Music Industry Back In Slump

From The Hollywood Reporter:  "…At the beginning of this year, industry observers were saying that U.S. album sales appeared to have bottomed out. Indeed, 2004 started auspiciously, and sales for the year to date remain ahead of 2003. But the margin is narrowing. For the year to Sept. 12, album sales by volume were up 7.2% from the same period in 2003, according to Nielsen SoundScan. As of Dec. 5, year-to-date sales were just 2.6% ahead. In fact, as widely reported, weekly unit sales have been below those of the comparable 2003 period for the last 12 weeks in a row — and this during the crucial fourth quarter. Sales for the last 12 weeks totaled 151.7 million units, vs. 165.9 million in the same period last year, a difference of 8.6%."

"…Harold Vogel, head of Vogel Capital Management and author of "Entertainment Industry Economics," says the music industry became "too optimistic, too soon." "The first-quarter comparisons were very easy against the year prior," he says. "Progressively, they become more difficult over the year. That’s an indication that we are not in a strong, sustained up-trend. We may be moving sideways."