Old Music Outsells New Music in the U.S.

Plankton · 01-22-2016, 12:39 PM

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Old music is outselling new music for the first time in history. So much for the Adele effect. This past year, catalogue albums outsold the current ones by 4.3 million copies.

Despite the massive success of Adele's album 25, which sold a whopping 7.4 million copies in only six weeks, 2015 marked the first time in U.S. history that new releases were outsold by catalogue albums. Seems like everyone's been feeling extra nostalgic lately.

The term "catalogue" refers to albums released more than 18 months ago. According to Nielsen's annual year end music report, catalogue albums outsold current releases by 4.3 million copies, something never before seen in the industry. Just 10 years ago, current music sales outpaced catalogue music by over 150 million albums. Keep in mind that these stats don't include album streams, but regardless, it's a significant turning point.

Old music is outselling new music for the first time in history | Chart Attack

William_the_Bloody · 01-25-2016, 09:13 PM

Not surprised, the music industry been in decline since the advent of free downloading, so the money that would get pumped to young alternative artists, U2, Smiths, Portishead, Massive Attack ect is no longer there.

Not that you can do anything about it, I'm just thankful I got to live through part of that high point of music from the 60's to 90's.

Liked the Stokes and White Stripes but by the early 2000's the decline had begun.

Neapolitan · 01-25-2016, 09:47 PM

Sales went down across the board, except for vinyl which had a 29.8% increase.

Ninetales · 01-25-2016, 10:20 PM

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Originally Posted by William_the_Bloody

Liked the Stokes and White Stripes but by the early 2000's the decline had begun.

if I only knew those 2 artists, id think new music was garbage too

DeadChannel · 01-25-2016, 10:45 PM

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Originally Posted by William_the_Bloody

Not surprised, the music industry been in decline since the advent of free downloading, so the money that would get pumped to young alternative artists, U2, Smiths, Portishead, Massive Attack ect is no longer there.

Not that you can do anything about it, I'm just thankful I got to live through part of that high point of music from the 60's to 90's.

Liked the Stokes and White Stripes but by the early 2000's the decline had begun.

2015 was a greast year, musically speaking. There was no decline, good stuff just moved into the shadows.

Neapolitan · 01-25-2016, 10:49 PM

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Originally Posted by Ninetales

if I only knew those 2 artists, id think new music was garbage too

I thought The Strokes' first two albums were a stroke of genius.

**Janszoon** · 01-25-2016, 11:08 PM

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Originally Posted by Plankton

The term "catalogue" refers to albums released more than 18 months ago.

And here I was hoping to read about Jelly Roll Morton outselling Nicki Minaj.

William_the_Bloody · 01-25-2016, 11:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeadChannel

2015 was a greast year, musically speaking. There was no decline, good stuff just moved into the shadows.

That's the whole problem. They remain indie bands, and don't get the $$$$ put behind them to make great studio albums like past acts like Nirvana and Metallica did.

Again though, I'm don't think you can really do anything about it. Technology is the hand of creative destruction.

Zer0 · 01-26-2016, 02:24 AM

This is the key part of the article:

Quote:

Keep in mind that these stats don't include album streams

The only thing that this article proves is that the tide has well and truly turned on how people consume music. If you were to include only streaming stats the findings would be completely different, with younger people preferring to stream new releases these days.

Chula Vista · 01-26-2016, 03:16 AM

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Originally Posted by Zer0

If you were to include only streaming stats the findings would be completely different, with younger people preferring to stream new releases these days.

I'm old and haven't purchased an actual physical form of music for many, many years. Everything is bought streaming through Amazon or iTunes. now.

How do they even track sales these days????

01-25-2016, 09:13 PM	#2 (permalink)
William_the_Bloody Music Addict Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: Sunnydale Cemetary Posts: 2,093	Not surprised, the music industry been in decline since the advent of free downloading, so the money that would get pumped to young alternative artists, U2, Smiths, Portishead, Massive Attack ect is no longer there. Not that you can do anything about it, I'm just thankful I got to live through part of that high point of music from the 60's to 90's. Liked the Stokes and White Stripes but by the early 2000's the decline had begun.