A common line of thought starting to develop by the smarter members of the music industry is that maybe new music isn't selling as much as it used to because the new acts the majors are signing are crap.
Mid-year sales figures from the US certainly back up the argument.Only one new music act, James Blunt, has made the Top 10 for the first half of 2006.
According to Nielsen SoundScan, new music sales have dropped to just 22% in the first half of 2005, compared to 39% in the same period last year.
CD sales figures also back up the argument. The ‘High School Musical' soundtrack, the number one album for the first half of 2006, has sold 2.6 million units compared to 50 Cent's ‘The Massacre' last year which had sold 4 million in the same period.
While catalog sales have remained fairly consistent, down around 3 million units of 2005, current releases have dropped by 8.6 million units.
James Blunt's ‘Back To Bedlam' is the third biggest selling album of 2006 so far. It has sold 1,659,040 units.
