Archive for: album sales

Rob Zombie: The Music Industry Dropped the Ball a Long Time Ago and will Never Recover

Album sales have been in decline for a long time and the industry doesnt really know why this is happening. Here is what an album means to Rob Zombie and his thoughts on the music industry as a whole.

“Truthfully, when you make a new album … you go, ‘OK here’s eleven new songs, five of which we’ll never play live. And here’s the two or three singles that will always be in the set. I think they [the record industry] dropped the ball a long time ago and they’re never going to recover from it. Nobody wants to actually purchase music any more … it’s a weird time because the music scene is alive and well, it’s just the music buying public is not… A year from now, I don’t even know if they’ll be pressing CDs anymore or, if they do, stores won’t even bother carrying em.”

For the full interview check out Noisecreep.

Digital Music Rides High in 2009 – Neilsen Soundscan Report

Neilsen gathers information from both bricks and mortar and online stores in the US, and has released a full report of music sales in 2009. The album charts are more or less what you might expect, apart from the last minute addition of Susan Boyle, who sold almost as much in the 5 weeks after her debut was released as Taylor Swift, the next biggest selling artist of 2009.  Michael Jackson’s death in the Summer undoubtedly caused his high chart position, but dear old Lady Gaga has smashed into the number 4 position from practically a standing start. Shows what you can achieve if you’re prepared to take your clothes off in a college bar, dole out some pizza and start selling your hair.

Best Selling Albums 2009

1. Fearless / Taylor Swift ~ 3,217,000
2. I Dreamed a Dream / Susan Boyle ~ 3,104,000
3. Number Ones / Michael Jackson ~ 2,355,000
4. The Fame / Lady Gaga ~ 2,238,000
5. My Christmas / Andrea Bocelli ~ 2,207,000
6. Hannah Montana: The Movie (soundtrack) / Hannah Montana ~ 1,823,000
7. The E.N.D. / Black Eyed Peas ~ 1,787,000
8. Relapse / Eminem ~ 1,735,000
9. The Blueprint 3 / Jay-Z ~ 1,515,000
10. Only by the Night / Kings of Leon ~ 1,398,000

In terms of an artists’ overall units, rather than single albums, MJ topped the list, with the Beatles (whose catalogue is owned by the Jackson estate) making a surprise appearance at number 3, presumably supported by their Rock Band license deal.

2009 TOP TEN SELLING ARTISTS

(based on Album sales from 12/29/2008-1/3/2010)

1. Michael Jackson  ~   8,286,000
2. Taylor Swift     ~    4,643,000
3. Beatles    ~     3,282,000
4. Susan Boyle    ~     3,104,000
5. Lady Gaga     ~    2,813,000
6. Andrea Bocelli    ~     2,668,000
7. Michael Buble     ~    2,280,000
8. Eminem       ~      2,166,000
9. Carrie Underwood   ~    1,895,000
10. Black Eyed Peas   ~   1,881,000

Another widely expected, but still pleasing phenomenon is that while the CD slides sickeningly into obscurity, vinyl sales are up: 33% in a single year, to 2.5 million albums. The Beatles and Jackson feature high on the list in the vibyl format, resting on a bed of heavy listening, serious music fan music like Fleet Foxxes, Animal Collective and Radiohead.

2009 TOP TEN VINYL ALBUMS
(12/29/2008-1/3/2010)

Abbey Road/ Beatles       ~       34,800
Thriller/ Michael Jackson      ~       29,800
Merriweather Post Pavilion/Animal Collective  ~   14,000
Wilco/ Wilco        ~       13,200
Fleet Foxes/ Fleet Foxes       ~      12,700
Backspacer/ Pearl Jam         ~        12,500
Veckatimest/ Grizzly Bear       ~      11,600
Appetite for Destruction/ Guns N’ Roses    ~     11,500
Big Whiskey & the…/Dave Matthews Band    ~    11,500
In Rainbows/ Radiohead         ~        11,400

2009 TOP TEN VINYL ARTISTS
(based on vinyl album sales from 12/29/2008 – 1/3/2010)

Radiohead       ~      45,700
Beatles       ~      38,800
Michael Jackson    ~     30,400
Metallica       ~      30,200
Wilco          ~       29,600
Bob Dylan       ~      24,500
Animal Collective     ~    20,600
Pearl Jam       ~      19,900
Bon Iver       ~      17,100
Iron & Wine      ~       16,600

Why Pick RouteNote? Sheer Success

RouteNote launched back in April 16th 2008 and since that time we have we have been focused on providing the masses with the same opportunities as was only previously given to the major label artists. RouteNote is the leading online music distribution service that has no upfront fees or costs and that is where we are hoping to stay.

RouteNote was launched with some major online retailers already on board, such as iTunes and eMusic. RouteNote works on the basis that we offer free distribution services to artists from all over the world. Artists head to RouteNote and can choose to upload their music to any of our partners (iTunes, Emusic, Amazon Mp3, Last.fm and more). Artists then receive 90% of all revenues derived from these partners in which is paid monthly.

So why choose RouteNote over our competitors?

1. No upfront fees
2. No monthly costs
3. Artists keep 100% ownership of their music
4. Artists receive 90% of all net revenues
5. Free UPC and ISRC codes
6. Artists from Anywhere in the world are accepted

RouteNote is a very service orientated business and customer service is what we pride ourselves on, because working closely with our artists means that we have the opportunity to really push and drive their sales which of course is our aim. RouteNote makes sure that artists have their music in all of the relevant places, and knows that the contemporaneous placement of music within these all these services is important, so we provide a speedy 3-4 week service to get your tracks from uploaded to live.

Providing great customer service has really help our artists get on to the service fast and more efficiently, which has really helped them to focus on driving sales. Our best example recently is that Megassus (a RouteNote contributor) held the number 1, 4 and 8th positions in the New age genre within eMusic.