I was going to write a story just about Barbra Streisand’s lagging album sales.
After two weeks, Streisand’s “Secret of Life: Partners II” has only sold about 25,000 copies. (Numbers are from Luminate.)
In its second week, “Partners II” sold 4,262 CDs and Vinyl on Amazon.com. And yet, it was number 1.
How bad are physical sales of albums? Pretty bad.
The number 2 album on Amazon is the Backstreet Boys’ “Millennium,” from 1999. It sold 2,626 CDs and vinyl. How did it even get up to number 2? The Boys are playing a residency at the Las Vegas Sphere.
The number 3 album is Led Zeppelin “IV,” the one with “Stairway to Heaven.” Physical sales were around 1,161. “IV” was released in 1974. I have no idea why anyone sought it out.
It’s summer, a time when music should be doing big business. But all the business is in streaming. Physical product is divided between new releases like the Streisand aimed to people too old to care about streaming, or reissues of older records. The rest of the Amazon top 12 or so is the Beatles, Michael Jackson, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, and Taylor Swift from several years ago.
On iTunes, where it’s just downloads, Streisand has fallen to number 49. Despite having some of her best recordings ever with Sting, Paul McCartney, James Taylor and other stars “Partners II” is dead.
One reason might be that Barbra has done nothing to promote “Partners II.” We haven’t seen her on a morning talk show, a syndicated show, or a late night show. She doesn’t necessarily have to sing, just appear and look excited about the album. But without her personal push, “Partners II” is going to be a waste of a perfectly good record.
The irony of her absence, by the way, is that with a little marketing should could have had her seventh decade with a number one album.
Nothing is a given anymore. Having a “name” isn’t going to sell records in a vacuum.
