Music CD and DVD sales in Japan dying; Western music biggest loser
I just read an article on IT Media about music sales figures for 2007, published by the RIAJ, the Recording Industry Ass. of Japan.
The total units sold (CD, DVD, VHS, vinyl, etc) for the year were down 8% compared to last year at 318.66 million disks, with revenue down 4% to 391.1 billion yen (over 3.5 billion US dollars), making an average price per disk (or tape, etc) of 1,227 yen, or just over 11 US dollars. Note that this includes both singles and albums. Why the average earnings per disk increased by 4% is not discussed.
Sales of audio-only recordings were down 10% to 266.82 million disks, with a 5% revenue drop to 333.3 billion yen. From that total CD sales were down 10% to 260.34 million disks (representing 97.5% of all sales) and revenue down 5% to 327.2 billion yen. Album sales dropped 11% to 198.65 million disks with revenue down 5% to 280.2 billion yen, making an average price per disk of 1,410 yen or almost US$13 per disk. The biggest loser was Western music, which saw a drop of 23% in unit sales, representing a 17% revenue cut.
On the other hand, music videos were up 6% to 51.85 million disks or tapes with revenue up only 2% to 57.8 billion yen, representing about a 4% drop in price per unit. From that figure, almost all the sales were of DVDs, up 6% to 51.53 million disks with revenue up 3% to 57.4 billion yen.
The sales figures for pay downloads are scheduled to be released towards the end of February.
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Tori said,
January 19, 2008 @ 01:49
I used to work with a foreign business man who, among other ventures, had his own independent music store in Tokyo (in retrospect not the best business to get into).
In 2004 we were working together on a project to get extra funding for the store. We researched and found trends almost identical to what you have here. Music videos were about the only items worth selling at that time too.
I cannot wait to see the statistics for downloaded music though. I think those will be very interesting. Have you ever read “The Long Tail” by Chris Anderson? He mentions statistics from Rhapsody and iTunes.
Did the study separate CDs and vinyl into separate categories? Vinyl in certain niche genres is actually a viable business. There are stores dedicated to only vinyl records.
Shari said,
January 19, 2008 @ 12:08
I wonder if part of the reason foreign music is most hard hit is that the pop and rock music scenes abroad are creatively stagnant or uninteresting. There hasn’t been a “next big thing” for awhile and I think people are a bit bored with rap and everything that came before it.
Personally, I stopped listening to any music 6 years ago and I haven’t really missed it.
Charles Jannuzi said,
February 16, 2008 @ 14:13
Music hasn’t been very good since the early 80s. The only reason why there was growth was population growth.