Short supplies?

[roger]

I have noticed the ever-dwindling number of copies of Pure in record stores lately. Presumably the album was deliberately not re-stocked because of the expected re-release in November with bonus disc. As that is now not going to happen, the result is that the album is now somewhat hard to come by - in my area anyway. If there is a similar situation throughout the country, this will surely reduce Hayley's chances of achieveing Triple Platinum and it suggests that Decca may have managed to shoot themselves in the foot.

Thoughts, anyone?

[Dave]

Have you heard officially it's been withdrawn? When I looked earlier today, HMV had Pure Special edition listed and available for advance orders again - with a delayed release date of November 22nd and now ONE disc only. Amazon say the same - except the release date is listed as the original Nov 15th.

Now, I reckon it's impossible for Decca to squeeze the listed 7 extra tracks and a video onto a single CD with the original tracks. There simply isn't enough room on a CD - so *something's* got to change!

I'll be surprised if Decca now find a way to get to that elusive triple platinum - unless they have a massive advertising campaign planned. I now think the sales figures they announced in January ("700,000" and "nearly 3/4 of a million") were for shipments to stores. One source recently told me that the actual across the counter sales last year were 580,000. This would mean shops have been selling last Christmas's stock all this year and now, have just about sold out. I estimate sales of Pure have been about 100,000 across-the-counter this year.

Sooo... there's probably over 150,000 (maybe 200,000) more shipments needed to get that triple platinum - I wonder if they'll be able to persuade shops to stock that many? Perhaps, if they promise lots of advertising but I can't really seee it happening.

There's also the problem of the chart rules - if there are too many new tracks on the re-release they may have to treat it as if it were a new album and not combine sales - unless the recent chart rule change allows it (this is unclear at the moment). I think confusion over the rule change has led to indecision and changes of plan so now, anything could happen!

Decca seem to be making a habit of having last minute problems (Wuthering Heights revisited?)

[roger]

Dave said:

Have you heard officially it's been withdrawn?

No I haven't, Dave. All I can add to what you have said is that, this evening, my local branch of MVC had no knowledge of a proposed re-release (at any time).

Wuthering Heights revisited, indeed. What a shame.

[Dave]

Well Roger, things have moved along a little - MVC have now listed the Special edition and have the first photo of the actual completed artwork here. They have actually redesigned the rear cover so "2 CD Special edition" shows through in the spine rather than just a cheap and nasty sticker.

The release date is still showing as 15th November though, although WH Smith have now changed it to match HMV - 22nd November. So it looks like this is definitely a starter - but with some of the details still unclear.

[roger]

Dave said:

Well Roger, things have moved along a little - MVC have now listed the Special edition and have the first photo of the actual completed artwork here.

Thanks for that Dave. And I see they are still showing all seven bonus tracks plus the Pokarekare Ana video. Now ain't that interesting?!