Quote:
Originally Posted by Halfcan
Oh I am sure you are correct-but when you look at the overall picture-it makes no sense.
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The reason why it doesn't make sense is because of inflation and the fact that their first four albums were released pre-1972, which meant they their royalties were infinitesimally low compared to the 90's (3x as much) or the new millennium (more than 4x as much).
Also, if you'll recall, CD's were $14.99-$17.99 for more than a decade. So 14% of 4.99 is .70 cents per unit where as 14% of $15.99 is $2.24 per unit. That's a huge difference when we're talking 100 million records ($70 million versus $224 million). Also, I'd add that since Zeppelin would have been considered a superstar act, they would have likely earned 21% per CD sale as opposed to the 14% they earned per unit in the late 60's and 70's.
Also, the RIAA is completely unreliable. They certified on
Albums Shipped, not
Point of Sale, which wouldn't come along until Soundscan in the early 90's. Record companies would often ship Gold (500,000 units) and even Platinum (1,000,000 units). What most people don't know is that the record company allowed as much as 30% in return each quarter. So a label would ship 500,000 to get a certification, then allow as many as 150,000 of those units to be returned at a loss. Those would often go to the record clubs (such as Columbia House) and be resold at 75% of retail, but would appear as "shipped" again, thus inflating the numbers!
The old joke at Casablanca Records, which was owned by Neil Bogart, who signed bands such as Kiss and Donna Summer, was they'd "Ship Gold and Return Platinum".
All the labels did it, which makes the RIAA numbers to be very skewed. Only the accountants knew the actual sales figures, as they're allowed three years from the date of release to audit.