Album Sales

Nielsen just issued their NARM report highlighting trends in album sales. Here are some of the main findings:

• By the end of 2010, 50% of music unit purchases will be in the digital format.
• Physical albums still generate more revenue than digital sales, so digital increases will not make up for physical declines until 2011 or beyond.
• In 2009, 39% of music purchases will be made in traditional brick & mortar outlets. That number was 68% in 2001.
• Sales of songs released in the same calendar year are decreasing, showing a trend towards purchases of catalog songs and not necessarily the newest hit.
• A small percentage of albums counted for the majority of album sales in 2008 – 82% of new albums were from just 950 different albums.

So, what does this mean for artists? Well, a good portion of album sales are still in the physical format. This is decreasing rapidly, but it still may be too early to go only digital. Artists must think of innovative ways to release their digital tracks to meet their fans where they are purchasing.

Stay tuned,
Erik
erikrostad.com
Follow me on Twitter