April 15, 2005

Poor Old Anthony Callea

EXHIBIT A

Despite the best efforts of the Sony-BMG publicity team to assure us the pint-sized pop singer is the hugely successful star of last year’s Idol series (unlike that porn star Casey Dona-something), all signs point to the future not being as necessarily rosy as first thought.

Ben Butler over at themusic.com.au had this to say in his weekly column Music & Money -

Last week, Idol runner-up Anthony Callea debuted at number one with his self-titled album (on Sony BMG). It was immediately accredited double platinum by ARIA, for a sell-in to shops of 140,000 units. But can it actually sell that many copies to actual punters? Rumours are afoot that big chain retailers have taken so many records produced by Idol talent that there’s not much room for other stock. And the records aren’t necessarily flying out the door. Callea sold a respectable 40,000-ish units in the week before last - a far cry from the 140,000 he’ll be given a plaque for. (This week, Callea maintains his number one position.) And some retailers returned two thirds of their stock of Idol winner Casey Donovan’s For You, which was accredited triple platinum (210,000 copies) by ARIA. ARIA says sales usually eventually catch up with accreditations. But not in Casey’s case, it would seem.

Bummer.

EXHIBIT B

It would appear even eBay’s making fun of him now. A delightful reader named Danielle emailed us tonight with an exciting find - behold the screenshot!

Click for bigger, obviously

We love Danielle because she said “I’ve been reading ausculture for a while now, but I’m one of those creepy lurker types. I’m from Perth, you know. So I can’t help it.”

Funny is the way to our hearts, lurkers! COME FORTH! DO NOT BE AFRAID!

EXHIBIT C

So there I was, innocently strolling home with my chum Nic after a delightful coffee-and-cigarette-and-chat session, when the following sign outside a record shop came to our attention.

Click for a bustier version

Methinks someone wasn’t happy about having to find storage space for hundreds of unsold Anthony Callea CD’s and vented on the noticeboard. Hilarious! ausculture.com would like to see other record stores adopt the habit of bestowing nicknames on ‘artists’ they are desperately trying to flog (eg: Ashlee “Jig” Simpson, Hilary “Uptha” Duff and Tamara “I Can’t Believe I Let Kyle Put His Chubby Wangly In My Noo Noo, It’d Better Be Fucking Worth It” Jaber)

EXHIBIT D

Xzibit... HAHAHA SEE WHAT WE DID THERE OH MY GOD THAT WA - Oh, nevermind.

Sorry.

Posted by Jess at April 15, 2005 12:53 AM
— Filed under Common

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On April 15, 2005 08:11 PM at Furry Little Despot:
Poor Old Anthony Callea
ausculture: It seems like our Australian Idol winner-slash-porn star Casey Dona-something has flopped in record stores. What a terrible shame. However, Anthony Callea (although way better looking) is doing better, but still badly. Sony BMG sold 140,000...

On April 15, 2005 10:47 AM, Patrick wrote:

“Callea sold a respectable 40,000-ish units…”

Still way better than the 3000 copies Holly Valance sold of her last album!

That’s tragic whichever way you look at it.