Music album sales hit eight-year low in 2005

[HARD ROCK UNIVERSE]

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S. music album sales last year slid to their lowest level since 1996, squelching any hopes that the recording industry's long downward spiral may have bottomed out, according to sales data issued on Wednesday.

Tracking firm Nielsen SoundScan, which measures point-of-sale purchases across the United States, said total album sales -- including current and catalog titles -- fell 7.2 percent from 2004 to 618.9 million units, the lowest since 1996, when they were 616.6 million.

After enjoying a rare "up" year in 2004, prompting predictions the worst was over, sales flagged during 2005, hurt by competition from illegal downloads, rival forms of entertainment such as video games, and a lack of breakout musical acts.

ndeed the top album was from veteran pop singer
Mariah Carey, who sold almost five million units of her comeback release "The Emancipation of Mimi." By contrast, the top album of 2004, R&B singer Usher's "Confessions," sold almost eight million copies that year.

The industry counts CDs, cassettes, vinyl records and digital releases as "albums."

Nielsen SoundScan said overall music sales, which includes albums, singles, music videos and digital tracks, jumped 22.7 percent to just over a billion units in 2005. The rise was fueled by a 194 percent increase in digital downloads.

Industry leader Universal Music Group was the top distributor with 31.7 percent of album sales, up from 29.6 percent in 2004. The unit of France's Vivendi Universal SA released both Carey's album and the year's second-ranked album, rapper 50 Cent's "The Massacre," which sold 4.9 million units.

Sony BMG Music Entertainment, a nascent joint venture between Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news). and Bertelsmann AG, was second with 25.61 percent, down from 28.4 percent in 2004. Its top album was inaugural "American Idol" winner
Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway," which ranked No. 3 for the year with sales of 3.5 million copies.

Third was Warner Music Group Corp., with 15 percent of the market, up slightly from 2004 when it had about a 14.7 percent share. Album sales were led by punk trio Green Day, which sold 3.4 million copies of "American Idiot," the year's No. 4 release.

EMI Group Plc. was last among the "big four" major labels with 9.5 percent, down from 9.9 percent in 2004. Its top act was British band Coldplay, which ranked No. 6 on the albums list with sales of 2.6 million copies for "X&Y."


Here's a novel thought : Why don't you put out music that doesn't actually SUCK, and perhaps people will buy it?

[Jesse]

Here's a novel thought : Why don't you put out music that doesn't actually SUCK, and perhaps people will buy it?

Bingo! You know they are going to blame illegal downloading and even used CD stores for this, but I think they should look in the mirror here. I mean, put out music that doesn't suck and PROMOTE IT! I mean, former platinum selling artists like Styx and Molly Hatchet released albums in 2005, yet many of their old fans don't even know about it. There a whole slew of new albums by classic rocker artists that never get promoted. Promote those records and your slump will be over. Radio keeps playing the same old classics. That's nice but how many copies of "Dark Side Of The Moon" (sorry for that reference again, Pete) do people need 30+ years after the fact?

[kim]

Right on Jesse...and Nightwatcher!!! Yeah!!!!
Said it with a grin!!!

Thanks
Kim

[Rush862]

Both statements above are absolutely correct...

Even the Classic rock stations are getting to be a bore...playing the same old classid rock artists classic rock songs over and over again...we need to hear the new tunes from the old bands and the new tunes from the new good bands...and there ARE some out there, we just don't hear them.

[HARD ROCK UNIVERSE]

I'd like to clarify my earlier statement just a little. There are hundreds of great bands out there, playing great music, but the major labels aren't interested. They cater to the teenage crowd, and totally disregard anyone over the age of 30, unless it's to hype up the latest "grand statement" from Sting or some crap like that. It's like okay, you're not a teenager anymore, you're not supposed to rock, and we'll just ignore you and put out another rap album. IF the major labels signed good bands and got behind them, promoted them, got the word out, people would buy them. I don't believe for a second that all the people that used to buy millions of rock albums just went away all of a sudden, they've just been ignored. If they knew of a lot of the Sh*t that's out there, they'd love it. This is what they get for catering to kids, who have the attention span of a fruitfly. If video games can make them forget about music, then they're not true fans of music, and perhaps they're focusing on the wrong audience? Most of the people I know would rather have a CD to keep instead of just an MP3, so we're not the ones who are hurting sales, it's the kids that don't know any better. Also, the music idustry made billions and billions of dollars reselling us albums we already owned when they made the big switch to CD's. That went on for YEARS, until pretty much everything has been released or re-released several times over. How many times do you have to buy 'Dark Side Of The Moon' for example? I think pretty much every household has bought a copy of that at one time or another it seems. Of course album sales are going to be down, we already have all the albums. I look for the industry to push for another format change in the not too distant future so they can try and make us buy everything all over again

[Pete]

The next format change is here. It's .mp3s but the music industry is reluctant to jump on because it's too easy to steel. I agree with almost everything said but you can't ignore being able to think of a song or now with broadband and entire album and within two minutes you have it in CD quality with out paying for it. Another 5 minutes you can have it on CD or your IPod. All the while making it available to thousands of your closest friends. I Know personally 6 people that have stolen One Way Ticket... on a thread in a different forum around 20 had admitted to downloading that album without paying for it. I agree with most everything said above but Illegal downloading is having a big impact.

[slowride78]

the only new albums i heard about that i didnt have to go looking for was a bigger bang and the new paul mcartney cd.

[sandi]

etep said:

The next format change is here. It's .mp3s but the music industry is reluctant to jump on because it's too easy to steel. I agree with almost everything said but you can't ignore being able to think of a song or now with broadband and entire album and within two minutes you have it in CD quality with out paying for it. Another 5 minutes you can have it on CD or your IPod. All the while making it available to thousands of your closest friends. I Know personally 6 people that have stolen One Way Ticket... on a thread in a different forum around 20 had admitted to downloading that album without paying for it. I agree with most everything said above but Illegal downloading is having a big impact.

I think illegal downloading is a major problem, but I think all those people who are doing it are being hunted down one by one. I personally don't think it is worth it. I pay for any downloads I do, but I still get most of my music by buying CD's................again, the industry needs to look at putting out quality shit, not what the teenyboppers want to SEE and hear.