Record Industry in Decline (Still)

Variety gives the mid-year status of the music industry:

For the first half of 2007, 229.8 million albums were sold, a 15% drop from the 270.6 million sold in 2006, according to Nielsen SoundScan. In 2005, 282.6 million albums were sold in the first six months.

When the sales of singles are totaled and placed in an album format -- every 10 singles equals an album disc -- the count is down 9.2% from 2006.

One interesting tidbit is that catalog sales (down 12% with 92.2 million) haven't slipped as far as current releases (down 17% with 137.6 million). If you compare their numbers, you'll see more evidence of industry dipshittery. Catalog sales represent 40% of total music sales and yet they continue to gut reissue subsidiaries like Rhino and Sony Legacy. Morons.

Also: same info analyzed by Billboard.