Regardless of how you feel about Michael Jackson and his personal life, what he has done for the record industry since his death has been staggering. SoundScan numbers for 2009 are out and Michael again is king. Market share by record label is pretty much stagnant these days since the advent of file sharing, the digital age and iTunes. At the end of 2008 Universal held the number one spot with 31.5% percent of the market, followed by Sony, 25.3%, Warner, 21.3% and EMI with 9%. Indie labels round up the rest of the sales claiming a little under 13% of the market.
Since his death in June Michael has sold over 10 million albums, catalog sales that rival the top artists with new releases. You don’t see him in the top ten charts because his material - previously released is considered catalog, a classification reserved for albums that have fallen off the charts. Michael’s catalog sales on their own lifted the record industry a staggering 2.8% in 2009 and gave Sony a nearly 3% market share edge.
While Universal is still at the top of the heap, it took the biggest hit losing about 1.3% of it’s market share. Indie labels also took a big hit with about the same loss of market and Warner followed with a .75% loss. Amazingly EMI was able to gain about .25% in sales on the larger labels. So, rounding out 2009 - Universal still sits at the top of the hill with 30.2% of the market followed by Sony now at 28.5%, Warner at 20.5% and EMI at 9.2%. Indie sales round out the market at just over 11.5%.
No doubt some execs at Sony have Michael Jackson to thank for their Christmas bonuses.
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