Ever since the Internet came along and destroyed the music industry, record labels have been looking for a way to do that thing they used to do with records. What was it? Oh yes, sell them. Well, they might have found it. It’s called Oprah.
Last October Warner Bros. moved the release of Michael Buble’s Crazy Love to coincide with a performance Oprah and the album sold 132,000 copies in three days. After Whitney Houston appeared on Oprah, sales of her album increased by 77 percent. And an Oprah appearance in September helped Barbra Streisand land her first chart-topping album in 12 years.
Basically she’s doing for music what she’s already done for books. But that doesn’t mean Jonathan Franzen’s Grateful Dead cover band will be making an appearance.
Oprah Effect impacts music sales [Variety]