MUSIC NEWS - Album sales in the USA again were on a slide, down in 2008 for the seventh time in eight years as growth in the digital sales, one of the few positive areas in the music industry, slowed, according to data issued on Wednesday. Total album sales fell 14 % to 428.4 million units during the 52 weeks ending on December 28, 2008 shows retail sales data collected by tracking firm Nielsen Soundscan. These numbers follow a 15 percent drop in 2007, and sets a new low since the company started monitoring sales back in 1991. Sales have plummeted 45 percent from the industry's high-water mark of 785.1 million units in 2000, due largely to Internet piracy and competition from other forms of entertainment, namely video games. And, this year, the industry also faced an economic recession. While CD sales are on a downtrend, the opposite is true for digital music with over a billion songs downloaded, a 27% increase from 2007 levels, but the growth was slower than the 45% jump in 2007. Digital album sales rose 32 percent to 65.8 million units, after a 53 percent jump in 2007.
In 08, only three other albums sold more than 2 million copies; English rockers Coldplay's "Viva la Vida" and country/pop singer Taylor Swift's "Fearless" each with about 2.1 million, and rocker Kid Rock's 2007 release "Rock N Roll Jesus" with 2 million. Last year, eight albums sold more than 2 million copies. Ms Swift, 19, was the biggest seller of 2008, with 4 million copies, mostly of "Fearless" and her 2006 self-titled debut. Australian rockers AC/DC followed with 3.4 million copies, selling nearly as many of their older, catalog albums as they did of, "Black Ice," their first new release in eight years, which was # 5 with 1.9 million copies.
In total, sales, which includes albums, singles, music video and digital tracks, rose 10.5 percent to 1.5 billion units, after 14 percent growth in 2007 and a 19 percent jump in 2006. For 09, watch for the major labels continue their search for additional digital revenue streams for their releases !
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