Grief-Stricken Jackson Fans Swamp Amazon and iTunes
26 Juin 2009 - 8:56PM
Dow Jones News
Michael Jackson's sudden death returned the pop superstar to the
top of the music charts, with grief stricken fans swamping Internet
sites such as Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) and Apple Inc.'s (AAPL) iTunes
in a frenzied bid to snap up his songs and videos.
Amazon said sales of Jackson CDs were more than 700 times
greater on Thursday than they were the previous day and accounted
for 60% of all music sales on the site yesterday. Demand was so
great that Amazon ran out of stock within minutes after his death
was reported, the company said.
Bill Carr, Amazon's vice president for movies and music, said
the company was on pace to sell even more Jackson music on Friday.
Carr said Amazon was working with Sony Corp.'s (SNE) music unit to
restock supplies as quickly as possible, but shoppers buying
Jackson material will now have to wait one to three weeks before it
is shipped.
Carr said the outpouring of grief over Jackson's death was
"staggering" and he noted that in 10 years at Amazon, he had never
seen a spike in sales such as the company has seen for Jackson
content.
Jackson albums were the 15 best selling CDs on Amazon's site on
Friday, with the "Thriller (25th Anniversary Edition)" leading the
way. His videos accounted for nine of the 10 best selling DVDs on
the Website. Carr said Jackson fans who didn't want to wait could
get immediate satisfaction buy downloading digital MP3 tracks.
Thirteen of the top 20 selling albums on iTunes Friday were by
Jackson, including No. 1 seller "The Essential Michael Jackson".
Some 40 of the top 100 songs on iTunes were Jackson tracks.
Meanwhile, Jackson's videos accounted for 16 of the top 20 sellers
in that category.
An Apple spokesman had no comment. A spokesman for Sony Music
Entertainment, a division of Sony Corp. (SNE) that owns the rights
to many of Jackson's songs, also had no comment about any plans the
company might have no in light of Jackson's death.
"Sony Music Entertainment expresses deep sadness and sorrow at
the unexpected passing," reads a message on Sony Music
Entertainment's website.
-By Scott Morrison; Dow Jones Newswires; 415-765-6118;
scott.morrison@dowjones.com
-By Ben Charny; Dow Jones Newswires; 415-765-8230;
ben.charny@dowjones.com