FEATURE:
The Glastonbury Festival Effect
IN THIS PHOTO: Maisie Peters’ second studio album, The Good Witch, reached number one in the U.K., a week after her phenomenal set at Glastonbury (making her the youngest British female solo artist in nine years to claim that honour)/PHOTO CREDIT: Sophie Scott
How An Extraordinary Performance Can Impact Album Sales
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MAYBE it is not something…
IN THIS PHOTO: Lewis Capaldi during his Glastonbury set on the Pyramid Stage, 24th June, 2023/PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images
that only happens with Glastonbury. I am going to stay with the recent Glastonbury, mind. That was televised and is still available on the BBC iPlayer. Many of us who were not able to go watched from our T.V.s and laptops. It was great to see a whole range of performers take to the stages! I definitely discovered new sides to artists that I already know; discovering ones I was not really aware of. I think I have been made to reassess certain Elton John albums (positively) after his Sunday headline slot. I have also dug deeper into the catalogues of Lana Del Rey, and Yusuf/Cat Stevens. I think that one of the most powerful impacts of the Glastonbury Festival being broadcast on the BBC is that many new acts got spotlighted and exposure. Many people might otherwise have missed out on them. One artist I have recently written about and has seen her new album go to the top of the charts is Maisie Peters. The terrific Peters’ Good Witch has enjoyed incredible sales. Music Week provided more details and examination of a Glastonbury trend and effect:
“The Glastonbury effect is unmistakable in the latest charts.
Maisie Peters, who performed on the Pyramid Stage on Friday (June 23), debuted at the albums summit with The Good Witch (Atlantic/Gingerbread Man). Peters’ second album was released on the day of her appearance at the televised festival.
The Good Witch opened with 20,760 sales (9,475 CDs, 5,286 vinyl albums, 1,000 cassettes, 1,138 digital downloads, 3,861 sales-equivalent streams). Maisie Peters’ debut, You Signed Up For This, peaked at No.2 in 2021 (9,575 sales).
Meanwhile, Elton John and Lewis Capaldi climbed into the Top 3 following their Glastonbury sets.
The farewell UK performance by Elton John was a ratings hit on BBC One. Glastonbury 2023 broke previous digital audience records for viewing and listening on the BBC - with content streamed a record 50.3m times across BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds to date – up 47% on 2022. On BBC iPlayer, viewers streamed sets and Glastonbury programming from Worthy Farm a record 47.5 million times, up 49% on the year before.
Elton John’s compilation Diamonds reached a new peak, climbing 13-2. Weekly sales were up 188.1% to 16,669, including 4,835 copies of the coloured vinyl Pyramid edition.
HMV reported a 922% increase in sales for Diamonds. The special edition sold-out almost immediately upon release on HMV’s online store.
Phil Halliday, managing director at HMV and Fopp, said: “Glastonbury is probably the country’s best showcase for artists and we see a sales boost across the board for the big names who take to the stage. This year the headliners all saw substantial increases in sales across our stores as those who were at Worthy Farm or watched on TV rushed to add artists that made a lasting impression on them to their collections.
“Beyond the main-stage headliners, the Glastonbury’s crowd’s heartwarming response to Lewis Capaldi’s set clearly had an effect beyond the fields of Somerset and has translated at the tills, while Lizzo’s stand-out performance has attracted a new audience to her music based on our sales data.”
In the albums chart, Lewis Capaldi’s sophomore release, Broken By Desire To Be Heavenly Sent, rebounded 16-3 (8,801 sales - up 68.1%), while 2019 debut, Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent, moved 34-9 (7,281 sales - up 114.8%).
Tom Grennan, another Glastonbury performer, finished at No.5 with What Ifs & Maybes (7,541).
Headliners Arctic Monkeys are back in the Top 10 with AM (12-7, 7,442 sales). The band also saw gains for Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not (29-20, 4,108 sales), Favourite Worst Nightmare (51-38, 3,081 sales) and The Car (119-73, 2,029 sales).
As revealed in Alan Jones’ charts analysis, other albums by acts who appeared at Glastonbury that achieved gains of 10 or more places this week are: But Here We Are (31-14, 4,955 sales) and The Essential (63-22, 3,901 sales) by Foo Fighters; Born To Die (43-29, 3,631 sales) and Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd (100-74, 1,995 sales) by Lana Del Rey; Greatest Hits (96-31, 3,278 sales) and Appetite For Destruction (re-entry at No.62, 2,180 sales) by Guns ‘N Roses; and Only Honest At The Weekend (89-69, 2,089 sales) by Becky Hill.
In the singles chart, Until I Found You by Stephen Sanchez reached a new peak of No.14 after Sanchez performed the song during Elton John’s Glastonbury set.
There are also Glastonbury-powered re-entries for Cold Heart by Elton John & Dua Lipa (No.30, 13,523 sales) and his 1983 No.4 hit I’m Still Standing (No.34, 12,373 sales), while Guns ‘N Roses’ Sweet Child O’ Mine returned to the Top 40 for the first time in 34 years (No.40, 11,234 sales)”.
Maisie Peters is a tremendous artist who deserves that chart position! I guess, when you see an artist perform at a festival, you are curious and will buy their album. Glastonbury has this different impact. As it is televised, it can have a huge effect on an artist’s popularity. As opposed established acts seeing their albums do well again, the most wonderful and important result of that Glasto exposure is for newer artists. Not only is it an honour to play at Glastonbury: you also are showcasing your music to people who might not have your album. In the case of Maisie Peters’ The Good Witch, there was some shrewd/lucky timing regarding her Glastonbury appearance. The album came out on 23rd June. This was the same day her album came out. What better way to showcase it to her fans than performing it on the Pyramid Stage. On that huge stage in front of an eager crowd, there is no surprise that this sort of platform resulted in boosted album sales. I feel there are other results of Glastonbury that will highlight female artists. Maisie Peters is going to get headline slots very soon, but there were female artists on the bill who will see a rise in album sales because of their time at Glastonbury. At a time when gender inequality is still a talking point, I feel like the ‘Glastonbury effect’ of albums selling more post-appearance is a positive thing. I am going to write separately about gender at festivals as we move towards other major ones.
PHOTO CREDIT: Jorge Fakhouri Filho/Pexels
In a wider sense, I think the nature of promotion is changing. Look back years ago, and the way albums got sold in large amounts was by massive touring and a load of T.V. and radio promotion. This is still part of the promotional cycle, but the fact festivals being televised results in this awareness of great artists and their albums should compel a few things. For one, we need other festivals to get syndicated and televised. I am thinking of Coachella, Reading & Leeds, and Primavera. I feel like there would be a huge demand for this. Also, at a time when we have one televised music show – Later… with Jools Holland -, another one needs to come to our screens very soon! I also feel like social media platforms like TikTok are hugely influential. Artists can share short clips of their songs and, in turn, fans can share that song in their own videos. Live videos professionally shot also give you a glimpse of new material and what that artist sounds like live. These live videos also have the bonus of, let’s hope, festival organisers being aware of more female artists and their live prowess. Congratulation to Maisie Peters on the triumph of The Good Witch! Also, a congratulations to all the other artists that benefited from their appearances at Glastonbury. It is encouraging to see. In future features, I am writing about vinyl sales, HMV, and physical music in general. Even if artists like Peters use social media and digital platforms to promote their work, fans are putting their hand in their pocket and buying the album – maybe compelled by the physical performance of the songs and keen to bond with a physical music format. Peters’ majestic second studio album has clearly…
CAST its spell.