"Just Breathe" DID IT

BF25394

inlet13 wrote:

First, it's economics 101, not sales or marketing 101.

Second, the so called argument being made against the price drop 'causing' the increase in quantity sold... is not really an argument 'against it'. But, an additive. I can only speak for myself, but I definetly agree that price declines increase the quantity demanded for a product,... if the people in question demand it. So, yes, the price decline helped. But, I don't believe it's the sole reason.

The point we (on the other side) are trying to make is in regards to elasticity of demand for a product, in this case CDs. CDs by different bands are not interchangable. Just because the Britney Spears CD goes on sale, doesn't mean someone like you will buy. You may dislike her and therefore, not have a demand for her CDs at all. That's not to say, some people who kinda like her won't buy due to the decline in price. They will. A decline in price will cause the quantity demanded will increase.... but, demand won't increase. Demand only increases if an influencing factor other than price (for instance preferences change). Our argument is that Just Breathe is impacting preferences for the PJ CD. That's econ 101..... and now I'm falling asleep. If you read all that you get an A+ for the day and have a higher attention span than even I do.

I'm not following you. Price affects demand. There will be greater demand for something at $6.50 than at $11.98. At $11.98, people think they're overpaying. At $6.50, they think they're getting a bargain.

What happened here is that a bunch of people who wouldn't ordinarily buy the CD-- not because they don't like Pearl Jam, but because they don't buy many CDs-- bought it. This is not just baseless speculation. If "Just Breathe" were driving album sales, then there would be a corresponding spike in iTunes downolads of "Backspacer." There was no such spike. The sales spike is almost entirely accounted for by Target sales.

BF25394

soulsinging wrote:

LikeAnOcean wrote:

mr.igby wrote:

Backspacer went up to #45 because of one reason:
The lower price at Target.
Everyone who doubts this should wait for next weeks charts. Backspacer will be back to around 10.000 copies sold.

I find that REALLY hard to believe. I've NEVER bought a CD just because it was a few bucks off. People generally don't buy music because its on sale and a Pearl Jam CD isn't typically an impulse buy. Not this day in age. It probably cost more in gas just to get to the store.

nonsense. you're talking suburban, out-of-touch soccer moms coming in to grab things for xmas. i can see many of them going "i remember the name PJ, i'll buy this for so-and-so cos they used to like them/like rock/if it's got a big display it must be popular/etc." you're not talking about hipsters comparing the career catalogue of pj or jay-z, you're talking about clueless people grabbing the shiny display for cheap.

It's a little bit of this-- it's people who are aware of Pearl Jam as a popular rock band saying, "Hey, there's a cheap, fun stocking stuffer"; it's people who have been hearing good things about the record from friends or in the press going, "Hey, it's only $6.50, I'll check it out". Basically, it's people saying all sorts of things that all start with "Hey."

MisterEtake2

FWIW, I was listening to an indy rock station based in Westchester, NY a couple of days ago when they played a "new music" bumper. Sure enough, the following song was off of Bon Jovi's new album. Just kidding. They played "Just Breathe".

BF25394

Speaking of "Just Breathe," the song has plummeted to 21st-most played at KROQ Los Angeles despite still being the 3rd-most requested song at the station. (It was as high as #2 on the most-played list a few weeks ago.) Meanwhile, "Use Somebody" and "Kids" (MGMT) are still among the ten most-played songs at KROQ after over a year of release. It's pathetic how calcified the playlists at commercial radio are.

primussucks

Up one spot to #21 this week.

PJam82

BF25394 wrote:

Speaking of "Just Breathe," the song has plummeted to 21st-most played at KROQ Los Angeles despite still being the 3rd-most requested song at the station. (It was as high as #2 on the most-played list a few weeks ago.) Meanwhile, "Use Somebody" and "Kids" (MGMT) are still among the ten most-played songs at KROQ after over a year of release. It's pathetic how calcified the playlists at commercial radio are.

Also remember, KROQ played a "90's weekend" from Thursday to Sunday, and JB lost quite a bit of airplay. No new songs were played from any act during this period.

BF25394

PJam82 wrote:

BF25394 wrote:

Speaking of "Just Breathe," the song has plummeted to 21st-most played at KROQ Los Angeles despite still being the 3rd-most requested song at the station. (It was as high as #2 on the most-played list a few weeks ago.) Meanwhile, "Use Somebody" and "Kids" (MGMT) are still among the ten most-played songs at KROQ after over a year of release. It's pathetic how calcified the playlists at commercial radio are.

Also remember, KROQ played a "90's weekend" from Thursday to Sunday, and JB lost quite a bit of airplay. No new songs were played from any act during this period.

But the list is relative. If "Just Breathe" didn't get played over the weekend, then neither would the 20 songs ahead of it on the most-played list. "The Fixer" was 17th-most-played, if I recall correctly. Then again, KROQ's playlist is so stagnant that some of its most-played songs might as well have been released in the '90s.

igotid88

T-Bone 82 wrote:

LikeAnOcean wrote:

vedpunk wrote:

Just Breathe will be a slow burner......you guys are busting your nuts too early. Be patient, the second single off a new record often takes time to resonate and climb up the charts. Again, Just Breathe will be huge.

It JUST made it to the radio station where I live. A station that plays tons of Pearl Jam. Hits don't usually happen over night. Not unless they are expected to be a hit. Pearl Jam hasn't been expected to produce a hit in years.

The fact that The Fixer is still doing well is probably keeping Just Breathe from being played more. As the Fixer slides, Just Breathe will pick up a bit. I do not think it will be a monster it.

However, it is very cool right now that they have 2 songs in the top 20 Alternative and #12 and #21 on the Rock charts. It's great to have 2 great songs getting pretty significant airplay.

And it's starting to get more play on Mainstream Rock stations. So far it has only been played on Triple A and Alternative. Active Rock stations are the only one's who aren't playing Just Breathe.

igotid88

BF25394 wrote:

Speaking of "Just Breathe," the song has plummeted to 21st-most played at KROQ Los Angeles despite still being the 3rd-most requested song at the station. (It was as high as #2 on the most-played list a few weeks ago.) Meanwhile, "Use Somebody" and "Kids" (MGMT) are still among the ten most-played songs at KROQ after over a year of release. It's pathetic how calcified the playlists at commercial radio are.

I don't pay too much attention to requests. Because radio stations don't play them. Maybe 1% of the time. And if you think they're playing your request. They were probably going to play the song anyway.

RightSaidVed

I'm actually surprised It's not huge. One of the best PJ songs in a long time imo aswell. Actually alot of the songs on "Backerspacer" are their best in a long time.
How can't everyone love Just Breathe though?. Makes no sense to me why It's not huge, but thats probably because I'm a huge PJ fan to beggin with. I'll never understand the lack of repect these guys still get. Green Day is bigger? U2? Kings of Leon? All of these bands should be opening for PJ.
Anyone know how many "Backspacer" albums have been sold? I've been trying to find out but never seem to get answers.

igotid88

RightSaidVed wrote:

I'm actually surprised It's not huge. One of the best PJ songs in a long time imo aswell. Actually alot of the songs on "Backerspacer" are their best in a long time.
How can't everyone love Just Breathe though?. Makes no sense to me why It's not huge, but thats probably because I'm a huge PJ fan to beggin with. I'll never understand the lack of repect these guys still get. Green Day is bigger? U2? Kings of Leon? All of these bands should be opening for PJ.
Anyone know how many "Backspacer" albums have been sold? I've been trying to find out but never seem to get answers.

Hard to say what the actual number is. Unless you have access to soundcan numbers. It's probably around 360,000.

William Wallace

igotid88 wrote:

Hard to say what the actual number is. Unless you have access to soundcan numbers. It's probably around 360,000.

The actual number is 383.596.

nukeboot

Brisk. wrote:

Why they chose Just Breathe i will never know.. Amongst The Waves or Force Of Nature would have been amazing.

Agreed.

Especially with ATW.

fife

given2fly23 wrote:

who cares what radio and critics think? radio sucks anyways. I never understand why people want everyone to love PJ. I actually wish the fanbase would get smaller and the band could play theaters someday.

Just Breathe = awesome

that's all that matters.

so let me get this straight, you want the band to become smaller so that they play theaters someday? very Selfish would you not say? if the band wanted to play theaters it would.

but i agree with you on 1 thing. Just Breathe is great

BF25394

igotid88 wrote:

BF25394 wrote:

Speaking of "Just Breathe," the song has plummeted to 21st-most played at KROQ Los Angeles despite still being the 3rd-most requested song at the station. (It was as high as #2 on the most-played list a few weeks ago.) Meanwhile, "Use Somebody" and "Kids" (MGMT) are still among the ten most-played songs at KROQ after over a year of release. It's pathetic how calcified the playlists at commercial radio are.

I don't pay too much attention to requests. Because radio stations don't play them. Maybe 1% of the time. And if you think they're playing your request. They were probably going to play the song anyway.

That is basically true, on a one-off basis. But when a radio station gets tons of requests for a song, they will increase its spins. My point was that they were playing it a lot, the decision to do so was being reinforced by requests from listeners, and yet they seriously reduced the number of spins they're giving it. That's like telling your audience to go make love to itself.

BF25394

RightSaidVed wrote:

I'm actually surprised It's not huge. One of the best PJ songs in a long time imo aswell. Actually alot of the songs on "Backerspacer" are their best in a long time.
How can't everyone love Just Breathe though?. Makes no sense to me why It's not huge, but thats probably because I'm a huge PJ fan to beggin with. I'll never understand the lack of repect these guys still get. Green Day is bigger? U2? Kings of Leon? All of these bands should be opening for PJ.
Anyone know how many "Backspacer" albums have been sold? I've been trying to find out but never seem to get answers.

They don't really promote themselves, and now they have no record company to do it. The album is also unavailable at every major retailer except Target, which did very little to promote its exclusive.

BF25394

By the way, further evidence that the discount price drove the sales spike: Target's other exclusive, Prince's most recent triple-CD, was also discounted and, lo and behold, it re-entered the top 200 after many months off the chart.

PJam82

Just Breathe has officially passed The Fixer on the charts.....sitting comfortably at #16, and #17. Just Breathe also gained about 135 spins in the last 5 days with 830. Even The Fixer went back up in spins!

LikeAnOcean

PJam82 wrote:

Just Breathe has officially passed The Fixer on the charts.....sitting comfortably at #16, and #17. Just Breathe also gained about 135 spins in the last 5 days with 830. Even The Fixer went back up in spins!

Where are you getting this info?

I think its crazy that our local alternative station still has The Fixer in rotation WITH Just Breathe.. I can't remember a time their first single lasted long enough for the second single to start becoming a hit.

PJam82

LikeAnOcean wrote:

PJam82 wrote:

Just Breathe has officially passed The Fixer on the charts.....sitting comfortably at #16, and #17. Just Breathe also gained about 135 spins in the last 5 days with 830. Even The Fixer went back up in spins!

Where are you getting this info?

I think its crazy that our local alternative station still has The Fixer in rotation WITH Just Breathe.. I can't remember a time their first single lasted long enough for the second single to start becoming a hit.

Same here, both of these songs are being played on stations long enough to stick to people. In Los Angeles, we still get The Fixer about 60 times a week on the 2 big rock stations, and Just Breathe around 50 times a week.

They need to make up their minds on a 3rd single. Either Got Some or Unthought Known will be a nice hit as well.

http://www.allaccess.com/alternative/mediabase