The year-end sales numbers released this week by Nielsen SoundScan contained the usual grim news for the music biz. Album sales once again declined in double-digit fashion, but that was fully expected. Perhaps more surprising and cringe-inducing was the drastic slowdown in growth in the digital sector, as sales of individual songs grew just 1% in 2010, compared to a 28% splurge just two years ago. 

But with the bigger industry picture having been covered earlier this week on these digital, tree-friendly pages, Pop & Hiss can further explore the seven-page bonanza of year-end SoundScan stats. So relax, stream your favorite album you downloaded (at no cost) in 2010, and read on. 

The headline: Vinyl Sales Hit a New High With 2.8 Million Sold
The context:  Sales of LP albums have been a niche bright spot for the industry, but let's put the emphasis on the word niche. In 10 weeks, Taylor Swift's "Speak Now" outsold the entire vinyl industry, moving 2.9 million copies since its release. That's not to write off the success of the format. Vinyl sales were indeed up 14% in 2010 compared to 2009 and managed to account for 1% of all album sales. The real story isn't that vinyl is up in a down market, but rather that vinyl is providing an edge to mom-and-pop independent retailers. SounndScan notes that overall album sales at indie stores grew two percentage points to 8% in 2010, and the artists dotting the top of the vinyl sales chart are the ones that shops like Amoeba Music hit out of the park. The Arcade Fire's "The Suburbs" sold 19,000 vinyl LPs, the Black Keys' "Brothers" was close behind with just more than 18,000 LPs, and other artists in the top 10 included Vampire Weekend, the National, Beach House and the xx.

 
Digital music sales, which over the years have provided optimism for the music industry in the face of crumbling CD sales, are starting to flatline as consumers turn to a growing number of free and legal ways of listening to hit songs whenever they want.

Sales of individual digital songs grew just 1% in 2010, down from 8% in 2009 and 27% in 2008, according to a report released Wednesday by market research firm Nielsen SoundScan.

The slowing digital numbers are a sign that the market for digital music is maturing, said Eric Garland, chief executive of Big Champagne, a digital music consulting firm. Garland believes the numbers point to another change in the market -- the emergence of free and legal alternative sources to music online, such as YouTube, Vevo and Pandora.

“What's changed is that people are listening to vastly more free music without breaking the rules,” Garland said. “That can have a cannibalization effect.”

The decline in the growth rate of digital song sales occurred as record labels pushed for iTunes to raise the price of top-selling songs 30%, to $1.29 from 99 cents, on the company's iTunes store, which accounts for the majority of digital music sales. That's preventing a corresponding slowdown in revenue growth.

“The vast majority of the top 200 digital tracks are now $1.29,” said David Bakula, a Nielsen music analyst. “So while sales of singles are flat, their revenue is absolutely going up.” Nielsen does not report dollar sales.

The increase in the price of singles has made the cost of $9.99 albums look more attractive, boosting digital album sales 13% last year compared with 16% in 2009 and 32% in 2008.

Apple continues to account for most music sales online, commanding a more than 60% market share, according to industry research firm NPD Group. Amazon.com, which generated numerous headlines in 2010 for deep-discounting albums by the likes of Taylor Swift, Kanye West and the Arcade Fire to $3.99, is a distant second. Fire-sale pricing aside, albums are still about one-third of overall digital music sales.

Judging the market for big-ticket music box sets continues to be at least as much art as it is science.

Record company executives I spoke to recently said that even though the Internet has given labels unprecedented ability to target fans of specific artists, there’s still a lot of hope and guesswork that goes into these ultra-expensive projects such as the $1,199 Miles Davis 43-CD box set and the $749 30-CD “The Complete Elvis Presley Masters” box.

Seattle indie music store owner Mike Batt of Silver Platters, for instance, noted that when EMI/Capitol Records last year issued CD box sets with the remastered Beatles catalog — one in stereo that list for $259 and one gathering all the Fab Four’s albums that were originally mixed in mono carrying a $299 list price — the company ultimately created a quagmire for Beatles collectors.

“It takes a smart buyer to know the store audience and also the future market value of these items,” Batt told me by e-mail. “If played right they can make a profit, but they can also be a large cash hole." The Beatles' mono box from last year is a perfect example. 

“The Beatles in Mono” box originally was touted as a limited-edition set for which only 10,000 copies would be manufactured. Those quickly sold out by way of pre-orders, sending collectors into something of a feeding frenzy to get their hands on copies.

“Most retail never actually had any to sell to someone that had not already preordered it [by] the day of release. Not even Amazon,” Batt recalled. “This made the actual marketplace demand so cloudy that Capitol/EMI decided to press more a month later, which then flooded the market.

“Today there are hundreds and hundreds of people trying to sell it online and just get something for it. What actually cost retailers $190 each has had a low market value of $110 online so far. Add to that a group of bootleggers and pirates that tried to jump on the bandwagon early and are now trying to recoup their losses by selling the bootlegs in legitimate marketplaces, bringing the value and consumer confidence in the item even lower.”

What’s that line? “I read the news today, oh, boy …”

— Randy Lewis

The music business doesn't have an overabundance of sure things these days, but a holiday-themed album from Susan Boyle probably comes close. Like a warm cup of cider, Boyle's "The Gift" is all yuletide comfort, and Boyle fans have propelled the album to more than 1.1 million in sales in four weeks, according to Nielsen SoundScan. In the last week alone, the album has sold 272,000 copies.

In its return to the pole position on the U.S. pop chart, Boyle knocks out Kanye West, whose "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" slides to No. 7 in its second full week. A return to hip-hop after the downbeat "808s & Heartbreak," West's "Fantasy" has generated a bounty of media attention and given the artist a solid two-week total of 605,000 copies sold.

Boyle has a lead over Taylor Swift on the Billboard-managed tallies. The country star's "Speak Now" has already sold more than 2.1 million copies, racking up an additional 182,000 copies sold this week. A number of holiday albums infiltrate the charts, including Jackie Evancho's "O Holy Night" and the latest collection of music from the Fox show "Glee." The two sit at Nos. 3 and 4, each selling a little more than 128,000 copies.

Josh Groban is hosting an online performance and question-answer session focused on the songs from his new Rick Rubin-produced album “Illuminations” on Thursday, with an intriguing hitch. The only way to gain access to this virtual concert is to buy the physical CD.

On the surface it’s a bonus for CD buyers, but from another perspective, it’s a way to spur fans who primarily experience music online to get their hands on the tangible version.

The CD includes a sticker with a code allowing purchasers to register online for the 5 p.m. Pacific time streaming performance, described in a press release issued Monday by Groban’s label as a “one-time only event” and “the first time an artist has offered consumers the opportunity to watch an intimate online performance of the songs on the album they have just bought.”

Groban fans who don’t want to wait, or spend the extra money if they’ve already purchased a download of the album, can catch him Tuesday, Nov. 30, on NBC-TV’s holiday special “Christmas in Rockefeller Center” airing at 8 p.m. Pacific time.

--Randy Lewis

Photo: Josh Groban. Credit: Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times

Robbie Williams wasn't able to break the U.S. market, but he can certainly wreak some havoc with Ticketmaster's U.K. website. Now back in the boy band in which he got his start, tickets for a Williams-boosted Take That tour of the U.K. and Ireland went on sale Friday, and immediate site crashes led to Ticketmaster releasing a statement apologizing for the agitating fan experience. 

"We have undoubtedly seen an unparalleled level of demand today and whilst hundreds and thousands of tickets have been sold we know that many of our consumers have experienced frustrating delays in securing their tickets," said the company in a statement posted on the Take That website. The site of promoter SJM Concerts, which is also selling tickets, is still experiencing slow loads, and the company announced that more than 1 million Take That tickets had already been sold.

For some perspective as to the furor that was caused by the demand for a Take That seat, Ticketmaster noted that the initial rush to its site outpaced the one that greeted the King of Pop last year. "Across the day Ticketmaster alone has so far received over 20m page views from visitors arriving on the site, far in excess of that experienced for Michael Jackson last March," the company stated, referencing what would have Jackson's comeback "This Is It" residency at London's O2 Arena. "The sheer volume of fans also created problems for the U.K. telephone network."  

So long, sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, and hello meditation, energy drinks and yoga. We're in a new era of rock 'n' roll healthiness, one where Mick Jagger adheres to a strict diet, No Age spreads the gospel of veganism and now Madonna is opening a fitness center chain. The artist formerly known as the Material Girl has provided lessons in body image throughout her career, and Mexico City's Hard Candy Fitness is the latest addition to her aspirational brand. 

Hard Candy Fitness will have its grand opening Nov. 29, according to a release, and Madonna will be on hand to welcome the 30,000-square-foot club to her portfolio, which also includes children's books and a fashion line. The gym's name, which doubles as the title of a creepy film starring a young Ellen Page and an Oregon strip club (thanks, Google) -- is a nod to Madonna's 2008 album. Ten additional clubs are in the planning stages, according to the release, although longtime Madonna spokeswoman Liz Rosenberg had no information as to whether or not Hard Candy would expand to the U.S.

Currently, clubs are plotted for Brazil, Argentina and multiple locations throughout Europe, including Russia, and Asia. Madonna is launching Hard Candy Fitness in partnership with manager Guy Oseary and New Evolution Ventures, a company overseen by 24 Hour Fitness founder Mark Mastrov.

"Hard Candy Fitness will be a reflection of Madonna's point of view and will reflect her input on every detail, including music space, light and other design cues," Mastrov teased in a release. "Madonna's touch will be everywhere." Fingers are crossed for the La Isla Bonita spa and Like a Virgin daycare center.

At the top: Behind bars, but he still has near-free reign of the U.S. pop charts. Rapper Lil Wayne returns to a familiar position as "I Am Not A Human Being" bolts to No. 1 after falling to No. 16 last week. Sales are up more than 440% to 125,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan, and give "Human Being" a three-week tally of 259,000 copies.  

"Human Being" was released three weeks ago to digital outlets, but last week retailers were given the green light to sell the more ol'-fashioned compact disc edition, one that came with more tracks than were initially available digitally. Fans appeared willing to wait for the expanded physical edition.

The download was sold at close to the same price as the CD -- around the standard $9.99 at most outlets -- and lacked a sizable portion of the content. In two weeks, fans purchased about 133,000 downloads, just a little more than what the CD sold in one week of release.

"Human Being" is not being classified as a direct follow-up to Lil Wayne's blockbuster "Tha Carter III," and sales expectations are down to more realistic heights for "Human Being." Earlier this year, Lil Wayne issued a rock-influenced album in "Rebirth," which was lukewarmly received by fans. So far, the album, released in February, has sold 678,000 copies.

The battle between recording and radio industries over performance rights royalties has moved to a new platform: your cellphone. The Consumer Electronics Assn., the trade group behind the annual CES event, has lashed out at the radio industry's push for FM radio tuners to be a government-mandated addition to mobile devices. 

"We believe that product design is the domain of innovators in the marketplace -- not the government," reads a letter signed by Gary Shapiro, CEA's president and chief executive. "As such, we will vigorously oppose any effort to force manufacturers by legislative fiat to include legacy technology in devices."

This isn't the first time the CEA has voiced opposition to the idea of FM tuners becoming a requirement for cellular devices. The concept was introduced by the National Assn. of Broadcasters earlier this year as part of its ongoing negotiations with the RIAA -- the Recording Industry Assn. of America -- over the introduction of performance rights royalties to the U.S. market. Currently, U.S. broadcasters pay only songwriters/music publishers for songs played on the air, whereas most countries also compensate the musicians and record labels.

Congress has requested the RIAA and NAB to work out a compromise after the House and Senate judiciary committees backed the Performance Rights Act, which would require broadcasters to pay royalties to musicians and labels. In agreeing for stations to pay about 1% of net revenue -- a figure that is estimated to generate an additional $100 million for the music industry -- the NAB has requested that FM tuners become mandatory in cellular devices. 

Linkin Park, the hard rock pride of Agoura Hills, ushers in the music industry's busy fall and winter release schedule, leading a charge of six new albums into the top 10 of the U.S. pop chart. The act's "Thousand Suns," which showcases a moodier, gentler and more contemplative Linkin Park, sold 241,000 copies in its debut week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. 

Though Linkin Park has no doubt successfully shifted out of the rap/rock-metal scene of the mid- to late '90s, becoming one of the few hybrid acts from the era to demonstrate some career longevity, it isn't immune to the general industry downturn facing the music biz. The band's 2007 effort, "Minutes to Midnight," bowed with a much-mightier 623,000 copies, according to the Billboard archives. This could be a transitionary moment for the band, as initial fan reaction to the less hard-hitting sound appears to be mixed. 

Nevertheless, Linkin Park still outsold the latest from R&B artist Trey Songz, icon Robert Plant, still-rising country star Jamey Johnson and Weezer, who jumped from the Universal Music Group empire to locals Epitaph Records. The fourth effort from Trey Songz, "Passion, Pain & Pleasure," narrowly missed the top spot, selling 240,000 copies in its first week. That's actually a career-best for Trey Songz, who Billboard notes has never sold more than 131,000 albums in a single week. 

Further down, mainstream country's rougher-and-tougher Johnson entered at No. 4 with "The Guitar Song," an album that sold 63,000 copies, while Plant's "Band of Joy," which continues his atmospheric explorations into the American songbook, bowed at No. 5 with with 49,000 copies.

Weezer's "Hurley" didn't arrive with quite the same fanfare as last year's "Raditude," which saw the band selling Snuggies and collaborating with Lil Wayne, yet it did see the act taking greater ownership of its career. For the album, Weezer started its own W Records and licensed the effort to Silver Lake's Epitaph. The independent move still gives the band a top 10 album, as "Hurley" opened with 45,000 copies sold. That is, however, a little less than "Raditude's" debut, as that effort bowed with 66,000 copies sold.

Other notes from this week's chart:

After a nearly 10-year-run as a top Warner Music Group executive, Tom Whalley is leaving the company, handing over the reins as chairman to famed producer Rob Cavallo, the major label revealed Tuesday. Cavallo has served as WMG's chief creative officer since 2009, and will now head the Warner Bros. Records label group, which includes Warner, Asylum, Reprise, Nonesuch and Sire. 

Industry vet Whalley was a principal in the launch of Interscope Records -- credited with signing one of the label's biggest stars in Tupac Shakur -- and left as its president for Warner in 2001. His move to become chairman of Warner Bros. Records was a major one, as Whalley, who also served in the higher ranks of Capitol Records, was instrumental in helping to develop the careers of Bonnie Raitt and the Beastie Boys, among many others, and inked what was reported at the time as a $30-million contract with WMG. 

No reason was given for Whalley's departure in a statement released by WMG. 

He's leaving the label during what has been a well-documented transitional time for the industry. Warner reported in June that third quarter revenues were down 16% from the same period in 2009, and while digital sales have been an area of growth, it's not one that's moving at a rapid pace, although that's not exclusive to WMG. Digital single sales for 2010 are relatively flat compared with those of 2009, according to Nielsen SoundScan, while digital album sales grew about 13% for the first half of 2010.

Heading into this week, Warner's Reprise owned the No. 1 album on the U.S. pop chart, with Disturbed's "Asylum" having sold 179,000 copies. In Cavallo, Warner Bros. Records will be headed by one of the company's most successful producers in recent history. Cavallo worked with Green Day on the act's "American Idiot," which in 2004 returned the band to prominence and ultimately spawned a Broadway show. 

More than 25 years after producing “Thriller,” Quincy Jones is still looking for ways to reinvent the music experience.

The legendary producer has teamed with professional audio company AKG to launch a line of headphones.

Dubbed the Quincy Jones Signature Line, the collection of headphones will be a mix of in-ear, over-ears and on-ear minis set for release in October. Jones said the partnership isn’t something new, as he’s been using AKG headphones exclusively for years now.

“It fit like a glove. It feels like home,” Jones said in a phone call from his Paris home. “I didn’t have to sit there and talk about quality. They just blow everybody away.”