10 Music Week 12.07.13
BUSINESSANALYSISQ2 RECORD SALES EDITORIAL
Tiny singles rise still delivers best Q2 in history
Roberto Mancini was sacked as Manchester City boss in May because finishing second in the Premiership was deemed not good enough. This was despite the Italian just 12 months earlier leading the club to its first league triumph in 44 years. The UK singles market endured a similar situation to Mancini in Q2 with a 0.1% annual rise in unit sales feeling quite disappointing after we have all got used to much bigger year-on-year increases. But like the ousted Man City manager did, the singles sector has to deal with much higher expectations these days with sales having hit record levels again in 2012. That tiny increase, though, still delivered the best Q2 in unit
terms in history and should also be put into the context of a singles business now at levels unimaginable a decade ago when it started to move from what felt like a near death with the demise of the CD single to the brave, but uncertain new
“There was far greater demand for the most popular tracks in Q2 compared to a year ago, but the further you moved down the smaller the increase”
world of the download. The first six months of this year have continued to add to those record numbers with the market expanding by 2.0%. However, growth slowed down substantially in Q2 and this on the face of it feels like a real surprise given how many hefty sellers there were between April and June. In Q1 only one single sold more than half-a-million copies, but in Q2 there were five, including Daft Punk’s million-selling Get Lucky. A closer inspection of the figures shows what was happening in the quarter was far greater demand for the most popular tracks compared to the equivalent period last year, but the further you moved down the market the smaller the annual increase became until it eventually turned into a negative. Why this happened can only on one quarter’s data be cause for speculation, but the growing presence of streaming services has to be considered as a potential factor. The beauty for consumers of streaming is being able to access in full literally millions of tracks compared to on sites like iTunes only hearing a sample unless you buy. Could it be that the extra exploring those streaming are now doing means they have enough music already to listen to without the need to download? Equally, it may be the top end of the singles market has continued to grow because ever-more late adopters are finally joining the download party, the same ones who have helped digital compilation sales grow so quickly in recent times. As was the case in the physical singles era, they are occasional purchasers but when there is a genuine blockbuster around like a Get Lucky or Blurred Lines they will buy it. All this, as we say, is pure conjecture and we will need a number of quarters’ data before we can conclude what happened in Q2 was a one-off or part of a developing trend. But what is clear is that the more the streaming market expands the more its influence will be felt on downloading. Paul Williams,
Head of Business Analysis Do you have views on this column? Feel free to comment by emailing
paul.williams@intentmedia.co.uk
www.musicweek.com
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Albums market up 5.2% in Q2 to 19.5 million units Artist album sales drop 7.7% but compilations lift 5.8%, led by Now! 84 Digital album sales up another 10.2% as CD albums sector shrinks 14.4% Daft Punk’s Get Lucky sells million but singles sales rise only 0.1% year-on-year. Vinyl album sales more than double to highest Q2 levels of century
SALES STATISTICS Q2 2012 Source: Official Charts Company
SALES PERIOD Q2 2013 Q2 2012 TREND
% CHANGE
Q2 2013 Q2 2012 TREND
% CHANGE SINGLES
46,963,094 46,922,337
+0.1% CD ALBUMS
11,394,686 13,309,236
14.4%
TOTAL ALBUMS 19,473,972 20,551,371
5.2%
ARTIST ALBUMS 14,590,738 15,813,963
7.7%
DIGITAL ALBUMS 7,862,812 7,135,352
+10.2%
COMPILATIONS 4,268,884 4,034,074
+5.8%
VINYL ALBUMS 206,711 99,279
+108.2%
‘UNMATCHED’ 614,350 703,915
N/A OTHER
9,765 7,763
+25.8%
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