78m Americans bought CDs in 2011

"According to an annual study of the consumer music market in the U.S. by The NPD Group, a leading market research company, growth in the music market can be traced to an increasing number of CD and digital download buyers, and an increase in the total amount that consumers are spending for music. After years of decline, driven by sharply falling CD sales and maturing digital download market, total music-track sales rose 4 percent during 2011. Although CD sales dipped, the decline was not nearly as severe as in the past, and the drop was offset by a healthy paid-music download market.
Based on the findings of NPD’s “Annual Music Study,” after years of losing buyers, caused by many consumers who simply stopped buying music, the total number of CD buyers increased for the second consecutive year, growing 2 percent to 78 million. There were a variety of reasons consumers cited for purchasing more CDs, including a perceived improvement in the quality and value of the music available, and a greater ability to learn about music prior to purchase. Consumers also now have a wider variety of sources to discover new music -- from traditional AM/FM radio and online services like Pandora, Rhapsody, and Spotify. Even as Apple’s iTunes approaches its tenth anniversary next year, there are still nearly twice as many CD buyers in the U.S. as there are paid digital-music downloaders."

Source:  Press release from NPD, 6th March 2012

40% of tickets on Live Nation go unsold

"Can data really solve this mess? The 40 percent figure was first revealed by Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino last year, in the chambers of Congress of all places.  And now, it's part of a freshly-published research report that focuses on a pressing cheap seats problem.  Because it's not that Live Nation doesn't want to fill every seat in every house, they just don't know how."

Source:  DigitalMusicNews, 19th December 2011

Nearly 80% of US kids' spend on entertainment goes on physical goods

"[A]ccording to a study shared by NPD Group, kids between the ages of 2 and 14 in the US still overwhelmingly purchase physical goods.        
That is, 79 percent of their entertainment purchases by value - across all media types - are of the tangible variety.  "For every dollar kids (ages 2-14) spend on entertainment content, $0.79 goes to physical format content and $0.21 goes towards digital format content," the report authors shared with Digital Music News.
Oddly, the stat seems to fit.  In a presentation earlier this year, NPD Group analyst Russ Crupnick reported that 55 percent of music buyers - across all ages - are still solely purchasing CDs, though the broader number of buyers is shrinking. "

Source:  DigitalMusicNews, 18th October 2011

Vinyl sales rose 55% in the UK in 2010

"Figures from the Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) show a 55% increase in sales of vinyl LPs, led by the success of Radiohead's King Of Limbs.
Sales of vinyl albums increased to 168,296 units in the first half of 2011, compared with 108,307 in the same period of 2010, despite the fact that consumers pay £16.30 for an average vinyl album compared with £7.82 for CD albums and £6.80 for digital albums.
Leading the charge for first six months of 2011 was King of Limbs which sold 20,771 copies, compared to just 1,446 copies sold by the best-selling title in the same period last year, the vinyl edition of Paul Weller’s Wake Up The Nation.
The other major contributor was April’s Record Store Day, the annual celebration of independent record shops, which features many exclusive vinyl releases."
Source:  Music Week, 27th July 2011

Justin Bieber's scent Someday generated $3m in sales in one store in just 3 weeks

"What does success smell like?  Justin Bieber's Someday for women, of course.
The teen pop star's scent has raked in $3 million in sales at Macy's Herald Square in just three weeks following his frenzied appearance in New York City.
If teens and fans keep buying, the fragrance is projected to be the best seller of 2011."

Source:  New York Daily News, 15th July 2011

More people visit an Apple store in a quarter than visit Disney's 4 biggest theme parks in a year

"More people now visit Apple's 326 stores in a single quarter than the 60 million who visited Walt Disney Co.'s four biggest theme parks last year, according to data from Apple and the Themed Entertainment Association.
"Apple's annual retail sales per square foot have soared to $4,406—excluding online sales, according to investment bank Needham & Co. Add in online sales, which include iTunes, and the number jumps to $5,914. That's far higher than the sales per square foot and online sales of jeweler Tiffany & Co. ($3,070), luxury retailer Coach Inc. ($1,776), and electronics retailer Best Buy Co. ($880), according to estimates."
Simply amazing. In 2001, when the stores were launched, they were expected to be a flop within a year - perhaps two - because companies such as Gateway had failed with them. Dell tried them and didn't thrive. Intriguing view from behind the counter."

Source:  Data from Apple and the Themed Entertainment Association, reported by the WSJ, and The Guardian, 16th June 2011

Sainsbury's sold over one third of the DVDs of The King's Speech sold in the UK in the first week of sale

"The general merchandise and clothing offer grew faster than food, despite a very tough market. This quarter Sainsbury celebrated its biggest childrenswear sales week ever, and it was the number one retailer for The King's Speech DVD, where it achieved a record market share of 34% in the week of its release.
The convenience business grew at 20%, underpinned by strong like-for-like growth, and the groceries online business grew at over 20%."

Source:  MarketWire, 15th June 2011

Vinyl sales in the US have risen nearly fivefold in the last 5 years

"The latest, sourced from RIAA retail revenue data obtained this week, shows a near-fivefold revenue increase in vinyl over a five-year period.  Which, when scaled to size, looks something like this...
Specifically, 2010 receipts - after returns - were $87.0 million, compared to $15.7 million in 2006.   And, keep in mind, this also counts indie-focused distributors, owned by major label groups.  Which makes sense, because indies are driving a lot of this action.  Here's the breakdown, in both units and revenues (in millions, all net post-returns):
2006: 0.9 million units; $15.7 million revenue
2007: 1.3 million units; $22.9 million
2008: 2.9 million units; $56.7 million
2009: 3.2 million units; $60.2 million
2010: 4.0 million units; $87.2 million"
Source:  Data from the RIAA, reported by Digital Music News, 3rd June 2011
Note - Digital Music News have a great graphic on their site

TV viewing is rising in Europe

"Consumers in some of Europe's biggest markets are spending more time watching television, a new study has shown.
Research firm Eurodata suggested people in the UK dedicated 3 hours 57 minutes to TV every day during the opening eight months of 2010, a 15 minute increase on an annual basis.
The Netherlands generated a seven minute uptick from exactly three hours registered between January and August 2009.
Similarly, the average member of the Spanish audience commits 3 hours 49 minutes to this medium, a six minute improvement."

Source: Data from Eurodata, reported by Warc, 30th September 2010

U2's 360 Tour is the highest grossing tour in history

"It takes 120 lorries to transport, has a 50-metre tall sound system and cost more than any tour in the history of music. But it appears that U2's 360° extravaganza was worth the investment as it has become the highest grossing tour ever, beating the record set by the Rolling Stones.
The Irish band's first tour in three years, which kicked off in June 2009 at Barcelona's Camp Nou stadium, made it past the $558m (£341m) world record after their concert in São Paulo, Brazil, with 20 more gigs to go. The Stones pulled in $558m (£341m) for their Bigger Bang tour between 2005 and 2007.
By the time the U2 tour ends this July, the band will have played to more than 3 million fans in more than three dozen cities around the world and will have made an estimated $700m.
U2's manager, Paul McGuinness, said he and the band were proud of the tour. "That dollar figure for the gross looks enormous," he said. "Of course I can't tell you what the net is, but I can tell you that the band spend enormous sums on production for their audience. Fans all over the world agree that a ticket to U2 360° is good value for money."
Estimated to have cost more than $100m, 360° was already set to be the band's most expensive tour, with the transportation of the stage alone estimated to cost $750,000 a day whether or not the band played. It was projected to gross $750m by the end of 2010, eclipsing takings from the 2005-06 Vertigo tour, which earned U2 $389m."
Source:  The Guardian, 11th April 2011

Super Bowl XLV was the most watched TV programme in American history

"The world's greatest sporting event has cemented its place in pop-culture history by netting the most amount of Americans to ever watch a TV show. And not even Christina Aguilera's flub or Groupon's offensive ad could do anything about it.
In fact, they probably contributed to the 111 million viewers that tuned in for Sunday's thrilling Super Bowl between the victorious Green Bay Packers and Pittsburgh Steelers. The NFL's showpiece game actually broke its own record, with five million more tuning in this year compared to 2010's showdown between the New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts.
Until then, the series finale of M*A*S*H had famously held the record for 27 years with an impressive tally of just under 106 million, but now the Super Bowl has taken over the top two spots, as well as numbers four and five. "Super Bowl XLV caps what is arguably the most successful season that any sports league has ever had," said Pat McDonough, senior vice president for insight and analysis at the Nielsen Co. "The number of people watching NFL games has never been higher, with 24% more people watching the average NFL game this year than just five years ago. The Super Bowl continues to be in a category of its own.""
Source:  Time, 8th February 2011
Earlier - Super Bowl XLIV was the most watched TV programme in American history

Two million children in the UK have no internet connection at home

"More than one million children in Britain live in homes without computers and a further two million have no internet connection at home, a charity said yesterday).
The e-Learning Foundation said it feared the gap between rich and poor pupils' performance at school would widen unless more was done "

Source:  Research by the e-Learning Foundation, reported by The Guardian, 28th December 2010

Music eCommerce site Topspin makes 75% of its revenues from physical products

"According to information shared with Digital Music News, a whopping 75 percent of Topspin revenues involve some sort of physical product.  "We're beyond the one-size fits all product world - thankfully," said Topspin CEO Ian Rogers, discussing the numbers at New Noise Santa Barbara.  "What we see is, 50 percent of what we sell is digital, and 50 percent of it contains something physical.  The 50 percent that contains something physical is 75 percent of revenues, or more."
Sounds astounding, except when you consider the value of higher-end, higher-priced stuff.  These premium goods carry great margins, and for artists with serious fans, it can all add up.  "You can definitely add a lot of money to any campaign by just adding some limited edition goods that are at a higher price point," Rogers continued."
Source:  Report in Digital Music News, 9th November 2010
[Note - presumably if a ticket is sold, and it's a physical ticket, then this counts as 'physical']

Justin Beiber earns a minimum of $300,000 per show

"Justin Bieber earns a minimum of $300,000 per concert, placing him near the top of the summertime tour earnings list, contract records show.
The 16-year-old performer earns more per gig than established acts like Sheryl Crow ($146,500), Weezer ($150,000), and Bret Michaels ($64,000). Bieber, though, does not command as much as Rascal Flatts ($702,500), Kiss ($500,000), or Keith Urban ($487,500).
A review of dozens of concert contracts shows that Bieber outearns all of his young contemporaries, banking twice as much as Drake ($155,000), three times that of Disney star Selena Gomez ($100,000), and four times as much as “American Idol” winner Jordin Sparks ($75,000).
Source:  The Smoking Gun, 28th September 2010

Digital albums account for 27.4% of American music purchases

"According to data released July 7 by Nielsen SoundScan, the sales tracking system for music, published by Billboard magazine, digital albums now account for 27.4% of music purchases, up from 21.5% at the same point last year.
The report indicated that physical album sales continued to decline while digital album sales grew during the first six months of 2010. This confirms indications in a June survey by Pricewaterhouse Coopers, "Entertainment and Media Outlook for 2010-2014."
Pricewaterhouse Cooper projects that digital sales will overtake physical purchases next year. Consumers' use of digital platforms is ahead of industry estimates, hitting all segments of entertainment and media, including music, movies and videogames.
[...]
The research indicates that by 2014 digital purchases are projected to rise to $17 billion, doubling from $8.1 billion in 2009. Physical sales will dip $10.9 billion by 2014, a decline of 66% from 2005.
Overall, SoundScan states that album sales (physical and digital) are down 11% so far this year, with 154 million sold. Physical albums declined 17.7%, while digital albums rose 13.7%.
Interestingly, vinyl LPs have increased by 9.1% (1.3 million sold)."
Source: Data from Nielsen Soundscan, reported by The Independent, 8th July 2010

The Daily Mirror sold an estimated 334,000 copies as a result of a Prince album giveaway

"Last weekend's Prince freebie helped the Daily Mirror sell an extra 334,000 copies compared to the previous weekend. Sister Scottish title Daily Record, which also bundled copies of new Prince album '20Ten' in with their paper, saw a sales uplift of 45,000.
Well, I'm assuming it was the free Prince CD that helped the two tabloids sell more copies. Although I heard somewhere that the internet is dead, so perhaps it's a sign of one time web surfers returning to print.
We don't actually know what either title's total sales were on 10 Jul or 3 Jul (ie with and without the Prince), but Billboard did some maths based on both papers' most recent ABC circulation figures and reckons the Prince CD helped the Mirror score a 27% increase in paper sales, while the Record only had a 14% increase. It's thought that when the Mail On Sunday gave away Prince album 'Planet Earth' in 2007 they experienced an uplift similar to the Mirror."
Source: CMU Music News, 14th July 2010

Users of the mobile content site Myxer still buy physical CDs

Click to enlarge

"- 32% of users listen to music on their phone between 1-5 hours a week, with 26% listening to music on their phone 20 hours a week or more.
- 65% of Myxer users attended at least one live music event in the past year and 55% of concertgoers bought something from the artist at the venue.
- 74% of Myxer users still buy physical CDs, while nearly half of respondents (47%) have reported that radio is the most popular way for them to discover new music."
Source: Myxer Boombox report, May 2010, released June 2010
Methodology:
"Since 2005, Myxer has cataloged demographic, handset, and carrier data for downloads served by our platform. This data set covers over one billion downloads and 35 million unique individuals, and is currently growing by some 90 million downloads each month. The overwhelming majority of Myxer users are in the US.
By mining this data, we are able to uncover what we believe to be interesting trends in user behavior and preferences, demographic changes, and carrier and handset usage. Myxer’s BoomBox Report is our way of sharing this information with the industry as a whole.
For this month’s report Myxer used PollDaddy, an online polling and survey tool, which gathered responses from 1,049 Myxer users."
Note - the report is monthly, free, and well worth signing up for. Sign up here

Estimated newspaper circulation declines by market 2007-9

Click to enlarge

Source: OECD calculations based on data of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, in page 15 of The Evolution of News and the Internet, OECD March 2010
A slightly updated (June 2010) copy of the report is here

The Guardian's national newspaper division lost £37.8m in 2009-2010

"Guardian Media Group’s pre-tax losses increased 77 per cent to £171m in the year to the end of March.
Operating loss at Guardian News & Media, the division which publishes The Guardian and The Observer, increased to £37.8m.
Detailing its full-year results today, GMG attributed its increased pre-tax losses to an impairment charge against its investment in Emap, totalling £96.5m, and a further impairment of £63.9m on GMG Radio.
GMG has also written £47m off its books following the sale of its regional media division to Trinity Mirror.
Turnover at GMG fell to £476.2m from £543.4m it made in the same period the previous year, while its combined cash and investment fund stood firm at £260.8m, just down on the previous year where the pot was £267.7m.
GNM’s losses were a slight increase on the £33.7m lost the previous year despite cost savings of £26.2m over the period. Revenue at GNM fell by £32.6m in the 12 months to 28 March, while statutory operating losses before exceptional items at GNM were £37.8m, only a slight drop on the previous year's figure of £33.7m."
Source: UK Press Gazette, 10th June 2010
Earlier - 36.8m lost in 2008-09

The majority of UK consumers are still very attached to physical media formats

"The survey undertaken by HP illustrates that when it comes to the progression from physical to digital ownership of media, the UK population are far from being ‘Space Age’. The survey included 1,000 British consumers between the ages of 16 – 100 demonstrated that music fans are still strongly attached to physical media formats such as CDs and DVDs. Apparently little attachment is given to the monetary or emotional value of their digital content.
Some interesting statistics from the survey include: While 86% of the population access some form of digital media, 68% still prefer photographs to be physical rather than digital, 64% for music, 75% for films and a massive 95% for books. While the 16-24 and 25-34 age groups are the most enthusiastic when it comes to digital media, many of them (39%) are still purchasing CDs and DVDs alongside digital formats.
Most importantly, 73% of the people surveyed stated “they can never see a time when they would move to a 100% subscription model for their music and films”. So what does this signify for the likes of Spotify and we7.com in the UK? We should be clear that the survey was only of the UK population. Yet, as it was a company such as HP, which has no vested interest in music or films, one has to be confident its survey is probably one of the most unbiased in terms of questions and weightings given to answers."
Source: Evolution of Digital Media survey for HP, conducted by Opinion Matters, reported in The Music Void, 18th May 2010
For a full copy of the survey please contact: psguk@edelman.com