US CD album sales show 7% slide

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4566186.stm

Album sales in the US dipped by 7% in 2005 but the music download market doubled over the past year, according to early figures.

Sales stood at 602.2 million during the year, down from 650.8 million in 2004, report analysts Nielsen Soundscan. Downloaded music reached 332.7 million for 2005, an increase of 148% on the previous year.

More than 95% of music is sold in CD format, with Mariah Carey and 50 Cent proving the year's biggest sellers (4.8m units).

― Mitya (mitya), Thursday, 29 December 2005 14:54 (twenty years ago)

This year I made a point of trying to buy albums that I'd downloaded and really liked, especially when they weren't on major labels or were relatively early in their careers. I've definitely bought things I wouldn't normally have even looked at, and I am definitely listening to more than than I have since I was in college. But I can't honestly say that I'm sure I'm buying as much as I would have if I weren't downlading. You just know that things would be non-starters. But I still remember when I was buying used CDs for $10 or much less, and vritually never needed to pay more than $11 for new ones. The latter is certainly impossible nowadays. I'm just not willing to take a $16 risk.

Why why why can't record companies stop burdening us with incremental costs for omnipresent marketing and promotion and bring prices down?

― Mitya (mitya), Thursday, 29 December 2005 15:04 (twenty years ago)

[looks around] Hm.... This doesn't look like ILM.

― Mitya (mitya), Thursday, 29 December 2005 15:05 (twenty years ago)

I don't think I buy as much as I used to, and yet I'm not doing any free downloading. I don't really burn CDs very often either. I do think the price is absurdly high for many CDs, and that's part of the deterrent. Maybe I'm also just getting older and becoming more in control of my spending.

This conversation is making me want to go buy some CDs.

But anyway, overall I'm SURE that illegal downloading is hurting music sales. I just don't see how it couldn't -- I know too many people who rarely buy any CDs at all now thanks to downloading.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Thursday, 29 December 2005 16:30 (twenty years ago)

Album sales have gone up everywhere apart from America though, especially in the UK. US sales patterns are weird at the minute though, last week a lot of albums in the UK were selling more than in the same chart positions in the US, despite the US having 5x the population, and downloading (legal and not) has taken off hugely here (the UK) this year especially, so I can't think what's causing it.

― Cressida Breem (neruokruokruokne?), Thursday, 29 December 2005 19:27 (twenty years ago)

got an article to back that up?

― heywood jablomi (heywood), Thursday, 29 December 2005 20:13 (twenty years ago)

I think access to free mp3's will be more likely to CAUSE peopl to buy CD's in th elong run. I probably wouldnt have bought any Momus CDs if not for getting alot of mp3's first. With music, you HAVE to try before you buy if you want to avoid getting your ass burned - you can't get a refund for a sucky CD.

― Mike Hanle y 3000 (hanle y 3000), Friday, 30 December 2005 09:57 (twenty years ago)

you can at fopp.

― emsk ( emsk), Friday, 30 December 2005 10:55 (twenty years ago)

Fopp!? WHat is that! Fancy a pint pint?

― Mike Hanle y 3000 (hanle y 3000), Friday, 30 December 2005 11:01 (twenty years ago)

it's a small chain of record shops - www.fopp.co.uk. they are bloody damn cheap to start with because they buy up all the cds and books and dvds that have been returned unsold to labels/publishers from shops all over europe (i think this is how it works, anyone who knows otherwise please advise) then sell them for often a fiver, sometimes £7, you can usually get new albums for a tenner and special edition/double albums for £15... they are awesome. they have this policy called "suck it and see" and if you buy a cd and think it's crap you can bring it back within a fortnight and get your money back or a different cd. i wuv fopp. they even usually have decent music playing in the shop.

― emsk ( emsk), Friday, 30 December 2005 11:07 (twenty years ago)

Fopp have some weird tax break going on too (for a reason I can't remember just now). Wish I had one near me, they are very good :(

― fandango (fandango), Friday, 30 December 2005 11:12 (twenty years ago)

they do seem to be opening new ones fairly regularly... perhaps you will be lucky. without fopp i would only have bought about a third of the cds i've bought in the last two years.

― emsk ( emsk), Friday, 30 December 2005 11:15 (twenty years ago)

I would fopp but I live in Americka. All I can do if a cd sucks is put it on ebay. I have had the sad experience of trying to sell used cds to used cd stores and they said " No one wants these Cds. Take them away, jerk. " WHo would have thought Chumpawumba would be such a pariah?

― Mike Hanle y 3000 (hanle y 3000), Friday, 30 December 2005 11:26 (twenty years ago)

I buying more CDs than I used to, but I'm not sure that the money I spend overall has increased. These days I hardly ever spend more than £10, and most are in the £5-£7 range.

In the early 90s, most of the CDs I bought were probably £13- £16.

― Bob Six (bobbysix), Friday, 30 December 2005 12:21 (twenty years ago)

It's sort of a trade-off, I think, but maybe one that helps the overall quality of music. I'm much less likely to just buy something I've never heard on a whim now ("Oh I hear so-and-so produced this wonder what it's like"), but because I can always listen to mp3s or at least 30 second samples, I'm sometimes more likely to discover and buy something I wouldn't have otherwise.

I have actually bought a handful of albums from the iTunes store but don't think I'll continue -- I prefer having the CD and the packaging.

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Friday, 30 December 2005 14:46 (twenty years ago)

I'm with you. Even though the bottom line is better, if I'm actually going to buy something, I want to have the physical disc.

I wonder what income difference, if any, there is for the artist, between buying the CD in a shop and buying off iTunes?

― Mitya (mitya), Friday, 30 December 2005 14:53 (twenty years ago)

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