Did downloads curb 'Idol' single sales?

Lower-than-expected sales for the single from Casey Donovan, this year's Australian "Idol" TV show winner, may be due to fans preferring to pay for downloads of the track. While Donovan's single "Listen To Your Heart" debuted at No. 1 on this week's ARIA chart, it sold far fewer copies than last year's winner, Guy Sebastian. According to music news site Undercover, Donovan's single sold 35,817 copies in its first week, while Sebastian's tune sold 128,679--more than three times as many.

Anticipating larger sales, Donovan's label Sony BMG reportedly had shipped more than 210,000 copies of the single to retailers. However, the single hit the shelves more than a week after Telstra's BigPond Music site began offering legal downloads of the track. A Telstra representative declined to cite download numbers for the track, citing commercial confidentiality, but said it was "far and away the biggest ever legal song download in Australia."

Angus Kidman of ZDNet Australia reported from Sydney.

[j3st3r]

Goes Without Saying

The record label Sony-BMG has obviously shot themselves some what in the foot on this one. Congrats to them for having the single available for d/l 10 minutes after the final show ended. However, I think they've already (to pinch a phrase from "The Castle") suffered in their jocks by not having the distribution system primed in regards to the physical CD.
Perhaps someone from the AFL(Australian Football League) should give them some pointers in this respect. When the final siren sounds the end of the Grand Final its announced that the celebratory t-shirts will be available at such & such retail chain. Surely the discs themselves can't be that expensive that they aren't willing to write them off in order to capitalise on the moment.
Ultimately they'll be looking at overall sales, even when ARIA stats state that it didn't fire quite the same. Small sacrifice?? That's their question to answer.

[j3st3r]

Goes Without Saying

The record label Sony-BMG has obviously shot themselves some what in the foot on this one. Congrats to them for having the single available for d/l 10 minutes after the final show ended. However, I think they've already (to pinch a phrase from "The Castle") suffered in their jocks by not having the distribution system primed in regards to the physical CD.
Perhaps someone from the AFL(Australian Football League) should give them some pointers in this respect. When the final siren sounds the end of the Grand Final its announced that the celebratory t-shirts will be available at such & such retail chain. Surely the discs themselves can't be that expensive that they aren't willing to write them off in order to capitalise on the moment.
Ultimately they'll be looking at overall sales, even when ARIA stats state that it didn't fire quite the same. Small sacrifice?? That's their question to answer.