Record sales
Record sales or music sales are activities related to selling music recordings (
According to
History
External images | |
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RIAA U.S. Recorded Music Sales Charts (Interactive); Revenue and Volumes by Format. (1973 - ) | |
Sales Reveneus by Format | |
Revenue break down 2018 | |
Sales Volumes by Format | |
Sales Volumes breakdown 2018 |
Before the existence of
Album sales were first reported by
During the 1950s and into the 1960s, 45 rpm
In October 2005, "
Marketing
Aside of paid advertising in print or broadcast media, radio airplay is one of the most important tools to sell records. A research commissioned by one of major label groups stated that "four out of five music purchases can be traced to radio airplay.[27]
In 2007,
Merchandise bundles
In 2004, Prince became the first major artist to bundle his album, Musicology, with tour ticket purchases, giving copies of the album to each audience upon entrance to the venue. Those copies were counted as sales for the album on the Billboard 200 chart during its corresponding week of each concert. This strategy led Billboard and Nielsen SoundScan tighten up their policy on how tickets bundled with albums would count for charting purposes.[31]
Travis Scott bundled his 2018 album Astroworld with his 28-piece merchandise line, which contributed to first-week sales exceeding 270,000 traditional units and a number-one debut on the Billboard 200.[32]
Financial loss
At times, labels overshipped records to retailers with too high expectations of commercial response. Records not sold to consumers may be returned to the label. In January 2008, media reported that over one million unsold copies of Robbie Williams's album Rudebox were sent to China to be crushed.[34] EMI owner Guy Hands said, "Roughly 85% of what EMI does get to release never makes a profit, in part because of the cash spent signing bands and partly due to ill-made bets on the number of CDs the market requires for particular acts."[35]
In 2011, Amazon sold an estimated 440,000 digital copies of Lady Gaga's Born This Way in its first two days at a price of 99 cents.[36] This promotional campaign caused a loss of over $3 million for the company.[37] In 2014, U2's album Songs of Innocence was released for free on iTunes. Apple's deal with U2 and the band's label, Universal Music, which stands to lose more than a million full-price sales because of the free download offer, guarantees $100 million worth of high-profile marketing for the album.[38]
Second-hand
The sale of second-hand albums and singles continues into the 2020s, with many record stores having a used section, as well as pawn shops such as CeX, Cash Generator, Cash Converters,[39] and the emergence of eBay, MusicMagpie, Alibris and other dedicated websites.[40][41]
See also
- List of largest recorded music markets
- Record label
- Record collecting
- Music recording certification
- List of best-selling music artists
- List of best-selling albums
- List of best-selling singles
- List of most expensive albums
- Album-equivalent unit
- Vinyl revival
- Album era
References
- ^ "Music Sales Measurement - Nielsen". nielsen.com. Archived from the original on 7 July 2014. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
- ^ "Albums decline but digital rises". BBC. 8 March 2012. Archived from the original on 31 May 2012. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
- ^ "Record sales for 'cheap' albums". BBC News. 19 August 2003.
- ^ Rogowsky, Mark. "The Cruel Math Behind Why Streaming Will Never Save The Music Industry". Forbes. Archived from the original on 22 March 2014. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
- ^ "The Price of Music – pakman.com". pakman.com. 18 March 2014. Archived from the original on 22 June 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
- ^ Roettgers, Janko (22 March 2016). "Streaming Overtakes Downloads, CDs as Top Music Revenue Driver". Variety. Archived from the original on 25 March 2016. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
- ^ "IFPI Global Music Report 2016". ifpi.org. Archived from the original on 13 April 2016. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
- ^ Sisario, Ben (22 May 2010). "With V.I.P. Pricing, Fans Buy Their Way Closer to the Band". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 25 May 2010. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
- ^ Childs-Young, Laura (May 4, 2020). "IFPI issues annual Global Music Report". IFPI.
- ^ Leight, Elias (July 10, 2018). "Why Charts Matter, and What It Means When Drake Dominates Them". Rolling Stone. Retrieved October 29, 2020.
- ^ Espinoza, Joshua (23 May 2020). "Gunna's 'Wunna' Album Set for No. 1 Debut". Complex.
- ^ "Eminem was the only solo artist to sell 500,000 "pure" albums in 2018". NME. January 21, 2019.
- ^ "Best-selling album". Guinness World Records. Archived from the original on December 4, 2017. Retrieved June 29, 2017.
- ^ "Best-selling single". Guinness World Records. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
- ^ Porter, Eduardo (7 July 2010). "Opinion - Ringo Starr Is 70". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 22 June 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
- ^ "The Beatles Get Back to No. 1". E!. 22 November 2000. Archived from the original on 22 June 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
- ^ "Best-selling music act ever: The Beatles". heart.co.uk. Archived from the original on 22 June 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
- ^ "A Timeline Of Opening Acts Who Became Bigger Than The Headliner". VH1. Archived from the original on 30 April 2015. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
- ^ "The First Billboard: All That Was 'New, Bright and Interesting on the Boards'". Billboard. Archived from the original on 1 November 2017. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
- ^ "The Incredible Talking Machine". June 23, 2010. Archived from the original on August 17, 2013.
- ISBN 9780415332675.
- ^ a b "Billboard 200 Turns 60! Celebrate Its Birthday With These Essential Chart Facts". Billboard. Archived from the original on 24 March 2016. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
- ^ Synopsis of "When Albums Ruled the World." Archived 2018-07-27 at the Wayback Machine from BBC Four's The Golden Age Of The Album series. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
- ^ "First million seller CD". guinnessworldrecords.com. Archived from the original on 12 November 2017. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
- ^ Baltin, Steve (January 20, 2006). "Stefani, Peas Lead Singles Boom". Rolling Stone.
- ^ "Sainsbury's stops selling CDS and DVDS". BBC News. 8 July 2021.
- ISBN 9780313310942.
- ^ Passey, Brian (February 26, 2011). "Vinyl records spin back into vogue". USA Today. Archived from the original on 2 March 2011. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
- ^ "Record Store Day Drives Vinyl Sales to Historic Peak in SoundScan Era". Billboard. Archived from the original on 2013-04-28. Retrieved 2016-01-20.
- ^ "Record Store Day Breaks Sales Records, Nirvana Tops Vinyl Singles". Rolling Stone. 25 April 2014. Archived from the original on 2014-04-26. Retrieved 2016-01-18.
- ^ "Prince: A Guide to His Complex Web of Label, Internet and Distribution Deals". Billboard. Archived from the original on 23 June 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
- ^ Levy, Lauren (August 23, 2018). "We're living through the merch bundle wars". Fader. Archived from the original on May 18, 2019. Retrieved June 12, 2019.
- ^ "U.S. Sales Database". RIAA.
- ^ "Robbie Williams to pave Chinese roads - NME". NME. 16 January 2008. Archived from the original on 22 June 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
- ^ Wray, Richard (15 January 2008). "Interview: EMI's Guy Hands". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 22 June 2018. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
- ^ Martens, Todd (June 1, 2011). "Lady Gaga tops the 1million mark in first-week album sales". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on June 7, 2011. Retrieved June 25, 2011.
- ^ Barshad, Amons (June 2, 2011). "Guess How Much Money Amazon Lost by Selling Lady Gaga's Album for 99 Cents?". New York. Archived from the original on June 6, 2011. Retrieved June 25, 2011.
- ^ "Free U2 album: How generous giveaway turned into a PR disaster". The Independent. Archived from the original on 19 September 2014. Retrieved 22 June 2018.
- ^ www.uprisevsi.co.uk, upriseVSI. "Achieve £1 million turnover with CeX". Franchise Magazine.
- ^ Rosenblatt, Bill. "Vinyl Is Bigger Than We Thought. Much Bigger". Forbes.
- ^ "Vinyl collectors spent millions on Discogs last year". BBC News. May 2, 2018.