Vinyl, Cassettes & Retail

2008 CD & Ringtone Sales Fall, Digital Growth Slows

For the 52-week period ending December 28th, according to retail data collected by Nielsen SoundScan:

  • Physical album sales were down 20%
  • Overall album sales dropped 14% after digital was addedDown_arrow_red
    • This follows a 15% drop in ’07 and represents a 45% decline since a high in 2000
  • Digital track sales were up 27%
    • Down from a 45% rise in ’07
  • Digital album sales grew 32% to 65.8 million units
    • Down from a 53% rise in ’07
  • Ringtone sales fell 33% to 43.8 million units
    • Only 1 sold 2M (Lil Wayne’s Lollipop ); in ’07 3 did.

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4 Comments

  1. I believe that PUBLISHING KICKBACKS are contributing to these slumps! It’s NOT just the economy because only 8% of Americans have lost their jobs! It’s not illegal file sharing, otherwise how did several artists still sell Multiplatinum over the past couple of years? Hell…Usher’s previous album (before this last attempt) sold over 15 million!! I KNOW BECAUSE I HAVE SEEN THE RIAA PLAQUE WITH MY OWN TWO EYES IN PERSON!
    A&Rs, and their bosses, are too busy making deals to guarantee themselves publishing off their label’s projects. These A&Rs are trying to get as much publishing as they can before their time at the labels is up. The “higher ups” are too busy raking in ad dollars from MySpace and other major websites and NOT PAYING THEIR ARTISTS from these ad revenues, under the premise that it’s not in the artists’ contracts to get paid from these streams of revenue? And they know artists won’t do an audit because it costs WAY TOO MUCH MONEY for an artist to do so.
    A&R execs are hiring songwriters and producers who are willing to give up publishing in exchange for work. This is why you keep seeing the same names in the credits from Celine Dion to Britney Spears to Beyonce to Chris Brown! Doesn’t matter how TERRIBLE the songs sound, they’re going to keep hiring these guys because of the kickbacks. I KNOW SEVERAL songwriters/producers and A&Rs who are in cahoots with one another, but I won’t name anyone hahahahaha!
    If radio execs were smart, they’d save the stations they still have on the air by getting back to playing REAL MUSIC! They’re obviously losing money playing favorites (payola) with major labels, because several stations have gone “belly up” in 2008 as a result of lost ad revenues. Due in part to a decline in listeners who are FED UP WITH THE GARBAGE terrestrial stations are playing over the airwaves! If college and internet radio stations and satellite too, were all smart they’d ban anything that is playing on commercial stations and play strictly Unsigned and Indie artists. I’m sure we all know of some great UNSIGNED or UNHEARD of artists or bands who have material that is 50x better than the stuff being released by majors! I know of one, http://www.AlwaysMerna.com
    The public is speaking up…they know when they’re being taken for a ride on a garbage truck because they can smell the trash!

  2. I guess used album sales have gone up with prices continuing to decline. Nobody measures that figure, and how it affects catalogue sales. What about sales from artists’ websites or CD sales at shows? Are they included in these figures?
    If not, what is Nielsen trying to prove with its figures?
    It looks like making all tracks available individually, as opposed to selling them only bundled in albums, has effectively hurt total revenue.

  3. @ Sensata
    I agree that listeners who care are fed up with the garbage and that’s why I have largely given up on radio over here in Germany. Having practised mixtaping quasi since my early teens, I still make my own playlists and don’t miss radio much. Listeners who don’t care are being bombarded by the same up to no more than 100 songs over and over, which they don’t need to buy because they are overplayed anyway.
    Thanks for that insight into why some people who ae good at writing average music get re-hired by the biggest stars. Elvis would call it “taking care of business”, I guess.

  4. I totally agree. My artist http://www.hollydodson.com just got a wonderful check $$$$$$$$ from Tunecore for a 6 month old project she is involved with http://www.myspace.com/parallels1. These tracks would NEVER generate Major label interest or main stream radio play. You gotta love the power of the new model. Their FIRST gig ever (500 seater) sold out – promo via FACEBOOK and their web page. I, coming from the old model – signed to booking agents Premier Talent/(Labels MGM-1968,Polydor-1970,Bell – 1971-Capitol/EMI-1973)couldn’t help but be impressed. It was 5 years before we ever sold out anything.

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