THE BIG STORY
Return to format:National Album Day returns for ‘spectacular’ 2019 event
Industry-wide celebration of long-player to expand with supermarkets joining DSPs and music retailers in backing second edition
BY ANDRE PAINE Your
essential primer for a
week in the biz
N
ational Album Day is to return in October with increased label, media and retail activity, Music Week can reveal.
Following the inaugural edition, the nationwide celebration of the long-player will take place on Saturday, October 12. Jointly
organised by the BPI and ERA, National Album Day also has the support of industry bodies including AIM and UK Music. “We want fans to think about and engage with the album, and if that boosts sales then that’s a great thing,” BPI and BRIT Awards chief executive Geoff Taylor told Music Week.
“We felt there was a need for a conversation given that there are people speculating on the role of the album in the streaming-led era. We believe it still has a very important role in the music ecosystem.” According to BPI sales data, 142.9 million albums or their equivalent were streamed, purchased or downloaded in the UK in 2018 (a year-on-year increase of 5.7%).
However, with pure album sales down 22.7% for the year to date, the promotion will provide a much-needed boost for physical music. While the event covers all formats, ERA CEO Kim Bayley said that National Album Day “plays strongly toward the physical sector.” “It’s not been the easiest time,” she told Music Week. “There have been a few key albums [in 2019] that have performed really well. We started the year with a bit of disarray [with HMV in administration] and we’re now back on track, vinyl is still trending quite strongly. “The chances are that some of what has been lost in the physical sector has been picked up by the streaming sector, because we know overall it looks good.”
The event will celebrate both classic albums and current releases. National Album Day ambassadors include Lewis Capaldi, Mark Ronson, Elbow and Atlantic’s debut LP artist Mahalia. “We’d be disappointed if there wasn’t any market boost,” said Bayley. “But it’s not designed as a sales promotion, it’s designed as an industry conversation piece to keep albums at the front of mind.” Following the inaugural edition, total artist albums registered a 1.62% increase in units compared to the equivalent 2017 chart week. “From a company perspective, we thought [the first year] was successful – it was a strong start,” Derek Allen, SVP, commercial at Warner Music UK, told Music Week. “There was a boost in the week that it happened, but it’s more about what it does for the album and making people aware of [the format].”
Bayley said the second year of NAD will have greater involvement from supermarkets.
“That will tap into way more customers, so there’s no reason to think that it won’t be even bigger than last year,” she said. “There will be branding in at least three of the four supermarkets, and getting category space in a supermarket is pretty spectacular.”
Taylor added: “We are looking to step it up this year, it’s going to be bigger. There’s much greater label engagement this year and greater retail engagement.”
Allen said he hopes it will become a regular industry fixture like Record Store Day.
“In some ways, the opportunity is even greater than Record Store Day, which obviously is very focused on the independent sector,” he said. “This is something that everybody could get involved with.”
“For artists and the community of entrepreneurs that partner with them, NAD gives us a moment to celebrate both new and classic albums that represent some of the best creative statements ever made in music,” added AIM CEO Paul Pacifico. BBC Music will again back National Album Day, including dedicated content via BBC Sounds. James Stirling, head of BBC Music and BBC Introducing, is aiming to connect the event with a wider TV audience.
“With BBC Breakfast and The One Show, we can talk about the album in a different way on those programmes and reach more of a mainstream audience,” he told Music Week. “Then we can go a bit deeper with our radio networks and specialist programming.” DSPs are also supporting the event, which this year has the theme ‘Don’t Skip’.
But while streaming equivalent albums (SEA2) increased by 33.5% last year to 90.9m units, there remains uncertainty about the extent to which LPs are consumed in full on streaming platforms. “Spotify UK focuses a huge amount of time and energy discussing and promoting albums, both on Spotify and through our artist marketing initiatives,” said Sulinna Ong, UK head of artist & label services and acting head of music culture & editorial. “Though we understand why tracks and playlists receive lots of attention from the industry, we see that our users across all age groups continue to love albums. For Spotify, it continues to be an essential format for artistic expression, and a key destination for our most engaged users.”
Nigel Harding, VP of artist marketing at Deezer, said: “Although playlists are now an undeniable way we listen to music, we can still encourage users to discover albums by working closely with each artist, whether that’s through social media promotion, listening sessions, interviews or newsletters.”
Apple Music had a record-breaking tally of more than 113,000 pre-adds in the UK for Lewis Capaldi’s debut.
“We know that a lot of the DSPs are looking at pre-adds, which is a streaming equivalent to a pre-order and it’s very much focused on the album as a format,” said Allen.
“Apple have had great success. That’s demonstrating to us that there’s still a massive appetite for the album as a format.”
04 | Music Week 01.07.19
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