ARIA Releases 2010 Wholesale Sales Figures
Figures released by The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) have demonstrated the continued strong growth of digital products, with both number of units sold and dollar value up more than 30%.
This increase in popularity for digital tracks and albums saw overall quantity of units sold across the last calendar year grow by nearly 10%, whilst the industry’s overall dollar value was down 13.9% on 2009.
The trend towards digital has prevailed over the last three years; digital tracks selling 24.9 million units in 2008 compared with nearly 50 million in 2010 and the value of digital albums more than doubling over the same three year period. From 2009 to 2010, digital tracks have increased in value by 47% and digital albums by 45%.
Sales of physical product – including CD singles and albums, vinyl, cassettes and music video/DVD – declined year on year, with CD albums demonstrating the smallest decline, down 21% in value. Putting this in context however, CD albums still represent a substantial $252 million dollars in revenue to the industry and indicate both the continued importance of retail partners to the industry, and the reality that there is still much room for growth for digital albums comparatively.
Denis Handlin AM, Chairman & CEO Australia & New Zealand and President South East Asia & Korea, Sony Music Entertainment, said today, “Our local industry continues to manage its way through times of challenge and transition, and we are very encouraged to see that consumers have continued to embrace legitimate digital purchases, as illustrated by the ongoing growth in digital products. The illegal consumption of music is a constant challenge to our business and to our prospects of growth, and we continue to work with government and ISPs to address this matter.”
2010 was a healthy year for Australian artists on the ARIA charts, with local acts experiencing their greatest share of the end of year ARIA Top 100 Album Chart* since 2007, a total of 30 releases making the top 100. Extremely encouraging was the plethora of emerging acts making their mark – from Angus & Julia Stone to Birds Of Tokyo, Bliss N Eso to The Temper Trap, and Altiyan Childs to Washington – we are witnessing the consolidation of a whole new guard.
As 2011 takes hold, Dan Rosen, CEO of ARIA, demonstrated the industry’s optimism for the year ahead, saying, “Australians are consuming more music than ever before. Our goal as an industry is to make it easier for people to support the artists they love by embracing innovation and supporting new ways to sell music. Digital distribution is strong and we expect to see continued growth this year in digital revenues. 2011 is set to be a monumental year for our Industry, with the 25th anniversary of the ARIA Awards, some big Australian acts scheduled to release new albums and a growing number of Australian artists strutting the international stage”.
The year ahead promises exciting musical offerings for fans, with stellar new releases contributing to a positive outlook. Expect new albums from local artists such as The Living End, Delta Goodrem, The Sleepy Jackson, The Presets, Pete Murray, and a Powderfinger Greatest Hits package, alongside an array of international acts – Foo Fighters, The Strokes, Lady Gaga, Green Day, Beastie Boys, David Guetta, Coldplay, The Killers, U2, Britney Spears and a Prodigy Live CD/DVD.
Source: MI2N
