(#NMSLA11) The incredibly-shrinking album is forcing everyone to adapt. But why can't artists even sell 10,000 units anymore? Especially when top-line album sales are still in the billions?
At New Music Seminar in LA on Tuesday, another stunning stat surfaced. Last year, just 1,215 albums sold more than 10,000 units in the US. Here's what the last three years looked like, according to the presented figures:
o Albums selling more than 10,000 units in 2010: 1,215
o Albums selling more than 10,000 units in 2009: 1,319
o Albums selling more than 10,000 units in 2008: 1,515
Meanwhile, the financial impact on artists - DIY, indie, major, legacy, whatever - remains severe. We all know the major label story, though developing artists are also feeling the pinch. Part of the reason is that it's more difficult to sell pressed discs at shows, and bands are therefore losing a critical source of tour self-financing.
Maybe YouTube can save us? It's dark comedy, though YouTube executives actually tried to make the case that free could beat paid - perhaps a reality for artists like Lady Gaga, but a totally irrelevant calculation for most struggling artists.
Comments Closed
j-lon Tuesday, February 15, 2011
how many albums were released in 2010?
presnikoff Tuesday, February 15, 2011
That's a tough question, because anyone can release an album - physical, digital, whatever. So it's impossible to truly count - though in 2009, Soundscan counted 98,000 albums that sold at least 1 copy.
Anyone else - more data?
/pr
@lankylightning Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Ben Rehbein
album sales is not the only profitable area of the music business. how about live performances and the revenue there?
DavidB Wednesday, February 16, 2011
No doubt touring is profitable for U2, Bon Jovi, and a few other stadium acts, but for the vast majority of small or medium sized acts it is tough. See this article:
http://www.altpress.com/features/entry/no_money_mo_problems/
Also, believe it or not, there are people who make good music in the studio but for a variety of reasons can't or won't tour. E.g. women with young children. But that's not very 'rock-and-roll', is it?
Dr Huge Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Where did the gem that Indies can "no longer sell pressed discs at shows" come from?
I've not noticed any decline lately. Got more data on that one?
Richard GE Wednesday, February 16, 2011
I'm not aware of it being more difficult to sell CDs at gigs. Is there any info on that? I wonder if any bands have tried selling mp3 albums on USB sticks?
It is impossible to say how many albums were released in a given year because of all the different formats and the fact that not all formats, and not all content providers, are actually tracked (for example if you sell tracks off your web site, or CDs at gigs, the industry stats don't actually count them: how could they?).
For the same reason it's actually impossible to say what's happening to sales. More and more, the sales are in the long tail - many, many independent acts selling small numbers of tracks and albums off their sites or privately, or small online sales operations specialising in independent artists - people like Magnatune.com for example: I bet they are not tracked by any industry statisticians. Neither, I suspect, is BeatPort, to give just two examples, and they're quite large. There a simply thousands of much smaller outfits out there today, selling away. All those are real sales, but as they are not counted by the industry, they contribute to a possibly erroneous negative impression of how the business is doing.
Artists are moving away from the majors and doing it themselves. They're communicating direct to audiences. Yet these sales remain unaccounted for, and possibly must remain so. This simply tells you of the shrinking relevance of big labels and traditional industry stats: it doesn't tell you about sales or the health of the industry.
And at the same time, some things have turned on their heads. In the old days you toured to promote the album: today you might put recordings out there to encourage attendance at live gigs or special "members only" events, streams and merchandise - making money where the scarcity is.
Meanwhile, the focus on the album has tended to reduce: people prefer to buy individual tracks they like. Thus albums sales per se, and thus hit albums, may well be down.
The days of the blockbuster hit from the major label may be over: that's just not what either artists or audiences are looking for any more. This is not necessarily a bad thing: artists comunicating direct to their audiences is almost certain a good thing.
Just don't go away with the impression that big-label album sales - or big labels themselves - going downhill means the industry is going downhill: this is almost certainly not the case. In some senses it's never been more vibrant - but the stats don't follow the little guys, and the music biz today is increasingly little guys.
Vail, CO Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Richard
obviously you've never taken a band on the road or managed a band and seen that CDs are much harder to sell nowadays. I just laugh when I see posts like yours because USB sticks arent' some replacement okay? The drop of albums is everyones problem and is not gettin replaced by USB sticks or downloads or whatever. your lucky to sell a t shirt and that doesn't make up for the loss.
you mention the long tail so let me laugh some more, because there are no sales there and there isn't some conspiracy not to count them all. please spaer me the digital revolution pep talk i'm over it.
Jon Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Actually, it's pretty easy to report venue sales to SoundScan, and a lot of artists are doing it. Sure, there are a lot who aren't, and there are still some retailers who aren't reporting sales (digital or physical), but the notion that there are lots of music sales that are escaping detection - enough to come anywhere close to offsetting the across-the-board declines being reported everywhere else - doesn't have much to recommend it. I think it's mostly whistling past the graveyard.
Blackbird Thursday, February 17, 2011
Very well put.
@tonyloughlin Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Anthony Loughlin
pretty grim reading...
@Pjgarea Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Peter J. Garea
You won't make money selling records, get on the road and push for licensing opportunities
jefrey Monday, February 21, 2011
thanks your posting..
@ReverbNation Wednesday, February 16, 2011
ReverbNation.com
How did you adapt?
j-lon Wednesday, February 16, 2011
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