Hello.
I'm planning on buying at least 50 copies of the upcoming Scandal single "Living in the City" and giving them away, for free, to Scandal Heaven members. Really. Please wait until the single is out, then post a request here, and I will PM (private message) you a redeem code.
You will need iTunes on your computer or phone to redeem (get) the song. Also, please don't thank me in a post, since it might confuse me! (Just thank the post if you want)
To see if this is going to work, I have 20 copies of "Image" available NOW. If you see 20 replies in front of yours, do not post please. I will post when they're gone, OK?

Ok, here we go!

PS, I've checked with the moderators in advance. This is totally on the level. I'm just spending some stimulus check money to help out Scandal a bit.
PPS, It turns out redeem codes valid in US only! I'm really sorry!

Well, I have to admit I'm disappointed. I thought this would go rather well. I can only think of a few reasons nobody has replied.
1 You already have the song
2 You're absolutely convinced this is some sort of scam.
3 You can't believe anyone would do this.
4 You live outside the USA (I just found out about this one!)

Let me address those issues.
1 Yeah, probably. Just regift it to someone. I don't care. Spread the word.
2 I will post my receipt messages from Apple at the bottom of this post. Note I just in the last few days downloaded the app. Amazon won't let you gift downloads, but iTunes will, so I installed the app, even though I don't want it. I did it just for this. Some of the receipts reflect my testing things to see how they work, so my niece and her kids and I all have songs now. All the transactions for 5/22 are the ones I have to give away. I found out after a bit I could send to all 3 of my email addresses at once, so that's why the transactions don't add up to 20. I don't know what else to tell you. I'm retired, and receive more money from social security and two pensions than I spend. I got one of those stimulus checks deposited into my bank account, and even if I take out my airplane ticket to London to see the band, I have money left over to blow on stuff like this. Ok?
When you post a request, and I send you via private message a redeem code, I don't see your email or anything. Log into iTunes, go to Account, Redeem, and type in the code I sent you. It's only good once, if it's a fake number Apple will obviously reject it. At the same time, I move the email I received with the code to a different folder, so I don't lose track of things, and at the same time write your user name next to a list of redeem codes, so I don't send two to the same greedy person, or send the same code twice. All I ask is you use care when typing it into iTunes. If you make a mistake you'll think I did something wrong, and so will I. 
3 I'm doing this because if you remember when KFTD came out, they were like 150 copies short of being #4 in the charts instead of #5. With CDs, that's a big amount of money. With a digital single, not so much. I'm hoping this will help push the song up the charts a bit. A lot of people just buy what's popular, so they can be fashionable, so the more popular a song appears, the more it's bought. The whole thing feeds on itself. Shunkan Sentimental is an example. It says here it originally sold 32,000 copies, but now it's their most downloaded song, partly because of the anime, but mostly because it became the top seller, which is what trend followers buy. Get it? Did I explain that right?
4 I'm sorry about that. I really thought these would be good anywhere. See below.
 link maybe to pic
So please, take these copies of "Image" off my hands, and let me practice doing this without messing things up.

UPDATE: I just found out this is limited to USA only! I'm really sorry!

I'm interested, thank you in advance (but I'm not sure the code will work with the french iTunes store?)

Thanks for the suggestion. I think no one answers you, because everyone also buy it already. I have all the releases that are available in iTunes and Google Play in my country.

i wrote:I'm not sure the code will work with the french iTunes store?

Oh no! I just checked. Redeem codes are only valid in country of origin! I'm really sorry!
You too, Meph1766!
Man, it's a good thing I'm not trying to give away ice cream!
Unless people in the US want to regift, I'm going to end up listening to "Image" for an hour without using repeat.

hey! I can't accept it because my country (and don't use apple anyways) but really wanted to thank you for what you are doing :D it's really nice for both fans and the band. Did you post in Scandal Heaven facebook group as well? I think you can get more views and requests there! good luck!

hogradish wrote:

i wrote:I'm not sure the code will work with the french iTunes store?

Oh no! I just checked. Redeem codes are only valid in country of origin! I'm really sorry!

Ah, well, this sucks haha. Good effort, though!

So, what would you like to do now?

So, what would you like to do now?

I'll just do what everyone else does, and dump it your lap!  .clap.  No, I'll continue on, But I'll let people regift as many as they can  handle, or like 5 at a time, I guess. I'm already forcing my relatives into sending out redeem codes, so maybe I can do that with Scandal Heaven members, the in-country ones, as well?
I could also just eat the cost, but that seems like a waste.
Do you have any suggestions?


"Send the Burden of Music"

I can post about it on our social media pages and see if anyone in the US is interested. I know we have a pretty big US following on Facebook at least.

Thank you, please let me think about how that would work. Sending out redeem codes without receiving or giving out too much information might be a problem.  (sigh) Nature can make something go viral, but I can't. How humbling.

Update: Maybe I could create a "burner" facebook account? That way I won't get flooded with friend requests.
Update: Now have new Facebook account. Will use built-in messenger service. I think this will work. Thank you for your patience.

And there may be fans who have a paid Apple Music subscription who could just download the song when it is released.

Good effort on your part and I do hope there will be fans who will get to benefit from your gift!

That is very nice of you. I hope there are some people that don't have the album yet.
.smile.

(I don't want a redeem code; I already have that album and live in Germany. Just wanted to say thanks.)

thoseguiltyeyes wrote:I can post about it on our social media pages and see if anyone in the US is interested.

Yes please. I'm ready. You know the profile, right? John A Oyasumi. Man, I crack myself up.

UPDATE: It's just occurred to me this is going to do nothing to increase sales, since everybody here is going to get a copy of the new single anyway. All I'll be doing is moving the cost. The only way this will affect sales is if everybody RE-GIFTS the redeem code to a friend who might not buy the single for themselves.
That includes these 20 copies of 'Image". Take these and send them to a friend. Then do the same for 'Living in the City" when it comes out. K?

I found a website that posts daily iTunes single sales. Depending on the country, you can indeed affect the chart position of a song by buying large numbers, but only for a day. Logically, it would only be 1/7th as effective on the weekly charts, but here are some examples of what a large purchase can do.
In the UK, there is a 21 unit difference between #100 and #50 on the charts.
In Japan, buying a song 100 times will move it from 10 to 6, from 20 to 9, 30 to 11 and from #100 to #20. You get a lot of bang for the buck once a song starts to drop off the charts! About 35 units separate #6 from #5.
The US is harder. Buying 100 copies moves a song from #10 to 9. Big deal. From 20 to 17, 30 to 24, and a song at #100 would move to #60. For just one day.
It's not a hopeless idea though. 100 extra song purchases of a song by some group called the Jonas Brothers, (tee hee) would move it from 189 to well into the Top 100 for a day, where it would be much more prominent. And 100 copies of 'Living in the City" would send enough money to Scandal to keep Mami supplied with Egg McMuffins for a couple of days, so it's totally worth it.
Lastly (I hope) it might be good to close this thread and just start a new one with the same offer. I will still have free copies, but maybe fewer, and only for re-gifting.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I have 10 copies of "Living in the City" right now. Send them to friends?
Same restrictions as for "Image" -- USA only, iTunes account, etc.
PM me. If you can gift more than one, let me know in the message.

would like a code if theyre still available. Thank you so much!

dchan419 wrote:would like a code if theyre still available. Thank you so much!

I sent a copy via PM, so log in to get it. Sorry for the delay; there hasn't been much activity on this thread. For those of you out there looking at "new posts since last visit", I still have about 50 copies of "Living in the City" to give away, and need some help. I've saturated my relatives and friends!