Topic: Josh White vs, Robert Johnson - sales figures...

[Slack]

Welcome Elijah!

[Stumblin]

Welcome Elijah!

Ditto!

[dj]

Hey, Stumblin,

There's a post on some verified record sales numbers here.  They're from 1933, not 1936-37 when Johnson was recording, and it's unclear exactly what the figures mean, but it should give you some idea of relative sales figures in the 1930s.  Basically, a big-selling blues record could expect to sell a fifth to an eighth of a good jazz or hillbilly record.

[Mr.OMuck]

This comes under the heading of nobody knows how history will play out. It can't be counted on to reconstruct events accurately, correct errors in judgement or right wrongs. If you'd told any Blues player in 1938 that Big Bill was playing Carnegie Hall only because John Hammond couldn't get Robert Johnson they would have found it laughable.
How many more records did he sell than Johnson?  I'm not really sure what the point is anyway. More interesting to me is the fact that these recordings had a second life in the sixties that was far more important in terms of exposure than the first.

[Bunker Hill]

This has no relevance to the topic under discussion but Josh White/Pinewood Tom 78s seem to have had a market with Sear Roebuck, see this 2006 topic http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?amp;Itemid=60&topic=2755.0

[Parlor Picker]

Welcome Elijah!

Ditto!

Ditto Ditto. It's about time you turned up here, Elijah. (Lots of us Weenies have been busy buying your books over the past few years.)

[Mr.OMuck]

And Hello Elijah! I wrote a glowing review-let of Society Blues somewhere on this forum a few years back.

[Rivers]

Yeah that was a good dust-up if you mean this one: http://weeniecampbell.com/yabbse/index.php?amp;Itemid=60&topic=4639.0

I tagged it 'EW' [edit: that didn't come out right, but you know what I mean]

[Mr.OMuck]

I'm off those drugs now.