mistersloane
heavy heavy monster sound
A successful pop act could sell ten million cd's in the nineties, a successful crossover could sell hundreds of thousands, semihip groups from this era could sell four hundred thousand and be considered failures by a major label, then they release independently to please their semi hip fans. And an independent release on a major independent could easily sell fifty thousand copies just from print hype or college radio. I would estimate there are a few hundred million cds in collection of semi-hip forty year olds today.
Record shops could do a "give back" amnesty day, like they do with knives and police stations, or guns and police stations if you're American.