The love for the Oct 21st concert stats continue, but this time with a few new stats from December sprinkled in. So odd. No new Idol concert stats to report (all have been reported before). So, let’s look at two interesting articles that BB put out. Or not.
First up is a year-end report full of some great stats (a few pulled out after the jump): http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/industry/retail/u-s-album-sales-dropped-12-8-last-year-digital-1004137880.story
The second is an article about the interesting deal that The Beatles negotiated in order to allow their songs on iTunes. They get paid royalties directly from iTunes instead of the label. Apparently, this is the kind of deal a lot of artists would like (no creative accounting by the labels) and there are court cases out there trying to get it to happen. Also interesting is the talk of royalty rates. They say that superstars typically get 20% of the retail revenue. Interesting on its own, but what has long been debated is whether artists saw an increase in royalty rates when iTunes increased their prices. The rate usually quoted is 10 cents per track which would be 10% per 99 cents. Based on the math in the article it appears that they are now getting 13 cents. Small change, but it does add up. BB Beatles iTunes Deal Pays Royalties Directly to Band, Publisher, Sources Say
Some stats:
Albums
2010 Music Sales Year officially ended Jan 2nd, 2011
Total Album Sales: 326.2M (down 12.8% from the 373.9M sold 2009)
Digital Albums: 86.3M (up 13% from the 76.4M sold 2009), 26.5% of all albums sold
Physical CD Sales: Down 20% (for fourth year in a row).
Albums Selling more than 1M: 13 (22 last 2009) – lowest number in SS history
Best Selling Album: Eminem’s Recovery 3.4M
Catalog Albums (+18 months): 138.9M (down 15.3% from the 163.9M sold 2009)
Current Albums (-18 months, stay in top 100 or active at radio): 187.3M (down 10.8% from the 209.9M sold 2009)
First Year in the last 5 that catalog albums sold less than current albums.
Tracks
Digital Tracks: 1.17B (up 1% from the 1.16B sold 2009)
Tracks Selling More than 4M: 5 (4 in 2009)
Tracks Selling More than 3M, but less than 4M: 7 (3 in 2009)
Tracks Selling More than 1M: 86 (89 in 2009)
Top Selling Track: Katy Perry “California Gurls” 4.4.M
Highest Week for Download Sales 2010: 44M
Highest Week for Download Sales 2009: 44.8M (week ending Dec 27th, 2009)
Highest Week for Downloads Ever: 47.7M (week ending Dec 28th, 2008)
(They lament this, but they are ignoring the changing dates, IMO. iTunes sales drop significantly prior to Christmas because people are too busy getting ready for Christmas and don’t want to buy something they might receive anyway, plus the airwaves are full of Christmas songs. They start buying after Christmas. Each year, Christmas marches a day or two forward shortening the amount of after Christmas sales in a week. With Christmas falling on a Sunday this year, just watch sales explode the three days after Christmas will all be in one week).
Summary
Albums+TEA: 443.4M (down 9.5% from the 489.8M sold 2009) – TEA is 10 digital tracks equaling one album
Overall Music Unit Sales: 1.51B (down 2.4% from the 1.55B sold 2009) First drop in the digital era
Market Share:
Universal MG: 31.4%
Sony MG: 27.4%
Warner MG: 19.8%
EMI: 9.6%
Independent: 11.6%
