Perhaps its not any suprise to anyone, but the record industry is not looking forward to sales figures in this season of sales. Record industry analysts predict an 11% or more loss in sales this year after a 2.5% slump last year. USA Today said:
The record business is getting Scrooged. This year's double-digit slump in album sales doesn't mean consumers aren't listening to music. They just don't want to pay for it. And it's unlikely that the final stretch of Christmas shopping will pull 2002 out of a nose dive. Buyers have snatched up 597.4 million albums this year, compared with 669.7 million in the same period in 2001. The 11% drop follows last year's dip of 2.5%, the first no-growth year since Nielsen SoundScan began tabulating sales data in 1991. |
Geoff Mayfield, director of charts at Billboard, said, "Quality of music isn't the issue. Was Macarena great music? No, but it was the year's best-selling single. The problem may be that music isn't connecting with the consumer."
Well, you can read that understatement and more here.
Source: USA Today
