http://www.billboard.com/...toric-lows

U.S. album sales have hit new historic lows over the last five weeks marking the longest consecutive stretch in the SoundScan era that the industry has gone without scanning more than 5 million units. And, over the last two weeks, album sales hit consecutive record lows. Which begs the question, is it all due to the summer doldrums, streaming's rise, dwindling catalog sales or all

three?

For the week ending July 28, U.S. album sales totaled 4.68 million the lowest weekly total since the inception of Nielsen SoundScan in May 1991. The previous record low was only the prior week when sales were 4.71 million units.

The industry had been flirting with the under five million unit album sales weeks since 2010 when, for the week-ending May 30, it dipped beneath that floor for the first time with 4.98 million scans. In 2010, the industry had four weeks under 5 million units, while there were two weeks under that floor in 2011, and three weeks in 2012.

This year already, there are nine weeks under the 5 million units album sales mark, with the last five weeks marking the longest consecutive period the industry has gone without scanning more than 5 million units.

While album sales are down, streaming revenue is up, which begs the question the industry has been wrestling with for the last two years: is streaming is cannibalizing album sales? An issue, until recently, industry data analysts and top executives argued wasn't the case, and some attributed to declining catalog sales.

Others blame the album sales drop on a lousy release schedule this time of year and the general summer months’ doldrums. Sales in summer tend to decline because kids are out of school and they tend to spend more time outdoors. Consequently, the release schedule is also lighter because artist and their managers prefer to hold album releases for the fourth quarter, when there is more in-store traffic. The only other time of the year when sales are just as slow is in the first quarter, when releases schedules are weaker.

More recently, some industry executives began changing their tune about the possibility of streaming cannibalization after they saw digital song sales decline more in the second quarter than in the first at the same time that digital album sales slowed (see our mid-year Nielsen SoundScan report). Analysts have not yet found a way to measure cannibalization and are looking for new ways to measure whether or not it is occurring. As one analyst put it, just because he couldn't prove cannibalization through analysis, he couldn't definitively say it's not happening.

While analysts continue reviewing the data, the decline in album sales this year can be attributed at least partially to physical sales' downward trend.

"This is the year that CD sales bottom is falling out" at Newbury Comics, says the retail chain's CEO Mike Dreese. So far this year, CD sales are down 14.1% to 88.8 million from the 103.3 million scanned in the same time period in the corresponding period last year, according to Nielsen SoundScan. But digital album sales aren't faring too well lately either. In the first four weeks of the second quarter, the digital album growth slowed to a 1.9% increase after growing at a 10.4% pace in the first quarter. So far in the first four weeks of the third quarter, digital album sales are actually down 0.9%.

While that decrease could be attributable to a slow release schedule, industry SoundScan analysts say the real weakness lies in catalog album sales, which year-to-date are down 8.8% to 79.7 million units. One industry label analyst said that if the bottom fell out of anything, it’s the $5 CD. Albums at that price point are no longer performing like they did in 2011 and 2012. And there are only so many titles that can generate enough volume to make the lower pricing profitable. He claimed the majors have exhausted that supply of albums and when music fans are looking for that bargain price point at Walmart, Target or Best Buy, they are not finding an new titles they want.

"We haven't refreshed our offering in titles at that price point in months," the source says. "While it's still a formidable amount of units sold, sales of the $5 CD will continue to fall." That executive said that at its peak, $5 CDs were accounting for up to 15% of weekly catalog unit sales.

On the good news front, this executive added, at least steaming growth this year continues to be strong -- all of which depends on your point of view.

"lowest weekly total since the inception of Nielsen SoundScan in May 1991"

Damn!

To be fair, the only new CD I bought last month's was Jay-Z's, which coincidentally they were not trying to count any extra units of, although I'm not sure that would fall under Soundscan anyway.

I am surprised summer is a slower month for CD sales. I seem to recall buying most of my music (as a teen) during the summer when all I was doing was getting allowance and shopping on holidays.

I also remember everyone coming back to school in the fall having bought the same CDs.

And I don't know why a mall would be slow during summer, because retail for clothing is famously busy during summer for back to school clothes.

Maybe the problem is no more outlets to scan physical copies.

I would tend to blame the weak release schedule. I bought about 5 new CDs in June, and 1 in July.

I can count the number of new releases I've purchased this year on one hand. And I'd probably still have a finger and my thumb left over. Thus far, 2013 has been DOA as far as new music. I think 4th Quarter things may pick up with some new releases that are allegedly scheduled to come down the pike before the year is out.

[Edited 8/2/13 10:44am]

Get better writers, producers and artists.........................

I think video games are more popular than CD's. A video game cartridge/disc costs much more than a CD and so does sneakers like Air Jordan, but they continue to sell and sometimes people will camp out in front of a store when a new one comes out. Video games have a more general audience than music. A country fan, a rap fan, a heavy metal fan, etc. can all like the same video game. Music is too segregated now and there's more genres now than in the past. I think things like an Ipod also makes music private, when in the 1980's more people carried boom boxes and had stereos and component sets. Ipods make people have a more individual taste, than a general taste when many people listened to the same radio station or watched American Bandstand, Lawrence Welk, Shindig, or MTV later. It's like when there were only 3 networks and no cable and TV went off at night. When cable and VCRs came along, people had more choices, so fewer people watched ABC, NBC, & CBS and that is still the case today.

For sure! I was thinking, there are competitive forces that have nothing to do with music streams at all, but how people spend their time being entertained. Like video games.

How can summer be a slow time for music, but blockbusters at the movie theatre? Can't claim everyone is outdoors.

So many of my friends born in the 80s (and younger) can't believe I still buy CDs and vinyl.

But they all love movies, television, and video games (which I can't believe they care about anymore).

..

[Edited 8/2/13 11:42am]

MickyDolenz said:

Music is too segregated now and there's more genres now than in the past

This shouldn't explain a shrinking overall market though. If everyone has a genre they are being satisfied by, the total market and sales should be bigger than ever.

This only works to explain why one genre isn't selling as much as before.

Graycap23 said:

Get better writers, producers and artists.........................

Not "another Adele" in the sense of her style, voice, and song content, but someone with a unique talent/appeal.

Cinny said:

Graycap23 said:

Get better writers, producers and artists.........................

Not "another Adele" in the sense of her style, voice, and song content, but someone with a unique talent/appeal.

Yep........

Cinny said:

MickyDolenz said:

Music is too segregated now and there's more genres now than in the past

This shouldn't explain a shrinking overall market though. If everyone has a genre they are being satisfied by, the total market and sales should be bigger than ever.

This only works to explain why one genre isn't selling as much as before.

If a lot of people can download songs for free, then they're not buying it. You can't download Jordans. People decades ago might have copied an album to a cassette, 8 track, or reel to reel. But you had to know someone with a stereo, and you had to actually play the record to record it, which is slow. Someone had to buy the record in the first place, although libraries carried records, which were usually not current releases. That was a much smaller amount of people than downloading. You can copy a CD in a few minutes, and make multiple copies fast and easy. The internet brings an album/songs to a way larger amount of people worldwide than tape recording. It's like a record changer made playing records faster and easier than winding up a Victrola, and playing a cassette is easier than threading a reel-to-reel tape.

.

In some areas, you can only buy a CD from a Wal Mart or Target. They only carry a limited selection and edited version of albums. Some people may not have or know how to use a computer and others that do might not have a credit card to purchase something online. Some people do not trust online purchasing or do not trust credit cards and only deal in cash. If some record stores are closing, where can they buy music? Retail stores and the music industry are not marketing or serving this audience. They're assuming everyone downloads, when they don't.

it's done.......pull out the violins....

kitbradley said:

I can count the number of new releases I've purchased this year on one hand. And I'd probably still have a finger and my thumb left over.

So far,I only bought three new releases this year.Most of the time,I'm listening to old school music (60s,70s,and 80s).When I find a 'new' CD that I like (such as Robin Thicke's new CD),I go crazy...lol...it doesn't happen very often.

There are several libraries in my neighborhood that look like this and one gets new releases every Wednesday, day after street date!! I can check out up to 15 at a time FOR FREE.

_____

Rip-Return-Enjoy.

I can also rip DVD's....so it's a win-win.

I wonder if country album sales are down?

If I was a recording artist,I would focus more on touring.I would create tours around the music that I release,but I wouldn't rely on record sales at all.There's not too much money to be made there.

Hits Daily Double article:

I.B. BAD PREVIEWS THE BIG RACE
The Make-or-Break Time of the Year for the Music Biz Is Just Weeks Away; Time to Place Your Bets on the Winning Thoroughbred August 2, 2013 Industry handicappers are placing odds on which album hitting this fall will move the most units, and how it will impact label marketshare. The album that emerges triumphant will inevitably get a powerful boost from a smash radio single or singles, the most significant driver of album sales, as we’re seeing now with Imagine Dragons and Florida Georgia Line. Will the winner be Eminem (whose previous LP debuted with 741k and has sold 4.46m to date) or Lady Gaga (with a 1.11m first week, bolstered by Amazon MP3’s 99-cent sale, and 2.3m RTD), on Jimmy Iovine and John Janick’s IGA? Will the second volume of Justin Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience, on Peter Edge and Tom Corson’s RCA, be as big as the first, which bowed with 968k and is now at 2.1m? Could it be Cash Money’s Drake (631k, 2.04m) for Monte Lipman’s Republic? What about the third album from One Direction on Rob Stringer’s Columbia, who built tremendous momentum by releasing their first two LPs just eight months apart, old-school style, totaling more than 3.5m? Or Katy Perry, on Steve Barnett’s CMG, whose 2010 album Teenage Dream got off to a surprisingly soft start, with a first week of just 192k, but achieved massive momentum behind a staggering 30m singles, going on to tally 2.74m? In terms of potential comebacks, there’s more than a little pressure surrounding the Q4 releases from Columbia’s Beyoncé, coming off a relatively disappointing sales performance with 2011’s 4 (310k, 1.4m) and RCA’s Britney Spears, who failed to hit a home run with her previous effort, 2011’s Femme Fatale (276k, 777k). Likewise with RCA’s Kings of Leon, whose sales dipped from 2.3m on their 2008 breakthrough Only by the Night (which contained the crossover smash “Use Somebody”) to 730k on 2010’s hitless Come Around Sundown. Will the all-important sophomore effort from Columbia’s Foster the People approach the band’s hit-driven debut-album total of 970k? Then there’s Mike Dungan’s triumvirate of UMG Nashville power hitters: Luke Bryan (145k, 2.07m), who’s expected to have the biggest late-summer debut with his 8/13 release; Scotty McCreery (197k, 1.18m); and Keith Urban (162k, 743k). And don’t underestimate Brushfire/Republic’s Jack Johnson (243k, 842k), who has quietly conducted one of the most consistently productive careers of the last decade. On the indie front, the most high-profile release will come from Merge: the follow-up to Arcade Fire’s 2010 career album The Suburbs (156k, 770k), which won the 2011 Grammy for Album of the Year. It will also be interesting to see how Nine Inch Nails will fare in the band’s return to a major, Columbia, following a couple of DIY releases that failed to sell significant numbers. In the record business, of course, there’s always the possibility that a record will come out of nowhere and connect on a massive scale; just look at Adele, who turned around the long-floundering record business almost singlehandedly in 2011, a positive year for album sales (+1.4%), track sales (+9%) and overall with TEA (+3.2%). In other activity, Guggenheim Partners’ hoped-for acquisition of VEVO from Sony Music, UMG and their investor partners, which, according to some insiders, appeared to be a sure thing, has hit a snag and now may not close after all. Industry eyes are on Coldplay as the band transitions to Warner Bros. from Capitol through the Parlophone divestment. While manager Dave Holmes and WBR chief Cameron Strang are expected to form a solid working relationship, will the artist-friendly Rob Cavallo, who still holds the title of label Chairman, play a role in making the band members feel comfortable in their new home? Rihanna has signed a new long-term contract with Roc Nation as part of its recent deal with UMG. Her future releases will probably continue to go through IDJ, continuing a productive long-term relationship with the Steve Bartels-led label, even as Roc Nation builds its own brand. On that subject, does Jay Brown (who manages Rihanna and Shakira) have the bandwidth to become a top major-label exec? And where does ex-Mercury U.K. label head Jason Iley fit into Jay Z’s scheme? Mariah Carey is shopping a new deal with one record left on her current contract with IDJ and is possibly headed back to Sony, where she would most likely reunite with Epic’s L.A. Reid, who orchestrated her 6 million-selling 2006 album The Emancipation of Mimi. Carey’s attorney and her new manager, Red Light COO Bruce Eskowitz, are supposedly asking elephant bucks from UMG to stay. Names in the rumor mill: Troy Carter, Scott Rodger, Johnny Wright, Richard Griffiths, Larry Rudolph and iTunes Radio.

I don't have room to store a compact disc for every album I listen to, and digitial music feels silly to pay for unless it's hard to find a good copy for free. I haven't bought a cd since 2007. My cd collection used to be all I cared about but now music is just pirated files on a hard drive.

Cinny said:

I am surprised summer is a slower month for CD sales. I seem to recall buying most of my music (as a teen) during the summer when all I was doing was getting allowance and shopping on holidays.

I also remember everyone coming back to school in the fall having bought the same CDs.

And I don't know why a mall would be slow during summer, because retail for clothing is famously busy during summer for back to school clothes.

Maybe the problem is no more outlets to scan physical copies.

I would tend to blame the weak release schedule. I bought about 5 new CDs in June, and 1 in July.

This is a combination of a few things, none of which has to do with illegal downloads. The artists that sell albums, not so much in volume but still have fans that want CDS still pull in some decent numbers, the newer generation is not pulling it in at all, volume wise. There was an article on Salon.Com recently that spoke about the "HYPE about New Music and peoples desire for it" was all a big myth, most people, still play their older stuff and their older artists, so what you have and HAVE HAD since around 2000 is the poorest marketing ever, if this was one corporation "MUSIC" everyone would have been fired and new teams brought in. Next thing is that stores dont stock it anymore, Best Buy which is a sad excuse for music retail has one shelf for Music dvds, im talking 6 feet thats it, and its RB section is twice that size, and 90% of the selection is the Robin Thicke CD. The problem is that what retailers are left, arent stocking older artists with new stuff, i have constantly had to order online from whomever or the artist directly because retail is def dumb and blind now. I challenge soundscan to start actually tracking sales from artists websites, which isnt done now, and you might see some surprise artists. ALOT of older people, 30's and up cant be bothered with itunes and printing the book and this and that so there is still a CD market its just not being run properly. AND NO Vinyl is not coming back, stop that nonsense, YES its sound is best, but there is no way people are going back to all that. CD is the perfect middle ground cause though the sound is not ideal, you can still rip that to itunes and go from there. Like the survey said, 80% of people own an iPOD or MP3 player and of that 10% of those users have itunes digital bought stuff. If you cheapen the way its distributed you lessen the value, if you market WRONG you lose your customers to other things and MUSIC has been the victim of half a dozen things its biggest loss is its importance in most people's lives

SoulAlive said:

If I was a recording artist,I would focus more on touring.I would create tours around the music that I release,but I wouldn't rely on record sales at all.There's not too much money to be made there.

Honestly that is what they do, im sure Bon Jovi could care less about a gold album in the USA, its counting tickets, same with elton john, im sure he knows his new album will barely chart for long, but he can sell a show anywhere. Its the new cats that cant compete.

Cinny said:

So many of my friends born in the 80s (and younger) can't believe I still buy CDs and vinyl.

But they all love movies, television, and video games (which I can't believe they care about anymore).

..

[Edited 8/2/13 11:42am]

>

Especially the movies. As for video games I commend anyone who can figure them out. I guess I'm showing my age but I'm one of those character-goes-around-in-circles kind of player.

RodeoSchro said:

I wonder if country album sales are down?

Probably depends on what "country" you're talking about. More than likely it's a young pop oriented act like Rascal Flatts/Taylor Swift that sells a lot, not a veteran like Willie Nelson/Dolly Parton. Today, Dolly probably makes her money from Dollywood than her new albums. I think George Strait may be the exception, he seems to still get radio hits and popular albums.

IIAGY said:

lastdecember said:

Cinny said:

I am surprised summer is a slower month for CD sales. I seem to recall buying most of my music (as a teen) during the summer when all I was doing was getting allowance and shopping on holidays.

I also remember everyone coming back to school in the fall having bought the same CDs.

And I don't know why a mall would be slow during summer, because retail for clothing is famously busy during summer for back to school clothes.

Maybe the problem is no more outlets to scan physical copies.

I would tend to blame the weak release schedule. I bought about 5 new CDs in June, and 1 in July.

This is a combination of a few things, none of which has to do with illegal downloads. The artists that sell albums, not so much in volume but still have fans that want CDS still pull in some decent numbers, the newer generation is not pulling it in at all, volume wise. There was an article on Salon.Com recently that spoke about the "HYPE about New Music and peoples desire for it" was all a big myth, most people, still play their older stuff and their older artists, so what you have and HAVE HAD since around 2000 is the poorest marketing ever, if this was one corporation "MUSIC" everyone would have been fired and new teams brought in. Next thing is that stores dont stock it anymore, Best Buy which is a sad excuse for music retail has one shelf for Music dvds, im talking 6 feet thats it, and its RB section is twice that size, and 90% of the selection is the Robin Thicke CD. The problem is that what retailers are left, arent stocking older artists with new stuff, i have constantly had to order online from whomever or the artist directly because retail is def dumb and blind now. I challenge soundscan to start actually tracking sales from artists websites, which isnt done now, and you might see some surprise artists. ALOT of older people, 30's and up cant be bothered with itunes and printing the book and this and that so there is still a CD market its just not being run properly. AND NO Vinyl is not coming back, stop that nonsense, YES its sound is best, but there is no way people are going back to all that. CD is the perfect middle ground cause though the sound is not ideal, you can still rip that to itunes and go from there. Like the survey said, 80% of people own an iPOD or MP3 player and of that 10% of those users have itunes digital bought stuff. If you cheapen the way its distributed you lessen the value, if you market WRONG you lose your customers to other things and MUSIC has been the victim of half a dozen things its biggest loss is its importance in most people's lives

Its interesting that cd sales are declining, downloads and vinyl are increasing. Vinyl is still a very small percentage of overall sales.

Weaned on CDs, They’re Reaching for Vinyl

By ALLAN KOZINN

Vinyl is growing out of its niche.

There were always record collectors who disdained the compact disc, arguing that an LP’s grooves yielded warmth and depth that the CD’s digital code could not match.

But the market largely ignored them. Record labels shuttered their LP pressing plants, except for a few that pressed mostly dance music, since vinyl remained the medium of choice for D. J.s.

As it turned out, that early resistance was not futile, thanks largely to an audience of record collectors, many born after CDs were introduced in the 1980s.

These days, every major label and many smaller ones are releasing vinyl, and most major new releases have a vinyl version, leading to a spate of new pressing plants.

When the French electronica duo Daft Punk released “Random Access Memories” in mid-May, 6 percent of its first-week sales — 19,000 out of 339,000 — were on vinyl, according to Nielsen SoundScan, which measures music sales.

Other groups with a predominantly college-age audience have had similar success: the same week, the National sold 7,000 vinyl copies of its latest album, “Trouble Will Find Me,” and 10,000 Vampire Weekend fans opted for the LP version of “Modern Vampires of the City.” When the Front Bottoms, a New Jersey indie band, posted a photo of their players carrying stacks of LP mailing boxes on their Facebook page recently, their label, Bar/None, racked up what Glenn Morrow, who owns the label, described as “phone orders for $2,000 worth of LPs in 10 minutes.”

A growing number of classic albums — including the complete Beatles and early Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan catalogs — have had vinyl reissues in recent years as well.

Michael Fremer, who monitors the LP world on his Web site, Analogplanet.com, said: “None of these companies are pressing records to feel good. They’re doing it because they think they can sell.”

About a dozen pressing plants have sprouted up in the United States, along with the few that survived from the first vinyl era, and they say business is so brisk that they are working to capacity. Thomas Bernich, who started Brooklyn Phono in 2000, says his company makes about 440,000 LPs a year, but a giant like Rainbo Records, in Canoga Park, Calif., turns out 6 million to 7.2 million, said Steve Sheldon, its general manager.

One plant, Quality Record Pressings, in Salina, Kan., opened in 2011 after its owner, Chad Kassem, grew impatient with delays at a larger plant where his own line of blues reissues was being pressed. His company, which runs four presses — acquired used, but modified to run more efficiently — now makes LPs for all the majors, and lists Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Nirvana reissues among its recent projects. He is currently pressing 900,000 vinyl discs a year.

“We’ve always had more work than we could do,” Mr. Kassem said. “When we had one press, we had enough orders for two. When we had two, we had enough orders for four. We never spent a dollar on advertising, but we’ve been busy from the day we opened.”

There is a limit to how much the vinyl business can expand right now. When it seemed inevitable that CDs would supplant LPs, the companies that made vinyl presses shifted to making other kinds of machinery. The last new press was built in 1982, so relatively recent start-ups like Quality and Brooklyn Phono searched out used presses (the going rate is about $25,000) and reconditioned them. Most plants have deals with local machine shops to make replacement parts.

Some pressing plants have looked into commissioning or building new presses but have found the cost prohibitive — as much as $500,000, said Eric Astor of Furnace MFG in Fairfax, Va. “Since my partner also owns a CD/DVD plant,” Mr. Astor said in an e-mail, “we’ve been testing using the methods used in disc manufacturing to make a new breed of vinyl record, but that R&D is slow going and not looking promising.”

How are LPs selling? That is a matter of dispute. David Bakula, Nielsen SoundScan’s senior vice president of client development and insights, said that his company tracked 4.6 million domestic LP sales last year, an 18 percent increase over 2011, but still only 1.4 percent of the total market, made up mostly of digital downloads (which are increasing) and CDs (for which sales are declining). This year, Mr. Bakula said, vinyl sales are on track to reach about 5.5 million.

But manufacturers, specialist retailers and critics argue that SoundScan’s figures represent only a fraction of actual sales, perhaps as little, Mr. Kassem and Mr. Astor said, as 10 to 15 percent. They say that about 25 million vinyl discs were pressed in the United States last year, and many more in Europe and Asia, including some destined for the American market.

Mr. Bakula countered that manufacturers are speaking of the number of discs made; SoundScan tracks how many were sold. But the manufacturers argue that LPs, unlike CDs, are a one-way sale: labels do not accept returns of unsold copies. Therefore labels and retailers are careful to order only what they think they can sell. Moreover, LP jackets do not consistently carry bar codes — Mr. Kassem, for one, leaves them off his discs because, he said, “they’re ugly” — and therefore cannot be scanned at the cash register. And many shops that sell LPs are independents that do not report to SoundScan, although Mr. Bakula said his company weights its figures to account for that.

There are other measures of the health of the field, including figures from ancillary businesses. Heinz Lichtenegger, whose Vienna-based Audio Tuning company produces the highly regarded Pro-Ject turntable, said in an e-mail that his company sells 8,000 turntables a month. And Mr. Fremer has sold 16,000 copies of a DVD, “21st Century Vinyl,” that shows users how to set up several turntable models.

Vinyl retailers are thriving as well. Mr. Kassem of Quality Record Pressings also runs Acoustic Sounds, which sells LPs as well as turntables and accessories, including cleaning machines and protective sleeves. Music Direct, a Chicago company that owns Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, a storied audiophile label, has a similarly broad stock, including a selection of turntables that ranges from the $249Music Hall USB-1 to the $25,000 Avid Acutus. Josh Bizar, the company’s director of sales and marketing, said that Music Direct sold 500,000 LPs and “thousands of turntables” last year.

And the buyers, Mr. Bizar said, are by no means boomer nostalgists.

“When you look at the sales for a group like Daft Punk,” he said, “you’re seeing young kids collecting records like we did when we were young.”

“We never expected the vinyl resurgence to become as crazy as it is,” he said. “But it’s come full circle. We get kids calling us up and telling us why they listen to vinyl, and when we ask them why they don’t listen to CDs, they say, ‘CDs? My dad listens to CDs — why would I do that?’ ”

lrn36 said:

When the French electronica duo Daft Punk released “Random Access Memories” in mid-May, 6 percent of its first-week sales — 19,000 out of 339,000 — were on vinyl, according to Nielsen SoundScan, which measures music sales.

lrn36 said:

lastdecember said:

This is a combination of a few things, none of which has to do with illegal downloads. The artists that sell albums, not so much in volume but still have fans that want CDS still pull in some decent numbers, the newer generation is not pulling it in at all, volume wise. There was an article on Salon.Com recently that spoke about the "HYPE about New Music and peoples desire for it" was all a big myth, most people, still play their older stuff and their older artists, so what you have and HAVE HAD since around 2000 is the poorest marketing ever, if this was one corporation "MUSIC" everyone would have been fired and new teams brought in. Next thing is that stores dont stock it anymore, Best Buy which is a sad excuse for music retail has one shelf for Music dvds, im talking 6 feet thats it, and its RB section is twice that size, and 90% of the selection is the Robin Thicke CD. The problem is that what retailers are left, arent stocking older artists with new stuff, i have constantly had to order online from whomever or the artist directly because retail is def dumb and blind now. I challenge soundscan to start actually tracking sales from artists websites, which isnt done now, and you might see some surprise artists. ALOT of older people, 30's and up cant be bothered with itunes and printing the book and this and that so there is still a CD market its just not being run properly. AND NO Vinyl is not coming back, stop that nonsense, YES its sound is best, but there is no way people are going back to all that. CD is the perfect middle ground cause though the sound is not ideal, you can still rip that to itunes and go from there. Like the survey said, 80% of people own an iPOD or MP3 player and of that 10% of those users have itunes digital bought stuff. If you cheapen the way its distributed you lessen the value, if you market WRONG you lose your customers to other things and MUSIC has been the victim of half a dozen things its biggest loss is its importance in most people's lives

Its interesting that cd sales are declining, downloads and vinyl are increasing. Vinyl is still a very small percentage of overall sales.

Weaned on CDs, They’re Reaching for Vinyl

By ALLAN KOZINN

Vinyl is growing out of its niche.

There were always record collectors who disdained the compact disc, arguing that an LP’s grooves yielded warmth and depth that the CD’s digital code could not match.

But the market largely ignored them. Record labels shuttered their LP pressing plants, except for a few that pressed mostly dance music, since vinyl remained the medium of choice for D. J.s.

As it turned out, that early resistance was not futile, thanks largely to an audience of record collectors, many born after CDs were introduced in the 1980s.

These days, every major label and many smaller ones are releasing vinyl, and most major new releases have a vinyl version, leading to a spate of new pressing plants.

When the French electronica duo Daft Punk released “Random Access Memories” in mid-May, 6 percent of its first-week sales — 19,000 out of 339,000 — were on vinyl, according to Nielsen SoundScan, which measures music sales.

Other groups with a predominantly college-age audience have had similar success: the same week, the National sold 7,000 vinyl copies of its latest album, “Trouble Will Find Me,” and 10,000 Vampire Weekend fans opted for the LP version of “Modern Vampires of the City.” When the Front Bottoms, a New Jersey indie band, posted a photo of their players carrying stacks of LP mailing boxes on their Facebook page recently, their label, Bar/None, racked up what Glenn Morrow, who owns the label, described as “phone orders for $2,000 worth of LPs in 10 minutes.”

A growing number of classic albums — including the complete Beatles and early Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan catalogs — have had vinyl reissues in recent years as well.

Michael Fremer, who monitors the LP world on his Web site, Analogplanet.com, said: “None of these companies are pressing records to feel good. They’re doing it because they think they can sell.”

About a dozen pressing plants have sprouted up in the United States, along with the few that survived from the first vinyl era, and they say business is so brisk that they are working to capacity. Thomas Bernich, who started Brooklyn Phono in 2000, says his company makes about 440,000 LPs a year, but a giant like Rainbo Records, in Canoga Park, Calif., turns out 6 million to 7.2 million, said Steve Sheldon, its general manager.

One plant, Quality Record Pressings, in Salina, Kan., opened in 2011 after its owner, Chad Kassem, grew impatient with delays at a larger plant where his own line of blues reissues was being pressed. His company, which runs four presses — acquired used, but modified to run more efficiently — now makes LPs for all the majors, and lists Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Nirvana reissues among its recent projects. He is currently pressing 900,000 vinyl discs a year.

“We’ve always had more work than we could do,” Mr. Kassem said. “When we had one press, we had enough orders for two. When we had two, we had enough orders for four. We never spent a dollar on advertising, but we’ve been busy from the day we opened.”

There is a limit to how much the vinyl business can expand right now. When it seemed inevitable that CDs would supplant LPs, the companies that made vinyl presses shifted to making other kinds of machinery. The last new press was built in 1982, so relatively recent start-ups like Quality and Brooklyn Phono searched out used presses (the going rate is about $25,000) and reconditioned them. Most plants have deals with local machine shops to make replacement parts.

Some pressing plants have looked into commissioning or building new presses but have found the cost prohibitive — as much as $500,000, said Eric Astor of Furnace MFG in Fairfax, Va. “Since my partner also owns a CD/DVD plant,” Mr. Astor said in an e-mail, “we’ve been testing using the methods used in disc manufacturing to make a new breed of vinyl record, but that R&D is slow going and not looking promising.”

How are LPs selling? That is a matter of dispute. David Bakula, Nielsen SoundScan’s senior vice president of client development and insights, said that his company tracked 4.6 million domestic LP sales last year, an 18 percent increase over 2011, but still only 1.4 percent of the total market, made up mostly of digital downloads (which are increasing) and CDs (for which sales are declining). This year, Mr. Bakula said, vinyl sales are on track to reach about 5.5 million.

But manufacturers, specialist retailers and critics argue that SoundScan’s figures represent only a fraction of actual sales, perhaps as little, Mr. Kassem and Mr. Astor said, as 10 to 15 percent. They say that about 25 million vinyl discs were pressed in the United States last year, and many more in Europe and Asia, including some destined for the American market.

Mr. Bakula countered that manufacturers are speaking of the number of discs made; SoundScan tracks how many were sold. But the manufacturers argue that LPs, unlike CDs, are a one-way sale: labels do not accept returns of unsold copies. Therefore labels and retailers are careful to order only what they think they can sell. Moreover, LP jackets do not consistently carry bar codes — Mr. Kassem, for one, leaves them off his discs because, he said, “they’re ugly” — and therefore cannot be scanned at the cash register. And many shops that sell LPs are independents that do not report to SoundScan, although Mr. Bakula said his company weights its figures to account for that.

There are other measures of the health of the field, including figures from ancillary businesses. Heinz Lichtenegger, whose Vienna-based Audio Tuning company produces the highly regarded Pro-Ject turntable, said in an e-mail that his company sells 8,000 turntables a month. And Mr. Fremer has sold 16,000 copies of a DVD, “21st Century Vinyl,” that shows users how to set up several turntable models.

Vinyl retailers are thriving as well. Mr. Kassem of Quality Record Pressings also runs Acoustic Sounds, which sells LPs as well as turntables and accessories, including cleaning machines and protective sleeves. Music Direct, a Chicago company that owns Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, a storied audiophile label, has a similarly broad stock, including a selection of turntables that ranges from the $249Music Hall USB-1 to the $25,000 Avid Acutus. Josh Bizar, the company’s director of sales and marketing, said that Music Direct sold 500,000 LPs and “thousands of turntables” last year.

And the buyers, Mr. Bizar said, are by no means boomer nostalgists.

“When you look at the sales for a group like Daft Punk,” he said, “you’re seeing young kids collecting records like we did when we were young.”

“We never expected the vinyl resurgence to become as crazy as it is,” he said. “But it’s come full circle. We get kids calling us up and telling us why they listen to vinyl, and when we ask them why they don’t listen to CDs, they say, ‘CDs? My dad listens to CDs — why would I do that?’ ”

The vinyl talk is way overblown, its a very very small % and of course its a rise in sales, because from 0% u can only go up, but as far as it being a format again, no way, never happening, though its the best quality, it will just be collectors items. As far as downloads going up, thats really the same thing, you have no other availabilty so its gonna rise, also album sales are not going up, single songs are, they tend to lump the two things together, but digital sales of albums are nowhere near what music expected, its a huge drop off. Retail places are gone, very very few and the ones that carry music, carry it for the instant sale, whats hot today or this week, which is why you go in Best Buy and see 1 or 2 stevie wonder titles, but 768 copies of the new Robin Thicke or Jay Z on the shelves with dust.