NASHVILLE, Tenn., Jan. 1, 2009
Album Sales Plunge, Digital Downloads Up
Digital Track Sales Break 1 Billion Mark For First Time — Also Up In 2008? Vinyl
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Digital track sales in 2008 (such as through the iTunes Music Store) were up 27 percent from the previous year. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, file)
Year-end sales figures released Wednesday by The Nielsen Co. show total album sales, including album equivalents made up of single digital tracks, fell to 428.4 million units, down 8.5 percent from 500.5 million in 2007.
Physical album sales fell 20 percent to 362.6 million from 450.5 million, while digital album sales rose 32 percent to a record 65.8 million units.
Digital track sales, such as those conducted in Apple Inc.'s iTunes Music Store, were up 27 percent from last year, breaking the 1 billion mark for the first time at 1.07 billion.
The report continues a troubling trend for the recording industry, which has a harder time maintaining profits when consumers buy single songs instead of albums. The number of transactions rose 10.5 percent to 1.5 billion, although the figure treats single track and whole album purchases the same.
"You can see the overall unit sales as a positive, but their model is really built on album sales and that just continues to decline," said Silvio Pietroluongo, director of charts for Billboard magazine.
"Music consumption has never been at a higher clip, it's just a matter of trying to turn it into revenue," he added.
Some record labels are making progress. Craig Kallman, chief executive of Warner Music Group Corp.'s Atlantic Records, whose artists include Kid Rock and T.I., said his label passed a milestone in the year to September by having its digital revenue exceed that from physical CD sales.
The label, the top-selling in the U.S. in 2008, has had to become more careful in choosing which artists to promote and more patient in waiting for their songs to break out, he said.
"You have to really be right about your hits. If you're going to invest that amount of time in them and not run as many records, you have to be way more right today than wrong," Kallman said.
Nielsen SoundScan said album sales fell in every genre. Classical music saw the biggest drop at 26 percent, followed by country at 24 percent and Latin at 21.1 percent.
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Taylor Swift was the year's best-selling artist with more than 4 million albums sold, followed by AC/DC, Lil Wayne and Coldplay. Sugarland finished No. 8.You have to really be right about your hits. If you're going to invest that amount of time in them and not run as many records, you have to be way more right today than wrong.
Craig Kallman, Warner Music GroupSwift had two albums on Nielsen's Top 10 sales list: her self-titled debut at No. 6 and her sophomore album "Fearless" at No. 3.
"Taylor Swift is a great artist development story that started as organically as you can in the digital age," said Scott Borchetta, president and CEO of her label, Big Machine Records. "It involved online, non-stop radio tours and strategic TV opportunities which led to non-stop touring. But - most importantly - Taylor connected with her fans like no other artist in 2008."
Lil Wayne had the year's top-selling album, "Tha Carter III," with 2.87 million units sold, with Coldplay's "Viva La Vida" (2.14 million) and Swift's "Fearless" (2.11 million) rounding out the top three.
The top selling digital artist was Rihanna with 9.94 million tracks sold, followed by Swift and Kayne West.
Ironically, as digital downloads grew, vinyl album sales also climbed. In 2008, more vinyl albums were purchased (1.88 million) than any other year since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991.
More than two of every three vinyl albums were purchased at an independent music store during the year, the company reported. The top selling vinyl albums were Radiohead's "In Rainbows" (26,000 units), the Beatles' "Abbey Road" (16,500) and Guns 'N Roses' "Chinese Democracy" (13,600).
Nielsen also reported that music sales exceeded 65 million in the final week of 2008, representing the biggest sales week in the history of Nielsen SoundScan. The previous record was Christmas week of 2007 with 58.4 million music purchases.
By AP Entertainment Writer John Gerome; Business Writer Ryan Nakashima in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
© MMIX The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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I have tried downloading music legally, and backing up the music, but after replacing my hard drive, the backups did not work, and I had to jump through hoops to get my music back. I tried CDs but they sound awful to me, and they are inconvenient to use and easily damaged. The old vinyl albums could be copied on cassette tapes to play in the car.
So I have given up buying new music. I bought a record player a couple of years ago and I play my old albums. If the music companies start to play nicely, maybe I''ll go back, but when they offer no good options legally and prosecute individuals for unproven thefts, they lose my business.
Instead, they can first test-listen their choices in full, and then download all the singles they want for free from the P2P networks, for reasonable amounts from the growing number of independent download services, or be ripped off by the likes of iTunes.
Another reason the numbers are down is because the Big $ have been engaging in bitter and relentless attacks on their own customers, calling them criminals and thieves and then expecting them to buy %u2018product%u2019.
This aspect is never mentioned by the mainstream media.
And no, you''re not allowed to get away with criticizing or demeaning people who are honest and ethical because you are not.
One of the reasons there are problems in business right now is that morons have been allowed to turn correct and ethical priciples upside down.
When you steal music, certainly some wealthy people make less money. Also secretaries, studio technicians, back-up muscians, stage hands, janitors, truck drivers, store clerks, and LOTS and LOTS of other professions in the chain of creating and delivering the product find their jobs at risk or lost.
cwbyht, you are FAR FAR too stupid to ever understand that, but others reading this might.
Posted by cwbyht at 04:31 PM : Jan 01, 2008
Because not all of us are amoral, crooked twits like you?
We actually work for a living and make money to exchange with OTHER poeple who work for a living to provide us with valuable goods and/or entertainment. If you''''re not with that program, you''''re a loser. Granted, there are MILLIONS of losers out there.
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Posted by vranger at 08:43 AM : Jan 02, 2009
You really think tahat? You are busting your butt while some drugged out millionare singer is riding around in limos, and dodging fans who are stupid enough, to pay $18 for a CD of *** songs, or $80 for a ticket to their concerts.
You want to give your money to people like this, than go right ahead. I''ll download my music for free,and keep my money for groceries. In the meantime these rockstars will stay millionares. Nobody gets hurt.
Posted by cwbyht at 04:31 PM : Jan 01, 2008
Because not all of us are amoral, crooked twits like you?
We actually work for a living and make money to exchange with OTHER poeple who work for a living to provide us with valuable goods and/or entertainment. If you''re not with that program, you''re a loser. Granted, there are MILLIONS of losers out there.
I am just glad to see vinyl records making somewhat of a comeback. I''m only 29 and was not around for their premiere decades ago, but I now own over a 100 original records, and grew up listening to them. The quality is not CD-type sound, but each is unique in the way it crackles and pops through a song (I even have an original 45 record ordered from Kelloggs in 1983 of jingles about Rice Krispies cereal!!!!! Snap Crackle Pop). Cover art was amazing and colorful and with their 12 inch square size, vinyl albums provided a large canvas for groups to paint pictures on. There can never be a more interesting and involved way to listen to music. Welcome back vinyl!!
Posted by cwbyht at 04:31 PM : Jan 01, 2008
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Why do people buy books when they can only buy one and make copies of it?
What is true is the majority of music produced of late is so bland and cookie cutter krap that out of a whole album only 1 or 2 songs are worth listening to. So why by the whole album for just 1 song you like on it?