Rap Industry Doom And Gloom

[Cozmo D]

Albums sales plunged in 2006, but digital downloads soared

About 588.2 million albums were sold in 2006 — a 4.9 percent decline from 2005, according to year-end sales figures released Thursday by Nielsen SoundScan.

But digital sales increased by 65 percent over the previous year, with 582 million tracks sold, and digital album sales more than doubled, with nearly 33 million sold.

Rap and R&B were hardest hit by the decline in album sales. Rap album sales fell by more than 20 percent -- from more than 75 million albums sold in 2005, to fewer than 60 million. R&B plummeted more than 18 perce

Hip-hop decline is just a bad rap

For the first time in memory, only one rap album -- T.I.'s "King" -- cracked the list of the top 20 best-selling CDs in 2006.

R&B sales slide alarms music biz

With the exception of new age, the smallest genre tracked by Nielsen SoundScan, R&B and rap suffered the biggest declines in 2006 of all styles of music.

R&B, with album scans of 117 million units, was down 18.4% from 2005, while the rap subgenre's 59.5 million scans were down 20.7%. Total U.S. album sales fell 4.9% to 588.2 million units.

Since 2000, total album sales have slid 25%, but R&B is down 41.4% and rap down 44.4%. In 2000, R&B accounted for 25.4% of total album sales, and rap 13.6%. In 2006, their respective shares fell to nearly 20% and 10%.

:wiggle:

[DaAce]

ha i dont know whats funnier, the decline in hiphop sales or the emoticon posted after it

:hmm:

[TopDawg14]

I think this decline in rap & R&B sales are for a number of reasons.

1. No one can deny the age of downloading. Albums are "leaked"(I believe by record labels) to the internet and are posted everywhere. You don't have to go far on the internet to find the latest album.

2. Legal download sites like ITunes and Napster have given people control to buy the music they want. You don't have to buy whole albums now. You get the freedom to choose what songs you want.

3. The hip-hop community is at a crossroads. Like the U.S. I believe that the hip-hop community is divided. There are those who think that rap is fine and it's more lucrative than ever. Then there are those who think that rap has sold its soul and the only thing that counts is money.

4. Not a lot of quality, just lots of quantity and that's never a good thing.

[Cozmo D]

ha i dont know whats funnier, the decline in hiphop sales or the emoticon posted after it

:hmm:

My friend, the correction is well underway! OUR day is coming! Keep those skills sharp now! :1-say-yes:

[Cozmo D]

I think this decline in rap & R&B sales are for a number of reasons.

1. No one can deny the age of downloading. Albums are "leaked"(I believe by record labels) to the internet and are posted everywhere. You don't have to go far on the internet to find the latest album.

2. Legal download sites like ITunes and Napster have given people control to buy the music they want. You don't have to buy whole albums now. You get the freedom to choose what songs you want.

3. The hip-hop community is at a crossroads. Like the U.S. I believe that the hip-hop community is divided. There are those who think that rap is fine and it's more lucrative than ever. Then there are those who think that rap has sold its soul and the only thing that counts is money.

4. Not a lot of quality, just lots of quantity and that's never a good thing.

I agree with everything except the part about the labels doing the leaking. They would NEVER do that, it's like cutting their own throats! Believe me, there are Music Industry Anarchists EVERYWHERE! You'd be surprised at how many of us there are who remember well the Golden Era of Hip-Hop, and who long to bring about a renaissance! :pony:

[Hero1]

I hope you are right Coz. The decline in hip hop sales does say something about the quality. A lot of people who have followed hip hop for a number of years are pretty dissatisfied with its current state. The RnB decline is interesting. I think the record industry chewed up and spat out the whole "neo-soul" thing, and a lot of good artists fell by the way side. RnB is just as watered down and played out as rap it seems these days.

[Da Brakes]

I think a new era is coming. In about 10 years the stats and figures will be very interesting indeed. However, this is great news for independent artists such as myself. Distribution of albums is so much easier with the likes of Napster and iTunes!

[Perry]

I know I'm dissatissfied with the current state of hip hop, and it has definately lowered the amount I buy. Now there's probably 10 albums a year I'll actually get excited about enough to go out and buy it on release day. Aside from that I'm pretty much looking through back catalogues in shops for an old gem.

How many albums you've bought in the last couple years have been by artists that haven't been in the game for years ?

[Turntable]

Well, I get that about Hip Hop, but the R&B thing.. I cant remember a hit out of 06 that wasnt R&b actualy.

Edited January 17, 2007 by Turntable

[Silver Tiger]

Producers have to take action if they don't want the rap industry to cannibalize itself. They've been setting themselves up for failure for years. When the bar is set so low it means that half the time the music won't even reach the standard of crap they've established. If low sales mean 2007 has less songs about camera phones and more songs about something you can't find in a club, something you can think about for more than 30 seconds without getting distracted- then I'm all for it. The industry needs a slap in the face.

God Blessa!

[Cozmo D]

I hope you are right Coz. The decline in hip hop sales does say something about the quality. A lot of people who have followed hip hop for a number of years are pretty dissatisfied with its current state. The RnB decline is interesting. I think the record industry chewed up and spat out the whole "neo-soul" thing, and a lot of good artists fell by the way side. RnB is just as watered down and played out as rap it seems these days.

RnB and Rap are handled by the same departments at the majors, and thus are churning out the same bland, redundant crap! Only 2 things can happen from this, both of them good.

1} The majors will wake-up to the fact that now people have almost unlimited choices of where and how to hear and get their music, and that they are choosing to pay only for music they really like. This will force them to start rejecting the formulas and instead move towards talented artists with unique and original material.

2} The majors will jettison the genres all together, and Rap and RnB will return to independent labels and artists.

Frankly, I think that without serious restructuring in their business models the majors are doomed in the music industry anyway. Their parent conglomerates won't tolerate the losses much longer.

[Cozmo D]

I think a new era is coming. In about 10 years the stats and figures will be very interesting indeed. However, this is great news for independent artists such as myself. Distribution of albums is so much easier with the likes of Napster and iTunes!

EXACTLY!!! :wiggle:

BTW, don't worry about getting "signed", what you should be pursuing is a singles deal. :thumbsup:

[Cozmo D]

Well, I get that about Hip Hop, but the R&B thing.. I cant remember a hit out of 06 that wasnt R&b actualy.

The numbers don't lie son.

[Turntable]

It's about Album sailes aint it? I think every hit basicly was a R&B Songs caus of I-Tunes and stuf like that. It seem's like it's about making a hit single, not a hit album these days.

[Cozmo D]

It's about Album sailes aint it? I think every hit basicly was a R&B Songs caus of I-Tunes and stuf like that. It seem's like it's about making a hit single, not a hit album these days.

Yeah, we've definitely returned to the singles dominated days of the '70s and 80s, this is true. However, there are reasons that both Rap and RnB have been hit the hardest.