2008 a strong year in record sales

The HMV boss, Simon Fox, sees the year ahead being strong in record sales thanks to new albums from popular artists such as U2, Madonna, Kasabian, Keane and Dido.

“Our view is that when there is good material and good releases, the music industry will prosper. We felt there was a good line-up this Christmas, we think the line-up is actually going to get better,” he said. “We are pretty confident.”
As for the prospects for CD sales, which have been falling for years, Fox was equally upbeat.
“I think there is life in the CD yet; 138m were sold last year,” he said.

His comments come just days after EMI‘s new private equity owners pledged to axe under-performing artists and to cut up to 2,000 staff at the music group. HMV‘s Fox said that as a retailer of EMI‘s music, the chain had yet to see any changes.

“I wish them the best of luck and hope they are very successful,” he added.

After a year when albums failed to match the rapid growth in individual tracks cherry-picked by music fans, 2008 could see a rebound in album sales, according to the OCC managing director, Martin Talbot.

“The singles market has been at a higher point than it has been for a very long time because people are snacking on music and buying individual tracks. In 2008, however, there are a number of albums expected that could make a significant difference to the total number of albums sold, including those from U2, Coldplay and Madonna.”

Source: The Guardian