Sales figures released today by the Australian Record Industry Association (ARIA) continue to show that Australians are buying physical CDs in a big way ahead of the digital download.
23,521,928 physical albums were purchased in Australia compared to 3,301,366 digital albums last year.
Digital albums did increase market share, up from 2,279,581 sales last year while the physical figure is down from 28,091,253 sales last year. However, physical albums still account for more than 85% of all albums sold in the Australian market.
Digital is strongest in the singles market. 49,180.480 downloads of individual songs sold in Australia last year compared to only 29,174 physical single sales but that figure is deceptive.
The major labels moved almost entirely to digital singles only Australia years ago, basically putting an end to the CD single format. The sales figures we are seeing from last year are represented mostly from Indie artists and the occasional star act for collectibles sales.
Music DVD had a massive downturn from 3,822,397 units to 2,542,386 units or -40.89%. We could joke and say that was because Andre Rieu did not have as many releases last year but maybe that is the truth.
Ringtones are also on the nose. Now with fans being able to set MP3s from their smart-phones to ringtone, the Ringtone market took a massive step back last year from 3,640,924 sales down to 2,814,982.
ARIA Chairman Denis Handlin sees the industry as still being in a state of change. “Our local industry continues to manage its way through times of challenge and transition, and we are very encouraged to see that consumers have continued to embrace legitimate digital purchases, as illustrated by the ongoing growth in digital products,” he said in a statement. “The illegal consumption of music is a constant challenge to our business and to our prospects of growth, and we continue to work with government and ISPs to address this matter.”
Dan Rosen, CEO of ARIA, is optimistic for the future. “Australians are consuming more music than ever before. Our goal as an industry is to make it easier for people to support the artists they love by embracing innovation and supporting new ways to sell music. Digital distribution is strong and we expect to see continued growth this year in digital revenues. 2011 is set to be a monumental year for our Industry, with the 25th anniversary of the ARIA Awards, some big Australian acts scheduled to release new albums and a growing number of Australian artists strutting the international stage”.
Overall, the Australian record industry sales were down by 13.92% in 2010. Australian’s purchased $384,015,182 worth of music last year.
VIDEO: Michael Buble had one of the biggest selling albums in Australia in 2010. Watch his Undercover video interview here:
