There was little surprise in the release of the annual wholesale sales figures of recorded music in Australia this week. In total, physical album sales declined 12% (to $341.7m) over the past 12 months. While ARIA appear to be playing up the increase in digital sales - 35.6% (to $54.1m) there remains an overall loss of 7.91%. This is despite a 6 week period in late 2008 when there was a sudden increase in purchases due to the release of a number of popular bands albums around the same time (no doubt to enable pre Christmas purchasing).
The ARIA press release also indicates that the industry is not expecting a great change in consumer behaviour due to the economic crisis - I for one doubt this will be the case - as people's financial situations deteriorate and money needs to be kept aside for basic living expenses, there is more likely to be a move toward more cost effective means of acquiring music.
The press relase is worth reading just to note the spin doctoring.
Further Reading
ARIA, 2008 ARIA Yearly Statistics (March 2009) <http://www.aria.com.au/documents/YE12-08.pdf> at 14 March 2009
ARIA, ARIA releases 2008 wholesale sales figures (11 March 2o09) <http://www.aria.com.au/2008SalesFigures.htm> at 14 March 2009
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