With
music magazines powering down their printing presses, record companies
slashing expense accounts, venerable chains like Tower Records closing
shop, and even A-list pop stars failing to fill seats in this nation's
concert venues (even with Groupon's help), it seems clear that the music
industry is in serious trouble. But rock 'n' roll is not dead, dear
readers. According to an encouraging mid-year report by Nielsen
SoundScan, album sales experienced their first boost since SoundScan
started tracking digital sales in 2004--up 8.5 percent from last year's
all-time lows. This is good news, and on top of that, this week
Eminem
became the first artist to sell 1 million digital copies of a single
album. Physical album sales may be down 11 percent--that's the bad
news--but digital album sales are in fact up 19 percent, so maybe
downloading (at least the legal kind) isn't killing music after all.
Eminem's aptly titled
Recovery passed the 1 million digital mark this week; of this milestone, his manager
Paul Rosenberg
declared in a happy statement: "Over the years, we've made a concerted
effort to engage Em's online fanbase, so this achievement is especially
rewarding."
Lady Gaga's
The Fame is close to joining Eminem, with more than 900,000 digital sales and counting, but it's looking likely that
Adele will actually be the next member of the million-album-download club, since her sophomore smash
21 has already sold a whopping 992,000 digital copies in just 19 weeks.
Of course, in an era when individual digital
songs sell by the millions (the most-downloaded track of all time, the
Black Eyed Peas'
"I Got A Feeling," has sold seven times more copies than
Recovery;
Flo Rida, Gaga,
Jason Mraz, and
Ke$ha have all sold 5 million or more copies of a single song; and more than 200 songs have sold 2 million downloads),
Recovery's
digital numbers seem a tad less impressive. But album sales are moving
in the right direction--UP, that is--so allow us to celebrate a little.
Maybe
the Stateside launch of the British digital music service Spotify will
help the music biz even more. This week Spotify announced on its website
that its innovative free streaming service, which basically makes it
possible to turn any computer into a never-ending jukebox of one's
dreams, will soon be available in America. Spotify's slogan is "Any
track, any time, anywhere. And it's free," which might make it seem like
record labels wouldn't exactly be thrilled about this company's
existence. But four major labels have already signed off on Spotify's
U.S. launch, which will generate revenue via a combination of
advertising, subscription services, and digital downloads. Will Spotify
revive the music business, or hurt it? Apparently we will all find out
"soon," according to Spotify's cryptic announcement.
Music
industry machinations may have dominated headlines this week, but the
artists behind the music kept pretty busy themselves.
Bow Wow revealed that he has a secret daughter; ex-
Oasis man
Noel Gallagher
held a London press conference to announce two forthcoming solo albums
and, of course, talk smack about his estranged little brother
Liam;
Ghostface Killah was sued for allegedly illegally sampling the "Iron Man" theme; "American Idol" castoff
Pia Toscano
signed the dotted line on her Interscope Records contract, then hit the
road with her Season 10 "Idol" castmates for a big summer tour; a bunch
of Latin jazz musicians threatened to sue the Grammys;
Gucci Mane was freed from prison; and, back to the subject of sales,
Justin Bieber may sell downloads, but pretty much no one wanted to buy his cover issue of
Vanity Fair this week.
And finally, in heavier, sadder news,
Nicki Minaj's cousin, 27-year-old
Nicholas Telemaque,
was shot dead in Brooklyn in what police believe was a case of mistaken
identity--and a lost track she recorded last year, "We Miss You,"
seemed to eerily predict his fate. We send our condolences to Nicki and
her entire family.
