12MusicWeek 13.07.12
BUSINESSANALYSISQ2SALES EDITORIAL
Save the best for last, by allmeans... butdon’t save ALLof it
IT’S AS PREDICTABLE AS ENGLAND GOING OUT ON PENALTIES, but yet again labels have decided in their perceived wisdom to hold back most of their biggest new album releases until the closing part of the year. In fact, according to the observations of some seasoned
music retailers, this behaviour is even more extreme this year than usual with months of virtual drought set to be followed by a torrential downpour that will inevitably mean some potential big sellers getting washed away in the rush. Clearly, when it comes
Gifting season: Album release schedules are crammed in Q4
to scheduling their releases, many labels have failed to learn any lessons from the example of XL last year with Adele’s 21 which, rather than being held back for the Christmas market, it was brought out in mid-January. We all know the results that followed, but it yet
again showed that if an album is desirable enough the public will buy it at any time in the year, not just when the clocks have gone back. Instead, already-struggling retailers have been left in the
precarious situation this year of month after month of trying to magic up sales from a minimal number of really big releases and then come September will have to attempt to maximise sales from sometimes up to half-a-dozen “priorities” coming out every week. The result of this flawed release strategy is a second quarter
this year in which not a single artist album sold more than 200,000 copies across the three months and sales of the weekly number one sometimes dropped below 20,000 sales, the kind of chart-topping tally that not so long ago would not have even happened at the height of summer when the market virtually shuts down. Some of the releases that are due to come out post-back-to-
school time could so easily be scheduled earlier in the year with little or no difference to their sales potential. In some cases, the likelihood is sales would increase as
they would not be competing week of release with a heap of other blockbusters. Inevitably, though, what will now happen is some of these
albums that are being loaded into the same week’s schedule as other key new titles will stiff because the cash-strapped music fan will only have enough money to buy one of them. Spread them out a bit across the year and the chances are
the same fan will purchase more of them. The UK albums market is tough enough as it is this year,
with sales spiralling down 13.8% at the midway stage, so let’s not make things even harder than they need be. Paul Williams, Head of Business Analysis
Do you have views on this column? Feel free to comment by emailing
paul.williams@intentmedia.co.uk
Q2 2012 Q2 2011
TREND % CHANGE
HITSALLOVERNOW
QUARTERLY ANALYSIS BY PAULWILLIAMS
T
he dramatic drop-off in album sales that began 2012 at least slowed in Q2, but what was lacking was real fire power.
After the promise of Lana Del Rey and Emeli
Sande,whose debuts both sold more than 350,000 copies in the first three months, no artist album managed to surpass even 200,000 units during the following period with Adele’s 21 finishing yet again as the sector’s top
seller.This was despite it shifting only another 184,097 copies, according to the Official Charts Company, a fifth of what the title managed when it headed the quarter-end listings covering the same timeframe a year ago. HMV music manager JohnHirst has no
hesitation in pinpointing one of the main reasons behind the market’s depressingly weak sales numbers: the lack of big-name releases in the quarter and labels pushing their priorities towards the latter part of the year like never before. “We’ve been banging on about this for years
SALES STATISTICS Q2 2012 Source: Official Charts Company
SALES PERIOD Q2 2012 Q2 2011
TREND % CHANGE
SINGLES
46,922,337 43,333,898
+8.3% CD ALBUMS
13,308,984 17,216,239
–22.7%
TOTAL ALBUMS 20,551,371
23,533,672 –12.7%
ARTIST ALBUMS 15,813,382
18,879,675 –16.2%
DIGITAL ALBUMS 7,135,352 6,205,066
+15.0%
COMPILATIONS 4,034,074
3,905,302 +3.3%
VINYL ALBUMS 99,273
100,231 –1.0%
‘UNMATCHED’ 703,915
748,695 N/A OTHER 7,763 12,196 –36.3%
with labels – you need to spread your releases more,” saysHirst who reels off the embarrassment of riches that have been crammed into September’s release schedule with new albums coming then from the likes ofThe Killers,
will.i.am,Muse, Mumford & Sons,Pink,The xx andThe Vaccines. “We’ve had six barren months and then a month
with six of the biggest albums in three weeks,” he adds. “Is it any wonder retailers are facing cashflow problems?” Beggars Group chairmanMartinMills’ company
enjoyed a pretty fruitful three months with Adele’s 21, JackWhite’s Blunderbuss and Alabama Shakes’ Boys & Girls all among the quarter’s 20 biggest artist sellers, but agrees the Q2 release schedule was not strong. “I know the market is a long way down, but
that’s more release-driven than anything else,”he notes. “Most of our biggest records are coming out later in the year.” BPI chief executive GeoffTaylor says the
emphasis on Q4 has become a bit stronger in recent years, but sometimes albums get pushed back in the schedules for different reasons.
www.musicweek.com
Q2’s version of events:With Adele still leading the way, it was left to Q1 release Emeli Sandé to head the chasing pack in Q2
Q2’s schedule lacked fire power - but album decline slowed
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