The U.S. music industry issued 75,774 album titles in 2006, or 15,000 more than the 60,331 albums that came out in 2005. But despite that jump, new-release sales dropped 9.4% last year to 220.3 million from the 243.1 million units scanned in the prior year. That decline in sales is nearly double the overall album market's 5% drop between the two years.
New releases were up 25.6% last year compared with 2005, with most of that figure coming from digital-only album releases. Last year, digital-only album releases jumped to 24,720 from the 16,580 released in 2005, according to Nielsen SoundScan, which provided all data for this article.
Independent titles were the driving force within digital-only album releases. That's because unsigned independent artists can enhance the DIY mentality by issuing music just digitally, which is more cost-effective than having CDs manufactured. Independent digital-only releases exploded last year, with 21,763 titles being issued, versus the 13,645 issued in the prior year.
On the other hand, major label digital-only releases held steady, with 2,957 released in 2006 versus the 2,935 in 2005. When majors do digital-only releases, the labels tend to repackage greatest hits albums or compile new digital bundles of songs from various albums within an artist's catalog, although the occasional deep catalog title—Back Street Crawlers' "The Band Played On," say—might also be only available digitally.
Whether from a major or independent, digital-only new-album releases still remain microscopic, accounting for 1.22 million units in sales, or 0.6% of all sales generated by new releases.
Breaking out new releases by sector, major labels—counting physical and digital titles—issued 11,230 new albums in 2006, which was only slightly more than the 11,070 issued in 2005. Sales from those albums dropped 9.6% to 184.8 million from 2005's total of 204.3 million units.
Meanwhile, indie labels continued to issue new releases at a breakneck pace, issuing 64,544 albums last year, up from the 49,261 released in 2005. Despite that large increase in new releases, total sales from those albums slipped to 35.6 million units from the 38.8 million units scanned by independent new releases in the prior year.
Looking at physical only, last year the independent sector issued 42,781 titles—up 20% from the 35,616 titles issued in 2005.
Last year, 33 new releases—led by the "High School Musical" soundtrack and Rascal Flatts' "Me and My Gang"—managed to hit the million mark or beyond, up one from the 32 that accomplished that feat in 2005. But the extra million-seller didn't help sales as those 33 albums generated 51.1 million units versus the 57.2 million units generated by the million-unit movers in the previous year. All those albums were issued by major labels.
In total, 364 albums sold 100,000 units or more last year, practically the same as the prior year when 363 hit that mark. Those 364 albums that sold 100,000 units or more combined to generate 149.4 million scans. In other words, less than half of 1%—0.4% to be exact—of last year's new releases accounted for 67.8% of all new-release sales. Independent labels issued 28 of those 364 albums, with the bulk coming from majors. Six of the 28 indie releases topped the 250,000-unit mark.
On the other end of the spectrum, 55,516, or 73.3% of all new releases last year, failed to sell even 100 units. Of albums earning that dubious distinction, 4,364 came from the majors, and a whopping 51,152 from indies.
Excluding those titles that sold less than 100 units each, major-label new releases last year averaged sales of 26,895 units per title, while independent titles averaged 2,603 units.
Share
