Hate To Say ‘I Told You So,’ But …
An update from a couple months ago when we wrote about whether music sales had finally hit bottom and were beginning to rebound. At 15 weeks in for the year, we have had eight up weeks and seven down with a six-week run of up sales from early February to late March. Physical sales are down just 800,000 units year to date and sales were up dramatically last week due to Record Store Day.
Record Store Day just keeps getting bigger and bigger. The 4th annual event this year eclipsed last year’s huge success by a wide margin. Independent Music stores, which make up just 8 percent of the entire physical sector (in store and online) moved the needle on sales vs. last year by a significant margin. Indies accounted for more than 40 percent of the increase in business over last year. Sales were up 8 percent overall for the week vs. last year and indies drove half that registering a 40 percent increase in biz over last year vs. just a 12 percent uptick in 2010, as well as a 700 percent increase in 7 inch and 12 inch sales.
It also appears as if indies stole market share from mass merchants and chains for the week. Recent releases from Black Keys, R.E.M., Adele, Mumford & Sons and even country artists like Jason Aldean showed significant bumps in sales at indies vs declines in sales at the competition. An amazing feat. It looks like the volume of press associated with Record Store Day is translating into altering consumer habits. The question remains whether this will generate a halo effect for indies and cause an ongoing shift in market share. We’ll see.
Back in early January I wrote about the Grammys and I criticized the organization for having too many categories which results in setting the bar too low and awarding mediocrity. Someone must have shared my article with the powers that be. On April 6 the Grammys announced they would be reducing the categories from 109 to 78 eliminating over categorization like distinctions between male and female soloists and between collaborations and duo/groups in various genres.
They also purged the categories for polka, Hawaiian, native american and Cajun and folded them all into a”Best Regional Roots Music” category. Traditional and contemporary categories in blues, world and folk were merged into single genres and more categories in classical, R&B, hard rock and metal were merged or purged.
In March of 2010 I wrote about the unfair and subjective nomination process within the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. How could Kiss be in and Alice Cooper not? Why is the inductee list so NYC-based? Well, Alice made it in this year and the other four were not NYC artists, so maybe they are finally listening. I applied to be curator but my calls have been unreturned … so far.
In July of 2010 I wrote about high concert ticket prices and the coming wave of last-minute markdown prices for shows to fill seats making up the loss by collecting parking fees and selling you a $12 beer. The year ended with concert prices falling on average about 15 percent and I expect more of the same this year, particularly this summer.
Sure, there are a number of acts that are recession-proof right now because the music moves people, the band is super hot or it’s simply a must-see show. Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Black Keys, Mumford & Sons and two other recently announced shows for the metro area: Steely Dan on August 31 at the Orpheum sold out in hours and Alison Krauss & Union Station at the same venue the next day is another likely sell out.
But with six days of Red Sky, the Maha festival, Harrah’s Stir summer schedule, Jazz on the Green, Playing with Fire, Rockfest, Warped Tour, Jazz & Blues Fest and who knows what else scheduled for Anchor Inn and Westfair my guess is we’ll see last-minute discounted prices all summer long. If you really want to see something, get your ticket early, but if you’re on the fence wait til the week of show. You might score a great last minute deal.
Mike is the General Manager of Homer’s Records and has been active in the music industry for more than three decades as a retailer, writer, musician and radio deejay. He currently hosts “Sunday Morning” on 89.7 the River, and serves as a board member for the National Association of Recording Merchandisers and the Coalition of Independent Music Stores.