CD sales are down again… or are they?

Physical music sales are still an important revenue source for most indie artists. Despite recent optimism CDs sales are down again. Or are they?

What comeback? CD sales are down again

by Bobby Owsinski via Music 3.0

You might not be aware that the research company Luminate is the probably the most influential company in the music business, mostly because it’s data is responsible for the Billboard charts. Formerly known as SoundScan before being purchased by the Billboard’s parent company, the business was responsible for providing accurate sales data back in the vinyl and CD days, so it has a definite history with physical products. That’s why it’s interesting that the company has eliminated physical sales completely from Billboard’s weekly Marketwatch data.

The upshot is that the company no longer feels that physical sales, especially CDs, are significant enough to be included.

This comes on the heels of excluding a number of record stores from its physical sales calculations earlier this year that caused the number of both vinyl and CD totals to drop further than anticipated. In fact, it’s been reported that only 5% of record stores now report their sales.

As a result, CD sales appeared to be down by almost 20% over the last year, instead of increasing by 3% as indicated by the RIAA. Although the decrease wasn’t as much for vinyl, the company indicated that those numbers were on the downswing as well.

Here’s the thing – no one knows for sure if this current data calculation is more accurate than before, or wildly missing the mark.

Record stores, especially those that no longer participate in the sales survey, say that vinyl and CD sales are now grossly under-reported, as do label executives.

In an effort to account for all vinyl sales, the Vinyl Record Manufacturing Association (VRMA) instituted its own Indie Sales Chart in an effort to get a better handle on the total sales.

We probably won’t be able to tell for sure which side is right until the end of the year stats come out early next year. Until then, it most likely won’t affect indie artists that sell directly to their fans and therefore aren’t counted anyway.

Bobby Owsinski is a producer/engineer, author, blogger, podcaster, and coach. He has authored 24 books on music production, music, the music business, music AI, and social media.