Will Physical Album Sales Ever Improve?

[Lonely-Ass]

The Britney album is only 5 million plus copies away from a Diamond certification with current US sales of 4,988,000. 

 

If things stay the same and album sales continue to plummet, Britney will sell over 10 million units by 2097. 

 

Do do you think there will ever be a surge of physical album sales again? 

[JoshLee]

I doubt it, fans usually are the only ones who buy albums  

 

I blame iTunes and stuff like that cuz now you can just purchase a song and ignore the album  

[Light Yagami]

⬆️ He's right... Itunes introduced single track purchasing and album previewing which slowly killed the mystery/excitement/need for a full album. Initially it was a good idea because both were selling but then albums dropped and now singles are selling even less (proof - worldwide weekly chart for both albums and singles is filled with japanese/korean acts, chart is dominated by trashy hip hop). 

 

Thats not all. The past 4 years seen a constant decline of box office earning sales in north america.

this year there is a movie that made 800 million in China alone (its chinese but the only foreign movie to get there).... 

The entertainment industry in north america is dying and Asia is taking over for the first time...i never thought i would live to see the day.

 

and i blame social media and youtube... Nobody wants to pay for anything or follow celebrities they cant relate to... Personally i would have been more excited about a celebrity if their life was priviate and not tweeted in a shit storm 247...  The whole point of celebrities was how fairytail like, disconnected , rare and mysterious their lives were. Right now i can probaboy guess where Britney is and what she is doing better than i can guess where my pets at...  (And thats why Taylor,Adele and Beyonce still sell... Media silence and privacy).

[Nippi]

Sales will definitely continue to plummet if the industry keeps allowing it too. Adele and Taylor had it right with 1989 and 25 - leaving their albums off streaming no doubt increased their sales dramatically. I think streaming is really hurting album and single sales. Especially now that Billboard and the RIAA (which is especially ridiculous) are factoring in streaming and YOUTUBE for God sake. Preventing early album leaks is also an area that could improve. If Beyoncé (who's also a genius in marketing and hasn't suffered as badly in sales) can record an album AND film videos for every song without ANYTHING leaking, then an artist should be able to release an album without it leaking. Maybe artists and marketing people are getting lazy? There are plenty of smart ways to increase sales for an album and we've seen them. I think the industry needs to stop giving into streaming. Streaming should become an option a year or two after the album is released, not right away. This streaming/YouTube nonsense is what's really taking down sales. Before all of this stuff counted towards sales and charts, actual sales were much higher.

[MakeMySugarFall]

I may be the only one who doesn't hate streaming here lol, but I disagree that it's a complete negative, at least for music fans. I think artists are forced to produce quality and get creative with their marketing/advertising if they want to sell whole albums, physical or not, and it does still happen for some. Streaming allows for greater exposure for small acts to become larger or for music fans to check out work by an artist they might have normally not tuned into.

 

That being said, my issue with streaming services is how they pay: I think the bigger problem lies with the fact they pay the record company who then pays the artist after they take a massive cut. Record companies don't value (most) artists very highly and they pay them accordingly.

 

@Nippi mentioned leaks - those are a big problem for a lot of artists. How it's so bad makes me think either record companies are lazy af/bad at their jobs or it's happening on purpose. For instance, one of my favorite rappers, Young Thug, had hundreds of songs leaked by a studio because his record label forgot/refused to pay them. It completely cancelled the album that was supposed to be released.

 

I don't think full album sales, especially physical albums, will ever recover, but I'm not sure how that's a bad thing? Artists are still making a lot of money, more artists are getting more exposure than ever, and the fans get exactly what they want (and leave behind what they don't). I think we need to reframe how we view success in the music industry in this new era. There is some recovery happening, but the idea that the music industry will ever be the money making behemoth that it once was, without some type of massive overhaul in the way they do business, is laughable. I think the bigger issue lies with record companies and the deals they make and offer.

• (2016) Album sales fall to a record low – but music revenue is going up: http://www.nme.com/news/music/various-artists-159-1191865#X8fZc8eWw7ME55T6.99:
• In 2016, the global recorded music market grew by 5.9%, the fastest rate of growth since IFPI began tracking the market in 1997: http://www.ifpi.org/facts-and-stats.php (they do note that the industry is still down 40% overall from the late 1990s/early 2000s days)
• (2017 story about 2016) U.S. Music Industry Sees First Double Digit Growth in Almost 20 Years as Streaming Takes Over: http://www.billboard.com/articles/business/7744268/riaa-us-music-industry-2016-revenue-double-digit-growth
• (2017 story about 2016) How streaming saved the music: global industry revenues hit £12bn: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/apr/25/2016-marks-tipping-point-for-music-industry-with-revenues-of-15bn

 

[btmyhbrit99]

Numbers have been declining for years that's nothing new. No the sales won't drastically improve. The only way that happens is if music can no longer be downloaded (legally and illegally) or streamed and sales of CD player and CD player equipped devices increase.  Things change all the time. It's up to the industry to figure out how they respond to the shifts.

[HannahLou]

Very few people will buy physical albums now. I work in a charity shop when we get them donated we sell them for 50p. 

[PrinceAli89]

Honestly the older I've gotten, the less I've cared about sales/charts. I've been a Britney fan since "...Baby One More Time" came out and will always love/support Britney no matter how well her albums or singles do in the charts. I do my part by buying everything she releases, requesting her latest single at radio, supporting her on social media, streaming her stuff, etc. She has solidified her mark and proven that you can rise, fall hard, and rise once again. Her story and career are legendary and I'm proud to have been along for the ride. 

[Lonely-Ass]

12 hours ago, PrinceAli89 said:

Honestly the older I've gotten, the less I've cared about sales/charts. I've been a Britney fan since "...Baby One More Time" came out and will always love/support Britney no matter how well her albums or singles do in the charts. I do my part by buying everything she releases, requesting her latest single at radio, supporting her on social media, streaming her stuff, etc. She has solidified her mark and proven that you can rise, fall hard, and rise once again. Her story and career are legendary and I'm proud to have been along for the ride. 

 

I somewhat agree.

 

The quality of the music is what's more important of course but all the charts and certifications is just fun to have. Same with Sports with all their stats, same with Box Office films with their amounts and comparisons of the highest grossing this and that. It's almost like betting/gambling, you hope your favorite artist gets that number 1 album or single so you can win and feel happy about it.