No crises in the UK- a vibrant album market

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Album Sales Continue To Bolster UK Music Market In Third Quarter

 
BPI Publish Third Quarter Trade Deliveries

Album Sales
A vibrant album market enabled the UK record industry to record positive growth for the second consecutive quarter this year.  Album shipments grew by 7.6% in the third quarter to reach another all-time high of more than 230 million units per annum. 
 
Sales value grew at a slower rate of 4% reflecting the continued fall in retail prices.  To put this in context, while the Retail Price Index rose by 5.9% over the period of January 2000 until the end of 2002, the cost of an average CD album fell by more than 6%. 
 
Discounting and multi-buy retail campaigns are now commonplace and the UK consumer is paying on average less than £10 for a CD album.
 
Bestsellers
The best-selling album of the quarter was the latest in the pop compilation series "Now 55!" which demonstrates the public's enduring appetite for popular chart hits.
 
There are three Now compilations released during the year and they invariably outsell any other release in the quarter.  The concept was originated back in 1983 and has been successfully duplicated in the USA, where the series is now at 14.
 
Second place in the best-sellers list for the third quarter went to flamboyant rock act The Darkness, whose debut album sales have been fuelled by a busy ongoing touring schedule as well as their Mercury Music Prize nomination.  Fellow Mercury nominees The Thrills also featured in the Top 10 with their debut release "So Much for the City".
 
Single Sales
Black Eyed Peas' "Where Is The Love?" was the best-selling single, spending a total of six weeks at number one – the longest reign since Cher's "Believe" in 1998 which held the top spot for seven weeks.  "Where Is The Love" has so far shipped over 600,000 copies and proves that individual titles can still capture the public's imagination and drive significant sales.              
 
Overall the singles market continued to contract with sales falling 30% in value and volume.  While the value of the singles market is a relatively small share of overall sales (currently 6%), the influence of singles as a promotional tool for album sales remains as important as ever. 
 
The industry is looking to initiatives such as the introduction of the cheaper two-track single and the longer term aim of measuring downloads to make an impact on the evolving singles market. 
 
Interestingly there has been a noticeable increase in demand for 7" vinyl singles, albeit from a low base.  Almost a quarter of a million units were sold in the third quarter compared to 130,000 in the same quarter of 2002.  This is due to releases by artists such as Iron Maiden, The Darkness and White Stripes who continue to promote the format.
 
Outlook

The final quarter of the year is always a key period for the record industry with many important releases aimed at the Christmas market.  This year is no exception with a strong release schedule featuring new material from Kylie and Busted as well as collections from the Beatles' archive and REM.