Andre Rieu Legend Continues

                                       (c) P.Rieu

ANDRE Rieu is the unlikely success story of 2008.

He's the licence to print money no record company or tour promoter wanted to touch.

With more than two million DVDs and CDs entering Australian homes in the past 18 months, and ticket sales of more than half a million on his November Australian tour, Rieu outsold "cool" artists such as Madonna, Pink, Kylie and Kings of Leon.

His Live in Australia DVD has sold almost 300,000 copies in three weeks, becoming the No. 1 music purchase for Christmas.

Rieu is the face of the older demographic the music industry forgot or ignored.

They don't illegally download music and buy CDs, DVDs and concert tickets.

What's the secret to his success?

It's simple, says record store owner Brian Harris, who championed Rieu years ago.

"He makes people happy. The media is full of negative stories of doom and gloom.

``When you watch an Andre Rieu performance you get wonderful music but you also see people being genuinely happy.

"There's very little pretentiousness in his shows . . . people who go to (them) are not classical music fans.

``Indeed, the classical music fraternity don't like the guy. But . . .(he has) added colour and vitality to classical music."

Mr Harris says Rieu's older fans get transported back in time at his concerts.

Mr Harris, who runs Canberra's Songland records, saw Rieu's potential three years ago.

He called him "the most important act the music industry has seen in the past 10 years".

"People laughed at me, but I think I'm having the last laugh," he says.

Cable channel Ovation was first to give Rieu exposure.

It played his live concerts, which led to DVD sales.

It was word-of-mouth marketing in a time of hi-tech, expensive promotion aimed at people buying less and less music.

"That (older) demographic is so poorly serviced by record companies and the media," Mr Harris says.

"There are people in that demographic who still love music and are still inspired by it."

But Mr Harris says Rieu's audience is getting younger.

"Are there 18-year-olds buying Andre Rieu? No. But over the holiday season you hear about families watching his DVDs, perhaps reluctantly, but going, 'That's actually pretty good'. So there's a trickle-down effect."

Not bad for a man who was so spurned by record companies he embarked on a DIY operation. "Nobody wanted to make a record with me," Rieu says.

"I was ringing record companies, and they'd say, 'You play waltzes? Go home and play for your grandmother'.

"I always said, 'When you make a record for me, it will explode'. And I was right. Nobody expects in a time of heavy metal and rock, there comes a violinist from Holland who sells a lot of music."

He not only pays for his music, he runs his touring company. Rieu financed his Australian tour, making up the $5.6 million he spent on each show with pricey tickets, paid meet-and-greets, merchandise, a pay-for-view special and CD and DVD sales.

He pays for the recording of his own albums and DVDs, bypassing the method by which record companies usually make money.

Rieu has a licensing arrangement with Universal in Australia; he provides it with finished CDs and DVDs, it produces, markets and promotes them.

It's a lucrative set-up. Most artists make about $4 from the $25 or $30 price of each music DVD. Sources suggest he is pocketing at least $10.

Record companies have a habit of chasing trends; the search for the next Andre Rieu is already on -- Helmut Lotti is being groomed for a Rieu-style push next year. And Universal will release three more Rieu CDs before April.

"It's simple," Rieu said. "There are millions of people out there who love this sort of music and love the way I play it."

Article RSS from Herald Sun
by: Cameron Adams

Listeners like kings and a queen

                                       (c) P.Rieu

ALTHOUGH sales of pop music in Australia continue to be eroded by illegal downloading, a couple of acts managed to generate blockbuster sales in 2008.

The biggest-selling album in Australia last year, according to charts released yesterday by ARIA, was Kings of Leon's Only By The Night. The American rockers sold 422,108 copies of the album, outselling pop queen Pink's Funhouse by just over 3000 copies.

Kings of Leon and Pink had sold-out arena tours in the first half of 2008 and have been neck-and-neck at the top of the ARIA charts for the past two months.

Only two Australian acts made the top 10 albums chart: AC/DC (No.3) and Sydney duo The Presets (No.5). AC/DC sold 306,107 copies of their album Black Ice in Australia. In the US, the album was the fifth-biggest seller of the year, shifting over 2 million copies.

Of the top 100 albums of the year, 23 were Australian. Strong local performers included Gabriella Cilmi (No.13), the Veronicas (No.17) and Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu (No.21) who sold 63,554 copies of his album Gurrumul since September.

The end-of-year ARIA charts are based not on exact sales figures, merely on chart positioning. For example, the album Unessential Listening by comedic duo Hamish & Andy has sold 78,664 copies, yet charted one position lower than Gurrumul, owing to the fact the latter had charted higher and for longer during the year.

Other local acts which featured on the chart included Pete Murray (No.26), Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson (No.31), Damien Leith (No.41), The Living End (No.45), David Campbell (No.51), Angus and Julia Stone (No.60), Vanessa Amorosi (No. 69), Delta Goodrem (No.72), John Butler (No.73), The Whitlams (No.84), Empire of the Sun (No.88) and Paul Kelly (No.100).

Andre Rieu had three titles in the top 100, including his Live In Australia CD/DVD, which sold 242,675 copies. Rieu was easily the biggest-selling music DVD artist of the year.

He held positions one to six on the chart, as well as seven titles in the top 10 and 21 in the top 100.

By: Andrew Murfett
Sydney Morning Herald
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                                       (c) P.Rieu

Andre Rieu DVD and CD is Forth Biggest Seller Of The Year

by Paul Cashmere - December 29 2008

Maestro Andre Rieu has done the unthinkable. His `Live In Australia` CD and DVD has become the forth biggest selling music item of 2008 in Australia.

With just days before the end of the year, ‘Live In Australia’ has clocked up 242,675 sales, putting it behind Kings Of Leon ‘Only By The Night’, Pink ‘Funhouse’ and AC/DC ‘Black Ice’.

With sales of 71,494 DVDs and a further 10,709 CDs, Rieu ‘Live In Australia’ has leap-frogged over Coldplay ‘Viva La Vida’ this week.

The Coldplay album has sold 236,135 units so far. The ‘Mamma Mia’ soundtrack is behind that with 149,476 units sold.

As ‘Live In Australia’ is split between DVD and CD formats, each format will be listed separately when the end of year chart is published in a few days.

As a DVD, it is by far the biggest seller of the year, but as a CD I won’t make the Top 20.

Year to date sales for the biggest sellers are:

1. Kings of Leon : Only By The Night (422,108)

2. Pink : Funhouse (418,826)

3. AC/DC : Black Ice (306,177)

4. Andre Rieu : Live In Australia (242,675)

5. Coldplay : Viva La Vida (236,135)

In the year-end chart, minus Rieu, the number 5 album will be the Mamma Mia soundtrack with sales of 149,476.

The next biggest seller of the year was Metallica ‘Death Magnetic’.