Posted October 9, 200618 yr Sales uplift expected in fourth quarter Source: Music Week A spirit of cautious optimism pervades the retail sector going into the fourth quarter, despite a disappointing summer cancelling out earlier 2006 gains in the artist albums market. Artist album sales, which had been ahead of 2005’s running total throughout the year, have since been pegged back to stand a week ago level with a year ago’s figures, while compilations are around 10% down on the year. However, recent sales statistics have been enough to create hope that the fourth quarter will deliver a significant sales uplift, with Scissor Sisters’ Ta-Dah! opening with 288,167 sales last month. This was followed this past week by fellow Universal release Sam’s Town by The Killers, which passed six figures on its first day on sale and looked set to pass 300,000 in its opening week. Furthermore, HMV’s recent trading update showed that the rate at which sales are falling at the UK’s biggest physical music retailer has eased significantly in the past two months. HMV head of music Gary Rolfe says, “As reported in the recent HMV Group trading update, there were encouraging signs across August and September for the business, which has seen us pick up share in the music market. “Obviously a key factor was the strength of some of the releases over this period, most notably from the Scissor Sisters, and, of course, Beyoncé and Justin. However, as a specialist with a strong indie rock profile, we’ve also done pretty well out of the likes of Razorlight, Kasabian, The Kooks and The Fratellis, as you’d expect, while the huge interest in The Killers right now is driving a lot of traffic in-store and online.†“It means we can go into the fourth quarter with a degree of optimism in the knowledge that we have potentially huge albums, including from Robbie and Oasis, to look forward to,†he adds. Other key new releases over the coming months include Meat Loaf’s Bat Out Of Hell 3, and best ofs from both Jamiroquai and U2. “I don’t think it will catch up the ground lost in the summer but it has picked up in the last few weeks,†adds Tom Rose, owner of Reveal Records in Derby. “There are some fairly good new releases out, enough for independents to be operating between the cracks of the majors.†Against some impressive recent sales figures, there is concern that these high volumes are being fuelled by aggressive pricing: The Killers album was for sale at £7.81 at Sainsbury’s in its first week of release last week, while fellow top five title Alright, Still by EMI act Lily Allen has been available for £4.97 in Tesco. The latest round of heavy discounting follows a particularly tough summer, which began with artist album sales down 16.63% year-on-year in June and 9.33% in July. While retailers were then pinning their hopes on a better August and September, they were only partially satisfied. Although sales of artist album were up 1.89% year-on-year in August, with 9.71m units sold (in a five-week month), September was down by 2.38% to 8.20m units, and some retailers believe that a number of high-profile releases underperformed. As a result, sales of artist albums for the year so far are now up by just 0.047% on 2005, with 79.04m units sold, compared to 79.00m for the same period last year. “September and August have been OK,†says Woolworths trading manager music and entertainment Brian Hill. “But we have had under performance on a number of key albums, like Justin Timberlake, Beyoncé and then more recently with Jamelia, although Scissor Sisters was very good.†At the same time, the compilations market has continued to nosedive, with year-on-year sales down every month in 2006. This poor performance shows no sign of abating: sales were down 6.6% year-on-year in August and 11.9% in September. Overall the compilations market for the year so far is down 9.95% compared to 2005.
October 9, 200618 yr Lily Allen has been available for £4.97 in Tesco. :o Its only just been released and they are almost giving it away :lol:
October 9, 200618 yr Tesco are probebly just trying to sell loads of copies to thank Lily for mentioning them in her song :lol:
October 9, 200618 yr :o Its only just been released and they are almost giving it away :lol: It's very good and it's sold well for a debut album.
October 9, 200618 yr Lily's album is fabbehh. And :lol: at Scotty's comments. I suspect album sales will continue to rocket now with U2, Oasis, Sugababes, Girls Aloud, Westlife, Jamiroquai etc releasing shortly ^_^
October 9, 200618 yr its looking like i will have qite a few cd's on my list for christmas as there are many albums released latelt and some coming soon that i want but i can safely say lily allen wont be one of them
October 9, 200618 yr Lily's album is fabbehh. And :lol: at Scotty's comments. I suspect album sales will continue to rocket now with U2, Oasis, Sugababes, Girls Aloud, Westlife, Jamiroquai etc releasing shortly ^_^ Don't forget Robbie
October 9, 200618 yr i wouldnt mind if they do,there new single patience is rumoured to be very good Well it gets its first airplay tomorrow on The Chris Moyles show. :D There are some huge albums coming up over the next month or two that are really sure to boost album sales. ^_^ I think Robbie's or Oasis's will be the biggest selling though.
October 9, 200618 yr i think this years top 10 best selling albums will consist of some of the following snow patrol,oasis,u2,scisoor sisters,the killers,red hot chilli peppers,robbie williams,take that,westlife and possibly the sugababes greatest hits
October 9, 200618 yr Absolute tons out this Christmas Sugababes / Take That / All Saints / Westlife / Maroon 5 / U2 / Oasis / Girls Aloud / Mcfly / Damien Rice will all clear 300,000 and upwards
October 9, 200618 yr ya damien rice should sell very well i forgot him it will be interestinig to see the sales difference between girls aloud greatest hits and sugababes greatest hits,both great pop bands that possibly appeal to the same market
October 10, 200618 yr with so many album releases due there are going to be some casualties. A healthy choice of new releases is fine, but there's only so much money that can be spent at once. Labels need to try and stagger releases throughout the year.
October 10, 200618 yr I think Take That will have the biggest selling album this Christmas. Doubt that very much.
October 11, 200618 yr LOVED the comment on Justin and Beyonce underperforming, but they should have mentioned Christina too, since she is selling even less then Justin, and was expected to sell more.
October 11, 200618 yr with so many album releases due there are going to be some casualties. A healthy choice of new releases is fine, but there's only so much money that can be spent at once. Labels need to try and stagger releases throughout the year. 16th Oct Badly Drawn Boy – Born In The UK P Diddy – Press Play 23rd Oct John Legend – Once Again Meat Loaf – Bat Out Of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose My Chemical Romance - The Black Parade Ordinary Boys - How To Get Everything You Ever Wanted In Ten Easy Steps Pet Shop Boys – Concrete Robbie Williams – Rudebox Rod Stewart – Still the Same 30th Oct Amy Winehouse – Back To Black Girls Aloud - The Sound of Girls Aloud: Greatest Hits Michael Ball - One Voice Tony Bennett – Duets: An American Classic The Who – Endless Wire 6th Nov Cliff Richard – Two’s Company Damien Rice – 9 The Game – The Doctor’s Advocate Jamiroquai - High Times: Singles 1992-2006 The Magic Numbers – Those The Brokes McFly – Motion In The Ocean Moby – Go: The Very Best Of Paul Weller – Hit Parade (1CD/4CD versions) 13th Nov +44 – When Your Heart Stops Beating Charlatans – Forever: The Singles Depeche Mode – The Best Of : Volume 1 George Michael – 25 Jarvis Cocker – Jarvis Lucie Silvas – The Same Side Matt Willis – Matt Willis Simon Webbe – Grace Sugababes – Overloaded: Greatest Hits Take That – Without You Westlife – The Love Album 20th Nov All Saints – Studio 1 The Beatles – LOVE Jools Holland - Moving Out To The Country Oasis - Stop The Clocks U2 – 18: The Best Of 27th Nov Faithless – To All New Arrivals Foo Fighters – Skin & Bones (Live) G4 – Act Three Il Divo – Siempre Jay-Z - Kingdom Come 4th Dec Gwen Stefani – tba I agree, far too many albums released. There will be a lot that completely underperform!
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