Menning doesn't buy that argument. And despite protestations to the contrary, the music industry has smashed several retail sales records during the last few months. Eminem fans purchased 1.76 million copies of the rapper's new album, The Marshall Mathers LP , in the album's first week of release. Britney Spears' May 13 release has sold over 1.3 million copies. No Strings Attached moved a whopping 2.4 million units in April to become the highest first-week selling album of all time.
Insiders give credit for the retail successes to Internet-based promotions.
Then we relaunched the Eminem site last week, and the traffic was so enormous that we had to get four extra servers to handle the load. Savvy record labels have created virtual digital marketing plans to create a buzz. And Menning points out that there is a benefit to the big group's sales. The N'Sync's pay the freight for the Lyle Lovetts and the John Hiatts that don't sell than many units. Jimmy Page and the Black Crowes test-launched their new CD over the Internet before having it stamped in plastic.