Record Sales Data question

[GA Russell]

You probably know that Taylor Swift's recording contract expired.  She wanted the company to sell her the ownership of her records, and they wouldn't.  So she signed with a different company, and re-recorded all her albums, dubbing the re-recordings "Taylor's version."

So now I wonder, are people buying the Taylor's versions *instead of* the originals?

Maybe there is no market for this, everyone who was interested having already bought them.

Historically, fans of pop music wanted to buy the original hits, not re-recordings.

So I wonder if the answer to my question can be found on the internet.  Are sales figures for CDs released anymore?

Spotify will tell about the songs it streams, but that's not the same thing as record sales.

Any ideas?

[jlhoots]

I don't think you need to worry re: Taylor Swift's $$$.

[medjuck]

I suspect that Spotify and other streamers, even though they don 't pay much per play now account for more income to performers than cd sales. (I'm just guessing. Happy to hear from anyone who actually knows.) 

[rostasi]

My understanding is that the re-recorded versions are still outselling the originals because her fans understood what her label did to her and re-bought (and, in many cases, streamed) those particular ones in huge numbers. The numbers on the streaming and purchases of the re-releases are pretty staggering - with something like a near 50% drop in sales on the originals. I've read that the big guns are overhauling contracts on new "talent" by putting in clauses that state that they have to wait anywhere from 10 to 30 years before they can re-record any of their releases.

here ya go...

Edited January 28 by rostasi

[GA Russell]

2 hours ago, rostasi said:

here ya go...

Thanks rostasi!  That answers my question as well as I could expect, although it did not include the sales of the original recordings prior to the release of the "TVs."

It may be that the buyers of the TVs are the same people who had already bought the originals when they were new.

That leaves my other question:  Is there a website which lists current CD sales?

[rostasi]

This is the closest I currently know of
(I generally don’t follow these things).

[david weiss]

Soundscan is the organization that tracks sales used by Billboard and all chart makers as far as I know. 

[Brad]

It’s my recollection that her label, without offering her a chance to buy them, sold the masters to a person she doesn’t like (Scooter Braun) so she decided to devalue his purchase by re-recording those albums. She’s always struck me as pretty savvy.