Top iPad Music Apps (a/o May 23rd):
(
We just got our hands on comprehensive RIAA shipment and retail value statistics dating back to 1998. And this is the story on CDs (units in millions, US-specific, net after returns.)
Here's the spreadsheet for 2009 & 2010.
Comments Closed
Joe Sherbanee Thursday, June 02, 2011
Well, the CD single is up. That's good news, right?
anonymous Thursday, June 02, 2011
Why are you still writing about this? We know, physical is dead. Moving on...
Faza (TCM) Thursday, June 02, 2011
Possibly because the CD offers a better margin than digital - even compared to full-album downloads. Lower margins = lower incomes = less investment funds for new music.
anonymous Friday, June 03, 2011
= The CD is dead so get over trying to find a way to monetize it.
Visitor Sunday, June 05, 2011
digital has waaaaaay better margins than physical... someone needs to do a P/L... the problem is not the margin on the CD vs Digital the problem is PIRACY... there's NO MARGIN in ILLEGALLY FREE...
Muckraker Thursday, June 02, 2011
Where would I buy them? If Wendy's (Tower) closed all of their restaurants and so did Burger King (Virgin) and McDonalds (Wal-mart Target etc.) started to sell only kid-friendly products, while boutique chains In-N-Out (Indie Record stores) couldn't or wouldn't expand... I'm fairly sure you'd see a decline in Hamburger sales.
I'd love to see an infographic that relates to how many stores sell Cds. If Wal-mart and Target are the only POPs left in most locales.
I would also include how many Cds have sold that are edited/whitewashes/censored. This is a huge problem that has been under-evaluated.
lifer Thursday, June 02, 2011
RIAA and Billboard are so yesterday.
NathanJE Thursday, June 02, 2011
Wow.
This isn't air leaking out of a balloon, is an all out POP! That's a serious decline. Looks like until about 2007, you could make arguments to the effect that the market was in a downturn, blah blah etc. It's utterly impossible to do this now.
Muckraker Thursday, June 02, 2011
Still just one tiny problem with this.... It's all RIAA numbers. I'm not sure how many of you reading this (artists or albums) are included in RIAA, but I'm guessing maybe 1 or 2 maybe none. Am I close?
So, while a large release, major label shipment looks dead in physical, it's hard to actually tell when not one single Cd printed/sold independently is included in this number. Take into account also that there were at least double the number of Cds printed in the independet/unaccounted for category than RIAA.
There are many bands/artists still selling Cds, some more than last year, some less depending on new music and fanbase.
If you're intersted in a major label deal... you should be scared. But to see these stats, that most likely do not include you and never will, you should feel emboldened that all of those over-hyped acts aren't taking your fan's hard earned cash.
Vail, CO Friday, June 03, 2011
@muckracker
that's inaccurate, b/c this also include major-owned indie distros, which include tons of indie releases.
Visitor Thursday, June 02, 2011
as per the spreadsheet, USA specific,
Download Album, Units Shipped Growth, 1 Year = 8.8%
Download Album, Dollar Value Growth, 1 Year = 8.6%
Download Album, Averge Selling Price Growth, 1 Year = -0.186%
CD, Units Shipped Growth, 1 Year = -22.9%
CD, Dollar Value Growth, 1 Year = -21.4%
CD, Average Selling Price Growth, 1 Year = 2.014%
as per www.usinflationcalculator.com,
Average Annual Inflation Rate, USA, 1 Year = 1.678%
CD prices rose more than the average annual rate of inflation in 2010 in the midst of a slow economic recovery which contributed to the drop in sales. Meanwhile, download album prices remained steady in the face of inflation during the same slow economic period and may have contributed to healthy growth in sales.
@lucas_gonze Thursday, June 02, 2011
Lucas Gonze
Given how bad the news is, how are so many labels still standing? What's keeping them going?
@Radio23 Thursday, June 02, 2011
Radio23.org
Vinyl & fans
@RockTilYouDrop Thursday, June 02, 2011
Toby Burton
Oh, dear
@petmarmoset Thursday, June 02, 2011
Ryan Matthew Wines
This isn't news...but further proof that CDs are a dying/dead format.
gpscc Thursday, June 02, 2011
I wish we had all the numbers so that I could do a real analysis. That being said, what I see here is that the decline in Revenue is much greater than the decline in units.
So essentially the market price point/CD (what the market will bear) has been eroding very quickly, much more quickly than volume.
presnikoff Thursday, June 02, 2011
Just mailed it to you. If anyone else wants the file (1998-2008), let me know, just post a comment and make sure you're registered (so I can find your email and direct-send).
I hear there's another copy floating around the interwebs now also.
/pr
benstauffer Saturday, June 04, 2011
I would like the spreadsheet if I could get it from you. Surprised by the 2010 increase in avg. CD price, want to analyze that trend over longer term.
Queer Eye... Thursday, June 02, 2011
Now I KNOW you didn't just up and do a Christmas in June on my CD sales plunge chart honey! DMN... mmm mmm mmm, we gotta clean up this color scheme - ta tee ta!
@nataliayanchak Thursday, June 02, 2011
Natalia Yanchak
Doneskis.
Tony van Veen Friday, June 03, 2011
CDs declining is not news, though it makes sense to report on the latest numbers. As @muckraker points out above, these are label numbers. On the independent/DIY front the drop is not nearly as precipitous.
One of the problems with all numbers quoted is that a huge number of releases, artists, and revenues fly completely below the SoundScan/RIAA radar, and are never reported on. But last year Disc Makers alone released over 50,000 new CD titles, probably several hundred times the output of all the so-called major labels and major indies. Oh, and that's up 14% from the previous year.
As barriers to entry into the industry drop (it's cheaper and easier than ever to create a professional-sounding recording and release it), more artists enter the market and release product. And these artists live outside the "music industry" -- they don't get airplay, traditional distribution, or retail placement. Yet, in the aggregate, they move large numbers (and plenty of individual artists move nice numbers too). These DIY artists rely on gig income for the bulk of their revenues. And a CD -- along with the ubiquitous T-shirt -- is one of the biggest revenue drivers for artists at gigs. And say what you want, a CD is a much more satisfying purchase than a download card.
Now, indie/DIY CD revenues are also declining, but very slowly. (I would estimate that number at mid single digit percent declines year over year.) More titles are released, but each title sells less. Where 5 years ago virtually every CD run manufactured by Disc Makers was for 1,000 units, today half of our runs are for 100 units. But the orders are way up.
We all can see where this is going. Just look at the chart. But it's not going to go to zero. There's plenty of life yet left in the CD for independent artists. And there are plenty of fans who still like to buy CDs, and artists (at least those who gig) are ignoring a very real revenue stream if they opt to go CD-less for their new releases.
Tony van Veen, CEO, AVL Digital
(Disc Makers, CD Baby, HostBaby, BookBaby)
CTyankee Friday, June 03, 2011
Tony,
You're leaving way too much out of this.
(1) CD Baby reports to Soundscan, no? So this above might be the RIAA version of things, but if I remember correctly the Soundscan drive looks pretty bad too. So, if you are reporting then how could you say that you are not getting reflected?
Unless I am mistaken and CD Baby is not reporting into Soundscan (please clarify then?)
(2) Most CD Baby artists make almost nothing, in fact I'd say that they'd barely show up on this chart if everyone was indeed counted properly. In fact the only person really making any money off of this is CD Baby, adding up all the crumbs to make a cake.
(3) Maybe the D.I.Y. set is declining less, but where was it before? Certainly not at the heights the traditional label business was.
So Tony, I think we all need to recognize that this argument that there is some sort of hidden groundswell is not accurate at all.
Thanks!
mnew Friday, June 03, 2011
@presnikoff do you mind sending me the figures for the previous years as well. Wouldn't mind digging into them a bit more.
Tony van Veen Friday, June 03, 2011
@ CTYankee: Dude, don't put words like groundswell in my mouth. I clearly said that volume is declining, even though the number of titles is up. To answer your questions more specifically (and numerically):
(1) Yes, CD Baby reports to Soundscan. BUT... I was quoting Disc Makers numbers. Believe it or not, only a minority of Disc Makers titles go to CD Baby. When you add in CD Baby's titles that weren't made by Disc Makers, the number of DIY titles released begins to approach 100K. But, OK, you're right, CD Baby's numbers are in the Soundscan reports. However, again, CD Baby/Soundscan numbers don't track the biggest volume generators for DIY content: gig sales. They're. just. not. tracked.
(2) This may be true, but is irrelevant to my original point: that CD sales in the indie/DIY sector are not collapsing like the majors, merely declining modestly.
(3) Again, you're right. DIY is much smaller in terms of unit volume than the mass-consumption pap we're fed by the majors. As far as where it was before, I don't have absolutes to offer up, since we (Disc Makers/CD Baby) represents only a small piece of the DIY space, and the space is not measured. However, I can tell you this: while CD volume from the majors began declining in earnest in 2000, in the DIY space CD volumes continued to grow through 2008! Different market, different uses, different needs. And, of course, much less affected by piracy.
Have a nice day.
Tony
JMiles Friday, June 03, 2011
How can CD sales not go down when there are no stores to buy CDs? Much of the public still goes to brick and mortar stores and since,Tower, Circuit City, HMV,Virgin, Borders (small) aren't around numbers have to go down. I personally have to get CDs because the sound of MP3's are just miserable. Many artists also sell at shows and don't report to Sound Scan.All of these charts are total bullshit to me
Peace, Jason Miles
Econ Saturday, June 04, 2011
Lol! I stopped buying CD's because the mastering jobs on CD is utter crap - compressed beyond belief. If I have no choice but to have a crummy mastering job, I'm going to pay as little as possible. But if you give me a good mastering job - fairly common in the vinyl market - I will pay a higher price for it.
There ARE crummy mastering jobs in the vinyl market - mostly out of Universal. The only Universal products I purchase are heavily discounted downloads.
lsapadin Friday, June 03, 2011
What accounts for the bump in 2004?
marty Friday, June 03, 2011
Wait, you're telling me people still pay for music? LOL
@L4M Friday, June 03, 2011
Josh Kaplan
Don't listen to the labels...
@Buzzsonic Friday, June 03, 2011
Adrian Fusiarski
RIAA figures, not indies
@musicregistry Friday, June 03, 2011
Stephen Trumbull
What about the non-RIAA numbers?
Jim Grobecker Friday, June 03, 2011
Ouch, thats a very sad chart for the CD and it continued decline. 2010 marked the first year that digital revenues surpassed CD sales. That is a big problem. This graph really hits on the challenges ahead for the recorded industry.
@wallacemt Friday, June 03, 2011
Blade Christensen
Knew was bad but this is nuts
@HugeAu Sunday, June 05, 2011
Huge
Wow!
@loebpaul Monday, June 06, 2011
Paul Loeb
No love for the compact disc?
@joelwerner Tuesday, June 07, 2011
Joel B. Werner
Hey, The Major Label Music Industry: "Uh-oh, spaghetti-oh.."
OUR SPONSORS
© 2011 All Rights Reserved
Follow Us