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Music streaming expands in 2014, digital sales drop
Thanks to a new report from Nielsen SoundScan we now know that 2014 proved to be yet another chaotic year for the music industry. Total sales of albums fell 11 percent to just 257 million albums sold in the US, while digital sales dropped 9 percent to 117.6 million. Vinyl sales grew 52 percent, but that only accounted for 9.2 million albums sold. People keep buying less music, but that doesn't mean they're not paying for it. Online streaming grew 54 percent this year, with 164 billion songs streamed. Given the sheer number of ways people can stream music right now, and how cheap even the most expensive options are when compared to buying individual records, these numbers should come as no surprise. Still, it shows the wisdom of Apple looking to expand its reach in the music market beyond iTunes sales with the 2014 purchase of Beats. Has the ability to stream anything you want for a flat rate changed how you consume music? Let us know in the comments.
Streams and vinyl sales double while music downloads dwindle
Need even more proof that vinyl is more than just a passing fad for the Pabst Blue Ribbon crowd? Here goes: While digital album and song sales continued their downward spiral, record sales have more than doubled since last year. All this is according to Nielsen Soundscan, which reports that the 9.2 million wax tally is the highest since it started tracking sales in 1991. For context, however, digital sales still bested physical by a massive margin (CDs weren't broken out, according to The Wall Street Journal), with 106.5 million albums downloaded in 2014. Meanwhile, individual song sales dipped 12 percent compared to 2013.
Billboard: Digital music sales decrease for the first time ever, vinyl continues to grow
It was inevitable: After years of highs and then a plateau, digital music sales saw their first decrease in 2013. Last year, digital song purchases dropped almost six percent according to a Billboard report, while digital album sales dropped 0.1 percent. Compact discs continued their downward spiral as well, and took a 14.5 percent loss. On the flip side, pure analog music (read: vinyl) showed an increase of 31.9 percent -- representing a full two percent of music sales. Until Nielsen's SoundScan report for streaming hits, however, we won't know how much of an impact the likes of Spotify or Rdio are having on purchases. We have a hunch it'll be rather telling. [Image credit: karola riegler photography/Flickr]
VideoScan releases HD DVD / Blu-ray "charts," results still inconclusive
Okay, so we're not waxing rhapsodic about a conspiracy theory just yet, but seriously, why can't the general public get a few hard numbers regarding the HD DVD / Blu-ray format war? Since both formats hit the market, we've all been wondering who would be the leader in terms of disc sales once the holiday season was behind us, and although Nielsen VideoScan has finally loosed the deets, we're still (relatively) in the dark. We've wondered exactly what was taking so long for these data to surface, but instead of VideoScan perfecting their report, it has apparently delayed the information only to release several inconclusive "charts" and "ratios" that, quite frankly, aren't what we all want. For whatever it's (not) worth, it looks like Blu-ray titles outsold HD DVD titles by a 2:1 margin during the admittedly slow first two weeks of 2007, but overall, we're still stuck analyzing Amazon's sales figures while trying to piece together the truth. Still, if you're more interested in having the best of both worlds regardless of which is on top (or still around) in a couple years, you know where to go.[Thanks, Jed]
