"Dark Matter" and its tracks on the charts

Spunkie

Vedd Hedd said:

All my friends just stream everything now. I literally don't know anyone who has bought a new album by any artist in years. 

I'm a streamer now, bought a Gigaton CD not sure I played. 

BF25394

Vedd Hedd said:

All my friends just stream everything now. I literally don't know anyone who has bought a new album by any artist in years. 

This is almost certainly not true. There were over 100 million albums sold in the U.S. in 2023, 87 million of them physical albums. You may think you don't know anyone who has bought a new album in years, but you almost certainly do. And don't fall for the fallacy of making presumptions about the population at large based on the people you know. We tend to associate with those who are similarly situated to us, but it's a big country full of all different kinds of people. Several years ago, I asked as many people as I could whether they watched NCIS. No one said they did. And yet it was the most-watched show on television for several years running. If I had tried to draw a conclusion based on the people whom I asked, I would have been very wrong about the extent of the show's audience. I encounter things like this all the time. People will tell me "no one does" this thing or that thing, completely unaware that I do whatever the thing is. "No one listens to the radio anymore." I do. "No one reads a newspaper anymore." I do. "No one has cable or satellite TV anymore." I do (and so do 60 million other U.S. households). "Everyone has a smartphone." I don't. Neither does Christopher Nolan, so look for me to win Best Picture soon.

By the same token, there were more than 850 million movie tickets sold in the U.S. last year in an industry that made over $9 billion. It's an industry that has challenges, but it is far from dying. 

tbergs

Physical media is dying (for years now). PJ is the only band in the last few years I've bought a physical copy of their album. I have always been a huge Metallica fan. Didn't buy their last album and got the previous one for free from this forum because they were being packaged with tickets and someone didn't want theirs. Almost nobody has CD players anymore under 30 and they aren't even a feature in most new cars. I would wager most of the Swifties buying the LP or CD aren't even playing them. It's the weird collecting phase. Soon to be a lot of college aged women with excess Swift merchandise to pawn.

As to the other person's comment about not knowing anyone buying physical music, add me to that mix. I work at a College with all ages and demographics, no one is buying much of anything unless it's a streaming subscription and everyone has Airpods for their smartphone. Same goes for movies; theatre or streaming. I think we'll continue to see more artists trying to cash in on theatre showings to balance the lost revenues in physical sales. Taylor is just ahead of the curve like in most things merchandise related. 

Vedd Hedd

BF25394 said:

Vedd Hedd said:

All my friends just stream everything now. I literally don't know anyone who has bought a new album by any artist in years. 

This is almost certainly not true. There were over 100 million albums sold in the U.S. in 2023, 87 million of them physical albums. You may think you don't know anyone who has bought a new album in years, but you almost certainly do. And don't fall for the fallacy of making presumptions about the population at large based on the people you know. We tend to associate with those who are similarly situated to us, but it's a big country full of all different kinds of people. Several years ago, I asked as many people as I could whether they watched NCIS. No one said they did. And yet it was the most-watched show on television for several years running. If I had tried to draw a conclusion based on the people whom I asked, I would have been very wrong about the extent of the show's audience. I encounter things like this all the time. People will tell me "no one does" this thing or that thing, completely unaware that I do whatever the thing is. "No one listens to the radio anymore." I do. "No one reads a newspaper anymore." I do. "No one has cable or satellite TV anymore." I do (and so do 60 million other U.S. households). "Everyone has a smartphone." I don't. Neither does Christopher Nolan, so look for me to win Best Picture soon.

By the same token, there were more than 850 million movie tickets sold in the U.S. last year in an industry that made over $9 billion. It's an industry that has challenges, but it is far from dying. 

I have a group of friends who try to go to PJ every time they are in town. Talking 10-12. Not a single one of them have bought Dark Matter. Some have spotify, some apple or amazon. Just saying. Of course this is circumstantial evidence.  But that was my whole point. I don't know anyone who bought any albums recently, let alone this one.

JimFletcherPearlJam

Hey, I bought eight copies of the Dark Matter album, six for myself and two for my brother, so it's all good. I also saw the movie theater preview, and I'll be seeing them perform in Ireland in two months. 

kramerica4

JimFletcherPearlJam said:

Hey, I bought eight copies of the Dark Matter album, six for myself and two for my brother, so it's all good. I also saw the movie theater preview, and I'll be seeing them perform in Ireland in two months. 

You did your job, so did I with 14 vinyl variants and a CD.
Great times (for collectors) being a Pearl Jam fan!

JimFletcherPearlJam

As a fan who's 53 years old, I just really value having physical copies of the albums I love most. I'm guessing that people who are about 45 or older know what I mean, because they experienced it several decades ago. I mean, there's an artistic aspect to the album sleeves and inserts that doesn't really exist with digital versions. I honestly feel more connected to the band(s) by owning their albums on CD and/or vinyl. That's just me though. 

kramerica4

JimFletcherPearlJam said:

As a fan who's 53 years old, I just really value having physical copies of the albums I love most. I'm guessing that people who are about 45 or older know what I mean, because they experienced it several decades ago. I mean, there's an artistic aspect to the album sleeves and inserts that doesn't really exist with digital versions. I honestly feel more connected to the band(s) by owning their albums on CD and/or vinyl. That's just me though. 

^ This!

JimFletcherPearlJam

I forgot to mention having physical copies of albums framed for wall art. I have approximately a dozen albums hanging on the walls of my man cave. Perhaps many of the all-digital people just have bare walls. 

BF25394

Vedd Hedd said:

BF25394 said:

Vedd Hedd said:

All my friends just stream everything now. I literally don't know anyone who has bought a new album by any artist in years. 

This is almost certainly not true. There were over 100 million albums sold in the U.S. in 2023, 87 million of them physical albums. You may think you don't know anyone who has bought a new album in years, but you almost certainly do. And don't fall for the fallacy of making presumptions about the population at large based on the people you know. We tend to associate with those who are similarly situated to us, but it's a big country full of all different kinds of people. Several years ago, I asked as many people as I could whether they watched NCIS. No one said they did. And yet it was the most-watched show on television for several years running. If I had tried to draw a conclusion based on the people whom I asked, I would have been very wrong about the extent of the show's audience. I encounter things like this all the time. People will tell me "no one does" this thing or that thing, completely unaware that I do whatever the thing is. "No one listens to the radio anymore." I do. "No one reads a newspaper anymore." I do. "No one has cable or satellite TV anymore." I do (and so do 60 million other U.S. households). "Everyone has a smartphone." I don't. Neither does Christopher Nolan, so look for me to win Best Picture soon.

By the same token, there were more than 850 million movie tickets sold in the U.S. last year in an industry that made over $9 billion. It's an industry that has challenges, but it is far from dying. 

I have a group of friends who try to go to PJ every time they are in town. Talking 10-12. Not a single one of them have bought Dark Matter. Some have spotify, some apple or amazon. Just saying. Of course this is circumstantial evidence.  But that was my whole point. I don't know anyone who bought any albums recently, let alone this one.

What I'm saying is that you probably do know people who have bought albums recently, but they may not be the people you talk about music with. 87 million physical albums sold last year is one for every four people in the U.S. Of course, it's a smaller group of people buying multiple albums, but it's still probably at least 30 million people buying at least one album. 

BF25394

tbergs said:

Physical media is dying (for years now). PJ is the only band in the last few years I've bought a physical copy of their album. I have always been a huge Metallica fan. Didn't buy their last album and got the previous one for free from this forum because they were being packaged with tickets and someone didn't want theirs. Almost nobody has CD players anymore under 30 and they aren't even a feature in most new cars. I would wager most of the Swifties buying the LP or CD aren't even playing them. It's the weird collecting phase. Soon to be a lot of college aged women with excess Swift merchandise to pawn.

As to the other person's comment about not knowing anyone buying physical music, add me to that mix. I work at a College with all ages and demographics, no one is buying much of anything unless it's a streaming subscription and everyone has Airpods for their smartphone. Same goes for movies; theatre or streaming. I think we'll continue to see more artists trying to cash in on theatre showings to balance the lost revenues in physical sales. Taylor is just ahead of the curve like in most things merchandise related. 

The average age of cars on the road in the U.S. is 12 years old, which means that most cars still have CD players even though very few new cars have them. Bear in mind also that tens of millions of Americans have very spotty internet access and streaming is not a great option for them. I was in far northern New York to see the eclipse last week. There was no wifi in any business I entered. This is also one of the reasons why, even though a lot of people will say "no one listens to the radio anymore," the radio audience is still actually quite large. The aggregate radio audience actually dwarfs the streaming audience. Why? Because radio is free and it is everywhere. People listen to it in their cars, their homes, their offices. And there are a lot of wide-open spaces out in the country where radio reaches but broadband doesn't.

I was at Barnes & Noble today and the only people in the music section were teenagers. They were buying records (and not Taylor Swift-- they didn't seem to have that on display). Records are definitely coveted items among a segment of Gen Z. It's fascinating to me because they are otherwise content to experience everything in life through their phones, but this ancient technology appeals to them.

The resurgence of vinyl, as bizarre as the phenomenon is on a number of levels, is a reminder that we shouldn't be so quick to write off things as gone forever. CD players may be vanishing, but it was not so long ago that turntables were hard to find. Who knows what might happen in the future that could change consumers' habits and desires? Seriously, in 2005, who had "vinyl records will rise from obsolescence to become the top-selling format again" on their Bingo card? Maybe the next generation (Generation Alpha?) will decide that CDs are their retro fetish.

igotid88

Does the Stern appearance move an extra 500 copies?

BF25394

igotid88 said:

Does the Stern appearance move an extra 500 copies?

I doubt it, but one thing that I don't know whether was factored into that HDD estimate is Record Store Day. Between the RSD variant and the fact that some number of people who were unaware Pearl Jam has a new album out might make an impulse buy when they see it at their local record store, maybe the number goes up.

igotid88

BF25394 said:

igotid88 said:

Does the Stern appearance move an extra 500 copies?

I doubt it, but one thing that I don't know whether was factored into that HDD estimate is Record Store Day. Between the RSD variant and the fact that some number of people who were unaware Pearl Jam has a new album out might make an impulse buy when they see it at their local record store, maybe the number goes up.

If they see it. It's mostly Taylor on full display

JimFletcherPearlJam

I think the Howard Stern show appearance will result in at least 500 additional copies sold this week. 

PJammin'

tbergs said:

Physical media is dying (for years now). PJ is the only band in the last few years I've bought a physical copy of their album. I have always been a huge Metallica fan. Didn't buy their last album and got the previous one for free from this forum because they were being packaged with tickets and someone didn't want theirs. Almost nobody has CD players anymore under 30 and they aren't even a feature in most new cars. I would wager most of the Swifties buying the LP or CD aren't even playing them. It's the weird collecting phase. Soon to be a lot of college aged women with excess Swift merchandise to pawn.

As to the other person's comment about not knowing anyone buying physical music, add me to that mix. I work at a College with all ages and demographics, no one is buying much of anything unless it's a streaming subscription and everyone has Airpods for their smartphone. Same goes for movies; theatre or streaming. I think we'll continue to see more artists trying to cash in on theatre showings to balance the lost revenues in physical sales. Taylor is just ahead of the curve like in most things merchandise related. 

Physical media is dying? Tell Taylor Swift that. 

PJammin'

JimFletcherPearlJam said:

As a fan who's 53 years old, I just really value having physical copies of the albums I love most. I'm guessing that people who are about 45 or older know what I mean, because they experienced it several decades ago. I mean, there's an artistic aspect to the album sleeves and inserts that doesn't really exist with digital versions. I honestly feel more connected to the band(s) by owning their albums on CD and/or vinyl. That's just me though. 

I’m the same. 

tbergs

PJammin' said:

tbergs said:

Physical media is dying (for years now). PJ is the only band in the last few years I've bought a physical copy of their album. I have always been a huge Metallica fan. Didn't buy their last album and got the previous one for free from this forum because they were being packaged with tickets and someone didn't want theirs. Almost nobody has CD players anymore under 30 and they aren't even a feature in most new cars. I would wager most of the Swifties buying the LP or CD aren't even playing them. It's the weird collecting phase. Soon to be a lot of college aged women with excess Swift merchandise to pawn.

As to the other person's comment about not knowing anyone buying physical music, add me to that mix. I work at a College with all ages and demographics, no one is buying much of anything unless it's a streaming subscription and everyone has Airpods for their smartphone. Same goes for movies; theatre or streaming. I think we'll continue to see more artists trying to cash in on theatre showings to balance the lost revenues in physical sales. Taylor is just ahead of the curve like in most things merchandise related. 

Physical media is dying? Tell Taylor Swift that. 

Exactly, I referenced her. She's the outlier and as I mentioned, it's just a craze that she feeds with her stupid cash grabs by having variants with 1 different song for fans to choose or buy all. Yes, she's a smart business woman, but also greedy as fuck. She's becoming just another arrogant billionaire who will do anything to increase her sales. Maybe her fans will figure it out or maybe they don't care. 

Sure, PJ has many colored vinyl variants, but the content is the same so it's on the consumer to control buying the exact same thing in different colors for no real reasons besides want. 

BF25394

Original post updated for charts for week ending April 27, 2024.

Vedd Hedd

BF25394 said:

Vedd Hedd said:

BF25394 said:

Vedd Hedd said:

All my friends just stream everything now. I literally don't know anyone who has bought a new album by any artist in years. 

This is almost certainly not true. There were over 100 million albums sold in the U.S. in 2023, 87 million of them physical albums. You may think you don't know anyone who has bought a new album in years, but you almost certainly do. And don't fall for the fallacy of making presumptions about the population at large based on the people you know. We tend to associate with those who are similarly situated to us, but it's a big country full of all different kinds of people. Several years ago, I asked as many people as I could whether they watched NCIS. No one said they did. And yet it was the most-watched show on television for several years running. If I had tried to draw a conclusion based on the people whom I asked, I would have been very wrong about the extent of the show's audience. I encounter things like this all the time. People will tell me "no one does" this thing or that thing, completely unaware that I do whatever the thing is. "No one listens to the radio anymore." I do. "No one reads a newspaper anymore." I do. "No one has cable or satellite TV anymore." I do (and so do 60 million other U.S. households). "Everyone has a smartphone." I don't. Neither does Christopher Nolan, so look for me to win Best Picture soon.

By the same token, there were more than 850 million movie tickets sold in the U.S. last year in an industry that made over $9 billion. It's an industry that has challenges, but it is far from dying. 

I have a group of friends who try to go to PJ every time they are in town. Talking 10-12. Not a single one of them have bought Dark Matter. Some have spotify, some apple or amazon. Just saying. Of course this is circumstantial evidence.  But that was my whole point. I don't know anyone who bought any albums recently, let alone this one.

What I'm saying is that you probably do know people who have bought albums recently, but they may not be the people you talk about music with. 87 million physical albums sold last year is one for every four people in the U.S. Of course, it's a smaller group of people buying multiple albums, but it's still probably at least 30 million people buying at least one album. 

yeah, thats fair....but to a similar point....

My dad buys 3 newspapers every day.  Newspapers are still dying. 

I think physical media will be with us for quite some time, but like you said, I think its single people buying multiple version of their albums. Vinyl probably saved the physical media industry, because streaming is catching up with CD quality. Vinyl is pretty specific.  I also think its somewhat of a fad at the moment, and I say this knowing that I have been collecting vinyl since the early 90s.  I am happy it has made a comeback.  I just wish more vinyl was quality instead of colored pressings of digital music. 

once streaming really catches up with CD/BluRay/Vinyl, I expect physical media to fall off further.  

Here are some stats since 2007.  

Music album sales in the U.S. 2007-2022

Published by Marie Charlotte Götting

, Jun 22, 2023

 Annual music album sales in the United States dropped by roughly three percent between 2019 and 2021, amounting to just 109 million in the most recent year. This number decreased further to just 100 million in the U.S. in 2022. In 2013, sales amounted to 289.4 million units, a number which had already noticeably decreased from the 331 million units sold in 2011.

Annual music album sales - additional information

The past decade has brought along many changes, both technological and societal, which have forever changed the face of the global music industry. Today, music superstars, such as Beyonce, who was the highest paid musician in the United States in 2016, have money, coverage in all possible mediums, and power like never before. However, as of 2015, the worldwide revenue generated by the music business stood at 16.1 billion U.S. dollars, some nine billion less than in 2002.

It seems that the internet, the magical tool that is responsible for the creation of so many music celebrities, might also be responsible for the dismal statistics surrounding the sale of music albums in the United States, once the main revenue stream in the business. As the data shows, annual music album sales in the United States have plummeted from 500 million units sold in 2007 to under 170 million units sold in 2017. At the same time, digital music revenues, especially from album and single downloads, as well as subscription and streaming services, have been steadily growing in the past years. The fall in record sales is attributed to the rise of illegal music downloading, but also to legal services, which provide music products without the additional costs of production and shipping.

Despite changes in the way Americans acquire music, U.S. consumers still enjoy and value music industry products. Recent studies show that more consumers are choosing to use a legal alternative to file sharing, mainly digital music streaming services, such as online radio services like Pandora and Spotify. Additionally, musicians reorient themselves from album sales towards live performances and business deals to boost their incomes. As of 2017, the sales revenue from concert tickets in North America was at an all-time high, with revenue hit eight billion U.S. dollars for the first time.