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November 17, 2009

Breaking: People Who Watch Oprah Will Do Whatever She Subliminally Suggests, Including Buying Records...

Variety | Read Full Story >

Variety via New York Magazine:

If, as current conventional wisdom maintains, “TV is the new radio” in terms of influencing record sales, then “The Oprah Winfrey Show” is the equivalent of a 100,000-watt Mexican border radio station.

This fall, Winfrey’s popular afternoon talker, which claims an average daily viewership of 6.2 million, played a key role in sending new CD titles to the top slot of the U.S. album charts.

Oprah’s Book Club, which has pushed new and even backlist titles up the bestseller list, has wielded the same kind of retail clout.

Call it “the Oprah Effect.” And everyone in music covets it.

“We receive hundreds, if not thousands, of music pitches with CDs every year,” says a spokeswoman for Harpo Prods., Winfrey’s production company. “Generally, we invite fairly well-established musicians on the show…. Sometimes, it just comes down to the right artist at the right time with the right song.” In mid-October, Canadian vocalist Michael Buble’s album “Crazy Love” debuted at No. 1 with 132,000 copies sold in just three days. His label, Warner Bros., had moved the release up to Oct. 9 to coincide with Buble’s appearance on Winfrey’s telecast.




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