08 July 2012

SoundScan mid-year report shows album sales down 3.2%, digital sales up 13.8%

According to Nielsen SoundScan’s mid-year report, album sales (CD + digital) have dropped 3.2% during the first six months of 2012 to 150.5 million units from 155.5 million a year ago. CD sales declined 15.1% in the second quarter of 2012 to 42.6 million units, compared to 51.4 million a year ago. Meanwhile, according to Nielsen, digital album sales have seen a jump of 13.8% to 57.2 million units in the first six months of 2012, from 50.3 million a year ago. The growth of individual track download sales has slowed during the first six months of 2012 compared to 2011, growing only 5.6% to 698 million. This is a considerable drop from the 10.6% increase during the first half of 2011, which saw scans of 660.8 million from 597.4 million units during the first six months of 2010. At the mid-way point in 2012, Adele’s “21″ and Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know” (featuring Kimbra), rule as the year’s biggest selling album and digital song in the U.S., respectively — selling 3.69 million and 5.50 million according to Nielsen SoundScan. But reflecting the slighter softer year for digital track sales, only 15 titles sold more than 2 million units and 47, including those 15, tallied more than 1 million units in the first half of the year, versus 2011 when 17 titles passed the 2 million units milestone and 52 titles in total hit the 1 million unit mark.

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02 March 2012

Music rights agency Merlin wins illegal file sharing battle with LimeWire

Merlin, the rights agency for independent record labels representing acts including Adele and Arctic Monkeys, has reached a landmark deal with LimeWire worth millions of dollars to artists to end a long-running legal battle over illegal file sharing. The out-of-court settlement, which is thought to be worth between $5m and $10m, is the largest the independent music sector has won in its battle against digital music piracy.

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31 December 2011

2011 The year in music

For the first time, a woman earns three of Billboard’s biggest year-end charts honors: No. 1 on Top Artists, the No. 1 Billboard 200 Album and the No. 1 Hot 100 song. The woman, of course, is Adele. The album: “21.” The song: “Rolling in the Deep“. No woman has ever pulled off the triple crown win until this year. Adele simply took over Billboard’s charts in 2011, storming both the Billboard 200 and Hot 100. Her “21″ album, released Feb. 22, debuted at No. 1 on the former tally and has spent 13 nonconsecutive weeks atop the list. Two of its singles, “Rolling in the Deep” and “Someone Like You,” spent seven and five weeks at No. 1, respectively, on the Hot 100. Adele’s triumph as the top artist of 2011 also rewrites a bit of history: This is the third year in a row where a woman takes home the honors. That’s the longest women have ruled the Top Artists chart. Adele follows Lady Gaga (2010) and Taylor Swift (2009).

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