Warner (18.7% vs 18.8%) and indies (12.6% vs 13.1%). “The independent label sector continues to be market leaders with a label ownership share of 34.4% of the overall market,” said Richard James Burgess, the newly appointed CEO of indie labels’
TOP 10 ALBUMS SALES IN THE US (2015) Source: Nielsen Music
Rank Title 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
25 1989
Purpose X
If You're Reading This It's Too Late In The Lonely Hour Title
Beauty Behind The Madness Fifty Shades of Grey
Artist Adele
Taylor Swift Justin Bieber Ed Sheeran Drake
Sam Smith
Meghan Trainor The Weeknd Soundtrack
Sales
7,441,000 1,993,000 1,269,000 1,162,000 1,142,000 1,018,000 1,007,000 862,000 861,000
Label
XL/Columbia Big Machine Def Jam Atlantic
Republic/ Cash Money Capitol Epic
Republic Republic
organisation A2IM. “It is notable that the two top-selling artists of the year, Adele and Taylor Swift, were both indie-signed and developed. This sends a very clear message that independent includes some of the music industry’s biggest stars.”
ADELE SAYS HELLO TO RECORDS
Since its release on November 20, 2015, Adele’s third album, 25, has been breaking all records in the US and finished the year with the enviable position of being 2015’s top selling album by a wide margin. The XL/Columbia set sold 7.4 million units in the
TOP 10 DIGITAL SONGS IN THE US (2015) Source: Nielsen Music
Rank Title 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 Artist Uptown Funk
Thinking Out Loud See You Again Hello Sugar
Shut Up and Dance Trap Queen Cheerleader The Hills
Bad Blood
Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars Ed Sheeran
Wiz Khalifa feat. Charlie Puth Adele
Maroon 5
Walk The Moon Fetty Wap OMI
The Weeknd Taylor Swift feat. Kendrick Lamar AND WHAT ABOUT 2016?
Music Week asked US industry executives how they saw 2016 shaping up.
David Bakula, senior vice president of industry insights, Nielsen: “When you have a year with something like Adele, it will be challenging to offset that. Streaming? I do not see any decline in that and it will continue to increase. Albums? There will be a steady and slow decline in album sales. Vinyl? Still growing. Digital tracks? This seems to be the format with the most pressure as consumers seem to no longer be into that. I see decline there.”
Richard James Burgess, CEO, A2IM” “I am cautiously optimistic that the industry as a whole will work together to solve our shared challenges.”
Josh Friedlander Sr. VP strategic data analysis, RIAA:
“So much has changed so quickly in the industry that making predictions can easily leave someone looking a bit foolish! Based on recent trends we’d expect streaming growth to continue both from organic user growth as well as from higher rates
set by the Copyright Royalty Board that affect the biggest streaming service [by volume], Pandora.”
Larry S. Miller, director, music business program at NYU Steinhardt (Department of Music & Performing Arts Professions) “We’ll see more consolidation in 2016. If 2015 was about the emergence of streaming as a mass market channel for music discovery and consumption, 2016 will be a year where the biggest players consolidate their positions and the weaker players sell, adopt a niche strategy or exit the business.”
Tom Silverman, founder & CEO, Tommy Boy “The real challenge will be for the global industry to grow the number of subscribers to [paid-for] streaming services. The real goal is to pass over 100 million subscribers in the world. Last year, it was was 44 million, so maybe we’ll get to 55 or 65 million this year, but that’s not fast enough. We are way behind in getting people to subscribe. We have to do whatever needs to be done to push it to 100m. Once we get to that critical mass, we will see revenues flowing.”
Sales
5,529,000 3,976,000 3,801,000 3,712,000 3,343,000 2,986,000 2,730,000 2,698,000 2,586,000 2,580,000
Label RCA
Atlantic Atlantic
XL/Columbia Interscope RCA RGF
Columbia Republic
Big Machine
US. James Donio, president of the Music Business Association (Music Biz), noted that Adele’s 25 accounted for “some 3% of all album sales for the entire year... in just six weeks.” Added Donio, “She single-handedly proved that there is an eager and robust audience that wants to own physical and digital music. Her album moved more than 5m CDs, 2m digital albums, and more than 100,000 vinyl records. It’s really a remarkable outcome in 2015, a year in which many analysts didn’t expect an album market, let alone a market for CDs, to still exist.” The irony, said Larry Miller, director of the Music Business Program at NYU Steinhardt’s Department of Music & Performing Arts Professions, was that the US industry moved into 2015 knowing for sure that the first week album sales record established in 2000 by N’Sync would never be threatened. “So much for accepted wisdom,” he jokes. “Adele obliterated the previous record by a million units. Without on-demand streaming!” For Miller, Adele’s success is “a story about the power of an elite artist, but also a story of audience demographics and their consumption preferences.” This point is not lost on Josh Friedlander, SVP of
strategic data analysis at the RIAA, the labels’ trade body. “Adele showed once again that great music and great talent will attract a wide audience regardless of industry business trends,” said Friedlander. “Her latest album set massive sales records on traditional metrics, while simultaneously garnering huge streaming numbers even though streaming availability was somewhat limited [to Pandora].” Can such a success be replicated? While some observers already predict that 25 will be the best- selling album of 2016 - pushed by a sold-out arena US tour that should get massive media coverage and traction on social networks. Some, like Tommy Boy’s founder Tom Silverman, think that the industry should think big again. “Adele’s success is fabulous for the business because people will believe that there is still the potential to sell 10m units and that we can still do it,” he enthuses. “When people are motivated, they will still buy the music that they want. That said, stars have to align. I cannot explain Adele’s success in any way other than spiritual because there is no logical explanation - and I have been in this business for 38 years!” The overall market share for British acts is not
available yet but Nielsen’s Bakula anticipates that it will be significant, thanks to Adele, but not only, as the year also saw big sales for Sam Smith, Mark Ronson, Ed Sheeran and a few others acts. For Nielsen’s David Bakula, it’s been “a good point in time for British acts. They’ve had a great run lately. British acts are doing a great job at driving the charts in the US.”
MUSIC Week
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january 18
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