Source: Business Times
Music industry sales slumped for the second year last year. Sales of compact discs fell more steeply by 8.8 per cent to 649.5 million, after falling 2.8 per cent previous year, according to Nielsen SoundScan, which tracks US retail sales of music.
Music sales have slumped in recent years as free music downloads on the Internet on services like Kazaa and Morpheus has hurt the music business.
Vivendi Universal SA’s music unit sold more compact discs than any of its competitors last year.
Vivendi Universal Music Group led in market share for current titles and catalogue sales with 28.8 per cent, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The company’s ‘Eminem Show’, from rapper Eminem, was the No 1 album of the year in the US, selling 7.61 million copies.
Vivendi was followed in market share by AOL Time Warner Inc’s Warner Music Group, Sony Corp’s Sony Music Entertainment, Bertelsmann AG’s BMG unit and EMI Group Plc, according to SoundScan figures.
Vivendi’s Universal Music Group also scored with rapper Nelly’s ‘Nellyville’, which finished second with 4.92 million units sold. The company’s ‘8 Mile’, the soundtrack to a movie that starred Eminem was fifth; ‘Ashanti’, by R&B singer Ashanti was seventh; and ‘Up!’ by singer Shania Twain finished ninth, SoundScan said.
Country album sales rose 12 per cent last year to 76.9 million units, R&B sales fell 18 per cent to 161.9 million units, metal sales fell 15 per cent to 74.7 million units, and new-age sales dropped 42 per cent to 7.15 million units, according to SoundScan.
Compact disc sales represented 94 per cent of total music sales in 2002.
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