The music business continued to evolve in 2010. Last year saw the continued levelling of the playing field.
The bad news is that music sales have dropped in 2010, for the first time since 2005. according to figures released today by Nielsen SoundScan.
In 2005, sales topped 1 billion for the first time ever.
In 2006, sales were 1.2 billion.
In 2007, sales were 1.4 billion.
In 2008, sales were 1.5 billion.
In 2009, sales were 1.6 billion.
In 2010, sales dropped back to 1.5 billion.
So where did they drop?
Overall music sales were down 2.4% for the year. Digital album sales increased 13% but total album sales (all formats) was down 12.7%.
LP sales (vinyl) was up 14% but all albums were down 9.5%, according to data released today from Nielsen SoundScan.
The music business since 2000 has been a Work In Progress and 2010 showed the work is still in progress.
So what is working? Independent record stores for one. Indie stores have maintained a consistent 8% of total sales over the years.
Physical discs are a constant seller. Department stores selling CDs sell 33% of albums, Chains sell 23% of albums and the Indies 8% brings album sales are retail up to 64% of all sales in the USA.
But then online retailers sell 26% of album. The physical disc in the USA still accounts for 90% of sales.
So what are people buying? Mainly Rock. By far the biggest selling genre of 2010 was Rock with rock album sales clocking up 103,709,000. In the USA, next was R&B with 57,871,000.
Alternative music is the third biggest music genre (so why is it called alternative) with 53,727,000. Country albums sold 43,718,000.
The headline could be “Album sales down, digital sales up”. The real story is that the industry is pretty stable.
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