In 2009, sales of digital singles eclipsed the 1 billion unit mark, while physical album and single sales continued to decline. With Monday’s digital release of Lil Wayne’s I Am Not A Human Being album, some retailers fear that trend will only grow exponentially. As previously reported, I Am Not A Human Being will not be accompanied by a physical release until Ocober 12.
“Its disturbing,” on un-named merchant told Billboard. “Its definitely putting brick-and-mortar second, and we are going to lose business that we would normally get. How is the consumer going to know that the album will have a second physical release?”
As sales have declined, Lil Wayne’s albums have been one of the few bright spots for physical retailers during the past few years. Tha Carter III was the top-selling album of 2008, registering over 2.8 million copies sold in a span of six months. Despite being panned by critics and being leaked weeks before its physical release, Wayne’s Rock effort, Rebirth enjoyed two successful singles, eventually being ranked number four on Big Champagne’s Ultimate Chart. Digital sales accounted for 17 percent of Tha Carter III sales, while 11 percent of Rebirth‘s total sales were digital.
Billboard cites various sources which estimate Cash Money/Universal Motown projects first week digital sales of 90,000 units for I Am Not A Human Being. The projections for first-week physical sales of the album are currently estimated at 225,000 units. A full breakdown of the projected sales, as well as a comparison to other digital releases is available via Billboard‘s Web site.
Brick and Mortar record stores died a long time ago. Best Buy’s cd selection is wack as is Targets. FYI is over priced, Sam Goody and Music Land been dead. I suggest that Brick and Mortar companies rethink thier strategy because they all suck when it comes to selling music in stores.
should i download a album for $10 or drive to best buy and pay $13-$15? fuck that! i’ll just download that shit for free 2 weeks before it drops. I’m not buying a multimillionaires album when i can get it for free. I need that $10 more then he does!
yeah i second this motherfucker right here lol real shit
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$13 of that 15 goes to the record company, while $2 goes to the actual artist and his people.
id rather just let the record companies die out while the artists continue getting rich from touring.
Real talk sharpshooter. The machine is confused & hurting.
I only support the artist that really need it and are dope.
cosign.
and people like you is why hip hop is dying cause nobody wanna spend on music… cause of the word free
Im curious how many albums Rebirth has sold. You know it did shitty when no hip hop sites announce the numbers for it like they do with every other album.
it went gold a long time ago dude it’s an older album your not gonna see the numbers now unless you go on like wiki or something
STOP FUCKIN POSTING WAYNE NEWS!! IF I WANT TO GET INFORMATION ON HIM I WOULD GO TO A FANSITE!!!
its hiphop news, quit your bitching
Billboard is going to be outdated along with retailers who sell music. Shit changes and if you dont change with it you gonna end up looking stupid like Blockbuster Video.javascript:void(null)
u speak the truth, now these massive corporations will just have to find a better way to eat off recording artist.
da only people dat’z gonna buy diz shit iz gay people and lil gayne/cum money cocksuckaz who can’t get enough of da taste of his jizz. sadly, dat’z like half da country.
shut up u dumb braud.
@mandddyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy then im gay and proud you twat
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Maybe the physical stores should sell mixtapes. There is still very much a market for that. It would be difficult but give the record companies a cut and get rid of re-doing mixtapes as
EP’s.
the korean convenience store by my house sells burned mixtapes
I agree 100% but the issue with MixTapes is they can’t be sanctioned for official release because of the sampling and all the guest spots would never ever be cleared by record companies. Any bricks & mortar store willing to have mix cds sold there would be risking legal action.
His album wasnt panned by critics. Who writes this bullshit?
His “rock” album was panned by critics, that’s not a lie. The album was trash. It was a wanna be 808 and Heartbreak with a twist of rock. and like 808 and heartbreak, Rebirth had like 2 decent songs on there.
oh and to j. biz, they don’t sell mixtapes because mixtapes are not supposed to be for commercial use. that’s why you hear alot of people rapping on beats that have been used because they don’t have to clear them with the producer since they aren’t using the singles commercially.
“Its disturbing,” on un-named merchant told Billboard.
on un-named source? you guys need to fire somebody because im drunk and still found 4 errors in 4 different news stories just today!!! get a new editor to proof read this shit it is making you look bad!
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Brick n mortars only have themselves to blame for falling apart. They should know that young ppl download music from itunes or what-have-you. Old people, on the other hand, still go out and buy CD’s. They should have changed their marketing plan to cater to that market, instead of trying to find that teenage marketplace, which stopped going to music stores a generation ago.
The game changes. Smart ones know how to adapt…everyone one else goes broke. Real talk.