Country Album Sales Down
1/4/2008 According to figures released Thursday (1/3), country music album sales in the U.S. fell 16.3 percent in 2007, slightly more than the 15 percent slide seen in total album sales this year. Only The Eagles' country disc, Long Road out of Eden, and newcomer Taylor Swift's self-titled debut made the cut for the year's all-genre top 10 selling albums list. Overall U.S. music sales, measured by number of units sold - including everything from digital singles and music videos to physical CDs - increased 14 percent over last year. Sales of digital tracks continue to rise, with about 844.2 million sold in 2007, compared with 588.2 million in 2006. Digital album sales accounted for 10 percent of total album purchases. This news wasn’t necessarily good for country artists, since the top 10 charts reflecting a 45 percent increase in digital track sales and 53 percent rise in digital album sales included no country artists and albums. Commenting on the figures for the Nashville Tennessean, Sony BMG Nashville Chairman Joe Galante says, “There's no doubt that everybody in town has been affected by what's happened to the industry overall. Some of us may fare better than others, but when the market drops that much it affects everybody. ... (And) I think it will continue on.” A report released in November by Jupiter Research LLC forecast digital music sales will continue to grow to $2.8 billion, comprising 34 percent of U.S. consumer spending on music in 2012. The recording industry continued to benefit from mobile music, with mobile phone owners buying 220 million ringtones.
