am not alone as a ‘child of the 60′s, growing up with Dick Tracy, the Jetsons, Robert Heinlein, Issac Assimov, Star Trek and myriad other visions and visionaries pointing to a future where a portable communication device could provide images as well as audio.

Skype isn’t the same thing. It’s not portable (read personal) enough. But back to the Beatles. They may not have been on iTunes these last seven years but they have been on my iPod since the beginning. Eventually the 2009 remastered Beatles CDs got downloaded on my iPod/iPhone/MacBook even though I knew I was losing fidelity because, in a world of digital media, CDs have become inconvenient.

Maybe I was just happy for Steve Jobs. He and I are ‘of an age’ and I understand the importance of the Beatles. As successful as the iTunes store has been, lack of Beatles content was a credibility issue. Now, that has been resolved and iTunes can be considered a full-fledged member of the ‘music biz’.

So what is happening on iTunes? It is Day One of Beatles on iTunes and Abbey Road is climbing rapidly up the album charts. When I began this post it was at number 9, now, at 3:00pm EST they are at number 8; having surpassed Taylor Swift’s new album and closing in on Josh Groban at number 7.

At Hour 5/ Day 1

    8. Abbey Road
    10. White Album
    13. Boxed Set (at $149. !)
    14. Sgt. Pepper
    16. The Beatles 1967-
    17. The Beatles 1962-
    19. Rubber Soul
    23. Revolver
    24. Magical Mystery Tour
    25. Let It Be
    28. Hard Day’s Night
    29. Please Please Me
    34. With the Beatles
    38. Past Masters
    45. Beatles for Sale

For those keeping track that’s 15 of the Top 45 Albums on iTunes. So, in effect, the Beatles have grabbed one third of the album sales on iTunes in 5 hours. Not quite so dominant on the ‘song’ charts, the Beatles most popular song download is Let It Be at 46, Here Comes the Sun at 47, Blackbird at 56, In My Life at 68, With a Litle Help From My Friends at 83, Come Together at 87, and Hey Jude at 99.

Campbells Soup Advertising: Not So Mmm Good


05 Oct

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Maybe it’s just me but don’t you find the new Cambell’s Soup commercials to be just a little disturbing? In an effort to show how fresh their vegetables are, Campbell ads show bushel baskets brimming with tomatoes and other veggies. We know that the tomatoes and carrots are Campbells’ tomatoes and carrots because the Cambell’s logo is embedded in every vegetable.

So while Campbells would like my reaction to be; “Wow, these are special vegetables made fresh just for Campbell’s Soup”, I’m thinking; ” I can’t believe that Campbells is promoting the use genetically modified produce”.

I really don’t have any idea where Cambell’s vegetables come from but, in the age of organics, wouldn’t you think that the Campbell’s advertising brain trust would want to avoid any suggestion that their produce has been unnaturally altered?

Check Please! : Money in Transition


19 Jul

Posted in Marketing Madness | 3 Comments »

Two ‘older’ gentlemen, having just finished their lunch, were talking together as they walked their lunch check to the reception desk at the restaurant’s entrance. They were, perhaps, a little surprised when the girl behind the podium seemed to shrink back in horror as they attempted to hand her the check.

This scenario is in stark contrast to the story of the grandmother I recently wrote about. Here we see these two generations acting, not from a common experiential base, but from a set of understandings based on time fixed custom.

How to Pay in a Restaurant

  • Rule One: In a fast food restaurant you pay for lunch when the person behind the counter hands you your bag or tray.
  • Rule Two: In a diner you bring your check to the counter when you finish your meal and are leaving the restaurant.
  • Rule Three: In most sit down restaurants the server brings the check, takes your cash or card, and comes back with change or a receipt to sign.

    • The elderly gentlemen were observing the second rule. They weren’t in a diner. It would have been very difficult to confuse their current surroundings in the Legal Seafoods Restaurant with a diner. But they were having lunch and this fact may have propelled them into diner mode. The girl at the podium, on the other hand, had probably spent most of her outside dining experiences observing rules one and three. Under the current circumstance she had no idea why these gentlemen would be trying to hand her the check. (more…)

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