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Business News Labels & Publishers Retail
Record sales up – wooooooooooooooooooooo
By CMU Editorial | Published on Friday 16 July 2010
Hey people, with all these stories of the US live sector slumping, how about some news that the UK recorded music market is growing this year? That’s a quirky new way of reporting on the music business right?
Yes, according to the Entertainment Retailers Association, music sales increased by 1.7% in the first half of 2010 in terms of volume, and 0.4% in terms of value. Moderate increases obviously, and mainly down to digital growth, but still, it’s a positive number, which is nice. DVD and video product sales were also slightly up in the first half of 2010 compared to 2009, though the video game market saw sales slump 12.5% by volume and 10.1% by value.
ERA chief Kim Bayley said innovation was key to keeping entertainment retail sales up, noting that it was digital music, Blu-Ray discs and newer gaming platforms that were generating revenue growth. Innovative content was also needed, she said, noting that Lady Gaga and ‘Avatar’ were respectively leading the way in terms of music and video sales.
Bayley: “Both ‘Avatar’ and Lady Gaga are as far away from the run-of-the-mill as you can get. They have been unpredictable, phenomenal successes which the public have taken to their hearts. The message to film and music and games companies is clear – create extraordinary products and the public will respond”.
Or, given that both Boyzone and Michael Buble appear in the top ten albums of 2010 so far, sometimes it works to just pump out the same old shit. Here’s that very top ten, with how many units they had each shifted this year as of when I had my cornflakes this morning (actually, as of the end of June, I think).
1. Lady Gaga – The Fame (Universal) 719,517
2. Alicia Keys – The Element of Freedom (Sony) 595,039
3. Florence & The Machine – Lungs (Universal) 587,412
4. Paolo Nutini – Sunny Side Up (Warner) 580,729
5. Michael Buble – Crazy Love (Warner) 394,238
6. Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More (Universal) 368,300
7. Boyzone – Brother (Universal) 353,392
8. Plan B – The Defamation of Strickland Banks (Warner) 337,518
9. Andre Rieu – Forever Vienna (Universal) 333,306
10. Glee Cast – Glee The Music: Season One Vol 1 Glee Cast (Sony) 326,263
