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01-03-2004, 08:07 AM
Country's slide pulled record sales down in '03
By JEANNE ANNE NAUJECK
Staff Writer
Poor country music sales dragged down the record business in 2003, an about-face from the previous year, when a country showing helped make up for shortfalls in other genres.
Country record sales were down about 10% last year, according to Nielsen SoundScan, while music sales overall declined only 0.8%. In 2002, country posted a 12.3% gain, while sales in all genres declined 8.7%.
But local industry watchers believe the end of the bleeding is near.
''I think we're about as close to the bottom as we're going to get,'' said Bullseye Marketing Research's John Hart, who measures listener response for most of Nashville's country labels.
''We didn't have any big new albums this year,'' he said, explaining the lack of buyer motivation. Exceptions were releases by Shania Twain, Kenny Chesney and Toby Keith, whose Unleashed and Shock 'N Y'all were among the top 10 best sellers in country.
Shock 'N Y'All was the only country album to make the top 10 for overall album sales, which was led by rapper 50 Cent's Get Rich or Die Tryin' and Norah Jones' jazzy Come Away with Me. Music lovers bought 687 million units in all genres, most of those CD albums, down slightly from 693 million in 2002.
Christian/Gospel music also slid, posting a 5% decline for 2003. In 2002, it had gone down only 0.6% from 2001 numbers.
John Styll, head of the Gospel Music Association, attributed the decline to the economy, competition from DVDs and video games, and, to a lesser extent, stealing of music through piracy and online file sharing.
He urged Christian record labels to invest in signing and developing new talent rather than shrinking those budgets.
''Everyone is more risk-averse. There's a decline in revenue but not overhead. They've all cut staff,'' he said. ''When times are good, they are more adventurous.''
SoundScan monitors sales of recorded music and released its year-end figures this week. Final sales were helped by a strong fourth quarter in which music sales were up 10.5% compared with the fourth quarter of 2002. Also, SoundScan began factoring in paid digital downloads this summer.
An optimistic Hart predicts that country will get a boost this year not only on the strength of new hopefuls such as Josh Turner, Jimmy Wayne, Dierks Bentley and Joe Nichols, but also from growing advertising revenues for radio and the end of consolidation in that industry. About 90% of audience awareness of new country music, which spurs album sales, is created through radio airplay, he said.
''My personal opinion is we're going to have a great year. Radio's getting healthier again, so they're open to playing new music. Revenue's coming back, and the economy's coming back around.''
Consumers bought 69.3 million country albums in 2003, down from about 77 million in 2002. The music category with most albums sold in 2003 was R&B, with 151 million units, down slightly from 2002's 162 million. Even heavy metal music sold more than country in 2003, pushing nearly 74 million units off the shelf and holding steady from the previous year.
Despite 2003's disappointing numbers, ''name'' country artists such as Chesney, Clint Black and LeAnn Rimes will have records out early this year. Faith Hill plans to return to more of a country sound than that of her last album, Cry, which sold well but never yielded a No. 1 single.
Styll pointed out that Christian music had greatly improved in the second half of 2003 from the 10% sales decline it registered at midyear and noted that the number of Christian-format radio stations had risen.
Bill Hearn, president and CEO of EMI Christian Music Group, said he expected another ''low single digit'' decline next year. But he said his company had sold 250,000 single tracks on the legal download sites, such as Musicmatch.com and Apple's iTunes Music Store, even with the limited number of songs that were cleared in time for paid digital downloading last year.
''I'm pretty pleased about the reaction of consumers. We're just getting started, so that's a real positive and encouraging thing.''
Another was the success of crossover artists such as Stacie Orrico, a 17-year-old singer on EMI CMG's Forefront label whose Stuck and More to Life were bona fide hits on pop and Christian charts. She has sold nearly 2 million copies of her self-titled album since late March and has appeared on television's Total Request Live and NBC's Today show.
''We had history-making breakthroughs in mainstream radio. The consumer obviously is interested in inspirational music, and radio is starting to play it more,'' Hearn said.
EMI's Switchfoot had a top 5 modern/alternative rock hit with Meant to Live; Mercy Me had an adult contemporary and top 40 smash with I Can Only Imagine; the youth band Jump 5 had several crossover records, and Smokie Norful, the top-selling Gospel artist of 2003, had a top 5 urban adult contemporary hit with I Need You Now, which also cracked the mainstream R&B charts' top 50.
''To have five or six Christian artists breaking through like that is history-making. … It's never happened as far as I can remember,'' Hearn said.
''There's no question that great and culturally relevant music is the answer to any question we're facing.''
Top Christian/Gospel albums of 2003
1 — Worship Together: I Could Sing of Your Love Forever (Various)
2 — Almost There, Mercy Me
3 — Wonder What's Next, Chevelle
4 — Stacie Orrico, Stacie Orrico
5 — Offerings II, Third Day
6 — WOW Worship Yellow (Various)
7 — Beautiful Letdown, Switchfoot
8 — Payable on Death, P.O.D.
9 — WOW Gospel 2003 (Various)
10 — Rise and Shine, Randy Travis
Top country albums of 2003
1 — Up!, Shania Twain
2 — Home, Dixie Chicks
3 — Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors, Tim McGraw
4 — Unleashed, Toby Keith
5 — Cry, Faith Hill
6 — ELV1S: 30 #1 Hits, Elvis Presley
7 — Greatest Hits Vol. II, Alan Jackson
8 — No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems, Kenny Chesney
9 — Melt, Rascal Flatts
10 — Shock 'N Y'all, Toby Keith
Courtesy Spinhouse Public Relations
http://www.tennessean.com/local/arc...ent_ID=45042792
By JEANNE ANNE NAUJECK
Staff Writer
Poor country music sales dragged down the record business in 2003, an about-face from the previous year, when a country showing helped make up for shortfalls in other genres.
Country record sales were down about 10% last year, according to Nielsen SoundScan, while music sales overall declined only 0.8%. In 2002, country posted a 12.3% gain, while sales in all genres declined 8.7%.
But local industry watchers believe the end of the bleeding is near.
''I think we're about as close to the bottom as we're going to get,'' said Bullseye Marketing Research's John Hart, who measures listener response for most of Nashville's country labels.
''We didn't have any big new albums this year,'' he said, explaining the lack of buyer motivation. Exceptions were releases by Shania Twain, Kenny Chesney and Toby Keith, whose Unleashed and Shock 'N Y'all were among the top 10 best sellers in country.
Shock 'N Y'All was the only country album to make the top 10 for overall album sales, which was led by rapper 50 Cent's Get Rich or Die Tryin' and Norah Jones' jazzy Come Away with Me. Music lovers bought 687 million units in all genres, most of those CD albums, down slightly from 693 million in 2002.
Christian/Gospel music also slid, posting a 5% decline for 2003. In 2002, it had gone down only 0.6% from 2001 numbers.
John Styll, head of the Gospel Music Association, attributed the decline to the economy, competition from DVDs and video games, and, to a lesser extent, stealing of music through piracy and online file sharing.
He urged Christian record labels to invest in signing and developing new talent rather than shrinking those budgets.
''Everyone is more risk-averse. There's a decline in revenue but not overhead. They've all cut staff,'' he said. ''When times are good, they are more adventurous.''
SoundScan monitors sales of recorded music and released its year-end figures this week. Final sales were helped by a strong fourth quarter in which music sales were up 10.5% compared with the fourth quarter of 2002. Also, SoundScan began factoring in paid digital downloads this summer.
An optimistic Hart predicts that country will get a boost this year not only on the strength of new hopefuls such as Josh Turner, Jimmy Wayne, Dierks Bentley and Joe Nichols, but also from growing advertising revenues for radio and the end of consolidation in that industry. About 90% of audience awareness of new country music, which spurs album sales, is created through radio airplay, he said.
''My personal opinion is we're going to have a great year. Radio's getting healthier again, so they're open to playing new music. Revenue's coming back, and the economy's coming back around.''
Consumers bought 69.3 million country albums in 2003, down from about 77 million in 2002. The music category with most albums sold in 2003 was R&B, with 151 million units, down slightly from 2002's 162 million. Even heavy metal music sold more than country in 2003, pushing nearly 74 million units off the shelf and holding steady from the previous year.
Despite 2003's disappointing numbers, ''name'' country artists such as Chesney, Clint Black and LeAnn Rimes will have records out early this year. Faith Hill plans to return to more of a country sound than that of her last album, Cry, which sold well but never yielded a No. 1 single.
Styll pointed out that Christian music had greatly improved in the second half of 2003 from the 10% sales decline it registered at midyear and noted that the number of Christian-format radio stations had risen.
Bill Hearn, president and CEO of EMI Christian Music Group, said he expected another ''low single digit'' decline next year. But he said his company had sold 250,000 single tracks on the legal download sites, such as Musicmatch.com and Apple's iTunes Music Store, even with the limited number of songs that were cleared in time for paid digital downloading last year.
''I'm pretty pleased about the reaction of consumers. We're just getting started, so that's a real positive and encouraging thing.''
Another was the success of crossover artists such as Stacie Orrico, a 17-year-old singer on EMI CMG's Forefront label whose Stuck and More to Life were bona fide hits on pop and Christian charts. She has sold nearly 2 million copies of her self-titled album since late March and has appeared on television's Total Request Live and NBC's Today show.
''We had history-making breakthroughs in mainstream radio. The consumer obviously is interested in inspirational music, and radio is starting to play it more,'' Hearn said.
EMI's Switchfoot had a top 5 modern/alternative rock hit with Meant to Live; Mercy Me had an adult contemporary and top 40 smash with I Can Only Imagine; the youth band Jump 5 had several crossover records, and Smokie Norful, the top-selling Gospel artist of 2003, had a top 5 urban adult contemporary hit with I Need You Now, which also cracked the mainstream R&B charts' top 50.
''To have five or six Christian artists breaking through like that is history-making. … It's never happened as far as I can remember,'' Hearn said.
''There's no question that great and culturally relevant music is the answer to any question we're facing.''
Top Christian/Gospel albums of 2003
1 — Worship Together: I Could Sing of Your Love Forever (Various)
2 — Almost There, Mercy Me
3 — Wonder What's Next, Chevelle
4 — Stacie Orrico, Stacie Orrico
5 — Offerings II, Third Day
6 — WOW Worship Yellow (Various)
7 — Beautiful Letdown, Switchfoot
8 — Payable on Death, P.O.D.
9 — WOW Gospel 2003 (Various)
10 — Rise and Shine, Randy Travis
Top country albums of 2003
1 — Up!, Shania Twain
2 — Home, Dixie Chicks
3 — Tim McGraw and the Dancehall Doctors, Tim McGraw
4 — Unleashed, Toby Keith
5 — Cry, Faith Hill
6 — ELV1S: 30 #1 Hits, Elvis Presley
7 — Greatest Hits Vol. II, Alan Jackson
8 — No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problems, Kenny Chesney
9 — Melt, Rascal Flatts
10 — Shock 'N Y'all, Toby Keith
Courtesy Spinhouse Public Relations
http://www.tennessean.com/local/arc...ent_ID=45042792