record sales rise

[alocispepraluger102]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-14/record-sales-rise-as-lady-gaga-adele-find-a-future-with-spotify.html

Music lovers are doing something they haven’t done in years: They’re buying more albums.

The number of albums sold this year has increased for the first time since 2004, led by deep discounting and releases from the likes of pop priestess Lady Gaga, British singer and songwriter Adele and rapper Lil’ Wayne. That’s an accomplishment in an industry that’s been in steady decline, even though total revenue is still slipping.

The trend may signal a brighter future for the music industry, according to Jean-Bernard Levy, chief executive officer of Paris-based Vivendi SA. (VIV) The company’s Universal Music Group on Nov. 11 agreed to buy the recorded-music assets of EMI Group from Citigroup Inc. in a deal valued at 1.2 billion pounds ($1.9 billion).

“There’s a clear rebound in music sales this year,” Levy said in an interview in New York before news of the deal. “We don’t want to claim victory. But the music industry may be at a turning point.”

Industry wide, sales of record albums, which include digital downloads, compact discs, some vinyl LPs and cassettes, are up 3 percent, according to Nielsen SoundScan, the music industry’s sales tracking system. A total of 255 million albums have been sold in the U.S. so far this year, compared with 247 million this time last year. At this point last year, overall album sales were down 13 percent from the previous year.

In addition to the sale of a traditional album compilation of songs, either on a CD or through downloading, the industry now also counts what is called TEA, or a “track equivalent album.” One TEA is counted for every 10 single tracks that are downloaded, even if it’s the same song downloaded 10 times. When TEAs are factored in, album sales are up 5.2 percent over last year, according to SoundScan.

Hitting Bottom?

Record companies are benefiting from new Internet music outlets, from Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) to streaming-music services such as Spotify Ltd. and Rdio Inc. At Vivendi SA, whose assets also include the Activision Blizzard video-game business, the Brazilian broadband business GVT, and the French pay-TV operatorCanal Plus, digital music sales increased 13.5 percent during the first half of this year, the company said.(continued)

[JSngry]

Lady Gaga is saving the world!

[Kevin Bresnahan]

Lady Gaga offered her *entire* last album for 99 cents on amazon.com for a week. It sold in the hundreds of thousands. Using this "door buster" to artificially claim that album sales are making a comeback is stretching it pretty thin. I highly doubt these buyers would have bought Gaga's full album if it was $9.99 like most of today's mp3 albums.

[JSngry]

And they're counting ten downloads of the same song as an album, more or less?

And they're talking about how Spotify and such is helping to sell music by giving it away.

It's a world gone mad!

[Rupertdacat]

And they're talking about how Spotify and such is helping to sell music by giving it away.

It's a world gone mad!

Getting familiar with Spotify i stumbled on to 'Graceland' (25th anniversary). I could tell through $10 earbuds that this is an astonishing album. I want to hear the uncompressed CD on my main system, so... i ordered it from Amazon. Almost certainly i would never have bought it otherwise as i only browse jazz and classical music at (on-line and b&m) retailers.

[Chuck Nessa]

You are one in a million.

[Rupertdacat]

You are one in a million.

[.:.impossible]

I have bought dozens of albums after previewing them on Spotify. I know a few other friends that have been using Spotify the same way.

It happens!

[Shawn]

I have bought dozens of albums after previewing them on Spotify. I know a few other friends that have been using Spotify the same way.

It happens!

Agreed. I will no longer buy anything unless I hear the entire album first, Spotify (and MOG) has been a blessing in this regard.

[Larry Kart]

I buy a good deal of stuff after test-driving it on Spotify and tend to listen there only for that purpose.

[WD45]

I have bought dozens of albums after previewing them on Spotify. I know a few other friends that have been using Spotify the same way.

It happens!

Agreed. I will no longer buy anything unless I hear the entire album first, Spotify (and MOG) has been a blessing in this regard.

Same here! (Except that I use Rdio)

I'll even preview/listen to things on Rdio on my moblie WHILE I'M IN A RECORD STORE. Crazy collision, that is.

It's caused me to discover and buy more things than ever before. (To the detriment of my bank account, you see.)

[CraigP]

I'm using Spotify to preview stuff before I buy as well. In fact, I'm listening right now to a French trio called Elifantree. Really interesting stuff.