A Snapshot of Current Music Industry

The National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) has released a report in association with Nielsen SoundScan on the current state of the recording industry.

Highlights from the report:

Digital music is now 40% of the total music purchases compared to just 8% in 2005. It is projected that it will hit 50% by the end of 2010.
Purchases are being made less at mass and chain/electronic stores and more at value oriented outlets (dollar, mass merchandisers, clubs) and on-line. Between 2001 and 2009, chains like Best Buy’s share of the market has gone from 54% to 32%, independent music stores from 14% to 7%, mass merchandisers like Wal-Mart from 28% to 33% and non-traditional sources such as iTunes, Amazon and Starbucks from 3% to 29%.
In 2008, the biggest percentage jump in sales was for vinyl albums, which were up 89% over 2007. The biggest drop was in current CD albums (compared to catalog) which was down 23%.
Since 2004, CD sales are down 45% while digital sales are up 490% and video game sales up 115%.
Between 2006 and 2008, rap music had the biggest drop in album sales, dropping 44% with country down 36% and R&B down 34%. On the other end of the scale, rock and hard rock are only down 18%.
Digital music buying was done most by fans of rock music, with 41% of all purchases coming from an on-line source. That’s compared to only 6% of sales for country albums.
New physical formats are not doing well. Slot Music sales are averaging 1,500 albums per week while digital album cards are only moving 590 albums. Both formats are seriously declining.
Through the first five months of this year, rock and alternative vinyl album sales have led the way, growing between 60% and 70% from last year. The real genre gains, percentage wise, has been in country and gospel where sales are up 200% from a year ago.