2008 Music Sales: Up, Down, All Around...

Nielsen SoundScan just released the sales numbers for 2008.

Here's the low down:

Overall sales hit RECORD HIGHS for 2008... that is when you define sales as "units", a digital track being a "unit." Overall, Nielsen's annual year-end music industry report shows that combined sales of albums, singles, music videos and digital tracks increased 10.5% over 2007.

For digital sales, it was the best year yet. Tracks posted a 27% gain to more than a billion units sold in 2008, and digital albums grew 32% to 65.8 million units, both new highs.

But the record highs in digital music sales didn't make up financially for the decline in PHYSICAL album sales. Combined sales of albums on CD, cassette and vinyl were down 18% from 2007. When you add in the boost from digital album sales, album sales in total were down 14%.

So while digital sales are hitting record highs in terms of "units", it's still a net loss financially.

However, sales of vinyl reached 1.88 million in 2008, a near-90 percent gain over 2007.

Numbers from:
http://tinyurl.com/a2n8lg
http://tinyurl.com/72oyrj
http://tinyurl.com/9h2nwt

David Nevue
The Music Biz Academy
http://www.musicbizacademy.com
http://www.twitter.com/davidnevue
http://www.davidnevue.com