Home Shoppers Clogging Up The Phones With Requests For Music

There’s another market for records out there: devotees of QVC, the shop-at-home channel that has recently featured artists like the Goo Goo Dolls and Alabama. Recently, the channel featured crooner Neil Sedaka, and the sales garnered from his appearance on the channel helped propel his latest compilation of hits and rarities, The Definitive Collection, to the No. 22 slot on the Billboard charts. From today’s Wall Street Journal:

Each of the four acts QVC has featured this year has either jumped onto the album chart or seen spikes in record sales after its appearance. In March, the country-rock group Alabama sold more than 21,000 copies of “Songs of Inspiration II” on QVC, the channel says — or as much as 81% of the figure that landed the album at No. 33 on the chart. After a February performance to promote a special edition of their 2006 album “Let Love In,” the Goo Goo Dolls returned to the chart with 15,000 copies sold that week, according to Billboard.

The albums of both Alabama and the Goo Goo Dolls have since dropped off the album chart, making QVC’s impact on sales appear somewhat less lasting than some other nontraditional music retailers, such as Starbucks. But QVC’s 39-year-old director of entertainment buying, Rich Yoegel, thinks there’s a void to fill with the disappearance of music retailers — for example, Tower Records. Last summer, Mr. Yoegel (a fan of groups like Train and Journey) began aggressively approaching labels looking for compatible artists that would offer exclusive bonus material and competitive prices. Since the fall, QVC has broadcasted live appearances by musicians such as Elton John, Barry Manilow, Chaka Khan and Carly Simon. “There is a business for selling plastic” as opposed to music downloads, he says.

Well, yes–although that business may not support the high rents that Tower was paying with all of its stores around the country. One thing that stands out to us, though: the fact that each of these appearances has been accompanied by the albums being hawked selling well says to us that QVC doesn’t necessarily have a magic touch for picking acts–instead, the mere exposure offered by being on TV helps (there are precious few outlets where music can get exposure like an hour-long special) and viewers’ ability to act on the stimulus of seeing the artist pretty much immediately, without the longer lead time to think over the purchase that a trip to the store (or, even, to iTunes once the episode is over) would allow. The question we have is: How many of these QVC appearances have prompted further delving into a band’s back catalog–or even a second listen to the CD that was purchased?

The Music Industry’s New Taste-Maker [WSJ] Earlier: Goo Goo Dolls Just Want QVC Viewers To Know Who They Are