grand theft auto iv, let’s put music sales into perspective
Grand Theft Auto IV sold 6 million copies in its first week at $60 a pop in the USA. Globally it brought in $500 million. That outstrips all of the first weeks music CD sales from top artists since 1991. Here’s the top 5 list of those week one sales in units not dollars:
1. ‘N Sync - No Strings Attached - 2.4 million
2. ‘N Sync - Celebrity - 1.9 million
3. Eminem - The Marshall Mathers LP - 1.8 million
4. Backstreet Boys - Black and Blue - 1.6 million
5. Britney Spears - Oops….I Did It Again - 1.3 million
On April 29th one day sales for Grand Theft Auto IV were 3.6 million copies. Now, let’s hear it from all those folks who say that internet file sharing is killing music sales….
May 11th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
Excellent point Dave.
May 11th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
Um. But Grand Theft Auto is a video game, not a music album. I don’t think it’s right then, to compare those statistics.
And hence, it has no affect on the music file sharing debate.
May 12th, 2008 at 6:28 am
@Sharon,
The point is that the record labels blame ‘internet piracy’ or filesharing for the decline in the sales of CDs. I have always argued that when kids spend $60 on a video game they don’t spend money on CDs. After video games, cellphones, movies, DVDs etc music comes a distant last…
And it is right to compare those statics. They represent first week sales in two popular entertainment mediums, clearly gaming is more popular than music.
May 12th, 2008 at 7:56 am
There’s more of Klosterman’s missing billions, huh, Dave?
I think the comparison is viable as well, especially when couched in the context of “perspective.”
Michael Stipe once quipped that music was becoming furniture. Now, it’s just wallpaper.
May 13th, 2008 at 8:04 am
@Dave–and let’s not forget that there is a ton of music inside GTA for gameplay by name artists…so while some bands are making their $$$ via royalties or licensing, the labels are not shifting any units.
We hear all about how piracy is killing music, but the kids are getting “free” music with every GTA game they buy. Heh. I know that’s sort of like saying you get “free pickles” when you buy a Big Mac (ugh), but you get my drift here. /snark mode.
Roy–I suppose Eno’ original notions about sonic wallpaper have taken over the entire game after a fashion.
Is music licensing the new black when it comes to making a living from recording? Hmmmmmmm.
May 13th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
I believe video games sales have out sold movie-box-office sales for the past 5 years too.
May 13th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
I think it’s an interesting comparison but not as fair as say video games :: movies. Unlike music a great video game can’t be created in a basement studio over the course of a few months time. You only get a handful of truly great games coming out each year (regardless of the system they’re released for) and gamers tastes aren’t as disparate and segmented as musical tastes. You know with a game like Grand Theft Auto from a developer with an amazing track record like Rock Star you’re going to get the attention of pretty much every male video game player regardless of age.
May 15th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Game sales rise 47% in April.