Life & Style

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Digital stores now leading source for albums

Services like iTunes leave merchants in the dust, while the CD continues to fade away

By: Edna Gundersen

Posted: 02/13/2013 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

THE CANADIAN PRESS Music retailer HMV has filed for bankruptcy in the U.K. HMV Canada's 113 stores were not affected. (CP)

Related Items

Polls
- The last time you bought an album, where did you get it?

Enlarge Image

Thanks to devices like the iPod and online stores like iTunes, even grandma is downloading albums instead of buying CDs.

Music's digital revolution may not be your father's vinyl shop but it's not only a youth quake anymore.

The takeover has spread so widely that in 2012, for the first time in history, digital stores became the primary outlet for buying albums, eclipsing mass merchants that had been the leading sales sector for the previous five years.

And booming digital sales this month suggest the shift is broadening more dramatically.

"As the days tick by, more people get accustomed to experiencing music digitally," says Keith Caulfield, Billboard's associate director of charts, retail. "At the beginning of January, we used to see a huge surge of physical album sales. Now everyone has iTunes gift cards, and moms and grandparents got their first iPads and iPhones. So grandma is downloading that Susan Boyle album."

In the album format, digital jumped six per cent in 2012, though fans still favour the physical version. Last year, 193 million CDs were sold versus 118 million digital albums, according to Nielsen SoundScan's yearend data report.

The breakdown in total album sales:

-- Digital services such as iTunes and Amazonmp3: 37 per cent.

-- Walmart, Target and other mass merchants: 29 per cent.

-- Best Buy and similar chains: 15 per cent.

-- Nontraditional outlets such as Amazon physical sales, mail order, venue and fan club sales: 10 per cent.

-- Indie stores: seven per cent.

Adele's 21 was the year's top-selling digital album with 1.04 million copies, trailed by Taylor Swift's Red with 863,000 and Mumford & Sons' Babel with 778,000. Digital sales fell far short of CD sales: 21 sold 3.37 million copies, and Red sold 2.24 million.

CDs, costlier than downloads, have been allotted less shelf space at Best Buy, Target and other chains, speeding digital's rise, Caulfield says.

"Digital has been consistently growing, and that's to be expected as we progress away from physical purchases and further into streams and music that nobody actually owns," Caulfield says. "It's a natural transition. Nobody's buying eight-tracks anymore."

And yet the LP comeback is flourishing. While only a sliver of the musical pie, vinyl rose 19 per cent, reaching 4.6 million copies in 2012, breaking the 2011 record of 3.9 million.

"The most old-fashioned way of experiencing music continues to grow every year," Caulfield says. "A lot of people still want something tangible."

-- USA Today

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 13, 2013 B4

Fact Check

Have you found an error, or know of something we’ve missed in one of our stories? Please use the form below and let us know.

* Required

In which story did you find the error? *
Please post the headline of the story or the title of the video with the error.
What was the error? *
Please post exactly what was wrong with the story.
What should we have written?
Please indicate your source for the correct information.
Who else should we interview to improve this story?
Please include any contact information you may have.
Can we contact you in the future for advice on stories about this topic?
Yes

No
First Name: *
Last Name: *
E–mail Address: *
This will only be used to contact you if we have a question about your submission, it will not be used to identify you or be published.
Phone: *
This will only be used to contact you if we have a question about your submission, it will not be used to identify you or be published.
Colour:
Are you blue? If you can see this, leave it blank and get some CSS support.
Enter the words that you see: * This is to prevent our forms from being filled out automatically.
You have failed to correctly identify the words in the box above. Please try again.

More Life & Style

Undock

You can comment on most stories on winnipegfreepress.com. You can also agree or disagree with other comments. All you need to do is register and/or login and you can join the conversation and give your feedback.

Have Your Say

New to commenting? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions.

The Winnipeg Free Press does not necessarily endorse any of the views posted. By submitting your comment, you agree to our Terms and Conditions. These terms were revised effective April 16, 2010.