Shul - Download And Purchase Statistics
by GMM on November 5th 2009, at 17:22 CET

Satisfaction and self-congratulations are in order, with the response to the Shul release this previous weekend.

I have only marketed this release directly towards my own friends and fans, there has been no external promotion. I had no idea how this release would be received, but appearantly the bleak future allures. There has been fantastic response, at least compared to what I expected from this dark and depressing venture.

What makes me particularly proud, is the percentage of payments vs downloads. 

Here are some stats.

  • 40% of downloaders choose to pay
  • Average payment is 3 USD
  • Most frequent payment is also 3 USD
  • There is a smaller, but very respectable number of high payments (15-20 USD)
  • There is also a good amount of 1 USD payments 
  • Downloads are dropping fast without further promotion

I do not have access to which formats are most popular.

I'd rather not disclose total sales, at least not yet. As noted above, downloads are dropping exponentially since release, there is a tiny window of attention, and then downloads will flatten. However, financially and theoretically speaking, if I could release an album like this every month, with those figures, I could actually make a living directly from that.

It is a bit tricky to compare this release with the latest Ugress album, because they are both available in very different options and the Ugress album is distributed in channels where I don't have access to statistics. But my intuition hints that this album is actually not very far behind Reminiscience.

I have no idea when Spotify and iTunes updates their catalogues but it will take a few months until I have comparable data there.

 

 
Permalink  |  Tags: nebular spool, shul, halloween, album, music, release, post-apocalyptic, cthulhu, statistics, download


Comments:
#1, by Rangor on November 7th 2009, at 19:50
Congrats on the stats! Personally I use you'r release model as a example to shut people up when it comes to digital distribution. They either complain about a) to expensive or b) no flac/ogg/atrac3+ (ok that last one was a joke) and when I explain how you do it they all shut up and/or get impressed.

As always keep up the excellent work!

#2, by 3xM on November 13th 2009, at 21:27
Very interesting statistics. As a note on the pay/not-pay ratio, I think I'm not the only one who have taken the opportunity to start by downloading for free and then come back to pay later on when I was assured that I liked the music.

My point is: a free download and a paid download is not necessarily two different persons. So, it might actually be (a little?) more than 40% who paid for the music. Whatever...

Also, as Rangor, I'm using you as my prime example when trying to convince others that competing with free can be a lucrative business. Please, keep being this open about how your business model works. It is very important for a balanced discussion about using the internet as business and distribution channel.

#3, by 3xM on November 13th 2009, at 22:02
By the way: "Average payment is 3 USD" - is that average for paying downloaders or over all average?



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