According to Nielsen SoundScan, total album sales in the US were down 13% in 2010. 326 million albums were sold in all formats vs. 374 million in 2009. Overall music sales (albums, singles, music videos and digital tracks) fell 2.5%. Digital track sales inched up just 1% to 1.17 billion units in 2010 compared to digital growth of 8% in 2009 and 27% in 2008. Label Stats:
Universal Music Group captured 30.84% of album market share, followed by Sony Music Entertainment with 27.95%. Warner Music Group stood at 20.01% and EMI grabbed 10.18%. Indies accounted for the remaining 11.02%.
Eric Garland of Big Champagne attributed some of the shift to the emergence of free and legal alternative sources to music online such as YouTube, Vevo and Pandora.
