A Good Year in Music. Or Maybe Not.

Back - Index - Submissions - - What is RSS? Date: Jan 04, 2001 Source: The New York Times Submitted By: Joanne By NEIL STRAUSS The numbers came in yesterday. And it looks as if the music business owes a begrudging thanks to its invading army of teen pop bands, who helped make 2000 the biggest year the industry has had since Sound scan, a company in Hartsdale, N.Y., began tracking sales data in 1991. The company, releasing its year- end figures, said that 785.1 million recordings were sold last year, up 4 percent from the previous year's 754.8 million. Of those albums, 9.9 million were 'N Sync's "No Strings Attached," which outsold every other album last year. Eminem, the rapper who rhymed 'N Sync with "stink" on his "Marshall Mathers LP," trailed his nemesis by about two million albums, though that was enough to make his record the year's second most successful album. In third place was Britney Spears's "Oops! I Did it Again," followed by Creed's "Human Clay," Santana's "Supernatural," the Beatles' "1" and the rapper Nelly's "Country Grammar." Though the Backstreet Boys had 1999's best seller with their second album, they have not been as successful yet with their follow-up, "Black and Blue," which was 2000's eighth-best seller, followed by Dr. Dre's "2001" and, in 10th place, Destiny's Child's "Writing's on the Wall." Soundscan also reported that nearly 13 million albums were purchased online last year. On the surface, the numbers look good: after a flat period in the mid- 90's, record sales experienced another boom year. But from another perspective, analysts say, the numbers are cause for worry. "It's almost like the Nasdaq: a handful of stocks rallied, and everything else stunk," said Michael Nathanson, a music industry analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein. "All the growth was concentrated in the top albums. It's a worrying sign for the music industry." Furthermore, the year's five top- selling albums were released either in 1999 or in the first half of 2000. After March, record sales declined each month until the Christmas season, when they swung back with the strongest Christmas week ever recorded by Soundscan. Mr. Nathanson attributed the surge to the surprise success of the Beatles compilation "1," price-slashing at national chains like Best Buy and Wal-Mart and a tendency by consumers to buy less expensive gifts like CD's and videos. To some executives, the sales increase in 2000 is just a carry-over from 1999's boom, and many doubt that the new generation of teenybop acts will be able to generate the enormous sales of their predecessors. At the same time, a new generation of hard-rock bands, like Papa Roach and Slipknot, have been working overtime to increase their audience, and many executives hope that these bands' next albums will pick up some of the slack in sales. In a year in which pop music continued its divergence into two streams, safely neutered teenybop pop and aggressive, testosterone-enhanced rap and rock, it was the latter that paid off for Interscope Records. The label had the biggest market share this year, grabbing the honor for the first time in its first full year as an expanded entity containing the labels Geffen and A&M. The label's top sellers were Eminem, Dr. Dre and Limp Bizkit. "We were fortunate to have Eminem and Limp Bizkit on our label at the moment when whoever- these-kids-are were walking through the door," said Jimmy Iovine, Inter scope's president. "It's the first full year of this new company coming together, but it still needs to be fixed and worked on." The year was also a strong one for the concert business, which set a record with a gross of $1.7 billion in 2000, an increase of about 14 percent, according to Pollstar, a journal of the live-music business. The concert industry exists in a very different realm from the record business. Older acts that no longer have strong record sales tend to clean up on the road, in part because they are able to charge higher ticket prices to an audience that earns a salary instead of an allowance. In 2000, Tina Turner had the highest-grossing tour, taking in $80.2 million, thanks in part to the classic farewell-tour claim. It will be interesting to see if those multimillions — the most money she has ever generated from a tour, according to Pollstar — coax her back to arenas for a hello-again tour sometime soon. The harmonizing money machine of 'N Sync, though it sold more tickets than Ms. Turner did, generated less cash, coming in second with $76.4 million. It was followed by the Dave Matthews Band, Kiss (another farewell tour) and the double bill of Faith Hill and Tim McGraw. Just like the record statistics, however, the concert-industry numbers can be deceiving. Promoters and analysts who predicted a revenue increase found themselves disappointed when the economic slowdown translated into a slackening of ticket sales at year's end. Gary Bongiovanni, who edits Pollstar, said that ticket prices dropped slightly in the second half of 2000, perhaps because of falling demand. He said there were a few big tours to look forward to in 2001: U2, the Backstreet Boys, possibly Pink Floyd. "It's difficult to tell to what degree the economic downturn will have an effect," he added. "But it gives people in the industry reason to be concerned because we're dealing with discretionary income. The price of tickets has gone up to where going to a concert is not a frivolous expense anymore." Comment on this item. Recent Comments Submitted by: Halz Submitted by: Kevin Shen Submitted by: Kelly Submitted by: Edd Submitted by: Antony Submitted by: Ann Submitted by: Ann Elisabeth Submitted by: Carol Clark Submitted by: John Comment on this item. Next Item: Backstreet Boys - "We're not pop, honest" Prev Item: Star Magazine Article on Olive Juice