The 2011 Music Sales Figures Are In

Finally we get a chance to look at the world-wide music sales figures from 2011, thanks to the IFPI's annual year end report called Recording Industry in Numbers. Here's what we found:

• Global sales were down 3% from 2010, but overall revenue was up to $16.6 billion. This was due primarily to increased global sync license revenues, which is still climbing.

• Physical sales slumped again by 8.7% globally to about $10.2 billion. 

• In the US, about 240 million CDs were sold, which amounted to about $3.41 billion.

• Digital revenues grew by 8% to $5.23 billion. Digital now accounts for 31% of the music market.

• Global performance rights revenues also grew by 4.9% to $905 million in sales, which accounts for about 2% of global sales.

• The US is still at the top of global sales, registering $4.37 billion, which is about what it was last year (although the RIAA claims the figure was more like $7 billion). Japan is second with $4.09 billion, which decreased by 7% over the previous year. Germany comes in 3rd with $1.47 billion, and the UK comes in 4rth with $1.43 billion.

• Fees from subscription services like MOG, Spotify and Rhapsody were up in the States by 14% to $241 million, with total subscribers growing to 1.8 million.

The biggest selling hits? Hold on to your keyboard:

• It's no surprise that Adele's 21 was the biggest seller, moving 18.1 million units word-wide and 8 million in the US. Michael Buble's Christmas came in second and Lady Gaga's Born This Way came in third, although sales figures weren't given.

• Bruno Mars had two of the biggest selling digital songs of 2011 with "Just The Way You Are" selling 12.5 million units and "Grenade" selling 10.5 million. LMFO's "Rock Party Anthem" came in third globally with 9.7 million units.

What's it all mean? First of all, the music industry is still huge by any stretch of your imagination. It's a $16 billion business that appears to have its decline leveled off and is on its way back.

Secondly, there were 240 million CDs sold in the US last year. Think of that - 240 million! And those are only the ones we know about. It's going to take a while until this format dies.

Thirdly, subscription is already throwing off about a quarter of a billion dollars in revenue with only 1.8 million total subscribers. Imagine what this will be like in the future as a revenue generator.

Lastly, everyone who's said the era of the blockbuster selling album was over was wrong, and Adele proved it by moving 18 million units in a year.

I've said it before, and the numbers prove the point - the music business is not dying. It may be morphing, changing, evolving or shifting, but it's not dying.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

2011 According To CD Baby

Here's an interesting infographic from CD Baby regarding their place in the music business in 2011. It celebrates how well the company did last year, but I'm not sure the individual artist will interpret it the same way. For instance, investment bankers might want to that over 25,000 CD Baby artists are on Facebook, but that number is bound to discourage some artists although if that happens, they probably don't deserve to be in the business anyway.

Regardless, I personally really like the service and their blog is very helpful, and as you can see, they're selling a lot of product that probably wouldn't have been sold with them.

Take note of the section on the bottom of the graphic about the strength of the CD and how little revenue streaming is generating, both of which are no surprise if you read this blog regularly.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

The Music Business Is Not Dying

As all the various research and trade organizations begin releasing their 2011 sales figures, a number of them have jumped out for perfectly defining the state of the music industry today. Check this out:

• US album sales were up 1.3% last year, the first year since 2005 that's happened. 66% of these sales were CDs.

• There were 249 million albums sold in the US last year. People will tell you that the music industry is dying, but 249 million of anything is still a huge number.

• 75% of all CD sales were made offline. That means that people physically purchased the CD at a brick and mortar store or an event.

• 40% of all CD buyers are over the age of 45, which means that the demo that mostly grew up with CDs are the ones still buying them.

• Vinyl sales increased 37 percent in 2011, but only accounted for 1.2 percent of all physical sales. That doesn't mean that people who buy vinyl actually listen to it. Just like the old days, many still buy it for the cover and the artwork, and the trendiness (which is new).

• Rock is the most popular genre of music, with 32 percent album share, while pop music represents 40 percent of all current digital tracks sold. Ninety-three of the 100 best selling vinyl albums in 2011 fall within the Rock or Alternative genres. I guess that means that the hip-hop and rap trend has run it's course.

• People who live in New York or LA buy more country records than those who live in Nashville by almost 2 to 1. Having just come from a speaking tour in Nashville, I can tell you first-hand that it's a very cosmopolitan music town, with country no longer the major part of the industry as it once was. That said, country music represents 13% of the total album sales.

• Digital country music sales are up 31% over last year. While it might have been true that country music lovers were slow to get into digital music, that's obviously no longer the case.

• Acts that perform at halftime during the Superbowl get an average sales bump of 555%. Critics may pan them and you might hate them, but you still buy them.

All these numbers (which mostly come from Nielsen Soundscan and the IFPI) show that the music business is still huge, is still extremely diverse, and is still as quirky as ever. It is changing, morphing, shifting, and evolving, but it is not dying.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.

Music Sales Up 1% In 2011

It's hard to believe but as of December 15th, music sales were actually up 1% over last year, which represents the first time in about 10 years that has happened. That's more impressive when you consider that sales for 2010 were down about 13% from 2009, and prior to that they were down an average of about 8% in the 2000's.

Why the turnaround, you may be asking? For one thing, there were some actual blockbusters this year. First of all, Adele's 21 had sold 5,281,000 with two weeks of sales yet to be recorded. That means that her sales will be a lot closer to 6 million by the end of the year, considering the holiday buying season. million. But hold on; that doesn't include an additional 750,000 copies she sold this year of her last album, 19. Then consider that her single "Rolling in the Deep” has sold 5,665,000 downloads, followed by “Someone Like You” with 3,352,000, “Set Fire to the Rain” with 963,000, and “Rumour Has It” with 551,000. All in all, a banner year for any artist at any time.

There were other big sellers as well, but keep in mind that these numbers are a few weeks old.

1. Adele, 21 - 4,817,000 copies sold
2. Lady Gaga, Born This Way - 1,973,000
3. Michale Buble, Christmas -  1,964,000
4. Lil Wayne, Tha Carter IV - 1,776,000
5. Jason Aldean, My Kinda Party - 1,389,000
6. Mumford & Sons, Sigh No More - 1,328,000
7. Jay-Z/Kanye West, Watch The Throne - 1,124,000
8. Beyonce, 4 - 956,000
9. Lady Antebellum, Own The Night - 908,000
10. Katy Perry - Teenage Dream - 907,000

What does this mean? Music is still alive and well and people will gladly pay for it in one form or another if they love it (not just like it). Sales like this prove that there's a lot of great music being made today, and fans will buy it when they find it.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Check out my Big Picture blog for discussion on common music, engineering and production tips and tricks.