Re: sales of Robert johnson's records in the 1930s.
Sales records were destroyed, so nobody knows what the actual sales of his records were. I wish people would just acknowledge that and move on. The notion that "Terraplane" sold and most of the others did not is simply part of the mythology. One would expect this to be made perfectly clear in a book whose stated purpose is to deflate all Johnson myth.
Conforth writes (pg. 215) that "Robert's bestseller from the [Dallas] session ended up being his 1938 release of 'Little Queen of Spades' backed up with 'Me and the Devil Blues.' More copies of that record and 'Stop Breakin' Down' have been found in unsold store stocks -- or by door knocking -- than of his other Dallas recordings." [emphasis added]
Unsold store stocks means that the records did not sell. Thus, finding a bunch of copies this way may well prove the opposite point. And does this include copies on all labels, or just Vocalion?
There is no evidence that "Little Queen of Spades" or "Stop Breakin' Down Blues" sold better than any other single by Johnson. No sales figures exist.
Furthermore, on page 186 Conforth writes that "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom" had an initial pressing of at least 5,000 copies. This cannot be right. The typical industry practice was to press just enough to meet the market for new records, and if the pressing sold out, only then would further pressing be justified. They would only press 5,000 (or more) of a new record if the artist had built up a reputation over years and the initial market demand would be well above average, e.g. Duke Ellington. Conforth notes that this single was repressed on the Conqueror label for sale through Sears, and "only best sellers ... were issued on Conquerer." This supposedly proves "Broom" was a best seller. If so, why wasn't "Terraplane" released on Conquerer?
The only sales figures that do exist are the pressing quantities (which are not sales figures) for the dime store releases on Perfect, Romeo, and Oriole. These are listed by Conforth on page 151-52 (5,000 total pressed on Perfect, 400 on Romeo, 150 on Oriole). As a matter of speculation, we may infer from this that more than 5,000 total were also pressed on Vocalion -- though how many more is impossible to guess, and pressing figures do not correlate to retail sales.
Sales records were destroyed, so nobody knows what the actual sales of his records were. I wish people would just acknowledge that and move on. The notion that "Terraplane" sold and most of the others did not is simply part of the mythology. One would expect this to be made perfectly clear in a book whose stated purpose is to deflate all Johnson myth.
Conforth writes (pg. 215) that "Robert's bestseller from the [Dallas] session ended up being his 1938 release of 'Little Queen of Spades' backed up with 'Me and the Devil Blues.' More copies of that record and 'Stop Breakin' Down' have been found in unsold store stocks -- or by door knocking -- than of his other Dallas recordings." [emphasis added]
Unsold store stocks means that the records did not sell. Thus, finding a bunch of copies this way may well prove the opposite point. And does this include copies on all labels, or just Vocalion?
There is no evidence that "Little Queen of Spades" or "Stop Breakin' Down Blues" sold better than any other single by Johnson. No sales figures exist.
Furthermore, on page 186 Conforth writes that "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom" had an initial pressing of at least 5,000 copies. This cannot be right. The typical industry practice was to press just enough to meet the market for new records, and if the pressing sold out, only then would further pressing be justified. They would only press 5,000 (or more) of a new record if the artist had built up a reputation over years and the initial market demand would be well above average, e.g. Duke Ellington. Conforth notes that this single was repressed on the Conqueror label for sale through Sears, and "only best sellers ... were issued on Conquerer." This supposedly proves "Broom" was a best seller. If so, why wasn't "Terraplane" released on Conquerer?
The only sales figures that do exist are the pressing quantities (which are not sales figures) for the dime store releases on Perfect, Romeo, and Oriole. These are listed by Conforth on page 151-52 (5,000 total pressed on Perfect, 400 on Romeo, 150 on Oriole). As a matter of speculation, we may infer from this that more than 5,000 total were also pressed on Vocalion -- though how many more is impossible to guess, and pressing figures do not correlate to retail sales.