Country Music People June 2019 | Page 4

cmp JUNE 2019 Volume 50 Number 6 Issue 592 Editor Duncan Warwick Contributors David Allan, Janet Aspley, Donnie Ayers, Craig Baguley, Tony Byworth, Larry Delaney, Don Cusic, Julie Flaskett, Kelly Gregory, Michael Hingston, Stan Hitchcock, Tony Ives, Spencer Leigh, John Lomax III, Adrian Peel, Paul Riley, Alex Rossi, Wayne Smart, Chris Smith, Tom Travis, Walt Trott, Dave Watkins, Jack Watkins New release consultant: Steve Tidbury Assistant editor / Special projects coordinator Kelly Gregory Photographers Patricia Presley, Barry Dixon, Billie McAleer Printed by Micropress www.micropress.co.uk Distributor Seymour International Press Distributors Ltd. 2 East Poultry Avenue London EC1A 9PT Telephone [phone] Country Music People is published the last Thursday of each month by KICKIN’ CUTS LIMITED 24 Darley Close, Wittering, Peterborough PE8 6EQ, UK Telephone [phone] - 783689 [email protected] www.cmpcountry.com ©2019 Kickin’ Cuts Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means without the prior written permission of the Publisher. The Publisher accepts no responsibility for statement of fact or opinion expressed by contributors. The views of the contributors are not necessarily those of Country Music People or its editor. 4 cmp - JUNE 2019 News Walt Trott in Nashville Duncan Warwick in London Garth Sells A Million Garth Brooks has never been one to miss out on a canny marketing opportunity and his latest product is a seven-LP boxed set that has netted the superstar singer an extra $10 million plus with pre-orders of more than 142,000 units for the $130-a-pop ‘Legacy: The Vinyl Collection’. Not only that but Brooks has smashed the previous sales record for vinyl since the comeback of the format began a decade or so ago. Some clever presentation of the figures meant that it was reported that Garth had sold more than a million LPs (142,000 x the seven albums in the set) but the feat is impressive whichever way you look at it. Forbes reported that, “to put this in context, The Beatles were the number-one vinyl artist in 2018 with 321,000 sales in over 12 months.” The Oklahoman singer and songwriter who first charted his eponymous debut album in 1989 has long held out against licencing his music to platforms such as Spotify, preferring to release his back catalogue of music and concert performances in often lavish sets, giving his fans actual physical product whereas other industry heavyweights eventually gave in to streaming sites. Early purchasers of the Legacy Collection were able to order it etched with a ‘personal’ six-digit number such as the date of a birthday or anniversary. “Music is so personal, now, being able to make your package with your most important date on it, makes it even more personal,” said Brooks on his website. Garth has reserved his wedding anniversary and the birthdays of his children for himself. Brooks also continues to break ticket sales records on his ‘The Garth Brooks Stadium Tour’ including this month’s performance at Denver’s Mile High Stadium, home of the NFL’s Denver Broncos, where he beat a previous ticket sales record set by U2 in 2011.