Music Industry - Sales Statistics

Sales Statistics

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Further information: Global music industry market share data

Nielsen SoundScan reported that the big four accounted for 81.87% of the US music market in 2005:

• Universal Music Group (USA based) — 31.71%
• Sony Music Entertainment (USA based) — 25.61%
• Independent labels — 18.13%
• Warner Music Group (USA based) — 15%
• EMI Group (UK based) — 9.55%

and in 2004, 82.64%:

• Universal Music Group—29.59%
• Sony Music Entertainment—28.46% (13.26% Sony, 15.20% BMG)
• Independent labels—17.36%
• Warner Music Group—14.68%
• EMI Group—9.91%

The global market was estimated at $30–40 billion in 2004. Total annual unit sales (CDs, music videos, MP3s) in 2004 were 3 billion.

According to an IFPI report published in August 2005, the big four accounted for 71.7% of retail music sales:

• Independent labels—28.3%
• Universal Music Group—25.5%
• Sony Music Entertainment—21.5%
• EMI Group—13.4%
• Warner Music Group—11.3%

Prior to December 1998, the industry was dominated by the "Big Six": Sony Music and BMG had not yet merged, and PolyGram had not yet been absorbed into Universal Music Group. After the PolyGram-Universal merger, the 1998 market shares reflected a "Big Five", commanding 77.4% of the market, as follows, according to MEI World Report 2000:

• Universal Music Group — 28.8%
• Independent labels — 22.6%
• Sony Music Entertainment — 21.1%
• EMI — 14.1%
• Warner Music Group — 13.4%

Note: the IFPI and Nielsen Soundscan use different methodologies, which makes their figures difficult to compare casually, and impossible to compare scientifically.