14 DAY TRIAL // The Internet has had a profound effect on the music industry and, even now, more than a decade after Napster proved that the people wanted a digital alternative, there are plenty fighting against the obvious trend. With all the gloom and doom scenarios, how did the recording industry fare in 2009. Well, it all depends on your perspective. On both sides of the Atlantic, digital sales continue their growth, but total album sales are down as people are increasingly buying their music one track at a time.
In the US, album sales saw another drop going from 428.4 million in 2008 to 373.9 million units last year, a 12.7 percent decline. These are total album sales, digital and physical copies. When it comes to just digital sales, things are looking a lot better. Album sales were up 16.1 percent to 76.4 million. Single tracks fared even better seeing a 8.3 percent growth to reach 1.159 billion units sold, quite a respectable number.
In the UK, singles sales paint a clear picture of the shift in the way people enjoy and consume music. Singles lead music sales to a 10-year high and an about 40 percent growth in total sales since 2000. In fact, 32.6 percent more singles were sold in 2009 than in the previous year, totaling 152.7 million units, including both digital and physical sales. Digital singles, though, accounted for 98 percent of all sales or 149.7 million units.
Album sales, on the other hand, aren't doing so great dropping 3.5 percent from 2008 and amounting to 128.9 million units sold. Digital album sales saw a huge growth in 2009 of about 60 percent, going from 10.3 million to 16.1 million. Yet, even as more and more people actually buy music, the record labels are still complaining. How come?
As Paid Content points out, revenue from digital sales is lower than from CD, as a track or album typically sells at a lower price. What it fails to point out, though, is that distribution costs for CDs are exponentially higher than for digital copies so actual income is bound to be higher for downloads. What's more, the music industry is not exactly the same as the recording industry so, on the whole, music labels may not be doing so great, but it may very well be the best time to be making music.