RIAA Special Presentation At Graceland - 14th August

[Brian Quinn]

RIAA Presentation at Graceland

During Conversations on Elvis, Session Two on Saturday, August 14 at 1:00 p.m., representatives from Sony will make a special RIAA Presentation.

Brian

[italianfan]

Will look forward to this, I remember last time they did it, was it 25 years? It looked great and made the news. Will be interesting to see the updated figures

[Jungleroom76]

I think RCA/Sony has been trying to make RIAA award presentations to Graceland annually during Elvis Week over the last few years.

I'm curious to see which albums have achieved RIAA award status...

TCB!
Mike

[monk37]

if it's a special one, I wonder if that means that they are sorting out the rules so Elvis gets his full credit for sales.

[Brian Quinn]

I think RCA/Sony has been trying to make RIAA award presentations to Graceland annually during Elvis Week over the last few years.

I'm curious to see which albums have achieved RIAA award status...

TCB!
Mike

One of them should be GOLD for 'Essential Elvis' . The 'Christmas 'Duets' is also not far behind GOLD status. Perhaps SONY have found more sales for 'Elvis' Christmas Album' (1970 version) in order for it to be credited with DIAMOND status.

Brian

[Joe Car]

Thanks again Brian!

[KPM]

One of them should be GOLD for 'Essential Elvis' . The 'Christmas 'Duets' is also not far behind GOLD status. Perhaps SONY have found more sales for 'Elvis' Christmas Album' (1970 version) in order for it to be credited with DIAMOND status.Brian

I hope this is the case-its long overdue Elvis has sold so much Christmas product over the last 30 years, all derived from the same basic songs off his 2 Christmas albums and it certainly kept the original first Christmas release from going Diamond long long ago.

[Jungleroom76]

One of them should be GOLD for 'Essential Elvis' . The 'Christmas 'Duets' is also not far behind GOLD status. Perhaps SONY have found more sales for 'Elvis' Christmas Album' (1970 version) in order for it to be credited with DIAMOND status.

Brian

Thanks for the info. Brian!!

TCB!
Mike

[Joe Car]

Plenty of sales are still unaccounted for, so hopefully Sony can get on the ball and post Elvis' true sales figures. Still, it's nice to see and hear about the awards. Thanks Brian!

[Brian Quinn]

NEW RIAA CERTIFICATIONS:

DVDs:
Aloha From Hawaii (deluxe edition) - 2x Platinum
68' Comeback Special (special edition) - 2x Platinum

Albums:
50 Greatest Love Songs [2CD] - GOLD
Essential Elvis [2CD] - GOLD
Blue Christmas - Platinum

(here's the presentation: )

An extremely disappointing result from SONY. Only 1.5 million extra album sales. An insult to Elvis' memory. If this is the best they can do then I would prefer to wait for a major upgrade with at least 10 or 20 million extra sales.

The problem is getting SONY to see the BIG picture. This is where EPE and when it straightens itself out, CKX, should bring pressure to bear through the auspices of Ernst Jorgensen. The current tally for Elvis' album Certifications in the U.S.A. are 84 GOLD; 46 Platinum and 24 Multi-Platinum. It must be remembered that the RIAA Awards are based on the amount of albums 'shipped' and not 'sold'. What SONY need to do is take a look at those albums which are near first certification or multiple certification and re-release them (where possible). Obviously with some albums e.g. Reader's Digest etc. this cannot be done. However, with such albums as 'Elvis' Christmas Album' (1970 version - well over 9 million sold (Soundscan)) it could easily do this and be reasonably confident that further copies would sell every Christmas. A few hundred thousand extra copies 'shipped' would get Elvis his first 'Diamond Award' for sales of 10 million copies of an album. And this is just one example. There are many more. By doing this Elvis could easily overtake Garth Brooks tally - who being a shrewd businessman himself with a Degree in Business Studies - has helped market his own successsful product with only 15 albums.

Of course, the overlying problem for all artists and labels now is the diminishing market in the U.S.A. for records. This may be a major factor in preventing SONY from undertaking such an imaginative approach.

We live in hope,


Brian

[Brian Quinn]

NEW RIAA CERTIFICATIONS:

DVDs:
Aloha From Hawaii (deluxe edition) - 2x Platinum
68' Comeback Special (special edition) - 2x Platinum

Re. the above - I have just checked the RIAA Searchable Database and it shows:

Elvis 68' Comeback Special - De-luxe Edition was awarded 2X MP on 29th July, 2004 and 4X MP on 1st July, 2009.

Aloha From Hawaii Special De-Luxe Edition was awarded 3X MP on 1st July, 2009.

Something is seriously wrong here.

I have informed EPE.

Brian

[Jungleroom76]

NEW RIAA CERTIFICATIONS:

DVDs:
Aloha From Hawaii (deluxe edition) - 2x Platinum
68' Comeback Special (special edition) - 2x Platinum

Re. the above - I have just checked the RIAA Searchable Database and it shows:

Elvis 68' Comeback Special - De-luxe Edition was awarded 2X MP on 29th July, 2004 and 4X MP on 1st July, 2009.

Aloha From Hawaii Special De-Luxe Edition was awarded 3X MP on 1st July, 2009.

Something is seriously wrong here.

I have informed EPE.

Brian

Thanks so much for all your hard work to stay on top of this stuff Brian!! I know you are on a personal mission to give Elvis the recognition he deserves in terms of record sales, and I for one applaud you on all your efforts!!

TCB!
Mike

[KPM]

NEW RIAA CERTIFICATIONS:

DVDs:
Aloha From Hawaii (deluxe edition) - 2x Platinum
68' Comeback Special (special edition) - 2x Platinum

Albums:
50 Greatest Love Songs [2CD] - GOLD
Essential Elvis [2CD] - GOLD
Blue Christmas - Platinum

(here's the presentation: )

An extremely disappointing result from SONY. Only 1.5 million extra album sales. An insult to Elvis' memory. If this is the best they can do then I would prefer to wait for a major upgrade with at least 10 or 20 million extra sales.

The problem is getting SONY to see the BIG picture. This is where EPE and when it straightens itself out, CKX, should bring pressure to bear through the auspices of Ernst Jorgensen. The current tally for Elvis' album Certifications in the U.S.A. are 84 GOLD; 46 Platinum and 24 Multi-Platinum. It must be remembered that the RIAA Awards are based on the amount of albums 'shipped' and not 'sold'. What SONY need to do is take a look at those albums which are near first certification or multiple certification and re-release them (where possible). Obviously with some albums e.g. Reader's Digest etc. this cannot be done. However, with such albums as 'Elvis' Christmas Album' (1970 version - well over 9 million sold (Soundscan)) it could easily do this and be reasonably confident that further copies would sell every Christmas. A few hundred thousand extra copies 'shipped' would get Elvis his first 'Diamond Award' for sales of 10 million copies of an album. And this is just one example. There are many more. By doing this Elvis could easily overtake Garth Brooks tally - who being a shrewd businessman himself with a Degree in Business Studies - has helped market his own successsful product with only 15 albums.

Of course, the overlying problem for all artists and labels now is the diminishing market in the U.S.A. for records. This may be a major factor in preventing SONY from undertaking such an imaginative approach.

We live in hope,


Brian

Much of what you say I have been saying for years-but no amount of pressure is going to make Sony/BMG/RCA into really doing more than lip service in finding and fighting for sales which are not accounted for.
Ernst was asked, "What is your view on once and for all "proving" the 1 billion sales claim?" a few years back..........here was his answer:
EJ: I think “proving” it is very unlikely. We would never be able to find substantial “new” evidence. Since we are SONY/BMG and NOT RCA Records, we only have what we inherited on buying the company in 1986. So please don’t blame it on us!!!! (ha!!)

FOLLOW UP QUESTION
"Since BMG bought RCA we assume there are much more detailed sales figures, at least from the late 1980s to today. Are you able to tell us how many units Elvis has sold globally since BMG acquired RCA?"

EJ: “We don’t make those type of comments”, these are basically “company private”. However we are always happy to report new RIAA awards. ....

[Brian Quinn]

Thanks so much for all your hard work to stay on top of this stuff Brian!! I know you are on a personal mission to give Elvis the recognition he deserves in terms of record sales, and I for one applaud you on all your efforts!!

TCB!
Mike

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your kind words.

I think I have finally solved the problem regarding the new RIAA DVD Certifications.

Having watched the Video of the actual presentation, the Sony Executive (or whoever he was) presented the award for 'Aloha from Hawaii' (De-Luxe Edition) simply as a 'Multiplatinum Award', not specifying what should have been announced as 4X Multi-Platinum.

Similarly, the award for the 68 Comeback Special (Special Edition) was again announced as Multi-Platinum without specifying what should have been 2X Multi-Platinum.

I have suggested to EPE that in future the actual certification be announced.

Brian

[Jungleroom76]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your kind words.

I think I have finally solved the problem regarding the new RIAA DVD Certifications.

Having watched the Video of the actual presentation, the Sony Executive (or whoever he was) presented the award for 'Aloha from Hawaii' (De-Luxe Edition) simply as a 'Multiplatinum Award', not specifying what should have been announced as 4X Multi-Platinum.

Similarly, the award for the 68 Comeback Special (Special Edition) was again announced as Multi-Platinum without specifying what should have been 2X Multi-Platinum.

I have suggested to EPE that in future the actual certification be announced.

Brian

Good point Brian and again, THANK YOU for all your hard work!!

TCB!
Mike

[Albert]

I don't understand one thing: RCA had to pay ELvis for each and every record/song sold with him singing. If they did that honestly, wouldn't that mean that they would have had to have the EXACT sales figures in order to pay Elvis properly?

Man, how I hate those big faceless, inspire-less companies.

[Jungleroom76]

I don't understand one thing: RCA had to pay ELvis for each and every record/song sold with him singing. If they did that honestly, wouldn't that mean that they would have had to have the EXACT sales figures in order to pay Elvis properly?

Actually, didn't they base sales for Elvis' records on how many copies were shipped to the stores from RCA?? So it wouldn't even be a matter of the stores themselves keeping track of the sales...it would be RCA's responsibility to account for how many records were shipped out of their plants to the stores around the country.

TCB!
Mike

[KPM]

I don't understand one thing: RCA had to pay ELvis for each and every record/song sold with him singing. If they did that honestly, wouldn't that mean that they would have had to have the EXACT sales figures in order to pay Elvis properly?

Man, how I hate those big faceless, inspire-less companies.

I have to agree with you-bookeeping was notoriously bad by record companies into the early 80s-partly because everything was so hard to keep track of by "paper count" (thousands of mom and pop outlets with small record displays, local record shops, and then all the large chains which sold records) but also because they knew it was easier to take advantage of artists if they kept the counts low and did not look too deeply. IMO
After the 1973 sale of Elvis's entire pre-73 catalogue to RCA-it really mattered even less to RCA because they could sell as many as they wanted of those releases and not have to worry about accounting for the artists royaltees to Elvis or the Col.
In the mid 1980s as computers tracked sales more and more-it was harder to cheat artists by "bad accounting practices"
In 1977 into 1978 accounting for Elvis product sold was horrid-so much product was being shipped from the RCA plants, and from several other different label record plants to keep up with demand that they could not keep it straight.....how many millions were sold during that time (that were not credited to Elvis's totals) is the true question.

And now today-Sony truely cares less about sales before their time-it puts no new money in their pockets.............so they make token efforts to find lost sales and to verify sales which came before.....and blame RCA for the problem.

[Brian Quinn]

I have to agree with you-bookeeping was notoriously bad by record companies into the early 80s-partly because everything was so hard to keep track of by "paper count" (thousands of mom and pop outlets with small record displays, local record shops, and then all the large chains which sold records) but also because they knew it was easier to take advantage of artists if they kept the counts low and did not look too deeply. IMO
After the 1973 sale of Elvis's entire pre-73 catalogue to RCA-it really mattered even less to RCA because they could sell as many as they wanted of those releases and not have to worry about accounting for the artists royaltees to Elvis or the Col.
In the mid 1980s as computers tracked sales more and more-it was harder to cheat artists by "bad accounting practices"
In 1977 into 1978 accounting for Elvis product sold was horrid-so much product was being shipped from the RCA plants, and from several other different label record plants to keep up with demand that they could not keep it straight.....how many millions were sold during that time (that were not credited to Elvis's totals) is the true question.

And now today-Sony truely cares less about sales before their time-it puts no new money in their pockets.............so they make token efforts to find lost sales and to verify sales which came before.....and blame RCA for the problem.

That's about the truth of the matter.

Brian

[KPM]

If the RIAA would even give Elvis credit for his double albums such as "From Memphis to Vegas" and the "Aloha From Hawaii" .....instead of saying the albums were not long enough to be given credit for 2 discs per sale Elvis would be long past G. Brooks.
I bought both those double albums and they cost way more than a normal single album when they were rleleased-yet they say they do not have the required amount of time to give Elvis proper credit in his sales totals.
It kills me to see Brooks listed above Elvis when I know how many more millions upon millions of legit sales are not being credited because of things such as the "required amount of time" for 2 disc sets.
IMO the deck seems stacked against Elvis.
When you think of the single releases, EPs, LPs, reel to reels, 8 tracks, cassettes, now CDs that have been sold and resold worldwide-we have to be talking a billion units realistically.