Despite all the financial doom and gloom, music sales have remained steady in Australia. In fact, sales in the first half of the year are up compared to the same period in 2008.
Digital sales are the biggest area of growth. Single track sales increased by 36.46% while digital album sales were up 56.81%. That corresponds to a 44.18% drop in CD single sales, and a 4.48% drop in album sales. Of course, the single sales may have been that much worse because singles are simple so hard to find!
Musical purists like myself may be happy to note the whopping growth in vinyl sales. 9680 vinyl units were sold in the first half of 2008, but in the first half of this year that rose to a massive 38, 364 units. It’s similarly pleasing for me to see ringtone sales fall from 2, 316, 864 to 1, 992, 231. Does that mean we’re finally done with fads like the Crazy Frog?
“It is extremely heartening to see the market leveling out like this when, given the economic climate, people may have expected to see a general decline,” ARIA Chairman and Warner CEO Ed St. John said in a statement.
He adds that digital is the way of the future. “It’s the most positive sign we’ve witnessed in a long time that the digital format is firmly established and well on it’s way to replacing any value lost via the physical format decline. What we are seeing is the first tentative evidence of a return to growth.”
Image source: Paulo Correa @ Stock.xchng
