Old Records Are Outselling New Ones for the First Time

By LA Weekly Wed., Jul. 11 2012 at 3:15 AM

By Chris Kornelis

In the two decades since Nielsen Soundscan started to keep track of U.S. album sales in 1991, the company has seen the industry fold in half, digital sales catch up to physical, and vinyl mount a resurgence. But until last week, they'd never seen old records outsell new ones.

The first six months of the year saw sales of 76.6 million catalog records -- industry-speak for albums released more than 18 months ago -- compared to 73.9 million current albums.

"That's a combination of two things: not having the big blockbuster new releases in the first half, and having very, very strong catalog," says Nielsen analyst David Bakula, who points out that these numbers resulted even though Adele's 21 -- still considered current -- has sold a million more copies in 2012 than it had at this point in 2011.

The top-selling catalog records of the year so far include Guns N' Roses' Greatest Hits and four records by Whitney Houston, whose canon got a boost after her death in February. Bakula says the biggest reason catalog has been so strong is that record labels and retailers continue to drop the price of older albums, often to as low as $5.99 or $7.99. Those prices, sometimes half of what they once were, are bringing in new customers. "I really, truly do believe that there probably is a consumer that is buying music here that wasn't buying music in the past," he says.

Mike Batt, owner of Seattle's Silver Platters chain, says the steady flow of catalog sales has helped make 2012 a better year than 2011. "I think a lot of [music retailers] would say they feel better this year about things than they did last year," he says.

Though album sales dropped 3.2 percent in the first half of the year as compared to the first half of 2011 -- with 150.5 million albums sold -- digital album sales (current and catalog combined) grew 13.8 percent and physical albums stayed basically flat, shedding just 0.6 percent. The slide in sales is attributable to a slump in purchases of new albums, which are also more expensive. Catalog CDs and most digital albums stay close to the $7.99-$10.99 range, while new CDs are mostly in the $13-$18 range.

Tags:

Billboard, Music Bidness

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Just saying!

If the man makes minimum wage then you will have to add the 30% taxes they take out and he might be correct about working 3 hours for the CD..just saying!

Teejones1766

And downloading without paying is called "stealing". So let me explain this to you. Even an independent musician can't sell his/her music through self contracted music distributors because said music outlets WON'T LET A MUSICIAN SET HIS/HER OWN PRICE. Get it? And, said self contracted distributors make 80% of all sales. Musicians get 20%. SO, just like back in the day of mega media music, the musician gets screwed--only in a new and different way. As for touring, you have no idea what it COSTS to tour Crashnbyrne. Like sometimes you break even, sometimes you don't. As in, if you made $100 dollars a day but it cost you 95 dollars to get there and back, what are you gonna do? Your gonna become a musician, that's what.

Crashnbyrne

I certainly do know the costs of touring, and I know that's how you build a fan base and sell records. Face it, just because you write songs and put out product and call yourself a musician, doesn't mean you're gonna make a living at it. Start your own label & sell'em yourself.

Teejones1766

No Retro, that was the point of the article. Lower prices don't mean increased sales. New sales are down.

Teejones1766

Like, you make $4.66 an hour, Tony? Do you really?

robert ot

kids these days have no "flavor" theyll like something without knowing title of song or even artist so now musicians do something loud to get attention cos they know there gonna be aropund for a week,so they dumb down the craftmanship and idiots buy it and move on to the next thing. man i remember buying tapes then cds but i would sit down,have music in background read along with words (if provided) look at pictures etc and absorb the experience.its been about 5 years since ive boughta then current album,now im filling in albums from artists i like.

tony

14 dollars for a CD who can afford that. Most people have to work 3 hours at their job to buy one CD.

Retro Rob McGill

Lower prices = Increased sales? Terrible business model. Can't possibly work.

Urban ProJex

This is a good post could it be people are hearing music again......www.reverbnation.com/LoseYaMindEp

Crashnbyrne

Hughes says. "At what point do you say 'We're going to sell them for $9.99 and [artists are] not going to be able to make a living off their music, or they're going to have to tour 11 and a half months a year'?" Uh, get touring. It's called "a job."

Jeff Wesolowski

I'm not sure any conclusions can be drawn from this report. "Old" music is apparently anything released more than 18 months ago.

Gabriel Rodriguez

. There's a lot of good new music out, you just have to look for it. Also why buy an old CD at the store? Go to a yard sale or ebay. So many people want to get rid of their old music for basically free

Jonald Trump

If you say that new music sucks then it's because you are too lazy to find all the cool new music that is out there! That or they just don't know the context in which it is meant to be enjoyed. Music today doesn't suck... People do!