Weak Release Schedule Blamed For Falling UK Music Sales
Posted by Jeremy Thomas on 03.13.2013
One of the weakest on record...
The Entertainment Retailers Association Yearbook has blamed a weak release schedule for a drop in UK music sales. Acording to the report (via Billboard), music, video and games fell 12% in the UK in 2012 and total music sales dropped from $1.59 billion to $1.49 billion.
The report quotes ERA director general Kim Bayley as saled the drop was a result of "a combination of structural change and one of the weakest release schedules on record...2012 suffered from a weak schedule across all entertainment formats. It was a particular blow to specialist entertainment retailers who are reliant on the quality of the product they are delivered."
The report notes that in the UK, only two titles--Emeli Sande's Our Version Of Events and Now That's What I Call Music 83-sold over a million copies in the UK in 2012. Sales through record shops fell by 13.7% while physical music sales online fell 17.8%. Meanwhile, digital music rose with with digital music retailers (i.e. iTunes, 7Digital and Amazon) jumping 15.1%.
