Sunday, November 10, 2024

Kanye’s “Vultures” Album First Week Off By More than 50% from Last Album with Sales Disappointing: Just 16,000 Downloaded, 135K Streamed, And Now It’s Over

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Kanye West finished at number 1 this week because of streaming. Otherwise, his “Vultures” was number 2. And now, sales have stopped by and large because his distributor has pulled the album.

West’s total sales were 152K sold in total, with just 16K in downloads (there are no CDs). Usher sold 91,375 copies of his”Coming Home.” Of that 54,000 were actual downloaded albums our purchased CDs. Technically he was number 1. Usher can’t be too happy about “Vultures” upstaging his album release and Super Bowl show.

As I wrote earlier, West’s request to upload “Vultures” was turned down by his distributor. Downtown/FUGA Music. He apparently waited until Saturday and went around them. The result is that Downtown/FUGA removed the album almost all platforms.

The result of getting pulled and starting 24 hours late: sales were down for the first week at least 55% from his previous release, “Donda.”

The one platform where you find most of the album is Spotify. So they’ve either ignored the takedown notice, or West has found a distributor who was willing to work with Spotify.

But with Apple, Amazon, iTunes and almost everyone else gone, West faces two issues. One is that he’s invisible in the retail market except for his own website. The other is that if he’s left with streaming on Spotify, the number 135K copies sold translates to very little revenue.

And the beats go on.

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

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