Recently, we have noticed a huge drop in album sales everywhere in the world starting in the US when album sales declined by 70% from 1999 till 2009 . Nowadays, most mainstream artists are struggling to even sell 300.000 copies of their latest album , while back in 1999, an average maintream artist could easily sell 4 million copies.

In The UK, the album sales decrease trend started in 2004 but continued throughout this decade and currently album sales in the UK are in an all-time-low and world music researchers are predicting a more rapid decline in 2010. Is this the end of the music industry as we know it?

Will charts worldwide only consist of digital tracks without the inclusion of downloads? Is this situation reversible?

 

Actually i think that it can we reversible if :

1.Record labels and internet providers take drastic measures against illegal file-sharers ,P2P programs such as Limewire and free music blogs and file sharing programs such as ZShare, Rapidshare and Mediafire and shutting them down or adding copyright restrictions to these programs....

2.Record labels lower the price of physical albums to 4.99 and internet albums to 3.99

3.They Create a new breed of album Eg. the DVD Album which includes DVD-Rom features, music videos, interviews, live performances and remixes.

4.They Make physical albums more available in supermarkets, coffee shops, newspaper stands....

 

There's a lot to be done, but if there's a will, there's a way!!!!

Edited April 20, 200916 yr by Big Mistake

I think it's downhill from now on. Sales of albums in the top 40 have been in decline for a good couple of years now, it's been the catalogue sellers that have helped keep the overall picture from looking worse than it could have been.

 

Here's how album sales have been in recent years

 

1999: 113,779,000

2000: 134,125,063

2001: 145,235,988

2002: 149,227,012

2003: 159,240,000

2004: 163,214,583

2005: 159,118,610

2006: 154,984,674

2007: 136,486,733

2008: 133,643,773

 

these are actual over the counter sales, not shipments so they represent what we are buying rather than what record stores are stocking.

 

Download track sales are soaring and the only way this can be happening is the same as it is in the US, people are beginning to cherry pick tracks from albums rather than buying an album in its entirety. Download album sales now account for 16% of all album sales, however the increase in digital sales this year is outstripped by the decline in CD sales and album sales in total are down by 7% so far this year.

RECESSION springs to mind, casual music buyers can't afford to buy albums any more atm.

I think they will pick up again, maybe not soon but they will at some point.

 

i think they'll plateau and start to rise again. Downloads are far more suited to single tracks. I mean if you shop around you can get new albums for the same price or cheaper than downloads. Plus you get something to feel, the artwork, the credits, etc.

Actually i think that it can we reversible if :

1.Record labels and internet providers take drastic measures against illegal file-sharers ,P2P programs such as Limewire and free music blogs and file sharing programs such as ZShare, Rapidshare and Mediafire and shutting them down or adding copyright restrictions to these programs. ...

No, this strategy has never worked and never will.

 

Without spending an hour or so explaining about good marketing. In short a better strategy is to make entry cheap or free and then deepen the relationship to the customer. So you get more spin off and better $$$ from the indirect things, so that would be live gigs, t-shirt, personalised items etc.

Of course many artist do this already and that is where the $$$ is being made. Not from album sales.

 

2.Record labels lower the price of physical albums to 4.99 and internet albums to 3.99

Sounds like a bad idea. Better sales but less profit.

 

3.They Create a new breed of album Eg. the DVD Album which includes DVD-Rom features, music videos, interviews, live performances and remixes.

Possible but then these things cost...so increase the album price?

4.They Make physical albums more available in supermarkets, coffee shops, newspaper stands....

Supermarkets for sure, this is happening, yet I suspect it's not the physical album that is the way of the future but the digital one.

Album sales have been plummeting each year, I don't think they will recover, as Robbie said major acts will do well, if they are well known like Robbie, Oasis. The biggest test will be Leona when she releases her next album in the autumn, she probably sell well to begin with, but she won't match the success, she has done with Spirit. Also acts that are big sellers on their debut albums, most follow up albums have hardly done the business, for example James Blunt.

 

I don't think they will ever recover, as now we are moving towards the digital age for all our music, singles are vitually non existant, even vinyls seem to be struggling at the moment, I used to buy a lot of rare stuff, but there isn't any of it out there. Cherry picking will always be there, as people use this method quite a lot to test an album if they want to buy it or not.

 

Leaking of tracks does not help either.

Make all new release albums about a fiver and I'd certainly buy more.

Make all new release albums about a fiver and I'd certainly buy more.

 

 

The record company makes nothing out of it you be killing the album market pretty quick, it will never happen, to me 7.99 or 8.99 is sufficient for an album they have come down a lot.

No, this strategy has never worked and never will.

So you get more spin off and better $$$ from the indirect things, so that would be live gigs, t-shirt, personalised items etc.

Of course many artist do this already and that is where the $$$ is being made. Not from album sales.

 

How many artists can actually do live gigs???? :mellow: they should be already known acts with an album or two at least: so in your opinion there is NO hope for new artists to EVER make any kind of profit!!!! The same goes for T-Shirts or merchandising which can only apply to veteran acts (mostly rock) and yet doesn't reach 1% of the profit an artist make from album sales .... :blink:

 

Albums are where most money is made NOT t-shirts!!!!!! :wacko: How many people are gonna buy a Tinchy Strider, a Keri Hilson or a La Roux t-shirt... NOBODY!!! and how many people would actually go to their gigs ???? NOT MANY.. :lol:

Edited April 20, 200916 yr by Big Mistake

Martin, with a good song, and a peformance on XFactor...Leona's album, will have done a million by Xmas! ;)

How many artists can actually do live gigs???? :mellow: they should be already known acts with an album or two at least: so in your opinion there is NO hope for new artists to EVER make any kind of profit!!!! The same goes for T-Shirts or merchandising which can only apply to veteran acts (mostly rock) and yet doesn't reach 1% of the profit an artist make from album sales .... :blink:

 

Albums are where most money is made NOT t-shirts!!!!!! :wacko: How many people are gonna buy a Tinchy Strider, a Keri Hilson or a La Roux t-shirt... NOBODY!!! and how many people would actually go to their gigs ???? NOT MANY.. :lol:

 

I would say its more the alternative genre of music that get money through touring. They tour A LOT, and have festivals which are major money spinners. Compared to pop singers, they have a lot more venues open to them and they don't need to charge £40 for a ticket for example - they get smaller audiences, and probably make just as much profit (well, not against someone like Britney, Justin Timberlake, Madonna). Merchandising is very good too. People will always buy band t-shirts, posters etc. again, maybe not so much for pop artists again.

 

New artists can always come through too. Just look at the artists coming through at the moment, a lot of them originally were on smaller labels (or not signed at all) and through blogs and myspace they've eventually been signed to a bigger label. Also all acts need support artists!

 

I still think album sales can rise again, but changes need to be made. Its not going to be something that's gonna happen overnight, and will probably take a few years, but the execs just need to look at the evolution of the download. Surely charging £4/5 for a digital album can't be that much of a loss for them? They won't have to go through distribution etc.

If albums were around a fiver, I would definately buy more. I used to buy albums that I liked, whether I had illegally downloaded them already or not. But now I just download everything illegally - mainly for money reasons. It was nice having a collection of CDs though and I do miss that. I wish I could afford to own some of the recent albums which I really like, like Lily Allen and Santogold.

 

As for legal downloads, I have downloaded 2 albums legally in the past and I'd never do it again. Whether I use a torrent or pay through iTunes, the product I get is the same whereas buying from the high street there's more insentive because I actually get something more when I pay for it. I don't think pushing legal downloads of albums will work, because anyone that can download something off iTunes probably has the capabilities to illegally download it too and I think a lot of people have the same mentality as me. That's why I think the change has to be in high street shops.

Edited April 21, 200916 yr by Ashley

Yes, make the physical albums cheaper.

^DITTO

 

And how about making digital-only albums count? :huh:

Yes, make the physical albums cheaper.

 

but do u think it's really enough or there are measures to be taken against illegal file sharers and downloaders????

personally i dont buy physical albums anymore, the only ones i bought last year were coldplay and Leona. I stick to digital albums but they are too expensive. they can make them £5.99 and that would be a fair price for me. £3.99 is just not fair on the artists as they will not make that much money.

While single sales are higher than ever before, I can't see the album market to ever again reach the size of some years ago. The future of record sales is digital, and cherrypicking is the future of digital sales. I can even see the album by itself being only a niche product in about 10-15 years.

first question I've voted for: No , Cherry Pickin' Album Tracks From Internet Music Stores Has Killed It

 

second question, although I've voted no, still voted for that too but I could only vote for one, although there are lots more possibilities to help album sales:

 

all of these issues could help together to help the albums:

 

- By Creating A new breed : The DVD Album with videos , remixes and live performances & DVR-Rom features

- By Making Physical Albums Cheaper: 4.99 for a new release

- By Making Download Albums Cheaper : 3.99 for a new release

- By Making Albums More Accesible : Supermarkets, Mail, Newspaper Stands etc....

 

And again with illegal filesharing I have the same opinion: it's very easy to blame it on the illegal downloads/filesharing etc. Just to close down those sites would NOT make sales higher. Albums should be made for costumers more attractive. At the moment they aren't attractive.

 

BTW don't forget also the recession. This has an effect on the music sales too. People think twice what they want to buy for their money, what is really necessary to have!

How many artists can actually do live gigs???? :mellow: they should be already known acts with an album or two at least: so in your opinion there is NO hope for new artists to EVER make any kind of profit!!!! The same goes for T-Shirts or merchandising which can only apply to veteran acts (mostly rock) and yet doesn't reach 1% of the profit an artist make from album sales .... :blink:

 

Albums are where most money is made NOT t-shirts!!!!!! :wacko: How many people are gonna buy a Tinchy Strider, a Keri Hilson or a La Roux t-shirt... NOBODY!!! and how many people would actually go to their gigs ???? NOT MANY.. :lol:

I'm sorry to argue with you, but that's totally not true. Artists don't make much money out of albums anymore. They earn a lot more with live gigs, performances, promotions, adverts and also with gifts (like t-shirt etc). You're laughing on this now but there are pretty big demand for this. Just look at those smoving shops at the concerts. They sell lots of gifts not just albums.

 

And as for new artists: they have pretty big opportunities now with the internet: Myspace, YouTube etc to make themselves get to know with people. BTW the new artists don't want to have profit on their music at first. They play just for fun. youngsters don't create bands to make money with it. Never heard of anyone who created a band just to make money tbh :blink: