US CD sales drop 20% in one year

BBC Entertainment News

 

Sales of CDs in the US have fallen by 20% in the last year, according to research company Nielsen Soundscan.

 

Eighty-nine million CDs were sold in the first three months of 2007, compared with 112 million during the same period in 2006.

 

The growth in digital music failed to compensate, with album sales dropping by 10% overall.

 

Soundscan counts every 10 downloads as a "digital album" as music fans tend not to buy complete albums online.

 

Around 288 million individual songs were downloaded in the first three months of 2007, up from 242 million in the same period last year.

 

Fans 'in control'

 

"It comes back to consumers being in complete control of their media experience," music industry analyst Michael McGuire of Gartner Research told the Agence France-Presse news agency.

 

Mr McGuire said fans were sending artists a message: "While you may have put a lot of thought into the sequence of the album, I only like these three songs."

 

But the digital market is a long way from overtaking the traditional record store - 90% of all albums are still sold as CDs.

 

Nielsen Soundscan compiles the official US charts for Billboard magazine.

 

Any Comments as to why sales are continuing to fall in America?

 

 

I can only think its because its been a slightly uninteresting period for music lately - no huge names like Jay-Z releasing new albums so far this year. Im sure they will grow later in the year.

I can only think its because its been a slightly uninteresting period for music lately - no huge names like Jay-Z releasing new albums so far this year. Im sure they will grow later in the year.

 

Norah is a much bigger name then Jay-Z... In fact, Jay-Z´s last album sold more then 50% of its total during the debut week, and then plummeted.

TBH, the first three months have been bad as Jark101 said. Not many awesome artists. Only Daughtry, Norah Jones, etc. But still... I hope they grow soon.

You also have to think that last year Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake, among many others made a comeback to the music scene last year. The most anticipated albums for this year are Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, and Britney Spears. There will be other unexpected big sellers, but those seem to be the only "in the bag" sales that are for sure so far...

 

It will continue to decline, we will soon get to the point where 1 million for albums is HUGE in America.