Vinyl
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Agust D (an alias of BTS’ Suga) sees his solo debut studio effort D-Day bow at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated May 6), selling 122,000 copies in the United States in the week ending April 27, according to Luminate. That marks the fourth-largest sales week for an album in 2023.
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D-Day is the first leader for Agust D, and he’s the second member of BTS to achieve a No. 1 on Top Album Sales. He follows Jimin, who bowed at No. 1 earlier this year with FACE (April 8-dated chart). BTS itself has notched six No. 1s on Top Albums Sales, most recently with the retrospective collection Proof in 2022.
Like many K-pop releases, the CD edition of D-Day was issued in collectible CD packages (seven total, including exclusives for Target, Walmart and the Weverse webstore) each containing a standard set of items and randomized elements (in this case, photo cards). It was also available as a standard digital download album, as well as three alternative cover digital download variants that were sold exclusively through the artist’s official webstore. Of D-Day’s first-week sales, 90% were CDs, while the remaining 10% were digital album downloads. The set was not available in any other retail format (such as vinyl or cassette).
Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now Luminate. Pure album sales were the sole measurement utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.
Taylor Swift’s Record Store Day-exclusive vinyl release Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions launches at No. 3 on Top Album Sales with 75,000 sold – all from sales of its vinyl LP. It’s the single-largest sales week for an album on vinyl in 2023. It’s the 15th top 10 for Swift on Top Album Sales.
The live acoustic album, which was previously available only as bonus tracks on a deluxe digital and streaming edition of her Folklore studio album (released in 2020), was issued on vinyl LP (its first physical release of any kind) for Record Store Day (RSD) (April 22) at participating independent record stores. It was previously announced that Long Pond’s production run for Record Store Day would be 75,000 copies in the United States, and the set sold out instantly. It’s typical for many albums and singles to garner unique and limited edition runs exclusively for the annual independent record store day celebration.
Typically, high-profile Record Store Day-exclusive titles might have a production run of 10,000-to-20,000 in the United States. For Record Store Day 2022, there were 10 titles that had pressings ranging from 10,000 to 18,000, but nothing larger. For Record Store Day 2023, Swift’s Long Pond title had by far the largest production run of any RSD title. Pearl Jam’s live concert album Give Way had the second-biggest production run, with 15,500 vinyl LPs pressed.
Metallica’s former leader 72 Seasons falls 1-3 in its second week on Top Album Sales with 25,000 sold (down 81%).
Pearl Jam’s Give Way starts at No. 4 with 22,000 copies sold – representing vinyl, CD and digital download sales combined. The set made its retail debut on both vinyl LP (one set available at indie retailers and one sold through the band’s fan club) and CD (exclusive to indie stores), as well as a digital download. The album was recorded in 1998 during the group’s Yield Tour. Give Way is the 17th top 10 effort on Top Album Sales for Pearl Jam.
Swift has a second title in the top 10, as her chart-topping Midnights dips 4-5 with a little over 15,000 sold (up 20%). Melanie Martinez’s former No. 1 Portals falls 3-6 with 14,000 (up 5%), Lana Del Rey’s Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd. is a non-mover at No. 7 with 11,000 sold (up 25%) and Boygenius’ The Record climbs 13-8 with 10,000 (up 47%).
Coming in at No. 9 is a re-entry from The Cure with its live album Show, and Stevie Nicks debuts at No. 10 with Bella Donna: Live 1981.
Show’s sales (just over 10,000) are driven almost entirely from a new picture disc vinyl release of the album for Record Store Day. The set was originally released widely in 1993 and initially peaked at No. 42. Show was recorded during The Cure’s 1992 Wish album tour.
For Nicks, Bella Donna: Live 1981 made its debut as stand-alone album for Record Store Day, and only on vinyl. It sold 10,000 copies. Its tracks were originally commercially released on an album as part of a deluxe edition of Nicks’ 1981 studio album Bella Donna, released in 2016. The Bella Donna: Live 1981 album was recorded during Nicks’ White Winged Dove Tour on Dec. 13, 1981.
In the week ending April 27, there were 2.927 million albums sold in the U.S. (up 44.4% compared to the previous week). Of that sum, physical albums (CDs, vinyl LPs, cassettes, etc.) comprised 2.583 million (up 54.3%) and digital albums comprised 339,000 (down 2.8%).
There were 760,000 CD albums sold in the week ending April 27 (up 9.6% week-over-week) and 1.809 vinyl albums sold (up 87.5%). Year-to-date CD album sales stand at 11.224 million (up 4.9% compared to the same time frame a year ago) and year-to-date vinyl album sales total 16.296 million (up 28.7%).
Overall year-to-date album sales total 33.707 million (up 10.9% compared to the same year-to-date time frame a year ago). Year-to-date physical album sales stand at 27.699 million (up 17.8%) and digital album sales total 6.009 million (down 12.5%).
Record Store Day once again spurred big sales of music on vinyl and at independent record stores in the United States, according to data tracking firm Luminate – resulting in some eye-popping numbers.
This year’s edition of the indie record store celebration, held on April 22, helped sell 1.809 million vinyl albums in total across all retailers and sellers (not just indie stores) in the U.S. in the week ending April 27, according to Luminate. That sum marks a record number of vinyl albums sold in a Record Store Day (RSD) week (including Black Friday-related RSD celebrations), and the fourth-largest week for vinyl album sales since Luminate began tracking music sales in 1991.
RSD 2023 also drove a modern-era record of 1.426 million vinyl albums sold in the U.S. at independent record stores April 21-27. That is the largest week ever for the format at the indie sector in Luminate history, since the company began tracking sales in 1991. It surpasses the previous Luminate-era high for weekly vinyl album sales at indies, with 1.012 million sold in the week ending April 28, 2022 (during RSD 2022). (Vinyl was so big at indies – 79% of all vinyl albums sold that week, industry-wide, were sold through indie record stores.)
Further, independent record stores sold 1.673 million albums in total across all formats (vinyl, CD, cassette, etc.) in the week ending April 27 – marking the biggest album sales week at indie stores since at least before January 2008, when Luminate began archiving data specific to this sector. Fifty-seven percent of all albums sold in the U.S. (across all formats, both physical and digital) in the week ending April 27 were sold via independent record stores.
Traditionally, Record Store Day is held on one Saturday in the springtime, when hundreds of albums (and many singles) are released specifically for the event, and available only at participating independent record stores. (In 2020 and 2021, RSD celebrations were heavily altered and spread across multiple events [dubbed “Drops”] due to COVID-19, while the event was mostly back to its pre-pandemic self for the 2022 edition, and it was business as usual for the 2023 installment.)
Among the unique titles that hit shelves for Record Store Day 2023: the vinyl debut of Taylor Swift’s acoustic live set Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions (pressed on grey-colored double vinyl, in a massive 75,000-production run in the U.S. – an unusually high quantity for a RSD title), the vinyl and CD debut of Pearl Jam’s 1998 concert recording Give Way, the vinyl premiere of Stevie Nicks’ Bella Donna: Live 1981 concert recording, Tori Amos’ Little Earthquakes: B-Sides on vinyl and a reissue of The Rolling Stones’ Beggars Banquet on grey, blue, black and white swirl-colored vinyl. All five releases are among the top-selling RSD-exclusive titles for the week (see lists, below).
The husband-and-wife team of Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires (Record Store Day Ambassadors for 2023) gifted RSD with two releases: a four-track EP from the duo (The Sound Emporium EP) and a four-track EP from Shires (Live at Columbia Studio A) that includes a guest appearance from Isbell.
Here are some facts on Record Store Day 2023’s impact, plus a look at the top-selling Record Store Day-exclusive albums and singles:
(All data is according to Luminate, for the week ending April 27, 2023, in the U.S, unless otherwise indicated. Luminate began tracking music sales in 1991. References to the Luminate era mean from 1991-onwards.)
Industry-wide total album sales in U.S. across all formats (physical [including CD, vinyl, cassettes, etc.] and digital downloads): 2.923 million – up 44.4% compared to the previous week (2.02 million). It’s the largest album sales week in 2023.
The last larger week was the week ending Dec. 22, 2022, when 3.897 million albums were sold. (Outside of the holiday shopping season – from the week containing Thanksgiving through the end of the year – the last larger week was the frame ending April 26, 2018, during RSD 2018, when 3.267 million albums were sold.)
Industry-wide total physical album sales in U.S. (CD, vinyl, cassette, etc.): 2.583 million – up 54.3% compared to the previous week (1.675 million). It’s the largest sales week for physical album sales in 2023.
The last bigger week was the week ending Dec. 22, 2022, when 3.526 million physical albums were sold. (Outside of the holiday shopping season – from the week containing Thanksgiving through the end of the year – the last larger week was the frame ending Feb. 18, 2016, when 2.710 million physical albums were sold.)
Industry-wide CD album sales in U.S.: 760,000 – up 9.6% compared to the previous week (693,000).
Industry-wide vinyl album sales in U.S.: 1.809 million – up 878.5% compared to the previous week (965,000).
That 1.809 million sum translates to a record number of vinyl albums sold in any Record Store Day-related week (including Black Friday-related RSD festivities) and the fourth-largest week for vinyl album sales since Luminate began tracking data in 1991. It’s also the biggest week outside of the holiday shopping season for vinyl album sales, in the Luminate era.
The largest week for vinyl album sales in the Luminate era occurred in the week ending Dec. 22, 2022, when 2.232 million vinyl albums were sold. The Nos. 2-5 largest weeks are: week ending Dec. 23, 2021 (2.115 million); Dec. 24, 2020 (1.842 million); April 27, 2023 (1.809 million; includes RSD 2023) and Dec. 29, 2022 (1.57 million).
62% of all albums sold in the U.S. in the week ending April 27 were vinyl albums (1.809 million of 2.922 million). For context, year-to-date, vinyl albums comprise 48% of all album sales (16.296 million of 33.707 million).
70% of all physical albums sold in the U.S. in the week ending April 27 were vinyl albums (1.809 million of 2.583 million). Year-to-date, vinyl albums represent 59% of all physical album sales (16.296 million of 27.699 million).
Independent store album sales in U.S.: 1.673 million – up 112% compared to the previous week (789,000). That marks the biggest album sales week at indie stores since at least before January 2008, when Luminate began archiving data specific to this sector.
Independent store CD album sales in U.S.: 238,000 – up 11% compared to the previous week (216,000). It’s the largest sales week for CD album sales at indie stores in 2023. The last bigger week was the week ending Dec. 22, 2022, when 268,000 CD albums were sold at indies. (Outside of the holiday shopping season, the last bigger week for CD album sales at indies was in the frame ending March 12, 2020, when 239,000 CD albums were sold in the indie sector.)
Independent store vinyl album sales in U.S.: 1.426 million – up 152% compared to the previous week (566,000). That marks the largest week ever for the format at the indie sector since Luminate began tracking music sales in 1991. It surpasses the previous Luminate-era high for weekly vinyl album sales at indies, with 1.012 sold in the week ending April 28, 2022 (during the week of Record Store Day 2022).
57% of all albums sold in the U.S. in the week ending April 27 were sold via independent record stores (1.672 million of 2.922 million). For context, year-to-date, indie store album sales comprise 37% of all album sales (12.459 million of 33.707 million).
65% of all physical albums sold in the U.S. in the week ending April 27 were sold via independent record stores (1.672 million of 2.583 million). Year-to-date, 45% of all physical albums sold in the U.S. were sold via indie stores (12.459 million of 27.699 million).
79% of all vinyl albums sold in the U.S. in the week ending April 27 were sold via independent record stores (1.426 million of 1.809 million). Year-to-date, 57% of all vinyl albums were sold via indie record stores (9.317 million of 16.296 million).
49% of all albums sold in the U.S. in the week ending April 27 were vinyl albums sold via independent record stores (1.426 million of 2.922 million). Year-to-date, 28% of all albums sold in the U.S. have been vinyl albums via indie record stores (9.317 million of 33.707 million).
55% of all physical albums sold in the U.S. in the week ending April 27 were vinyl albums sold via independent record stores (1.426 million of 2.583 million). Year-to-date, 34% of all physical albums sold in the U.S. have been vinyl albums sold via indie record stores (9.317 million of 27.699 million).
57% of vinyl albums sold via independent record stores in the U.S. in the week ending April 27 were of the rock genre (814,723 of 1.426 million). Fifty-six percent of all vinyl albums sold industry wide in the U.S. were rock titles (1,013,297 of 1,809,301 million). Year-to-date, the rock genre comprises 57% of vinyl albums sold through indie record stores (5,353,048 million of 9.317 million). While rock holds 54% of all vinyl albums sold industry wide (8.722 million of 16.296 million).
Top-Selling Record Store Day 2023 Exclusive Albums at Independent Record Stores in U.S.Rank, Artist, Title
1. Taylor Swift, Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions (grey colored double vinyl)2. Pearl Jam, Give Way (double vinyl)3 (TIE). The Cure, Show (double vinyl picture disc)3 (TIE). Stevie Nicks, Bella Donna: Live 1981 (double vinyl)5 (TIE). Grateful Dead, Boston Garden, Boston, MA 5.7.77 (five vinyl LP box set)5 (TIE). The Rolling Stones, Beggars Banquet (swirl-colored vinyl)7. Tori Amos, Little Earthquakes: B-Sides (vinyl)8. Jason Isbell & Amanda Shires, The Sound Emporium EP (vinyl)9. Larry Lovestein & The Velvet Revival, You (gold-colored 10-inch vinyl)10. The Ramones, Pleasant Dreams (vinyl)11. Beach House, Become (crystal clear-colored vinyl)12. Billy Joel, Live at the Great American Music Hall, 1975 (double vinyl)13. The Allman Brothers Band, Syria Mosque Pittsburgh, PA January 17, 1971 (steel grey-colored double vinyl)14. Van Halen, Live: Right Here, Right Now (four vinyl LP set)15. Jerry Garcia Band, How Sweet It Is… (double vinyl)16. Madonna, American Life: Mixshow Mix (Honoring Peter Rauhofer) (180 gram vinyl)17. Ol’ Dirty Bastard, Return to the 36 Chambers (double vinyl picture disc)18. Miles Davis, Turnaround: Rare Miles From the Complete On the Corner Sessions (sky blue-colored vinyl)19. Dolly Parton, The Monument Singles Collection: 1964-1968 (vinyl)20. Chet Baker, Chet (180 gram vinyl)21 (TIE). The Black Keys, Live at Beachland Tavern March 31, 2002 (tangerine-colored vinyl)22 (TIE). Paul McCartney and Wings, Red Rose Speedway (half-speed vinyl)23. Blur, Blur Present the Special Collectors Edition (colored double vinyl)24. Tom Tom Club, Tom Tom Club (Expanded Edition) (double vinyl)25 (TIE). Sisters of Mercy, The Reptile House E.P. (smoky-colored vinyl)25 (TIE). Various Artists, Jazz Dispensary: Hotel Jolie Dame (psych-sunset orange marble-colored vinyl)25 (TIE). Wilco, Crosseyed Strangers: An Alternate Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (vinyl)
Top-Selling Record Store Day 2023 Exclusive Singles at Independent Record Stores in U.S.Rank, Artist, Title1. The Mars Volta, Frances the Mute / The Widow (12-inch vinyl)2. U2, Two Hearts Beat as One / Sunday Bloody Sunday (180-gram 12-inch white-colored vinyl)3. Motley Crue, Helter Skelter (12-inch picture disc vinyl)4. Post Malone, Waiting for Never / Hateful (12-inch translucent red-colored vinyl)5. Fleetwood Mac, Albatross / Jigsaw Puzzle Blues (12-inch vinyl)6. Bjork, The Fossora Remixes (12-inch vinyl)7 (TIE). Maya Hawke, To Love a Boy / Stay Open (7-inch vinyl)7 (TIE). Sam Smith & Kim Petras, Unholy (colored 7-inch vinyl)9. The Doors, Break on Through (3-inch vinyl)10. The Doors, Love Her Madly (3-inch vinyl)
Source: Luminate, for the week ending April 27, 2023
Record Store Day already has a magnificent track record of bringing music fans out to stores, but this year, the event received an added boost from Taylor Swift’s folklore, the long pond studio sessions — a double LP that resulted in longer-than-usual lines at retailers.
While the spread of Record Store Day (RSD) releases is now a major draw unto itself, the Swift release, which enjoyed a 75,000-unit distribution to stores across the U.S., was the best-selling title by far. Or as Stu Goldberg, owner of Mr. Cheapo CD & Record Exchange on Long Island, N.Y., put it: “Today, it was all about Taylor Swift.”
An assessment of Record Store Day wouldn’t be complete without a call to its administrator and co-founder, Michael Kurtz, who noted that RSD is on course to break the sales record for the most vinyl sold in a single day. When RSD “began 16 years ago, we had 30 releases that sold about 80,000 copies,” Kurtz says. “On Saturday, we had one record, Taylor Swift, selling 75,000 or almost that amount, and plenty of sales from other releases.” It’s likely that her release could be a Top 5 record on next next week’s Billboard 200.
Likewise, Rough Trade store manager George Flanagan said the store’s line was “informed by Taylor Swift fans,” while Newbury Comics store manager Therrien Dolby says the Swift release was the “big draw.” And In Patchogue, NY, Jeff Berg, the owner of Record Stop, says there were so many Swift fans, the store had to create two lines: one for fans seeking her release and one for everybody else. The Swift line had its own dedicated cash register too.
In acknowledgement of the day’s impact, Alliance Entertainment, the largest music wholesaler, says that more than 800,000 units of vinyl were created and shipped for RSD, with retail sales expected to surpass $32 million. “Record Store Day has been a long-time partner to Alliance Entertainment, always collaborating to benefit the independent record store community,” Alliance senior vp of sales Ken Glaser said in a statement.
RSD In NYC
Billboard began its New York City-area Record Store Day trek by driving out to Newbury Comics at Roosevelt Field Mall on Long Island. Upon arrival at 9 a.m., about 40 people were lined up outside. Like other stores later in the day, store manager Dolby positioned himself at the front door, regulating entry to make sure the store didn’t get too crowded and overwhelm the staff. At the 8 a.m. opening time, about 150 people were waiting, Dolby reported, including one customer who arrived at 1 a.m. (Dolby added that mall management, the Simon Property Group, was very helpful and accommodating to the store for the event.)
A common sight on RSD.
Ed Christman
Inside the store, a quick scan revealed that roughly 25% of its bin floor space is devoted to music, with 17 bins dedicated to vinyl and two dedicated to CDs. The store also carries a healthy stock of music merch, mainly artists-t-shirts, and music titles also enjoy a prominent position in front-of-the-store end caps.
Upon leaving Newbury Comics, Billboard headed to Mr. Cheapo CD & Record Exchange in Mineola (the store has a second location in Commack, Long Island). When co-owner Goldberg arrived at the store on Saturday morning, he found a line around the block due in large part to the Swift record, though he admitted that the store underbought the title and quickly ran out of it as a result. That was the store’s number one title for the day, he says, and “if we had more, it would have been the biggest by a mile.”
Fortunately for Goldberg, most people stayed in line after learning the Swift release had sold out. The other big sellers on Saturday were Billy Joel‘s Live at the Great American Music Hall, 1975 and Eric Carr’s Rockology, because “Kiss is always a great seller here,” he adds. Behind the counter, store staffer Jessica commanded the cash register and bagged purchases while touting her band T.O.Y.S.’ next gig with a bag-stuffer flyer for their set supporting hardcore punk band Urban Waste at the Amityville Music Hall on May 5.
Beyond the vinyl explosion, Goldberg noted that CDs are again becoming a big deal because young fans “want something tangible” from their favorite artists.
While at Mr. Cheapo, Billboard ran into respected sales/commerce executive Ken Gullic, who was doing his best to support RSD by picking up Soul Asylum‘s MTV Unplugged 1993 and Tori Amos‘ Little Earthquakes – The B-Sides. Most recently with MNRK, Gullic is entertaining freelance options; entertainment suppliers can reach him at kengullic@gmail.com.
After Long Island, Billboard decided to hit record stores in Ridgewood, Queens and then Bushwick, Brooklyn, on the way to Rough Trade Records on Sixth Avenue near 49th Street in Manhattan. Trying Google for Ridgewood, Billboard hit Scorpio Records and then Deep Cut Records, but things didn’t work out so well. At 11:30 a.m., Scorpio Records was closed and, as it turns out, generally doesn’t open until 2 p.m.
While Deep Cut Records was open and had about 20 people in line, the owner effectively told Billboard to get lost by slamming the door after being asked what his best-selling title was.
Onward Octopus Records in Bushwick. While Octopus didn’t stock any RSD titles, Nigel, who identified himself as the store owner, says it wasn’t for a lack of trying. He explained that his store is relatively new, having opened last summer and that an e-mail to the Record Store Day website was never returned. Nevertheless, the store advertised a 10%-off sale for RSD on a sign placed outside to celebrate the event. Nigel says Octopus Records has a deep selection of electronica music and is now building out other genres.
Down the block from Octopus, Brooklyn Vintage, a clothing store that also sells other merchandise, including records, was getting some Record Store Day action too, with crates of vinyl set outside the door (where a DJ was spinning tunes) and a bin of vinyl inside.
Finally, Billboard headed to Rough Trade in Manhattan, where things were still swinging at 2 p.m. Upon arrival, at least 150 people were still in line, which ran to the corner of 6th Avenue and then a third of the way down 49th Street. The size of the line held steady throughout most of the day, as security never let more than eight or so customers in the store at one time to allow staff to handle sales in an orderly manner.
Store manager Flanagan reports that the first customer lined up sometime before 8 p.m. on Friday night and that the same customer has been the first person in line for at Rough Trade on RSD for at least five years. Meanwhile, beyond the hundreds of copies of the Swift record sold by the store, The 1975’s Dirty Hit release, Live With The BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, was its second most popular, having sold out by 3 p.m.
After Rough Trade, Billboard called it a day but is sorry to have bypassed Record Stop in Patchogue on Long Island, as that store put on an old-school Record Store Day bash reminiscent of the early days when stores threw parties for the annual event. “The town of Patchogue is very pro-business, so we did a block party, getting permits and had the street closed off from cars,” Record Stop owner Berg reports. “We had a food truck and the nearby Burgerology restaurant was hawking Blue Point beer, while we had five bands and a DJ.” According to a Record Stop flyer, the bands were Thee Unsung, the Detonators, Bang For Your Buc and War Pigs, while the DJ set was supplied by Vinyl Guy Tom.
Berg says he decided to make this year special because he wanted to thank his customers as well as his staff. “Record Store Day is about a celebration of what we do,” he says.
Tomorrow comes the most wonderful time of the year: Record Store Day. As fun as some fans find it – and I joke that it’s my favorite holiday – it’s hard to remember how odd an idea it seemed when it started, in 2007. Back then, CD sales were sliding fast, download sales were growing a lot slower, and mass-market streaming was still taking shape. The idea of a day devoted to buying vinyl, much less in physical stores, was anything but obvious.
Now look. Vinyl generated more revenue in the U.S. than CDs by 2019, and more unit sales by 2022, according to the RIAA. Last year, vinyl generated $1.2 billion in the U.S. — more than Latin music, which brought in $1.1 billion, although Latin music brings in far more worldwide. And much of this growth came at a time of serious challenges, from insufficient manufacturing capacity to supply chain problems.
Now what? The future of vinyl was one subject that came up at a Nov. 3 panel that I moderated at RIAA headquarters in Washington, D.C. With me were Vinyl Me Please CEO Cameron Schaefer, Byrdland Records co-owner Alisha Edmonson, Thirty Tigers director of physical sales Mike Couse and consultant Simone Piece.
Among the topics that came up:
How vinyl fulfills a need for “better connection with music”
How the pandemic supercharged growth
Whether recent new buyers will stick around for the future
The most important question, of course, is what this means for artists. It was disheartening to hear that delivering vinyl to stores even close to an album’s release date requires up to ten months of advance planning. Even so, many independent acts make more money on vinyl than they do from streaming.
Another highlight? A performance from Lola Kirke:
No one knows what the future holds for vinyl. Judging by the format’s fast growth, however, it will remain an important part of the recording industry’s revenue mix for at least the next few years, and perhaps long after that.
Watch the entire panel here:
This week, Lana Del Rey released her ninth straight top 10 album on the Billboard 200, with Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd debuting at No. 3 on the chart. But it was the manner of that debut that caught the eye: of the 115,000 equivalent album units the record racked up in its first week, 58,500 units were vinyl — the biggest vinyl sales week of the year so far and the best of her career, with it also available on CD and cassette. And the remainder of the sum equated to some 36.14 million on-demand streams, the biggest streaming week of her career, to boot.
That success was no accident: the singer has always sold well at the vinyl format, according to her label Interscope Geffen A&M, and the label and her management team at TAP prioritized the format, as well as the other sales variants, in order to have them available the day the album came out, resulting in the big sales week. And that strategy helps earn Interscope Geffen A&M chief revenue officer and global head of streaming and strategy Gary Kelly earn the title of Billboard’s Executive of the Week.
Here, Kelly breaks down what went into the big vinyl and sales week for Lana Del Rey, as well as how that major streaming activity helped play into the overall success of the album. “We always like to begin with what the demands of the fans are,” Kelly says. “This is what you see here, so every music product we created was based on our insights for what the fans would want to own.”
This week, Lana Del Rey’s Did You Know That There’s a Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 with 115,000 equivalent album units, with vinyl making up 58,500 units — the best vinyl sales week of the year so far and best of her career. What key decision did you make to help make that happen?
Lana has been at the forefront of the vinyl resurgence, so our strategy was based on years of historical data and her overall growth with the Gen Z audience, who we know love vinyl to listen to and also to show their fandom. The Interscope revenue team worked closely with [her management team] Ben [Mawson], Ed [Millett] and Wendy [Ong] at TAP Management to ensure the album was delivered in time to ensure we had the master and the packaging in time to deliver for street date.
The album had six vinyl variants, with several exclusives available in different stores. How did you develop that strategy and how did you see it pay off?
On previous releases we had productive campaigns with partners like Target, indie retail, Amazon and Urban Outfitters. We looked at that historical data to determine the best path for Lana’s new project.
Have production delays for vinyl gotten easier, or does it still require long lead times? And how did you navigate that?
The supply chain issues that we experienced at the height of the pandemic are improving and we were able to manage inventory to ensure that we had plenty of the vinyl. Long lead times however still exist, but Universal Music Logistics has done a good job turning around reorders quickly. That helped tremendously, as some of the initial allocations sold out and we had to re-run additional inventory that arrived in time for street date. That would not have been possible in 2021 or 2022.
The album was also released through nine different CD variants, and also five different cassette versions. Why lean so much into those formats?
We always like to begin with what the demands of the fans are. This is what you see here, so every music product we created was based on our insights for what the fans would want to own.
The debut also marked the biggest streaming week in Lana Del Rey’s career. How did the streaming and sales strategies dovetail and feed off each other?
Lana having the largest streaming week of her career is tied to her making a brilliant album. She is a true artist and she pushes boundaries with every new project. New fans and audiences are catching up to her. That said, we look at streaming and sales audiences as having overlap, so when we launched the preorder and first single in December, we were driving pre-sales, but also driving fans to listen on the DSPs.
We had Lana in our Santa Monica recording studios in January and while listening to the album, there was a general feel from the marketing, digital and revenue teams that “A&W” would be the ideal song to release to further connect the streaming audience and pre-sales. It worked perfectly as the song reacted incredibly well with fans across the world and drove a substantial number of preorders. In fact, preorders jumped around 20%, which is unusual given that we had already amassed thousands of preorders because they had been available for almost three months by that point.
The album also reached No. 1 in the U.K., Australia and several other countries around the world. What was the global strategy with regards to this release?
We worked with Ben Mortimer, Stephen Hallows and the rest of the Polydor team to craft an in-depth global strategy with the UMG teams across the world. The Interscope international team did a great job working with the local affiliates to ensure the best plans were in place and executed. The results show how deeply connected we were with all of them between DSP campaigns, physical partner campaigns along with our direct relationship with fans across the world with our D2C strategy.
Do you see the future of physical sales as being more merch item or niche consumer product?
Most of the physical music products are built for segments of the fans that want to own something from their favorite artist to show off their fandom. That said, I do not see these as niche as much as reflective of what these fans want. Will those tastes change in the coming years? That most likely will be the case and we will want to adjust what we, and the artist, create to match fan interests and preferences.
Previous Executive of the Week: Joseph Oerke of Decca
On March 4, hundreds of metalheads stormed into Pierce the Veil’s pop-up store in Glendale, Calif., scooping up T-shirts, hoodies and other merchandise. In the process, they helped boost sales for an ostensibly dying product: compact discs. “Kids would look at the display and pick every single one of our records on CD,” says Michele Abreim, the band’s manager. “It definitely felt like CDs were a merch item, not just a means to listen to music.”
A relic of the record industry’s pre-Napster boom period thanks to megastars like *NSYNC, Britney Spears and Eminem, U.S. CD sales accounted for $13.2 billion in 2000, their peak year, according to the RIAA. But though the format has been in steady decline throughout the streaming era, retail, manufacturing and management sources say the digital discs have gained in popularity as keepsakes. More portable than vinyl albums and less affected by manufacturing delays due to supply chain issues, CDs are once again becoming merch table mainstays, and in the first 10 weeks of 2023, sales are up slightly over the same period last year, according to Luminate — 6.8 million in 2022 to 6.9 million, a 2.5% increase.
This growth could be a sign of a growing coolness factor, similar to the unexpected, and sustained, vinyl revival that began in the early 2000s, which is fueled by limited-edition releases pressed on colored vinyl and other bells and whistles. Taylor Swift took a page from that playbook when she put out Midnights CDs in different collectible colors last year, and BLACKPINK is among the many K-pop acts to sell elaborate CD box sets.
“There are ways to do CDs that are incredibly impactful,” says Carl Mello, brand engagement director for Newbury Comics. “You can get more revenue out of it, so it’s not like a ‘Will this do $7.99?’ thing. You’re selling a $30 thing that a customer will be really happy with.”
Bill Wilson, senior vp of operations and innovation for MNRK Music Group, which oversees 50 independent labels, says specialized CD-buying audiences are keeping the format afloat. “There are still pockets and subgenres of music [fans] — like metal — who like holding and cuddling CDs — and they’re not vinyl collectors,” he says.
For those who can’t afford box sets or to spend upwards of $20 for a standard-issue vinyl album, “the CD is a much more budget-friendly item,” says Tony van Veen, CEO of New Jersey-based vinyl/CD manufacturer Disc Makers, who crunched the latest RIAA sales data and found that vinyl album prices rose last year by 13.5%, to $29.65, while CD prices went up 15.3%, to $14.45. “Music fans are deciding with their wallets.” He adds that his company’s CD sales stabilized in 2022 after years of decline.
CDs are generally far cheaper than vinyl albums — especially classic-rock catalog releases, which labels occasionally put on sale in the format. Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Chronicle: The 20 Greatest Hits goes for $13.99 on Amazon, compared with $28.31 for vinyl; a Foo Fighters Greatest Hits CD sells for $11.49, slightly more than half the $21.91 vinyl price.
Although pandemic-related manufacturing delays for vinyl are easing, they have prompted touring acts to stock their merch tables with CDs. “I had a conversation with somebody yesterday, and they’re about to go on tour,” says Ric Sherman, owner of The Production Department, a consulting company that works with artists, labels and record plants. “Trying to get vinyl on time was impossible, and they defaulted to CDs immediately.”
The profit margin for vinyl albums is slightly higher than CDs — a $15 CD would yield roughly $13.50 in profit; a $30 vinyl album, $15 — but Sherman adds: “Vinyl’s expensive to manufacture.” According to van Veen, 100 CDs cost $150 to manufacture, compared with $1,500 for 100 vinyl albums.
“If artists are touring, it’s easier to cart those around than vinyl,” says Mello. “There are utilities to it, for sure.”
Despite the small sales uptick so far in 2023, the 20-year decline in CD sales shows no sign of dissipating: Sales dropped from 40.6 million units in 2021 to 35.9 million last year, an 11.6% decrease, compared with a 4.2% rise in 2022 vinyl sales, according to Luminate. (That said, vinyl’s sales growth has slowed considerably from the 51% increase it logged in 2021.) Major labels are also reluctant to bet on CDs to drive significant revenue in the future. Says a major-label source: “I haven’t heard of the idea that somebody’s so committed to buying a physical product that they’re just going to move over to the CD if they can’t get a vinyl product.”
Then again, 35.9 million in annual sales is not nothing, and CDs will probably be around for a long time. “They’re highly valued and sought-after,” Mello says.
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Now that spring has sprung, it’s a good time to start cleaning up your collection of vinyl records. It’s no secret that vinyl records are hotter than ever, and regardless of whether you have a huge record collection or a small one, it’s good to keep them clean and organized.
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Just like any other forms of physical media, vinyl records need to be kept clean so that they work properly. Fingerprints, dust and scratches can damage the surface of the record itself, which can diminish the sound and add unwanted noise. Even natural oils from your hands can erode the surface of your vinyl records.
When it comes to cleaning your vinyls, there are special solutions, vinyl record brushes and cleaning kits that are designed to keep your records in pristine shape. For example, the Vinyl Buddy record cleaning kit ($20) has a near-perfect customer rating on Amazon and you’ll get a lot of items for a decent price.
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Amazon
Vinyl Buddy Record Cleaner Kit 5 Piece Ultimate Cleaning System – Velvet Brush – Nylon Microfiber Brush – Stylus Brush – LP Cleaning Solution – Storage Pouch
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The five-piece kit comes with a velvet brush, microfiber brush, stylus brush, cleaning solution and a storage pouch. The Groove Washer Walnut Record Cleaning Kit ($39.95) is another favorite of music lovers.
For something easier and possibly cheaper, depending on what you already have around the house, you can always go for Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner and water. Not familiar with Simple Green? It’s a natural, all-purpose cleaning solution that works on just about everything. From surfaces to soft carpets, Simple Green is designed to remove direct grease and stains on countertops, floors, fabric, equipment, vehicles and more. And it’s gentle enough to use on your vinyl records.
Simple Green retails for about $2-$5 for a 32-ounce spray bottle and around $10 for a gallon. You can get it at Amazon, Walmart, Home Depot, Lowe’s and other retailers.
To clean your vinyl records, grab a microfiber cleaning cloth to remove the dust and static from the record. Next, dampen a clean microfiber cloth (preferably with distilled water) and lightly wipe the record surface in a circular motion — but steer clear of the middle of the record. Next, add a splash of Simple Green (the company recommends a 1:30 ratio) to a bowl of water and clean the record following the same circular motion as the earlier steps. Lastly, grab a dry microfiber cloth to dry the vinyl record (you can also use compressed air to blow away any residual dust).
After your record is clean, all that’s left to do is enjoy the music! Just make sure to check the needle on your record player so that there’s no leftover dust particles that could distort the sound. For additional shopping recommendations check out our list of best record players and turntables, best speakers for music lovers and storage options for your music collection .
Metallica has always had a strong independent streak for a band that spent its formative years on a major label. Now, a decade after getting the rights back to their biggest albums, the band is buying Furnace Record Pressing, a plant in Alexandria, Va., to serve its vinyl business, which has grown by keeping catalog albums in print and releasing ambitious box sets aimed at its legions of hardcore fans.
For a decade, Furnace has pressed records for the band, which has a reputation for releasing high-quality vinyl. At a time of supply-chain issues and manufacturing delays, the plant helped the group keep most of its albums available, plus a growing number of ambitious box sets. (Its most recent “black album” box set includes a double LP of the album, three live LPs, 14 CDs and 6 DVDs.) Last year, the group pressed more than 902,500 pieces of vinyl for more than 620,000 packages, according to management, not all of which are made at Furnace. The band sells roughly half of these in the U.S.
“We couldn’t be more happy to take our partnership with Furnace,” and its founders “to the next level,” said Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich in a statement. James Hetfield, the singer-guitarist who co-founded the band with Ulrich, said that the plant had been “great to Metallica and more importantly to our fans,” and that the purchase would ensure that potential vinyl buyers “will have continued access to high quality records in the future.”
Those fans are already buying a good deal of vinyl. In 2022 and 2021, Metallica rated among the best-selling acts on vinyl in the U.S., according to Luminate – No. 6 in 2022, with 387,000 albums sold and No. 7 in 2021 with 337,000 sold. That’s especially remarkable for a brand that hasn’t released a new album since 2016. (In 2022, the group’s most popular release was Master of Puppets, which sold 91,000, followed by “the black album” and Ride the Lightning.) In most years, the U.S. accounts for roughly half of the group’s vinyl sales worldwide.
“Metallica over-indexes dramatically with physical product,” says Marc Reiter, who helps run Blackened Recordings, the band’s label. “The fans enjoy owning the physical product.”
Although the band hasn’t released a new album since 2016 – the new album, 72 Seasons, comes out April 14 – there’s plenty of product out there. The band regularly releases box sets devoted to their albums, most recently Bob Rock-produced “black album,” and does a good job keeping in print its older releases.
Its relationship with Furnace, which goes back almost a decade, has been part of that. “The catalog is always being pressed,” says Brant Weil, head of marketing at Q Prime, the band’s management company. A couple of years after the band got back the rights to its older albums, its management team realized that it needed a steady supply of vinyl that could live up to the bandmembers’ high standards.
Furnace, which then also brokered vinyl pressing capacity at other plants, arranged a deal with Pallas, a German pressing plant with a reputation for high-quality work, and Q Prime was able to arrange to essentially lease its own presses there. “We never want to be out of stock on Metallica vinyl,” Weil says. “I didn’t want our release plans to be dictated by manufacturing timelines.”
At that point, “any vinyl shortages ceased to be,” Reiter says. Eventually, as Furnace started pressing more records itself, they started pressing more for Metallica as well.
Gradually, the two companies grew close. “We looked at them as more of a partner than a client,” says Furnace found CEO Eric Astor. (As it happens, the first record Furnace worked on was the 2008 re-release of “the black album” as an audiophile edition.) Furnace, like Pallas, has a reputation for doing quality work at a time when some pressing plants have sacrificed quality for output. “We’d rather throw out some bad records than make as many as we can,” says Furnace COO Ali Miller. (Discarding some vinyl is a factor in quality control.) Furnace has been pressing copies of the band’s forthcoming album, 72 Seasons, since January.
Furnace will not change much, Astor says, and plans call for the plant to keep working on other projects, as well as ones for Metallica. “They want to keep the quality and service the whole industry,” Astor says. “It will give us the opportunity to invest more.”
The hope is that Furnace can grow – as both a partner to the band, as well as an investment the group and its team have come to understand well. “They have the same indie spirit we have,” Reiter says, “and they like doing things the right way, which is also the Metallica way.”
LONDON – Vinyl sales generated more money for record labels and artists than CDs for the first time in more than three decades in the United Kingdom last year, helping drive a 4.7% rise in overall music revenue, according to annual figures from labels trade body BPI published Thursday (March 9).
In 2022, sales of vinyl LPs climbed 3.1% year-on-year in the U.K. to £119.5 million ($142.4 million) and now account for over half (55%) of all trade revenues from physical sales. The last time vinyl revenues eclipsed CD sales in the United Kingdom, BPI says, was in 1987 when Michael Jackson’s Bad was the year’s best-selling album and Rick Astley had the best-selling single of the year with “Never Gonna Give You Up.”
In total, 5.5 million vinyl LPs were sold in the United Kingdom last year. That marks the highest level of vinyl purchases in the country since 1990, according to BPI figures released in January measuring music consumption. The best-selling vinyl titles in the U.K. in 2022 were Taylor Swift’s Midnights, Harry Styles’ Harry’s House and Arctic Monkeys’ The Car.
Despite the ongoing vinyl revival, overall revenue from physical formats was down 10.5% to £216 million ($258 million), with CD sales slipping 24% to £89 million ($107 million).
Offsetting that decline was 6.3% year-on-year growth in streaming revenues, which climbed to £885 million ($1 billion) and accounted for 67% of U.K. recorded music revenues in 2022 — up from 66.2% the 12 months prior. Vinyl sales made up 9% of the market in terms of annual trade revenues, while CDs accounted for 7%.
Breaking down streaming revenue, paid subscriptions generated £763 million ($910 million), up 4.8% on 2021, while ad-funded revenue grew by more than a fifth (22%) to £63 million ($75 million). Digital download sales fell 17.5% to £28 million ($33 million).
Synch revenues were up even more sharply, rising 39% year-on-year to £43 million ($51 million), while public performance income spiked 23% to £143 million ($170 million).
Total U.K. recorded music sales — comprising digital and physical revenues, public performance rights and synch — climbed 4.7% to £1.32 billion ($1.57 billion) in 2022. That marks a rise of 36% over the past five years, according to BPI, as well as the eighth-consecutive year of growth.
The United Kingdom is the world’s third biggest recorded music market behind the United States and Japan with sales of just over $1.8 billion in trade value, according to IFPI’s 2022 Global Music Report. (BPI’s year-end sales figures are based on pound sterling, rather than the far stronger U.S. dollar, hence the perceived decline in overall revenues when BPI’s figures are converted into dollars at a constant currency basis).
“2022 was another great year for British music, but we must guard against any complacency in the face of growing challenges and keep promoting and protecting the value of music,” BPI chief strategy officer and interim CEO Sophie Jones said in a statement. She also called upon the U.K. music community to work together to “create the impetus” for further growth and “futureproof the success of British music in an increasingly competitive global music market.”
As previously reported, British artists accounted for the top 10 biggest-selling singles in the U.K. last year (either as the lead or as a featured artist) for the first time since year-end charts were introduced more than 50 years ago. Leading the pack was Harry Styles’ “As It Was,” which topped the U.K. singles chart for 10 consecutive weeks (it also spent 15 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100) and was streamed more than 180 million times in the country.
Joining Styles in the U.K. top 10 was Ed Sheeran, Cat Burns, Glass Animals, Lost Frequencies & Calum Scott, LF System, Sam Fender and Kate Bush, whose 1985 track “Running Up That Hill” spent three weeks at No. 1 following its high-profile Stranger Things synch; it was streamed 124 million times in her home country last year.
Styles also landed the year’s best-selling album with his third studio set, Harry’s House, making him the first artist to have both the United Kingdom’s top single and top album since Lewis Capaldi in 2019. Sheeran’s = (Equals) and Swift’s Midnights were the year’s second and third-best-selling albums.
On Thursday (March 9), the RIAA released its annual year-end report on recorded music revenues in the U.S., with an encouraging top line: In 2022, total revenue was up 6% to $15.9 billion, with paid subscription and wholesale revenues each surpassing $10 billion for the first time. That marks the seventh straight year of growth for an industry that at this point is far removed from the doldrums of the early part of the century.
In fact, the industry could credibly be a little underwhelmed by the rate of growth, as the 6% figure is the lowest percent increase across those seven years — and the only time other than pandemic-affected 2020 (+9.2%) that growth has fallen below double digits during that period. In actual figures, it’s the smallest increase ($900 million) year over year since 2016, when the business grew 11.4% and added $700 million.
There are plenty of other interesting takeaways to discern from digging through the RIAA’s report. Here are four (plus one bonus item!) that stand out.
Paid Subscriptions — Anything to Worry About?
Both the average number of paid subscribers (those subscribing to full-catalog services like Apple Music or Spotify’s paid tier) and the revenue from full-catalog paid subscriptions grew at much slower rates, both in percentage terms and in actual numbers, than in recent years. The former metric showed an increase of 8 million subscribers (9.5%; 84 million in 2021 to 92 million in 2022), while the latter metric reflected an increase of $600 million (7.2%; $8.56 billion to $9.17 billion). As with the overall growth rate for the industry, that’s the first time in several years that those figures grew by less than double-digit percentages. So, is it anything to worry about, when looking at how much growth there is left in the paid streaming business?
Not necessarily. For one thing, between 2018 and 2022, paid subscribers (up 96.2%) and revenue from full-catalog subscriptions (up 93.6%) have grown fairly in line with each other, and the revenue per subscriber has averaged $98.92 over that period of time (pandemic-affected 2020 was an outlier year, at $92.35). In 2022, the average revenue per subscriber was $99.77, which was down from $101.94 in 2021 but not out of line with the overall average.
That number should be expected to grow, given price increases by Apple Music, Amazon Music and Deezer in the past year and the increasing pressure on Spotify to boost its price higher than $9.99/month, where it has stayed since entering the U.S. in 2011. This will be something to keep an eye on as the year progresses, as strategies shift from gaining subscribers to getting more out of those who do subscribe, given that a ceiling on the number of subscribers could be coming into view (for context, the U.S. government counted 124 million households in the latest census).
Another reason for optimism: The above numbers don’t include limited-tier subscription revenue — things like Amazon Prime and fitness apps like Peloton — which crossed the $1 billion mark for the first time in 2022. Since 2020, when the pandemic led to a home fitness app craze and resulted in additional areas of limited music subscription beyond the traditional paid streaming realm, limited-tier subscription revenue has grown 47.7%. As more licensing opportunities arise, that sector should continue to contribute meaningful revenue moving forward.
Ad-Supported Streaming Takes a Hit
Ad-supported on-demand streaming revenue reached $1.8 billion in 2022, accounting for 11% of the overall revenues for the business last year. But growth was just 5.5% over 2021 — a big reality check after the category grew 46.7% in 2021 over pandemic-affected 2020 and 16.4% at the mid-year mark of 2022. Even in 2020, when the world essentially came to a standstill for several months, year-end ad-supported streaming revenues grew 16.8%, up $170 million — higher than the $95 million gain seen in 2022.
The advertising slump last year was certainly a blow to U.S. industries, with layoffs across the music and tech landscapes in particular. Many companies cited “economic headwinds” due to a combination of factors, including the war in Ukraine, rising interest rates, inflation and the threat of recession as companies scaled back spending that had ballooned coming out of the pandemic and readjusted forecasts for an uncertain future. All of that certainly played a part. But since 2018, ad-supported on-demand streaming revenue grew 137%, becoming an increasingly large part of the overall pie. In comparison, 5.5% is likely a disappointing number to many in the industry.
Vinyl, Vinyl, Vinyl
Another year, another big headline involving vinyl’s 16-year winning streak: For the first time since 1987, the number of vinyl LPs sold in the United States (41 million) surpassed the number of CDs sold in the calendar year (33 million). Vinyl sales reached $1.2 billion in 2022, up 17.2%, while CD sales plummeted once again, decreasing 17.6% to $482 million. Despite the eye-popping vinyl revenue numbers, however, actual unit sales only rose 3%, meaning that the price of vinyl is getting more expensive. In 2021, the average vinyl record cost $26.12; in 2022, that number rose to $29.65. There’s plenty to unpack there, including increased production costs and inflation.
Another notable development in the vinyl craze that has sharpened in recent years is the shifting market share among vinyl retailers. As far back as 2015, when the industry started to emerge from its nadir, the market was dominated by indie records stores (45.42%), internet/mail order sellers like Amazon (32.88%) and chain stores like Best Buy (15%), according to Luminate. By 2018, indie stores and Amazon sales had essentially settled into a market share tie — each at 41% — while the Best Buys of the world had shrunk to just north of 10%.
But beginning in 2019, a fourth player began to emerge: Mass merchant stores like Walmart and Target, which dramatically expanded their inventories. As a result, their market share went from less than 1% in 2015 — accounting for some 7,000 sales — to 10.19% in 2019 and 14.75% in 2021, with sales of 6.1 million units. While the market share economics have shifted during that time, sales have continued to increase for each sector across the board. In short, part of what has been driving the boom has been sheer visibility in some of the biggest stores in the country, which has correlated to more sales, and thus more visibility, and around and around we’ve gone. (For those curious, in 2022 indie stores accounted for 48.1% of the market, having reclaimed their dominant position as the country emerged from the pandemic.)
The Synch Explosion
In the past few years, more and more songs have caught huge waves due to synchs in popular TV shows and films. Think Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” following its Stranger Things placement, The Cramps’ “Goo Goo Muck” following its Wednesday placement and Gerry Rafferty’s “Right Down The Line” from Euphoria, to name a few. That seems to have stemmed from the explosion of content, as the streaming wars in TV/film world heated up during that time — with Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, Peacock, Paramount+, Apple TV+ and the rest all throwing money around to reel in subscribers. The RIAA numbers back that up: In 2022, synch revenue grew 24.8%, from $306.5 million to $382.5 million, marking a gigantic jump. In fact, from 2020 to 2022, synch revenue jumped 44.2%, outpacing the industry at large (which was up 30.3% in that span).
Will that upward trend continue? It’s unclear. The TV/film streamers have publicly cut back their content spends in the past six months as the battle for market share and subscribers veered into profligacy and waste, while corporations looked to reel in costs amid the broader economic landscape. But it’s possible those gains are here to stay, even if they regress a bit. One music group executive recently told Billboard that in addition to the big four streamers (Spotify, Apple, Amazon and YouTube), Netflix was quickly becoming a fifth major source of revenue thanks to a combination of direct synch payments and the long tail of streams that result from a high-profile placement. That’s something to keep an eye on moving forward.
Bonus Takeaway — Ringtones!
Finally, a small bonus addition from a personal favorite aspect of the RIAA report. The mid-to-late-2000s were, of course, a time of great uncertainty and anxiety in the recorded music business, as piracy and digital music chipped away at a once-dominant physical sales format. At their height in 2007, ringtones and ringbacks were able to plug the gap to the tune of $1.1 billion, according to the RIAA. (That would be around $1.6 billion today.) So, how much money did ringtones and ringbacks generate in 2022?
$11 million!
Please, RIAA, continue printing this as a line in every report, no matter how small the figure gets. While it’s currently the smallest line item by revenue in the entire report, I cherish it more than all the others.