Old Records Are Outselling New Ones

[Smokey]

In the two decades since Nielsen Soundscan started to keep track of U.S. album sales in 1991, the company has seen the industry fold in half, digital sales catch up to physical, and vinyl mount a resurgence. But until last week, they'd never seen old records outsell new ones.

With 150.5 million albums sold first half of the year, 76.6 million were catalog records (industry term for albums released more than 18 months ago), compared to 73.9 million current albums.

"That's a combination of two things: not having the big blockbuster new releases in the first half, and having very, very strong catalog," says Nielsen analyst David Bakula.

The top-selling catalog records of the year so far include Guns N' Roses' Greatest Hits and four records by Whitney Houston who died February. Bakula says the biggest reason catalog has been so strong is that record labels and retailers continue to drop the price of older albums, often to as low as $5.99 or $7.99. Those prices, sometimes half of what they once were, are bringing in new customers.

Old Records Are Outselling New Ones for the First Time - Orange County - Music - Heard Mentality

[Hyfi]

Yup, and this comment from the bottom of that page sums it all up. Most of today's music sucks and is not worth buying.

""NURREDIN

It's not the price.it's the CONTENT. People don't want to listen to the crap the major labels are putting out,and the majors just don't get it. They complain about illegal downloading,but they don't realize people place NO VALUE on the junk they're producing. People will pay for quality music. Adele and Sade don't have any problems selling cd's.Give us the quality music that was made in the 70's,80's, and 90's and we'll pay for it.""

[mlsstl]

There's also an alternative explanation.

It is hardly unusual that new music is often dismissed as inferior by the older generation. My parents thought the Beatles and such were a poor substitute for Tommy Dorsey, Frank Sinatra and the others they grew up with. Remember that Bach was almost fired from his first job as a church organist 300 years ago. The church elders thought his weird playing was distracting the congregation.

It's really pretty standard stuff throughout history that new artists and composers are often reviled by their elders. It's hardly news that there's a lot of new music that middle aged audiophiles don't like. (And yes, there are always exceptions, but we're talking general trends here.)

Now, combine that with the trend of falling CD sales for the past 10 years (CD sales are about one-third of what they were in 2000) and you have a modern generation that simply isn't buying music the same way as prior generations.

As such, it is no surprise that "catalog records" (i.e., the old stuff) is now a high percentage of sales. They are reselling new copies of the same music to old customers at cheap prices.

[RGA]

Well what is surprising is that I can buy any new release Madonna, Lady Gaga, Sarah McLachlan, Jackson Browne and EVERY other major selling artist's album on vinyl or even suped up 180g pressings but yet I can't get any of them on SACD or other hi res formats.

[mlsstl]

Well what is surprising is that I can buy any new release Madonna, Lady Gaga, Sarah McLachlan, Jackson Browne and EVERY other major selling artist's album on vinyl or even suped up 180g pressings but yet I can't get any of them on SACD or other hi res formats.

First of all, of the 4 artists you mention, only Lady Gaga has any attraction for young people, and I think she's more teeny-bopper based. The other three are aged dinosaurs selling to the people who liked them 15, 20 or more years ago. (McLachlan's debut album was 1988, Madonna's was 1983, and grandpa Browne hit the scene in 1972.) This pretty much illustrates my prior observation.

As for hi-rez, the various formats offering it simply haven't taken off.

[Feanor]

Well what is surprising is that I can buy any new release Madonna, Lady Gaga, Sarah McLachlan, Jackson Browne and EVERY other major selling artist's album on vinyl or even suped up 180g pressings but yet I can't get any of them on SACD or other hi res formats.

High resolution is superfluous to their style of music.

[E-Stat]

High resolution is superfluous to their style of music.

I beg to differ. The dynamics and punch from a nearly uncompressed 12" 45 RPM Madonna single will knock your socks off. Ironically, there are zero hi-rez digital equivalents.

The only time I opened up a fuse with my older Acoustats (fuse case was hot!) was playing a series of them.

[Hyfi]

Hey, did you hear they are dropping SB for a newer product line?

[E-Stat]

Hey, did you hear they are dropping SB for a newer product line?

I learned that yesterday, but alas there will be no "newer product line". Read this story from one of the original developers whose take seems to suggest that Logitech corporate considered the SB as not mainstream enough. The decision was made some time ago and the "replacement" is just a radio.

Back Story

I had purchased my second Touch as a backup a while ago for a song when Logitech ran a sale on them. I now know why! I may well get another one before they're gone.

Fortunately, there are apps which allow other devices to leverage the Squeezebox server concept.