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-- Sour note: Music sales down in 2008

Sour note: Music sales down in 2008

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Sour note: Music sales down in 2008 Drop is 7th in 8 years as recession adds to Internet piracy and video games in weighing on industry. January 1, 2009: 12:30 AM ET LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -- U.S. album sales slid for a seventh time in eight years in 2008 as growth in the digital arena, one of the few bright spots in the ailing music industry, slowed, according to industry data. Total album sales fell 14% to 428.4 million units during the 52-week period ended Dec. 28, according to retail data collected by tracking firm Nielsen SoundScan. This follows a 15% drop in 2007, and sets a new low since the firm began monitoring sales in 1991. Sales have plummeted 45% from the industry's high-water mark of 785.1 million units in 2000, due largely to Internet piracy and competition from other forms of entertainment such as video games. This year, the industry also faced an economic recession. Digital downloads, through online retailers such as Apple Inc. (AAPL, Fortune 500)'s iTunes store, have taken on greater importance to the industry, but the impressive growth of recent years is waning. Digital track sales rose 27% to a record 1.07 billion units, but the growth was slower than the 45% jump in 2007. Digital album sales rose 32% to 65.8 million units, after a 53% jump in 2007. Ringtones are also a major new focus. But purchases of the top 100 mastertone ringers slid 33% to 43.8 million units. Only one mastertone broke the 2 million mark - rapper Lil Wayne's "Lollipop." Last year, three did. Lil Wayne also took honors for 2008's top-selling album, moving 2.9 million copies of "Tha Carter III." Last year's No. 1 album was pop vocalist Josh Groban's "Noel" with 3.7 million copies. Only three other albums sold more than 2 million copies this year: English rock band Coldplay's "Viva la Vida" and country singer Taylor Swift's "Fearless" each with about 2.1 million, and rocker Kid Rock's 2007 release "Rock'N'Roll Jesus" with 2 million. Last year, eight albums sold more than 2 million copies. Swift, 19, was the biggest artist of 2008, selling 4 million copies, mostly of "Fearless" and her 2006 self-titled debut. Anglo-Australian rock band AC/DC followed with 3.4 million copies, selling almost as many of their old albums as they did of their first release in more than eight years, "Black Ice," which was No. 5 with 1.9 million copies. Overall music sales, including albums, singles, music video and digital tracks, rose 10.5% to 1.5 billion units, after 14% growth in 2007 and a 19% jump in 2006. http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/01/new....reut/index.htm

Gotta love how they throw out that last sentence nonchalantly. Overall music sales are up, and they have been up at least the past three years. But every year when these sales figures come out they always focus on album sales going down and blame internet piracy.

The real story here is the changing of consumer buying habits from album purchases to singles purchases, thanks largely to the availability of digital singles. Going back to that Nick Warren thread about distributors going out of business, this is your reason why.

Albums have become more of a connoisseur thing. Normally only those who treat a full-length as a 'whole' listening experience rather than just a collection of songs to skip through find any reason to purchase them anymore. Personally, that's fine with me; might make for better albums if artists start making them with this in mind rather than the old commercially accessible format (big singles, filler, secondary singles, fiiillleeerrr).

are these world numbers, usa, california or what?

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Originally posted by Sykonee Personally, that's fine with me; might make for better albums if artists start making them with this in mind rather than the old commercially accessible format (big singles, filler, secondary singles, fiiillleeerrr).

Exactly. I think it's better to put out a few great singles than to add in some mediocre tracks to a release because you feel "obligated" to fill up an album.

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Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles Exactly. I think it's better to put out a few great singles than to add in some mediocre tracks to a release because you feel "obligated" to fill up an album.

Or try the 25-30 min EP/mini-album format.

now Apple is going to pretty much make their mp3s easy to send to friends etc. - so is that going to destroy the industry per these writers?

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Originally posted by Scoops now Apple is going to pretty much make their mp3s easy to send to friends etc. - so is that going to destroy the industry per these writers?

I think that (unfortunately) the format of the cd will eventually collapse completely. With the easy availability of mp3s one would wonder how on earth those musicians are going to survive.



A possible (a little bit crazy but functionable i think) solution that i thought off, is that every musician could set-up a site giving his music for free hemself/herself (with any other information, pictures, goodies etc.). People who just happen to like his/her music could give "charity" to the musician (if they like). Plus musicians would still get money from live performances. i htink that the real good musicians would end-up having more money in this way than the traditional "standard purchase" way.

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Originally posted by palm are these world numbers, usa, california or what?

Just the U.S. I believe.

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Originally posted by PETRAN I think that (unfortunately) the format of the cd will eventually collapse completely. With the easy availability of mp3s one would wonder how on earth those musicians are going to survive. A possible (a little bit crazy but functionable i think) solution that i thought off, is that every musician could set-up a site giving his music for free hemself/herself (with any other information, pictures, goodies etc.). People who just happen to like his/her music could give "charity" to the musician (if they like). Plus musicians would still get money from live performances. i htink that the real good musicians would end-up having more money in this way than the traditional "standard purchase" way.

I think this is inevitably what we're headed to. Mp3 piracy isn't going to stop, and digital distribution is only going to get bigger. More and more people are getting access to music, while more and more potential artists are getting access to creating it. I think eventually (possibly soon), we'll reach a point where the music distribution industry will collapse and there won't really be any significant profit to be made. People sure as hell aren't gonna stop making music though.

But I like having my music in a tangible format...

I know, I know, irrational fetish, right?

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Originally posted by MrJiveBoJingles But I like having my music in a tangible format... I know, I know, irrational fetish, right?

Not really. You get cover art, you often get booklets with interesting info about the works, you get to physically organize your collection, you get a reliable copy immune to data corruption, there's no annoying DRM... There's tons of valid reasons to prefer a tangible format.

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Originally posted by PETRAN I think that (unfortunately) the format of the cd will eventually collapse completely. With the easy availability of mp3s one would wonder how on earth those musicians are going to survive.

There will always be a need for a physical format. And vinyl's still far too niche to fill that role (even though, apparently, vinyl sales were up this past year). CDs are here for a while longer, just in a reduced role: the middle format.

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Originally posted by flavdave Just the U.S. I believe.

anyone got europe stats?

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Originally posted by Sykonee There will always be a need for a physical format. And vinyl's still far too niche to fill that role (even though, apparently, vinyl sales were up this past year). CDs are here for a while longer, just in a reduced role: the middle format.

Yep. Vinyl is doing relatively great compared to CD's as far as growth is concerned.

"Although vinyl albums gave way to CDs years before SoundScan launched, it's worth noting that vinyl sales hit a 17-year high in 2008 with 1.88 million, up dramatically from just under a million in 2007. Radiohead's In Rainbows was the top vinyl seller with 25,800 copies."

http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/...n-numbers_N.htm

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Originally posted by Cpt.Cocaine Not really. You get cover art, you often get booklets with interesting info about the works, you get to physically organize your collection, you get a reliable copy immune to data corruption, there's no annoying DRM... There's tons of valid reasons to prefer a tangible format.

David Byrne wrote a great article about cover art and packaging. He argues that more often than not, the musicians have little or no input on the creative direction of their album artwork. His point is that people attach that packaging and imagery to the music when in most cases that artwork has no relevance to the music you are listening to.

http://journal.davidbyrne.com/2006/..._packaging.html

Regarding your other points, with a digital collection, you have more ways to organize your collection. If you're worried about data corruption, then backup your music on DVDs. And eventually we'll see DRM-free music across the board. I think iTunes just announced all music from the "big four" labels will be DRM-free. Hopefully we'll get lossless audio in the near future as computers and networks get faster and faster.

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Originally posted by PETRAN I think that (unfortunately) the format of the cd will eventually collapse completely. With the easy availability of mp3s one would wonder how on earth those musicians are going to survive. A possible (a little bit crazy but functionable i think) solution that i thought off, is that every musician could set-up a site giving his music for free hemself/herself (with any other information, pictures, goodies etc.). People who just happen to like his/her music could give "charity" to the musician (if they like). Plus musicians would still get money from live performances. i htink that the real good musicians would end-up having more money in this way than the traditional "standard purchase" way.

yeah most bands make their money off live shows anyway. the album acts as more of a promotional tool

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Originally posted by Cpt.Cocaine I think this is inevitably what we're headed to. Mp3 piracy isn't going to stop, and digital distribution is only going to get bigger. More and more people are getting access to music, while more and more potential artists are getting access to creating it. I think eventually (possibly soon), we'll reach a point where the music distribution industry will collapse and there won't really be any significant profit to be made. People sure as hell aren't gonna stop making music though.

I disagree that there isn't significant profit to be made. Sure it won't be like a "good old days" when the labels charged people $15 when they only cared about the singles that the labels were pushing on them in the first place. They need to find new ways to make money, whether that's through merchandise, partnering with brands, or licensing music for film and TV.

Musicians need to perform live if they want to make lots of money. Even the electronic musicians who rely on studio trickery need to find ways to translate that to the stage. Perhaps they can work with visual artists to create some kind of audio/visual show. Look at Daft Punk for example. They pretty much trigger pre-recorded loops in their performances but people pay big money to see them because of the spectacle they created.

Yeah that's kindof what I meant. No money in the distribution of the music itself (CDs, legal mp3s, etc), but income from other related sources like concert venues.

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Originally posted by flavdave Look at Daft Punk for example. They pretty much trigger pre-recorded loops in their performances but people pay big money to see them because of the spectacle they created.

heh, I sure did!

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