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According to a Billboard article published Wednesday, Neilsen Soundscan has reported an 11% decline in album sales during the first half of 2008, compared to the same period in 2007. Consumers purchased 204.6 million albums between January and June, over 25 million less than a year ago, but luckily not as sharp a decline as the 15.1% that occurred in the first half of 2007 as compared to 2006. Nielsen Soundscan told Billboard that the "drop is fueled largely by the 16.3% decrease in CD sales" despite digital album sales rising 34.4& to account for 15.4% of sales (31.6 million units).
Digital growth is still a productive and lucrative spot for the music industry, with single track downloads growing 30% to 532.7 million units in the first half of the year over first half sales in 2007 of 417.3 million units. Universal Music Group is still the most dominating music company, despite dropping .3% to 31.2% in sales. Sony BMG Music Entertainment and EMI Group also fell, with Sony BMG dropping .5% to 24.8% and EMI dropping 1% to 9.4%. The only major music company to gain any ground was Warner Music Group Corp. (NYSE: WMG), rising .8% to 20.8%. Independent music companies also rose in the first six months of 2008, capturing 13.9% of the market -- up 1%.
Declines in album sales are a constant trend in the music industry, so an 11% drop is no real surprise but the lowered decline over one year ago should cause some relaxation. The only problem with the drop in decline is that album sales are still falling off. Even though Nielsen Soundscan and Billboard both commented on the hope provided by single track downloads, the industry still looks to album sales to justify the recording and marketing of music. If that trend would change, single track downloads would make an obvious market to rely on. Instead, reports about declining album sales will still continue while single track downloads continue to grow.
Album sales down 11% halfway through 2008
Posted Jul 3rd 2008 6:25PM by Richard Driver
Filed under: Earnings Reports, Products and Services
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
7-03-2008 @ 11:36PM
Chris said...
If record companies turned out more decent material, they might see more sales. Instead, we see skanktastic groups like Danity Kane and the Pussycat Dolls teaching pre-teen impressionable young girls to be gold-digging man-stealing, bra-less sluts with a capital S.
And half of the male bands just scream with no rythym or sense of tone or melody at all. For ex, songs like Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer" is screaming with rythym and is worth buying. All the wannabees out now can't even spell rhythm.
7-03-2008 @ 11:44PM
Michael said...
The music industry sucks. Everyone I know buys their music at LOCAL RECORD SHOPS. Vinyl is still popular where I live for many reasons. The sound quality (despite occassional scratches and surface noise) is better. The background "light hissing" noise sounds just like the old days of FM; Perfect for music but the hiss makes it unwinding. Vinyl albums come from artists that had actual talent and inspired listeners to follow suit. Vinyl records cost less (especially these days). Instead of complaining about the current music industry, locate a vinyl record store and browse. I don't care about the current industry; not because of who's making "C.D.s" but vinyl aged well and stood the test of time.
7-04-2008 @ 3:42AM
Chris said...
The music industry is trash now and has been for a few years. Are guys actually supposed to want their girlfriend to be like a Danity Ho or a Pussycat Whore. Personally, I can imagine kissing one of them must be like drinking the foam that comes out of a rabid dog's mouth. But that's just me.
And music actually used to have heart, soul, meaning as well as rhythm, melody, tone, and pitch. I know some may not believe me, but if you look it up rhythm, melody, tone, and pitch are actual real words that are in the dictionary. They used to be used to compose popular music, but now with synthesized crap, a 90 year old hobo can be made to sound like a teenage sexpot and sell records. When will it end and reason come back to the music scene?
7-04-2008 @ 4:05AM
Chris said...
DK's new album should be titled "Welcome to the Whorehouse" and Pussycat's new single should be more truthfully titled "When my f-ck list hits 1000".
If that's what these girls think maturity is, boy is this country going down the crapper. No wonder teenage girls are anorexic, bulemic, or just plain suicidal. Whatever happened to role models? Generation Y is graduating college and getting jobs and teaching young children that women should be like these pop divas who would be crack whores selling their bodies on the corner if it weren't for people like Pimp Diddly and all the men that encourage this. And it's in all forms of entertainment. Heroes are gone, love is for losers, and sentiment is for sissies. Well I for one will not be jumping into the hellpit along with the rest of this country. Call me old-fashioned, but the new junk spewing out the airwaives just makes me want to wretch my guts out and give up on life. At least I grew up in a time when children had something to look forward to and people to admire. The music industry is getting a taste of its own garbage. It deserves even less sales, and if it doesn't like it, it can fire everybody and start over.