Arrival of Beatles on Apple's iTunes causes uptick in music sales
The availability of The Beatles' catalog on iTunes, along with the resurgence of vinyl, are credited with a 1.6 percent increase in total music sales so far in the U.S. in 2011.
Nielsen this week offered a look at domestic music sales in 2011 through May 8 and found that digital album purchases were up 16.8 percent, while individual digital track sales were up 9.6 percent. Catalog album sales were also up 5.4 percent at the start of 2011, a boost credited to the arrival of the entire catalog of The Beatles on iTunes in late 2010.
Digital music sales through services like iTunes accounted for more than half of all music transactions. In all, digital music sales have increased 12.4 percent over sales in 2010.
And while CDs continue their steady decline in America, sales of vinyl have shown significant growth. Vinyl sales at the start of 2011 were up 37 percent over the same period a year prior, representing the largest increase of any format.
In 2010, vinyl sales also increased 14.2 percent, though they only represented 1.2 percent of all physical sales, leaving CDs by far the preferred format for those who buy music in physical form.
"Strong releases and aggressive promotions by the labels and retailers are among the many contributing factors to the strength we’re seeing in the music industry," said Dave Bakula, senior vice president of analytics and entertainment for The Nielsen Company. "Overall, the data reflects a continuing strong demand by music consumers."
The survey also revealed that "rock" is the most popular genre of music, representing 32 percent of album sales. "Pop" music is more popular in digital form, accounting for 40 percent of all digital tracks sold.
A year ago, it was revealed that iTunes had extended its lead over the competition in digital music sales, accounting for 26.7 percent of all purchases in the U.S. At the time, iTunes was outselling both Walmart and Best Buy combined.
Last November, the entire catalog of The Beatles came to iTunes, with full albums available for $12.99, individual tracks for $1.29 each, and the legendary band's entire box set for $149. By January, total sales had reached 5 million songs and 1 million albums.
Nielsen this week offered a look at domestic music sales in 2011 through May 8 and found that digital album purchases were up 16.8 percent, while individual digital track sales were up 9.6 percent. Catalog album sales were also up 5.4 percent at the start of 2011, a boost credited to the arrival of the entire catalog of The Beatles on iTunes in late 2010.
Digital music sales through services like iTunes accounted for more than half of all music transactions. In all, digital music sales have increased 12.4 percent over sales in 2010.
And while CDs continue their steady decline in America, sales of vinyl have shown significant growth. Vinyl sales at the start of 2011 were up 37 percent over the same period a year prior, representing the largest increase of any format.
In 2010, vinyl sales also increased 14.2 percent, though they only represented 1.2 percent of all physical sales, leaving CDs by far the preferred format for those who buy music in physical form.
"Strong releases and aggressive promotions by the labels and retailers are among the many contributing factors to the strength we’re seeing in the music industry," said Dave Bakula, senior vice president of analytics and entertainment for The Nielsen Company. "Overall, the data reflects a continuing strong demand by music consumers."
The survey also revealed that "rock" is the most popular genre of music, representing 32 percent of album sales. "Pop" music is more popular in digital form, accounting for 40 percent of all digital tracks sold.
A year ago, it was revealed that iTunes had extended its lead over the competition in digital music sales, accounting for 26.7 percent of all purchases in the U.S. At the time, iTunes was outselling both Walmart and Best Buy combined.
Last November, the entire catalog of The Beatles came to iTunes, with full albums available for $12.99, individual tracks for $1.29 each, and the legendary band's entire box set for $149. By January, total sales had reached 5 million songs and 1 million albums.
Comments
It was pointed out at the time that new people are being born every day, and that the world's population is growing, so not everyone who might end up being a Beatles fan had their music.
Also, it was noted that Michael Jackson's work completely dominated iTunes Store sales for about two weeks after his death.
Where are those "the Beatles don't make a difference" commentors now? Hiding? Feasting on crow?
The days of the 5 million record sales are over.
The days of the 5 million record sales are over.
Replaced by the days of 5 million illegal downloads!
And somebody please explain this Vinyl thing! A resurgence? Who still makes needles?
Music industry claims a causal link between the sales data and the music releases.
Does this remind anyone of a previous claim by the music industry?
The only artists making serious coin are those who can sell out stadiums.
The days of the 5 million record sales are over.
Unless platinum has ben redefined that’s not true. Here is an example:According to Wikipedia there doesn’t appear to be an artist that has sold more than 20 million since Usher’s Confessions in 2004, but there are only a handful of acts that have ever achieved that.
The only artists making serious coin are those who can sell out stadiums.
The days of the 5 million record sales are over.
I have no comment on this. I just wanted to say that yours is the best user name I have seen on here to date! (and I assume your first name is Art).
Replaced by the days of 5 million illegal downloads!
And somebody please explain this Vinyl thing! A resurgence? Who still makes needles?
http://www.needledoctor.com/Online-S...idges-View-All
I can assure you vinyl sounds better than any CD or crappy download.
Unless platinum has ben redefined that?s not true. Here is an example:According to Wikipedia there doesn?t appear to be an artist that has sold more than 20 million since Usher?s Confessions in 2004, but there are only a handful of acts that have ever achieved that.
She still sold less than 5 million in the USA.
Only 13 CDs went platinum in 2010, compared to 22 in 2009. Only 4 of the 13 in 2010 sold more than 2 million copies. This is directly the result of the internet and a generation which pirates without remorse.
This report refutes claims by those who proclaimed that all Beatles fans already had their albums, so the release of the Beatles catalog on the iTunes Store was insignificant.
Not really. As TheIguana puts it...
Music industry sees a correlation in sales data and music releases.
Music industry claims a causal link between the sales data and the music releases.
Does this remind anyone of a previous claim by the music industry?
There is absolutely nothing in that report that refutes any claims about the relevance of the Beetles, in either direction. Unless you can show us a breakdown of the Beetles album sales over time relative to to overall sales, you can't state the Beetles are responsible for the increased sales. It could simply be because the economy is finally starting to get a little better.
We could graph the sale of ice cream vs the level of crime in New York City. You'd find that as sales of ice cream increases, so does crime. By the logic in the article, ice cream must cause crime! (Or committing crimes make people crave ice cream...choose your faulty logic.) But in fact, it's something else (in this case, warmer weather) that leads to an increase in both.
I have no comment on this. I just wanted to say that yours is the best user name I have seen on here to date! (and I assume your first name is Art).
I don't know, TheFatWookie brings up a scary image.
If you need a source of fine latex I'm your gal.
Oddly, I think Apple should deal the Google Music Beta a death blow by allowing multiple device platforms to have access to whatever solution Apple comes up with. This is not crazy talk.
Since many iPod users are migrating to Android (lets not kid ourselves, Android is selling lots of units as is iOS. It is not zero sum.), these people will migrate much of their iTunes library to Google's cloud solution. This will make it very hard to get these users back since Google's cloud solution is based on the proprietary Flash and we know what Apple thinks of Flash. Once Google gets music sales going (and they will at some point), these users would kiss iTunes/iPhone good buy forever. Music stored in the "Cloud" is a greater locking than music stored locally.
Keeping these users within the Apple "family" of using iTunes would greatly increase the chance that their next phone would be an iPhone.
Basically, open this solution to any iTunes account with an iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad... Google's current solution is really weak and cumbersome at best. It will improve but it is easier, strategically, to deal with these early.
She still sold less than 5 million in the USA.
Only 13 CDs went platinum in 2010, compared to 22 in 2009. Only 4 of the 13 in 2010 sold more than 2 million copies. This is directly the result of the internet and a generation which pirates without remorse.
Your comment was clearly "The days of the 5 million record sales are over.? I?ve shown you that at least one modern artist (first one I thought of since she was mentioned on Modern family last night) has clearly sold more than 5 millions copies of an album.
Your comment was clearly "The days of the 5 million record sales are over.? I?ve shown you that at least one modern artist (first one I thought of since she was mentioned on Modern family last night) has clearly sold more than 5 millions copies of an album.
Thank you.
Thank you.
A perfect reply
Vinyl's resurgence is due to CDs being brickwalled these days.
CD's brickwalled? I'm not even sure what that means, but seeing as CD sales continue to fall and Digital sales continue to rise I don't think we're moving back to vinyl any time soon.
It's important to remember that this resurgence is not only limited to basically one genre of music (Rock or Alternative), but it also only accounted for just over 3.5 million unit sales for an entire year accounting for just over 1% of all music sales. 1% of sales for the year. This resurgence, though real, remains very much an indie scene for the time being.
http://www.needledoctor.com/Online-S...idges-View-All
I can assure you vinyl sounds better than any CD or crappy download.
I've had a turntable again in my house for the past 5 years and love it. A high percentage of new releases appear on vinyl, with many of those offering a free download of uncompressed digital versions included in the sleeve. You're missing out on great sound and great artwork if you stick to downloads/CD only ...
This report refutes claims by those who proclaimed that all Beatles fans already had their albums, so the release of the Beatles catalog on the iTunes Store was insignificant.
It was pointed out at the time that new people are being born every day, and that the world's population is growing, so not everyone who might end up being a Beatles fan had their music.
Also, it was noted that Michael Jackson's work completely dominated iTunes Store sales for about two weeks after his death.
Where are those "the Beatles don't make a difference" commentors now? Hiding? Feasting on crow?
Totally agree. Think they must he hiding behind their Britney CDs
Unless platinum has ben redefined that?s not true. Here is an example:According to Wikipedia there doesn?t appear to be an artist that has sold more than 20 million since Usher?s Confessions in 2004, but there are only a handful of acts that have ever achieved that.
wait, what? usher sold 20 million albums? ... wait, what?