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For The First Time, Records Of The Past Are Outselling New Ones Really?
For the first time since Nielsen Soundscan began keeping track of album sales in 1991, old records have outsold new ones, with the first six months of 2012 seeing album sales of 76.6 million "catalog" records (albums released more than 18 months ago) compared to 73.9 million current albums.
Topping the catalog sales charts are Guns N' Roses' Greatest Hits and four Whitney Houston records (as a result of her untimely passing). So is nostalgia in higher demand than fresh material? The main reason, according to Nielsen analyst David Bakula, has been because record labels and retailers have continued to drop the price of older albums to as low as $5.99 or $7.99, which is attracting new consumers.
"I really, truly do believe that there probably is a consumer that is buying music here that wasn't buying music in the past," Bakula told the OC Weekly. He also goes on to mention that these high numbers of catalog records have resulted despite the fact that Adele's 21, which is still considered a new record, has sold one million more copies in 2012 than it did compared to 2011.
Digital sales is also an important variable to keep in mind, and while album sales in general have dropped 3.2% during the first six months of 2012 (when compared to of 2011), digital album sales have grown 13.8%. Attributing to the sales of old records, CDs and the majority of old digital albums continue to be sold for a relatively price (between $7.99 and $10.99), while newer CDs typically run consumers between a bit more (between $12.99 and $17.99).
It is also likely that many are repurchasing old records that they may have either lost or wanted to replace in digital format. And, as we saw with Whitney Houston and several others before her, the deaths of popular artists are certainly traceable to spikes in their record sales, which attributed highly to the sales of catalog records during the first six months of 2012.
http://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2012/07/for-the-first-time-records-of-the-past-are-outselling-new-ones.html
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They make it seem like it's groundbreaking. | |
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I know!
It takes a sudden death or a controversial move/publicity stunt or an arrest/domestic altercation or a showing of body parts to sell records these days. It's not about the music, it's about remembering what happened in that moment.
Go figure. | |
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I know right? The fact is people are still buying records. It's like trying to make a mountain out of a molehill.
And yeah I agree on the death/controversy. Also older records are all gonna have lower prices anyway, so it's like a "buy all you want" buffet. They have that at Wal-Mart. I love it. [Edited 7/18/12 13:39pm] | |
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I love buying old albums. | |
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It's fun. Just get it for $7.99. No problem! | |
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I think it's sad.
No more record stores.
No more book stores.
Hollywood is starting to complain (I feel the least sympathy for their 95% annual bad film ratio but I digress).
Look up Billy Bob Thornton's Piers Morgan interview about the "magic of life".
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By the same folks who thought it would be better without this shit, now they mad they ain't got that shit anymore but back then they weren't so concerned. Cut me the crap. | |
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True THEY had no insight but I feel everyone will suffer.
Not now because everyone is having fun downloading. But I fail to see how an internet-based economy is going to build community in the future. Unless you know something I don't.
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lol but I brought up in another thread: "why don't they just create a new brand of record stores?" And got this response: "because they received complaints of fraud" or whatever that was said. So people still don't give a damn they just wanna complain. That's all I'm saying. I haven't d/l anything in a hot minute though. | |
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I read this last week. Great news! Andy is a four letter word. | |
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There's a lot of record stores where I live, even a few 'mom and pop' places. But most of the video rental places are gone. There's just those red machines in front of some grocery stores. You can take a black guy to Nashville from right out of the cotton fields with bib overalls, and they will call him R&B. You can take a white guy in a pin-stripe suit who’s never seen a cotton field, and they will call him country. ~ O. B. McClinton | |
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Yeah no one's talking about the "tragedy" that we ain't got no more video rental stores. Especially Blockbuster lol As far as I'm concerned, we never did have no record stores when I was coming up. In fact, they were already gone by the time I was a kid but cassettes were still there. | |
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Yeah those Red things have pretty much taken over here too but we still have a Block Buster doing things in the trendy neighborhood. But once BB goes under nationally...
And our local record store seems to be doing good.
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Nothing drastic. This ain't even news. | |
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I ain't surprised... "Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything." --Plato
https://youtu.be/CVwv9LZMah0 | |
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Seems like news to me!
This confirms one or both of two things that people have been saying--that new music sucks and/or that illegal downloads are killing sales (but old people still buy their old music).
As Vainandy said, it seems like potentially good news to me. If the record company realizes what they are doing is not working, maybe it'll help music in the long run. My Legacy
http://prince.org/msg/8/192731 | |
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But they're talking about Shitney Houston being the big seller! My Legacy
http://prince.org/msg/8/192731 | |
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And since MANY of these "PAST" artists still make NEW music, we can get that on the airwaves again....U know like it was when MUSIC SOLD, maybe the AGE-ISM generation has finally bit the dust "We went where our music was appreciated, and that was everywhere but the USA, we knew we had fans, but there is only so much of the world you can play at once" Magne F | |
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I wouldn't care if it was Slim Whitman just as long as shit hop ain't selling. Andy is a four letter word. | |
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That's because the last time I went to Blockbuster (which was years ago), the rental price was like $6. Hell, that's almost half the price of buying the movie and owning it so why not just go ahead and buy it rather than rent it? Andy is a four letter word. | |
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I knew from the start that I loved you with all my heart. | |
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Honey, I almost come in my pants last week when I read it. Andy is a four letter word. | |
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I think the main reason there were video rental stores in the first place is because in the early 1980's, when videotapes became popular, a VHS/Beta movie cost $80 and more. Most people couldn't afford that or didn't want to spend that much money. Some folks got cable and bought blank tapes and recorded the movies they liked off TV. The video disc averaged around $30, but I don't think they really caught on, because you couldn't record on them. You can take a black guy to Nashville from right out of the cotton fields with bib overalls, and they will call him R&B. You can take a white guy in a pin-stripe suit who’s never seen a cotton field, and they will call him country. ~ O. B. McClinton | |
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Slim Whitman... I remember a podiatrist I went to in the 80's who played nothing but Slim Whitman in his office and talked about his music incessantly... And the doc busted stereotypes because he was black and LUVED Slim Whtiman. To each his own... "Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything." --Plato
https://youtu.be/CVwv9LZMah0 | |
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Hey, he's got much more rhythm than shit hop. . . . [Edited 7/19/12 6:37am] Andy is a four letter word. | |
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Well; it's the first time it has ever happened... [Edited 7/19/12 7:36am] | |
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This is great news considering all of the horrifying new music that's being released. I still continue to be astounded whenever I happen to tune in to shows like 106 & Park and hear a lot of the contemporary "music"! It's like any old dog or cat off the streets can make a record, get some air time and he's a big music star. I think more and more people are growing weary of it and starting to reach back to the past to find music with substance. "It's not nice to fuck with K.B.! All you haters will see!" - Kitbradley
"The only true wisdom is knowing you know nothing." - Socrates | |
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Since a year and a half is not that much time, modern acts are still in the catalog sales. It's not like they're only talking about acts from 50 years ago. You can take a black guy to Nashville from right out of the cotton fields with bib overalls, and they will call him R&B. You can take a white guy in a pin-stripe suit who’s never seen a cotton field, and they will call him country. ~ O. B. McClinton | |
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You're right. I"m sure Bessie Smith CDs aren't suddenly experiencing an upsurge in sales.
But, the point is, they are not only referring to back catalogs from a year and a half ago. The fact that we are all of a sudden seeing an onslaught of reissues within the past couple of years and labels like BBR and funkytown grooves are doing very well says alot. It was only a few years ago when the major labels were saying reissues were low on their priority list because there was no demand for them. They are now starting to see that there is money to be made from their back catalogs and, without me going into details that I probably shouldn't, labels are taking full advantage and getting as much money as they can from these older titles. "It's not nice to fuck with K.B.! All you haters will see!" - Kitbradley
"The only true wisdom is knowing you know nothing." - Socrates | |
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