Sales Trilogy: Part One showcased the final week of 2011 and some of the basic indicators for country music’s sales performance. (Read it HERE.) Sales Trilogy: Part Two will put the year’s achievements in perspective across genres, by artist, by sales format and by market share.
Regular readers know that the source of this year-end data, is Nielsen SoundScan. Special thanks to Scoop Marketing’s Anna Loynes who is instrumental in compiling and distributing the coveted information.
For those living in a units-based world, it was a good year. Total album sales rose 1.3% to 326.2 million units and if we include TEA (track equivalent albums) in that tally the increase was a healthy 3.2%.
Genres posting the highest gains by percentage were Jazz (+26%; 11.07 million), New Age (+16.2%; 1.93 million), Electronic (+15%; 10.05 million) and Classical (+6.8%; 9.57 million). Coincidence or not, these high-growth genres all qualify for “Long Tail” niche status. Are we seeing a shift in buying habits or is this a reflection of increased availability of catalog due to digital formats? Either way it is something for marketers of these diverse genres to watch.
Formats suffering the slings and arrows of negative growth were Soundtracks (-19.4%; 13.23 million), Latin (-4.3%; 11.81 million), R&B (-4.2%; 55.44 million), Christian/Gospel (-2%; 23.73 million) and Country (-1.8%; 42.92 million).
As expected, Digital track sales (+8.5%) and Digital Album Sales (+19.5%) continued to erode physical format dominance. Digital albums as a percent of Total album sales are now 31.2% compared with 26.4% for 2010. (country digital albums as a percentage of total country album sales are 19%.) This means that over 68% of album sales are still in physical format.
Some “Did you know?” party chatter—In 2010 and 2011 there were 13 albums that sold one million or more units and 35 albums made it into the 500k-999k category both years.
Catalog was an important element in carving out the positive 2011 sales landscape. Looking at overall album sales, deep catalog jumped 12.5%, regular catalog increased 8.9% while current sales fell -4.2%. That trend was most pronounced in the digital arena. Deep digital catalog skyrocketed 23.1%, with overall catalog rising 19.8%.
Market Share
The album market share discussion is colored this year by the knowledge that UMG (29.85%) and EMI (9.62%) are planning to integrate in the coming year. This would give the new combined entity almost 40% of the total sales pie leaving Sony Music (29.29%) and Warner Music Group (19.13%) as distant challengers.
Billboard Top Ten Artist Airplay Based Upon Nielsen BDS (2011 calendar year)
Artist Stats
And now to the artist discussion. Whatever question is asked, guess Adele and her album 21, and odds are almost 100% you will be correct. Adele sold 6.744 million units and in the process earned the No. 1 position for Top Selling Album and Artist. Her track “Rolling In The Deep” was top Selling Digital Track (5.813 million). Nashville, unfortunately was mostly MIA with regard to the various top ten sales lists. However, on the Top Selling Album List Jason Aldean was No. 5 (1.576 million) and Lady Antebellum placed No. 10 (1.2 million). In the Top Artist sweeps Lady A, Jason and Taylor Swift placed in positions 6, 8 and 9 respectively. (see above chart)
Factoids
>>For the second straight year, Lady Antebellum finishes the year as the biggest selling group of 2011 with more than 2.1 million album sales.
>>Garth Brooks continues to be comfortably the best selling artist in the Nielsen SoundScan era with more than 68.5 million album sales; 5 million sales ahead of the Beatles.
>>Katy Perry ends the year as the most played artist over the airways in 2011 with more than 1.4 million spins; edging out Bruno Mars by 17,000 spins.
>>In 2011, 31% of all albums purchased were through a digital service like iTunes, Amazonmp3 or eMusic, an increase of 5 points from 2010.
Artist Updates (1/05/12)
/by FreemanHazel Smith with Jamey Johnson and Jessi Colter
On Saturday, January 7, Jessi Colter and Jamey Johnson will appear on CMT’s Southern Fried Flicks with Hazel Smith to discuss the upcoming release of The Music Inside: A Collaboration Dedicated to Waylon Jennings, Volume II. As usual, the chat will accompany a home-cooked meal and a movie showing, which will be the original 1984 Footloose.
The second installment of the Waylon tribute, a project overseen by Jennings’ widow Colter, will be released by Average Joe’s Entertainment and according to Waylon’s website, is available January 24. Featured performers include Dierks Bentley (“Lonesome, Onry, and Mean”), Montgomery Gentry (“Good Old Boys”), Jewel (“Dreaming My Dreams With You”) and more. The first volume of the series was released early in 2011 via the Big Machine Label Group, and a third volume is also in the works.
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Brice and fiancee Reeveley
Lee Brice welcomed 2012 by proposing to his longtime girlfriend Sara Reeveley, the mother of the couple’s three year old son Takoda. The couple was on vacation in Key West when Brice popped the question. A date has not yet been set. “I finally get to marry that beautiful girl I met on Myrtle Beach years ago,” said Brice. “I can’t wait to get Sara and Takoda to Nashville so we can all be together.” Brice’s current single “A Woman Like You” is at No. 23 on MusicRow’s CountryBreakout Chart, and he was also a co-writer on the recent Eli Young Band hit “Crazy Girl.”
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Underwood Donates To Hometown Schools
/by Caitlin Rantala“Late last year each of the schools created a list of their needs and I am so thrilled that the C.A.T.S. Foundation was able to fund it all,” said Underwood. “It gives me great joy knowing we are helping my hometown schools to offer an even better education to the students. They deserve it.”
“We are so proud of Carrie and her accomplishments and we appreciate everything she has done for our students. Every student in our school will benefit from the C.A.T.S. Foundation’s generous donation,” shared Toni Brown, Assistant Superintendent of Checotah Public Schools.
In addition, this past October, Underwood’s C.A.T.S. Foundation partnered with national non-profit organization KaBOOM!, and with the help of over 200 local volunteers built a playground in one day at Marshall Elementary School designed by the school’s students.
Rising Stars Set For “Music In The City” at Tin Roof
/by Sarah SkatesEric Paslay is among the performers at Music In The City.
The Tin Roof will be rockin’ on Tues., Jan. 31 with performances by Eric Paslay, Josh Hoge, Dustin Lynch, Coldwater Jane, and The Cordovas (Jaron Lowenstein, Joe Firstman, Jon Loyd, Toby Weaver, Jonathan Gray).
Nashville Lifestyles’ Music in the City event kicks off at 5:30 pm with a portion of the proceeds to benefit Keep Music in Music City.
Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door. Each ticket includes two complimentary cocktails. Details here.
Sales Trilogy Part Two: Catalog Is Cool, Again
/by bossrossRegular readers know that the source of this year-end data, is Nielsen SoundScan. Special thanks to Scoop Marketing’s Anna Loynes who is instrumental in compiling and distributing the coveted information.
Genres posting the highest gains by percentage were Jazz (+26%; 11.07 million), New Age (+16.2%; 1.93 million), Electronic (+15%; 10.05 million) and Classical (+6.8%; 9.57 million). Coincidence or not, these high-growth genres all qualify for “Long Tail” niche status. Are we seeing a shift in buying habits or is this a reflection of increased availability of catalog due to digital formats? Either way it is something for marketers of these diverse genres to watch.
Formats suffering the slings and arrows of negative growth were Soundtracks (-19.4%; 13.23 million), Latin (-4.3%; 11.81 million), R&B (-4.2%; 55.44 million), Christian/Gospel (-2%; 23.73 million) and Country (-1.8%; 42.92 million).
As expected, Digital track sales (+8.5%) and Digital Album Sales (+19.5%) continued to erode physical format dominance. Digital albums as a percent of Total album sales are now 31.2% compared with 26.4% for 2010. (country digital albums as a percentage of total country album sales are 19%.) This means that over 68% of album sales are still in physical format.
Catalog was an important element in carving out the positive 2011 sales landscape. Looking at overall album sales, deep catalog jumped 12.5%, regular catalog increased 8.9% while current sales fell -4.2%. That trend was most pronounced in the digital arena. Deep digital catalog skyrocketed 23.1%, with overall catalog rising 19.8%.
Market Share
The album market share discussion is colored this year by the knowledge that UMG (29.85%) and EMI (9.62%) are planning to integrate in the coming year. This would give the new combined entity almost 40% of the total sales pie leaving Sony Music (29.29%) and Warner Music Group (19.13%) as distant challengers.
Billboard Top Ten Artist Airplay Based Upon Nielsen BDS (2011 calendar year)
Artist Stats
And now to the artist discussion. Whatever question is asked, guess Adele and her album 21, and odds are almost 100% you will be correct. Adele sold 6.744 million units and in the process earned the No. 1 position for Top Selling Album and Artist. Her track “Rolling In The Deep” was top Selling Digital Track (5.813 million). Nashville, unfortunately was mostly MIA with regard to the various top ten sales lists. However, on the Top Selling Album List Jason Aldean was No. 5 (1.576 million) and Lady Antebellum placed No. 10 (1.2 million). In the Top Artist sweeps Lady A, Jason and Taylor Swift placed in positions 6, 8 and 9 respectively. (see above chart)
Factoids
>>For the second straight year, Lady Antebellum finishes the year as the biggest selling group of 2011 with more than 2.1 million album sales.
>>Garth Brooks continues to be comfortably the best selling artist in the Nielsen SoundScan era with more than 68.5 million album sales; 5 million sales ahead of the Beatles.
>>Katy Perry ends the year as the most played artist over the airways in 2011 with more than 1.4 million spins; edging out Bruno Mars by 17,000 spins.
>>In 2011, 31% of all albums purchased were through a digital service like iTunes, Amazonmp3 or eMusic, an increase of 5 points from 2010.
Paisley Renames Upcoming Tour
/by Caitlin Rantala“When you see plans and sketches on paper it’s one thing but to actually see it in real life is something else, and that’s what happened to me when we were in tour rehearsals. When I saw the visuals and how exciting and sometimes mind-blowing they were I just felt the tour name needed to reflect what the fans were going to see,” says Paisley. “For two hours each night of the tour they can be taken away from reality—literally.”
The run kicks-off next week with special guests CMA New Artist of the Year The Band Perry and 2011 American Idol winner Scotty McCreery. Live Nation is the national tour promoter. For ticket sales and more information visit www.bradpaisley.com and www.livenation.com.
2012 First Quarter Tour Dates:
January 12 Grand Rapids, MI
January 13 Milwaukee, WI
January 14 St. Paul, MN
January 19 Kansas City, MO
January 20 Wichita, KS
January 21 Denver, CO
January 26 Boise, ID
January 27 Salt Lake City, UT
January 28 Las Vegas, NV
February 9 Spokane, WA
February 10 Eugene, OR
February 11 Tacoma, WA
February 16 Lubbock, TX
February 17 Las Cruces, NM
February 23 Madison, WI
February 24 Moline, IL
February 25 Springfield, MO
March 1 Baltimore, MD
March 2 Knoxville, TN
March 3 Lexington, KY
Industry Ink (1/5/12)
/by Freeman“Coming from New York City, Carly brings with her a wealth of experience and creative ability,” says PLA Media President/CEO Pam Lewis. “With a great reputation in the industry, we look forward to her becoming a vital part of our team.”
Prior to joining PLA, Caramanna worked independently out of New York City and has been a part of media campaigns for Lynyrd Skynyrd and Carol Channing. A native of New Jersey, Caramanna studied at New York University. Congratulate her at carly.caramanna@plamedia.com.
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Performing at the launch party will be Prass, Lenker, Alyssa Bonagura, and Wild Cub (members of Keegan DeWitt and Pico vs. Island Trees).
Contact Lenker at korby@korbylenker.com or see more on Facebook.
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A crazed concertgoer at The Ryman stabbed the fan seated next to him in the face last night (1/4) during the Gregg Allman concert, according to The Tennessean. The report says that the two men began arguing after they bumped into each other. The victim was treated at a local hospital for minor injuries.
SiriusXM Adds 1.7M Subscribers in 2011
/by Sherod RobertsonSirius XM Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI) announced yesterday it ended the year with nearly 21.9 million subscribers, reporting approximately 540,000 net new subscribers in the fourth quarter and approximately 1,700,000 for the full year 2011.
SiriusXM broadcasts more than 135 satellite radio channels of commercial-free music, and premier sports, news, talk, entertainment, traffic, weather, and data services to its subscribers.
Sara Evans Releases Third Novel
/by Caitlin RantalaA starred Booklist review on the novel’s cover tells readers, “Hang on for an emotional ride, as a woman who married into a Southern soap opera learns to forgive and trust again.”
Love Lifted Me chronicles a trying time in Jade Benson’s life, in which she and her husband, Max, gain custody of his son. As the three face the challenge of becoming a family, a stranger reveals a secret that threatens their newly formed unit.
“All my songs tell a story. But this one is special. My first book series is about looking backward while moving forward. It’s about chasing dreams, endless country roads, and tender faith,” explains Evans.
Love Lifted Me is available now at Amazon.
Davidson, EMI Renew Publishing Deal
/by Sarah SkatesDavidson’s recent hits include songs recorded by Lady Antebellum (“We Owned The Night”), Luke Bryan (“I Don’t Want This Night To End,” “Country Girl Shake It For Me”), Blake Shelton (“It’s All About Tonight”) and Montgomery/Gentry (“Where I Come From”). He was crowned this year’s BMI Songwriter of the Year and was awarded BMI’s Song Of The Year for “All Over Me” (Josh Turner).
EMI Music Publishing Nashville Executive Vice President Ben Vaughn said, “Dallas is a talented, driven, world class songwriter who writes songs that sell records and radio plays. Our entire EMI team could not be prouder to have partnered with him during his rise to the top of the charts many, many times. He cares deeply about his friends, his music, and he’s a great guy to go hang out with at The Cracker Barrel.”
“Today is a big day for me,” added Davidson. “I’m very excited to be moving forward with the EMI team. Ben Vaughn is the reason that I came here four short years ago and he has done everything he said he would. I believe in loyalty and friendships in this business and with EMI I have both. On the business side of things I see EMI, Ben Vaughn, and Big Jon Platt as the best of the best. Together we are extremely productive. Why in the hell would I wanna be anywhere else?”
Since his breakout 2006 hit “Honky Tonk Badonadonk” (Trace Adkins), Davidson has racked up 16 top 20 singles, including 12 No. 1s, a few of which include “Start a Band” (Brad Paisley & Keith Urban), “That’s How Country Boys Roll” (Billy Currington), “Rain Is A Good Thing” (Luke Bryan), “Gimmie That Girl” (Joe Nichols), “If Heaven Wasn’t So Far Away” (Justin Moore) and “Just A Kiss” (Lady Antebellum).
Lambert’s “Four The Record” Goes Gold
/by Caitlin RantalaReleased last November (11/1/11), Four The Record garnered rave reviews from the press and has ended up on many Album of the Year lists including Rolling Stone, USA Today, People Magazine, American Songwriter, The Houston Chronicle and many others. Additionally, Rolling Stone added the song “Mama’s Broken Heart” to their Singles of the Year list.
“Over You,” is Lambert’s recently released second single from Four The Record. The track includes some of the most personal lyrics of her career. Written by Lambert with husband Blake Shelton, the song is about Shelton’s brother who died in a car accident when Shelton was a teenager.
Lambert is scheduled to kick-off her new headline tour On Fire, next Thursday, Jan. 12, in Rockford, IL. As previously announced, labelmates Chris Young and Jerrod Niemann will also join Lambert for the coast-to-coast tour, which will play more than 30 cities.