It’s evident to music buyers around the world that album sales have been dipping yearly since the rise of digital retailers and music streaming services.
However, with the release of Beyoncé’s latest album, Beyoncé, which churned out 829,000 digital copies in its first three days, companies like iTunes are giving the LP format more focus.
“We were incredibly proud of the Beyoncé promotion, but it all starts with a great product. It’s a very strong album, with very strong videos: a really attractive package that was actually priced relatively highly,” Oliver Schusser, Senior Director, iTunes International at Apple told The Guardian.
Schusser also adds that the sale of a full album really rely on the artist making a great product.
He adds above life in album sales, “I actually agree: it has made people think again about the future of the album. Creatively, we really believe in albums, but that doesn’t say we don’t believe in giving customers the choice to buy songs as they want. But as a creative concept, I think albums have actually been quite strong over the past year.”
With Apples reach, now in 119 markets, the company sees themselves as a global weapon for labels trying to release big albums. “We’re in 119 markets now: we spent a lot of energy in the last three to four years to expand, going from what used to be 23 markets to 119,” says Schusser.
He continued, “That allows you to release your album at the same time in 119 markets, and that’s a huge opportunity that has never existed before, even if it’s not 100% the norm yet: the album release dates don’t exactly line up around the world.”
Look out for more changes in the music industry soon folks!
Founder and Creator of Singersroom.com and IncredibleWork.com. Follow me on Instagram at @gary.gentles.
