The Nielsen Company & Billboard's 2012 Music Industry Report

Business Wirevia The Motley Fool
Updated

The Nielsen Company & Billboard's 2012 Music Industry Report

Music Purchases at All-Time High
Surpass 1.65 Billion Unit Transactions
Digital Sales Gain - Albums up 14% - Tracks up 5%


NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Nielsen SoundScan and Nielsen BDS, the entertainment industry's leading data information systems, announced the 2012 year-end U.S. music sales figures for the 12-month period of January 2, 2012 through December 30, 2012. Nielsen SoundScan measures U.S. point-of-sale of recorded music product. Nielsen BDS tracks U.S. radio airplay and music streams. Both systems power many of the Billboard charts.

For 2012, sales of albums and track equivalents are down slightly at -1.8% vs. 2011. Digital Albums are up 14% and Digital Tracks are up 5%. CD sales declined 13%.

"Overall music purchases surpassed 1.65 billion units in 2012, up 3.1% vs. the previous record high set in 2011, driven by digital music sales, which continue be a key growth element within the market," said David Bakula, SVP Client Development, Nielsen. "Digital Album sales are up 14.1% and Digital Track sales are up 5.1%, but despite being down 12.8%, physical is still the dominant album format.

"The big artist stories of the year are Adele and Taylor Swift," continued Bakula. "Adele's album, 21, is the first album ever to be the top seller of the year for two consecutive years, and Taylor Swift's Red has sold more than 3.1 million copies in only 10 weeks, debuting with the highest weekly sales of any title since 2002."

Overall Music Sales

Overall Album Sales w/TEA

(Transactions: Albums, Singles, Music Video, Digital Tracks - In Millions)

(Includes All Albums & Track Equivalent Albums - In Millions)

2012

2011

% Chg.

2012

2011

% Chg.

Units Sold

1,661

1,611

3.10%

Units Sold

450

458

-1.80%

NOTE: TRACK EQUIVALENT ALBUMS EQUATE RATIO OF 10 TRACKS TO 1 ALBUM

Total Album Sales

Physical Music Sales

(Includes CDs, Cassettes, LPs, Digital Albums - In Millions)

(Includes CDs, Cassettes, LPs - In Millions)

2012

2011

% Chg.

2012

2011

% Chg.

Units Sold

316

331

-4.40%

Units Sold

198

227

-12.80%

Digital Album Sales

Digital Track Sales

(In Millions)

(In Millions) - Nielsen SoundScan Sales Record*

2012

2011

% Chg.

2012

2011

% Chg.

Units Sold

118

103

14.10%

Units Sold

1,336 *

1,271

5.10%

CD Album Sales

LP Album Sales

(CD Albums - In Millions)

(LP/Vinyl Records - In Millions) - Nielsen SoundScan Sales Record*

2012

2011

% Chg.

2012

2011

% Chg.

Units Sold

193

224

-13.50%

Units Sold

4.6 *

3.9

17.70%

Holiday Season Album Sales

Holiday Season Track Sales

(Sales 11/5/2012-12/30/2012 - In Millions)

(Sales 11/5/2012-12/30/2012 - In Millions)

2012

2011

% Chg.

2012

2011

% Chg.

Units Sold

76

81

-7.10%

Units Sold

238

237

0.60%

Current vs. Catalog Sales

(In Millions)

Overall Albums

Digital Albums

2012

2011

% Chg.

2012

2011

% Chg.

Current

161

179

-10.20%

Current

60

53

13.70%

Catalog

155

151

2.50%

Catalog

57

50

14.60%

Deep Catalog

123

119

3.30%

Deep Catalog

45

38

18.10%

Physical Albums

Digital Tracks

2012

2011

% Chg.

2012

2011

% Chg.

Current

101

126

-20.30%

Current

603

552

9.10%

Catalog

97

101

-3.50%

Catalog

733

718

2.10%

Deep Catalog

78

81

-3.70%

Genre Total Album Sales

Genre Digital Album Sales

(In Millions)

(In Millions)

Genre

2012

2011

% Chg.

Genre

2012

2011

% Chg.

Alternative

52.2

54.6

-4.30%

Alternative

26.7

24.4

9.50%

Christian/Gospel*

22.9

23.7

-3.40%

Christian/Gospel*

5.3

4.8

11.10%

Classical

7.5

9.4

-20.50%

Classical

2.6

2.3

14.60%

Country

44.6

42.8

4.20%

Country

11.2

8.1

37.80%

Dance/Electronic

8.7

9.9

-12.00%

Dance/Electronic

4.9

4.8

1.20%

Jazz

8.1

11

-26.20%

Jazz

2.5

2.6

-3.60%

Latin

9.7

11.7

-17.60%

Latin

1.4

1.1

23.20%

Metal

31.9

31.9

-0.30%

Metal

11.2

9.6

16.30%

New Age

1.7

1.9

-12.90%

New Age

0.6

0.6

13.60%

R&B

49.7

55.3

-10.20%

R&B

16.3

14.8

10.20%

Rap

24.2

27.3

-11.40%

Rap

10.7

9.3

14.70%

Rock

102.5

100.5

2.00%

Rock

43.1

36.3

18.80%

Soundtrack

12.3

13

-5.20%

Soundtrack

6

5.4

12.70%

Genre Digital Track Sales

Digital Track Sales by Decade

(Total Tracks, Core Genre - In Millions)

(Songs Grouped by Decade of Release - In Millions)

Genre

2012

2011

% Chg.

Genre

2012

2011

% Chg.

Blues

3

2.4

24.40%

2010's

699

542

29.00%

Children

4.7

4.2

10.30%

2000's

438

535

-18.20%

Christian/Gospel

34.4

32.2

6.50%

1990's

91

87

5.00%

Classical

7

6.7

5.20%

1980's

54

41

32.70%

Comedy

5.1

6.7

-23.40%

1970's

33

33

0.60%

Country

162.1

143.7

12.80%

1960's

16

18

-14.40%

Dance/Electronic

53

39.1

35.60%

1950's

3

3

-6.70%

Holiday/Seasonal

12.1

13.7

-11.90%

1940's

1

1

-6.00%

Jazz

8.8

9.2

-5.00%

Latin

21.1

20.6

2.20%

New Age

1.5

1.4

10.70%

Pop

303.8

305.6

-0.60%

R&B/Hip Hop

249.3

262.1

-4.90%

Rock

323.8

291.7

11.00%

World

8.7

4.1

110.80%

Notes:

Current/Catalog Definitions: "current" represents albums 18 months or newer; "catalog" 18 months or older (with some considerations for airplay and billboard chart position). "Deep catalog" is a subset within "catalog".

Genres: Albums and tracks may appear in more than one genre. Album genres are based on billboard chart eligibility and can differ from the track genre methodology. Not all genres are included in the above tables.

* Includes sales figures tracked by Christian SoundScan.

2012 YEAR-TO-DATE RECORD COMPANY MARKET SHARE

(REFLECTS THE MARKET SHARE FOR THE ENTIRE ENTITY INCLUDING SUB-DISTRIBUTED COMPANIES FOR THE 52-WEEK YEAR)

UMG COMPLETED THE ACQUISITION OF EMI DISTRIBUTION AT THE BEGINNING OF Q4 2012. MARKET SHARE REPORTING INCLUDED THE FOLLOWING ADJUSTMENTS: ALL OF THE LABELS FORMERLY ASSOCIATED WITH EMI WERE MOVED TO UMGD. EMI WAS CREDITED FOR ALL SALES THROUGH WEEK-ENDING 9/30/2012. ALL MARKET SHARE WAS ATTRIBUTED TO UMGD THEREAFTER.

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