John Butler Trio's new album 'Grand National' gave music buyers the chance to slip into some new music last week in Australia, but the success is bittersweet for the music industry in general.
While 'Grand National' managed to sell 14,654 units nationally (three times the units of last week's number one by Hinder), it has not helped the ailing major labels.John Butler has always been an Indie artist. His albums are released though Jarrah label, the label he co-owns with The Waifs, and are distributed by MGM. His titles bypass the majors completely.
'Grand National' did three times better than the number two album by Gwen Stefani and sold five times more than the number 10 album by Fall Out Boy.
Taking out the Butler card from this weeks chart deck, the figures continue to wane. The number 100 album by Bernard Fanning sold 349 units nationally. The number 100 CD single by Basement Jaxx did just 31 units across the country.
With continued lagging sales, labels are going into a downward spiral. Last week, not one major label released a single in Australia. Without the single as the promotional tool, fans continue to lose focus on the albums and stores lose traffic from the lack of buyers. CD single sales have become so irrelevant that at one stage last year, major chains discontinued stocking titles in the stores.
To add insult to the situation, the Christian City Church from Oxford Falls proved how easy it was to get an Australian hit. Their indie single, sold exclusively through their church debuted at number 20 on the CD singles chart this week with a grand total of 607 sales. Outside of the base of New South Wales, the title sold exactly zero units.
Meanwhile, Hillsong Church who also sells stock from their premises was at number 8 on the album chart this week with sales of 3013 units. The church group sold better than US rock band Good Charlotte, who were at number 9 this week on the chart after sales of just one unit less than the church title.
