Ariana Grande's management: "We were prepared for lower numbers"

[Teletubby 150,035]

About merch 

There will not as many options as is used to be.

Artists are making more money from merch than from sales, streams.  

If product include album as part of the packages, sales count on the Billboard charts, for example: https://shop.shawnmendesofficial.com/products/wonder-limited-edition-zine-w-cd-limited-collectible-card-pack-vi-inside


full article https://www.billboard.com/articles/business/9484117/merch-bundles-chart-rules-ariana-grande-album-releases/

[LUCARTPOP 5,924]

Well maybe if her merch didn't suck  

[Guest Adarsh]

The jockstraps will be discussed till the end of time won’t they? Her impact 

[Poker 3,728]

Queen of jockstraps

[RenegAde 19,294]

"Charts or metric do not dictate when her music is released" 

Sure janika

[Ziggy 11,870]

6 minutes ago, Adarsh said:

The jockstraps will be discussed till the end of time won’t they? Her impact 

I mean...yeah lol It's easily the most over-the-top and excessive example of what the merch-forward album push looks like. Umbrellas, sweatpants, rain boots, even jockstraps! It basically writes itself as a tantalizing line lol Doesn't hurt that it's also a healthy dose of cringe in its own right lolol I think only Gaga could really do it, though, and that's another thing. It would be just pure cringe if another artist did it, but Gaga's whole schtick is a little over the top, a little cringe, a little camp, etc. So I think it's highly memorable for the item itself, the space it takes up in her marketing mix, as well as for the artist its associated with.

[vyniildisk 12,689]

[rasclautmangos 2,746]

Did Gaga's jockstraps even sell all THAT well? It was probably a few thousand at most. I suppose any little bit helps, but I doubt Gaga was pushing out a crazy amount of merch bundles.

Ariana is supposed to be the main pop girl right now. With the way her fans carry on, she should have outsold regardless. 

 

[flyaway 15,350]

They're playing the "music not the bling card" because it's flopping.

The album is just not it. They tried to replicate a formula, and people just didn't like it. 

[Kadikaado 4,302]

This is quite boring, actually. Releasing bundles with jockstraps, sweatshirts etc. was so much fun. I hope Gaga will continue to sell these products, but now without the bundle. It'd be totally nice if she was able to sell Chromatica merch in mega-stores. Here in Brazil you can find Joanne shirt in a brand called Riachuelo.

I just realized that I need a Chromatica speedo. A clothing line inspired by Gaga's albums would be 11/10. It just need to be easy to buy and produced locally because, GURL, the price of buying an official Chromatica shirt in Brazil... THAT'S EXPENSIVE!!

[littlepotter 75,147]

22 minutes ago, alicefromabove said:

They're playing the "music not the bling card" because it's flopping.

The album is just not it. They tried to replicate a formula, and people just didn't like it. 

I'm glad. Maybe Ari will get the hint to start moving into better territory musically. She was doing great with DW and Sweetener but then the young gays started complaining about pharell williams so she took god is a woman and made two albums out of it

[Bradley 59,163]

The music industry is extremely volatile. Numbers should not be seen as carrying equivalent weight across the period of years. Any subtle changes to the rule will affect the figures we see.

I'm not an Ariana fan but at least it's a #1 album.

[Jamie 608]

I genuinely think Arianna doesn't care about numbers 

[nodandsmile 10,656]

She shouldn't even need bundles to sell if she is the biggest popstar of the world as people love to say! Stop with the excuses. It underperformed, move on!

[Yxilon 5,248]

"we were prepared for lower numbers"

oh c'mon darling, no you weren't, just admit it  the album underperformed in comparison to the actual expectations and predictions. It can happen. Still enough to reach #1 so not a catastrophic flop, trying to find a justification is not necessary.