Comments on: The Table Sales Mentality

By: Daniel Britt

Daniel Britt — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 14:10:56 +0000

You have a point, Ron. I thought about this some during the conference at Crossroads. Because I’ve often heard the complaint from artists that record companies dictate what you record and, in their opinion, stifle the artist’s own creativity (which is probably what attracted the record deal in the first place).

How often has one heard the complaint that “I liked them better before they ‘made it big’ and were signed? They were producing better, more original creativity on their custom/table projects.”

HOWEVER, I tend to agree with how the record companies think, too. IF you have an artist who really is a creative genius and innovative with his music, then the record company probably is smart enough to let that artist run their own show. Realistically, though, how many artists are good talents, so-so at creativity, but still need a bit of seasoned help from the record company with whom they are signed? I think this may be the case for the majority.

So, just as remixes are popular, I’d like to see both angles and, from a fan’s standpoint, choose for myself: “do I like the record company version of the artist or the artist’s version of the artist?”

For the sake of good business, you’d probably have to side with the record company.

For the sake of variety and possibly a surprise-success, you’d look forward to see what the artist can do on their own.

Risk is risky which is why we don’t see more of it.

By: Ron Fleshman

Ron Fleshman — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 06:08:57 +0000

And…the table projects are some of the best the group has to offer. Take Mercy’s Mark’s two table projects–Southern Selections 1 & 2. They aren’t as slick as their two label releases, but really good. When you take the label’s preferenes out of the mix, you get some great performances. I’d hate to see that end. I guess this is unique to sg, but I ike it and it does pay the bills.

By: Roanna

Roanna — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 00:57:45 +0000

To Phil above:
Artists don’t set concert ticket prices. The promoter does. So if the promoter sets the tickets at $10 and doesn’t make enough to cover the cost of the group (by selling the tickets), the promoter still has to pay that artist his money money. I speak from experience from when my brother had Anthony Burger. Ticket prices don’t have anything to do with how much an artist makes.

By: Daniel J. Mount

Daniel J. Mount — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 16:47:16 +0000

Daniel (Britt), I can’t think of another genre whose biggest artists rely on table sales to this extent.

By: Lucy

Lucy — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 15:13:51 +0000

If the artist doesn’t do exactly what the record label wants them to do, then the record label won’t push the product and you will not see it in the stores. Therefore the artist must depend on table sales, especially if they want recording independence.

By: GospelMusicFan

GospelMusicFan — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 13:55:22 +0000

Just sell more products at the tables.

By: Daniel Britt

Daniel Britt — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 13:25:30 +0000

So how do other genres handle this problem?

By: Phil

Phil — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 05:27:44 +0000

To be quite honest about it, table sales is what keeps most groups going. When love offering concerts have people barely giving $5 a head, or people bellyaching about paying $10 for a ticket, it is table sales that makes up the difference.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 21:55:13 +0000

The reason for the table sales mentality is simple: Artists make lots of money on the spot. They purchase CDs from the record companies for somewhere in the range of $4 to $6 and sell them immediately for $15 — a huge and immediate profit. A CD sold in a retail store has money split between the store, (maybe a chain, if the retailer is part of a chain), the distributor, the record company, the artist, the producer, the writers, and the manufacturers–and of all that, about half the retail price goes to the store, leaving about half to be split among the rest. Artist (and record company) income from a retail store sale may come six months or more after the sale.
The artist, with no investment in the production, manufacturing, marketing, advertising, etc. is putting money in their pocket immediately, having only to pay for the CDs (and even that is usually on a 30 or 60 day term).

By: GospelMusicFan

GospelMusicFan — Wed, 14 Mar 2007 20:33:00 +0000

As been mentioned earlier, table sales represents quick turn around capital for the artists.
Table sales is like a traveling new car dealer showroom. You better get the sale before the customer leaves or the same customer might fall in love with another product down the road.
The question of sales always brings up the question of the big box stores like WalMart or Best Buy. You really would be hard pressed to find a good selection of SG products at any these stores. Most of the time you will find SG artists that associated with some type of nationally known SG entity. We are only talking about a select few artists that are involved the big box sales.
Discussing big box stores will bring up the regional chain of Christian bookstores and local independent bookstores. These local stores feel the impact of mutiple night concert events because they cannot match the prices of the latest products on the market from the local table sales. Many fringe customers will wait until the mutiple night concert event to do their product shopping.
Just wondering how much good do we do discussing all this business in full view.